Page:The Trail Rider (1924).pdf/36

 tion on their hats and belts. He did not believe that Sallie McCoy was among them.

These were the kind of girls whom the cowboys flung heels-high in their rough dances; strongarmed, broad-chested, afraid of neither man nor beast. He believed Sallie McCoy must be out of a more delicate mold than these.

One of the judges rode into the arena to announce the rules governing this contest, which were somewhat different from those under which the men had competed.

Each contestant was to enter the arena alone, after having selected the steer upon which she was to practise her art from the number 'in the pen. The animal was to be allowed a running start before the rope was thrown. No assistance would be given, except in the event that the contestant became entangled or otherwise imperiled. A man with a megaphone would announce before the grand stand each contestant's name as she entered, and the time it took her to throw and hog-tie the steer, when she had accomplished that feat.

The first girl was mounting her horse as Texas turned to go back to Uncle Boley; but at that moment one entered the enclosure where the contestants waited whose appearance rooted his feet to the ground. Texas drew himself up to his toes to look at her as she swept past the other girls, giving them