Page:Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch.djvu/67



", Ruth! that man is hurt," cried Helen, as the chums rode as hard as they dared after the flying bunch of cattle punchers.

Jimsey lay on the ground, it was true; but when they came nearer they saw that he was shaking both fists in the air and spouting language that was the very reverse of elegant. Jimsey wasn't hurt; but he was awfully angry.

"Come on! come on, girls!" called Tom. "That old steer is running like a dog with a can tied to its tail! Did you ever see the beat of that?"

"And Nita is right in with the crowd. How they ride!" gasped Madge Steele. "She'll be killed!"

"I hope not," Her brother shouted back. "But she's just about the pluckiest girl I ever heard of."

"She's swinging her rope now!" gasped Heavy. "Do you suppose she intends to try and catch that steer?"

That was what Jane Ann Hicks seemed determined to do. She had ridden so that she was