Part 2 (1/2)
Down and down he went, the light finding nothing but bare, rocky wall to fall upon Presently the lowering process ceased
”We have reached the end of the lariat,” called out dick
Hardly had he spoken when a fearful thing happened There was a snap and a whirr, and dick and Pumpkin went flat on their backs, while ten feet of the lariat whirled loosely over their heads
The iasped dick ”Merciful heavens!”
He scra The lantern had been dashed into a thousand pieces, and all was dark below
”pawnee Brown!” he cried, and Pumpkin joined in with a cry which was fairly a shriek
The opening reain both called out Then dick turned to his co must be done I shall et help For all I know to the contrary bothdead below”
”I shan't stay here alone,” shi+vered the half-witted boy Then, before dick could stop hi discordantly as he went
”Poor fool, he ht dick
He was already rushi+ng down to the trail Now he ree noise dohere pawnee Brown's beautifulhim just before the lariat had parted What could that mean?
He reached the cluone!
”Broken away!” he groaned ”Was ever such luck before! Everything is going wrong tonight! Poor father; poor pawnee Brown! IHullo!”
He had started to run, but now he pulled up short Grazing in the wet grass not a dozen steps aas a bay horse, full and round, a perfect beast At first dick Arbuckle thought hehis eyes No, it was no dream; the horse was as real as a horse could be He was bridled, but instead of a saddle wore only a patch of a blanket
”It's a Godsend,” heto, old boy, but you've got to carry ait, you understand?”
The horse pricked up his ears and gave a snort In a trice dick was on his back and urging him around in the proper direction He was a New York boy, not ement of such a beast as this one did not cos and nearly pitched dick over his head, and the youth had to cling fast around his neck to save himself a lot of broken bones
”Whoa, there! Gee Christopher, what a tartar! Whoa, I say! If only I had a whip!” he panted, as the horse began to move around on a pivot ”Nohy can't you act nice, when I'm in such dire need of your services? If you don't stop--Whoa! whoa!”
For the horse had suddenly stopped pivoting and started off like a streak, not up or down the trail, but across a stretch of prairie grass
On and on he went, the bit between his teeth and gaining speed at every step In vain dick yelled at hied hi on for dear life
”I ht at last, when nearly a mile had been covered ”It's just as useless to try to stop him as it would be to stop a limited express If I jump off--but I won't, now!”
For the prairie had been left behind, and the bay was tearing along a rocky trail leading to goodness knehere, so dick thought A juhter than ever, and tried to calently to him
At first the beast would not listen, but finally, when several miles had been covered he slackened up, and at last dropped into a walk He was covered with foa to be led
”You old reprobate!” htened his hold on the reins ”Nohere in the naht me to, and how a upright once again, the youth tried to pierce the darkness The rain had stopped, only a few scattering drops falling upon hireat as ever
On two sides of him were forest lands, on the third a slope of rocks and on the fourth a stretch of dwarf grass The trail, if such it could be called, ran along the edge of the ti whether he was right or wrong
”Halt! Who goes there?”