Page:Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch.djvu/58

48 offered to lash her there if she didn't feel perfectly secure.

"You needn't mind, Tommy," returned the stout girl. "If, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for me to disembark from this saddle, I'll probably want to get down quick. There's no use in hampering me. I take my life in my hand—with these reins—and—ugh! ugh! ugh!" she finished as, on her picking up the lines, her restive pony instantly broke into the liveliest kind of a trot.

But after all, Heavy succeeded in riding pretty well; while Ruth, after an hour, was not afraid to let her pony take a pretty swift gait with her. Jane Ann, however, showed remarkable skill and made the Eastern girls fairly envious. She had ridden, of course, ever since she was big enough to hold bridle reins, and there were few of the punchers who could handle a horse better than the ranchman's niece.

But the visitors from the East did not understand this fact fully until a few days later, when the first bunch of Spring calves and yearlings were driven into a not far distant corral to be branded. Branding is one of the big shows on a cattle ranch, and Ruth and her chums did not intend to miss the sight; besides, some of the boys had corraled Old Trouble-Maker near by and promised some fancy work with the big black and white steer.