Page:Ritchie - Trails to Two Moons.djvu/135

 bridle rein when he was swept off the horse. Now his beast, charging and plunging in a folly of terror, swung his flank viciously against the man's middle, catching his body and driving it against Uncle Alf's saddle girth. A strangled scream of pain and the struggling figure suddenly relaxed. That instant, too, Uncle Alf's saddle girth parted; the top-heavy saddle toppled, and the circuit rider went down to the stream bed with his prisoner. Both horses dashed down the coulee; the noise of their hoofs against the stones died to nothingness.

The instant he struck ground Uncle Alf rolled on top of the man he had grappled, ready to pin him down with knees and body while his hands went to the throat. But there was not a flicker of movement in the form beneath him.

Wary against a possible trick, Uncle Alf dared let one hand grope for his saddle and draw it close. The fumbling hand found and untied the picket rope from its place under the horn. Then very carefully Uncle Alf bound his man, giving him the hogtie,—bound feet canted over the back and noosed to the neck. When he had finished he lighted a match,