Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch; Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys

by Alice B. Emerson

  CHAPTER X--RUTH SHOWS HER METTLE

  Shouting after the runaway, and shrieking advice to The Fox, who stillclung to the reins, was of no particular use, and Tom Cameron realizedthat as well as did Jane Ann. The boy from the East picked himself upand leaped upon the rear of the second buckboard as it passed him, andthey tore on after the frightened ponies.

  Mary Cox could not hold them. She was not a good horsewoman, in anycase; and a moment after the ponies broke loose, she was just asfrightened as ever she could be.

  She did not drop the lines; that was because she did not think to do so.She was frozen with terror. The ponies plunged along the narrow trail,weaving the buckboard from side to side, and Mary was helpless to stopthem. On the rear seat Helen and Ruth clung together in the first shockof fear; the threatening catastrophe, too, appalled them.

  But only for the first few seconds was Ruth inactive. Behind thejouncing vehicle Tom was shouting to them to "pull 'em down!" Ruthwrenched herself free from her chum's grasp and leaned forward over theseat-back.

  "Give the reins to me!" she cried in Mary's ear, and seized the leathersjust as they slipped from the hands of The Fox.

  Ruth gripped them firmly and flung herself back into her own seat. Helenseized her with one hand and saved her from being thrown out of thepitching vehicle. And so, with her chum holding her into her seat, Ruthswung all her weight and force against the ponies' bits.

  At first this seemed to have not the least effect upon the frightenedanimals. Ruth's slight weight exercised small pressure on those ironjaws. On and on they dashed, rocking the buckboard over the roughtrail--and drawing each moment nearer to that perilous elbow in thecanyon!

  Ruth realized the menacing danger of that turn in the trail from themoment the beasts first jumped. There was no parapet at the outer edgeof the shelf--just the uneven, broken verge of the rock, with the awfuldrop to the roaring river below.

  She remembered this in a flash, as the ponies tore on. There likewisepassed through her mind a vision of the chum beside her, crushed andmangled at the bottom of the canyon--and again, Helen's broken body beingswept away in the river! And The Fox--the girl who had so annoyedher--would likewise be killed unless she, Ruth Fielding, found some meansof averting the catastrophe.

  It was a fact that she did not think of her own danger. Mainly therunaway ponies held her attention. _She must stop them before theyreached the fatal turn!_

  Were the ponies giving way a little? Was it possible that her steady,desperate pulling on the curbs was having its effect? The pressure ontheir iron jaws must have been severe, and even a half-broken mustangpony is not entirely impervious to pain.

  But the turn in the road was so near!

  Snorting and plunging, the animals would--in another moment--reach theelbow. Either they must dash themselves headlong over the precipice, andthe buckboard would follow, or, in swerving around the corner, thevehicle and its three passengers would be hurled over the brink.

  And then something--an inspiration it must have been--shot athwart Ruth'sbrain. The thought could not have been the result of previous knowledgeon her part, for the girl of the Red Mill was no horsewoman. Jane AnnHicks might have naturally thought to try the feat; but it came to Ruthin a flash and without apparent reason.

  She dropped the left hand rein, stood up to seize the right rein with ashorter grip, and then flung herself back once more. The force shebrought to bear on the nigh pony by this action was too much for him.His head was pulled around, and in an instant he stumbled and came witha crash to the ground!

  The pony's fall brought down his mate. The runaway was stopped just atthe turn of the trail--and so suddenly that Mary Cox was all but flungheadlong upon the struggling animals. Ruth and Helen _did_ fall out ofthe carriage--but fortunately upon the inner side of the trail.

  Even then the maddened, struggling ponies might have cast themselves--andthe three girls likewise--over the brink had not help been at hand. Atthe turn appeared Jib Pottoway, his pony in a lather, recalled by thesound of the runaways' drumming hoofs. The Indian flung himself from thesaddle and gripped the bridles of the fallen horses just in season. Bob,driving the second pair of ponies with a firm hand, brought them to ahalt directly behind the wreck, and Tom and Jane Ann ran to Jib'sassistance.

  "What's the matter with these ponies?" demanded the Indian, sharply."How'd they get in this shape? I thought you could drive a pair ofhawses, boy?" he added, with scorn, looking at Tom.

  "I got out to buckle a strap and they got away," said Tom, rathersheepishly.

  "Don't you scold him, Jib!" commanded Jane Ann, vigorously. "He ain't toblame."

  "Who is?"

  "That girl yonder," snapped the ranchman's niece, pointing an accusingfinger at Mary Cox. "I saw her start 'em on the run while Tom was on theground."

  "Never!" cried The Fox, almost in tears.

  "You did," repeated Jane Ann.

  "Anyway, I didn't think they'd start and run so. They're dangerous. Itwasn't right for the men to give us such wild ponies. I'll speak to Mr.Hicks about it."

  "You needn't fret," said Jane Ann, sternly. "I'll tell Uncle Bill allright, and I bet you don't get a chance to play such a trick again aslong as you're at Silver Ranch----"

  Ruth, who had scrambled up with Helen, now placed a restraining hand onthe arm of the angry Western girl; but Jane Ann sputtered right out:

  "No! I won't keep still, Ruth Fielding. If it hadn't been for you thatMary Cox would now be at the bottom of these rocks. And she'll neverthank you for saving her life, and for keeping her from killing you andHelen. She doesn't know how to spell gratitude! Bah!"

  "Hush up, Jinny," commanded Jib, easily. "You've got all that off yourmind now, and you ought to feel some better. The ponies don't seem to behurt much. Some scraped, that's all. We can go on, I reckon. You ride myhawse, Mr. Cameron, and I'll sit in yere and drive. Won't trust thesegals alone no more."

  "I guess you could trust Ruth Fielding all right," cried the loyal Tom."She did the trick--and showed how plucky she is in the bargain. Did youever see anything better done than the way she threw that pony?"

  Jane Ann ran to the girl of the Red Mill and flung her arms around herneck.

  "You're just as brave as you can be, Ruthie!" she cried. "I don't knowof anybody who is braver. If you'd been brought up right out here in themountains you couldn't have done any better--could she, Jib?"

  "Miss Fielding certainly showed good mettle," admitted the Indian, withone of his rare smiles. "And now we'll go on to the camping place. Don'tlet's have any more words about it, or your fun will all be spoiled.Where's Ricardo, with the camp stuff? I declare! that Greaser is fivemiles behind, I believe."

  With which he clucked to the still nervous ponies and, Tom now in thelead, the procession started on in a much more leisurely style.