Part 28 (1/2)

Once back in their old quarters, for several days the boys took life easy, each being busily engaged in some favorite pursuit Will developed all his films, and made copious prints of the same, which kept him in a feverish state of mind When one turned out especially fine he was in the seventh heaven of delight; and if he met with disappointment, which was seldom the case, his laments were dismal indeed

Thus a weektheir faces toward the East again They would leave the ranch with rets, for Mr Mabie had certainly quite won their youthful hearts by his genial ways

Frank was the last one to meet with an adventure on this occasion, which was fated to be written down in his logbook as worthy of re, and his horse, stepping into a gopher hole, threw him Frank was not seriously hurt, but the horse went lame, so that he could not be ridden As this happenedon, with a stor, Frank kneas in for an experience; but even then he did not dream of all that was down on the bills for that special occasion

Through the darkness he went, leading his li horse Then the storhtning, was so before

He was just thinking that the pony had recovered enough to enable hi, as the ranch house was notcame to his ears that arrested his attention For half athunder Then the appalling truth flashed upon him There was a stampede of cattle, and he see herd!

CHAPTER XXIV

A MYSTERY SOLVED

Frank, after that one spasht fast He had heard the rancher, as well as the cowboys, speak of the terrors of the stah fear, and utterly beyond all eht in the rush of a thousand luround to death under countless hoofs It was so in the old days, when bison dotted the plains of the great West

Mounted on a good horse, oneavalanche of hoofs and horns But his steed was la The situation was one calculated to arouse a boy as he had never been awakened before in all his life

Frank jumped upon the back of his horse He knew instantly that his one hopeclear of the i faster than they were going down the wide valley, or infor the nearest hillside, where trees would offer hihtaway course was utterly out of the question with a cripple between his knees

”Get up, Hector! Do your prettiest now!” he called to his horse

The poor beast was trying his hardest to run well, butkept hi a cow pony, knew full well the nature of the peril that menaced the master to a point of safety

Frank's heart seemed to be in his throat as he leaned forward and listened to the rapidly approaching roar of hundreds upon hundreds of hoofs,of horns Added to this was the deep-toned thunder and the dazzling flashes of lightning

Once, when he looked to the left, he could see thehorribly close After that he resolutely kept his attention riveted in front, where the ridge loo depended upon how far he was from the nearest trees Seconds counted with Frank just then The lightning flashed every quarter of a es apart

With his heart in his throat, as it seemed, he stared ahead, and waited for the next flash to show him the worst Unless the trees were close by, his case seemed hopeless, for the main herd appeared to have pushed over to this side of the valley, unfortunately, showing that he had picked the wrong course when he started

Hector stumbled more than once, and Frank feared he would be thrown He even wondered whether it would not be better for hiround while he had the chance, and trust to his own legs to carry hierly anticipated flash Hope sprang anew in his breast, for he had discovered the trees close at hand One allant effort on the part of the crippled pony, and they ed to pass behind the outposts of the ti sta hard, and patting the poor anily He could hear the loud cries of the cowboys and Mr

Mabie as they circled about the terrified cattle, trying by every loorees the sounds died away far down the valley

Frank walked with his laht because of his absence They were afraid he had been caught in the round under the hoofs of the steers