g forward to dealing with this fellow;
it would be a good finish to a good run of work.

He came through the gate with a rush. Mick Darby had the lasso this
time, and flung it faultlessly over the animal's horns. There was a
shout of excitement and the blacks outside the rails pulled for all
they were worth. But no power of man could make such a creature stir
unless it wanted to. It braced its fore legs and stood immovable, then
shook its mighty head till the lasso twanged like a fiddle-string, but
did not give an inch. Finally the steer caught sight of its tormentors
outside the yard, and rushed. At once the rope became slack and the
watchful men pulled it tight again, and soon the great beast was jammed
up against the fence, using all its strength to try and break the
green-hide rope. But the lasso was made out of the hide of a bull and
could have held any steer that was ever calved. Leg ropes were thrown,
hitched, and drawn tight, and the steer fell, roaring and plunging for
a moment, and then lying still, but never relaxing the tremendous
strain for a moment.

Dan Collins was branding, and called out: "Brand-o!" The red-hot iron
was handed through the rails and pressed on the quivering shoulder.

Now came the great test. Pain added the final ounce to the steer's
strength. He struggled. The front leg rope broke. Through being
constantly hitched round a rough post it had become a little bit
frayed, and this final strain was too much for it. It snapped and
sprang apart like a collapsed spring. The chest of the steer was now
free, but the head rope still held it down. The knowledge that it had
broken one of its bonds gave the animal heart, and it lifted its
curl-crowned head. The lasso quivered and stretched, quivered and
stretched. There was a crack! Had that bull-hide rope broken? No.
Another crack. One of the steer's horns broke off at the skull. With
an agonized bellow it slipped the stump of a horn through the loop and
rose to its fore feet, free except for the back leg rope which Vaughan
was holding. All the animal's strength, raised to its highest pitch by
the pain of the broken horn, was centred in its captive hind leg.
Vaughan held on manfully, but the rope was gradually pulled through his
hands, tearing the skin till he could not possibly hold it any longer.
With a roar, the steer rose from the ground; but just as it struggled
to its feet, Vaughan seized the rope again and twisted it r