Page:Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch.djvu/59

Rh "We'll show you some roping now," said Jane Ann, with enthusiasm. "Just cutting a little old cow out of that band in the corral and throwing it, ain't nothing. Wait till we turn Old TroubleMaker loose."

The whole party rode over to the branding camp, and there was the black and white steer as wild as ever. While the branding was going on the big steer bellowed and stamped and tried to break the fence down. The smell of the burning flesh, and the bellowing of the calves and yearlings as their ears were slit, stirred the old fellow up.

"Something's due to happen when that feller gits turned out," declared Jib Pottoway. "You goin' to try to rope that contrary critter, Jane Ann?"

"It'll be a free-for-all race; Ike says so," cried Jane Ann. "You wait! You boys think you're so smart. I'll rope that steer myself—maybe."

The punchers laughed at this boast; but they all liked Jane Ann and had it been possible to make her boast come true they would have seen to it that she won. But Old Trouble-Maker, as Jib said, "wasn't a lady's cow."

It was agreed that only a free-for-all dash for the old fellow would do—and out on the open range, at that. Old Trouble-Maker was to be turned out of the corral, given a five-rod start, and then the bunch who wanted to have a tussle