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Page 42
CHAPTER XVI
NEWS AND A THREAT
A stampede of mad cattle is like the charge of a blind and insane
monster. River, nor ravine, nor any other obstruction can halt the mad
rush of the horned beasts. They pile right into it, and only if it is
too steep or too high do they split and go around.
A stampede of horses is different in that the equine brain appreciates
danger more clearly than that of the sullen steer. Behind a cattle
stampede is often left an aftermath of dead and crippled beasts. But
horses are more canny. A wild horse seldom breaks a leg or suffers other
injury. It is not often that the picked skeleton of a horse is found in
the hills.
This herd belonging to the Hubbell ranch charged through the night
directly across the trail along which the moving picture company was
riding. Those on horseback could probably escape; but the motor-cars
could not be driven very rapidly over the rough road.
The girls screamed as the cars bumped and jounced. Out of the darkness
appeared the up-reared heads and tossing manes of the ponies. There were
possibly three hundred in the herd, and they ran _en masse,_ snorting
and neighing, mad with that fear of the unknown which is always at the
root of every stampede.
The automobile in which Ruth Fielding and her two friends, Helen and
Jennie, were seated was the last of the string. It seemed as though it
could not possibly escape the stampede of half-wild ponies, even if the
other cars did.
"Get down in the car, girls!" shouted Ruth, suiting her action to her
word. "Don't try to jump or stand up. Stoop!"
There was good reason for her command. The plunging horses seemed almost
upon the car. Indeed one leader--a big black stallion,--snorting and
blowing, jumped over the rear of the car, clearing it completely, and
bounded away upon the other side of the trail.
He was ahead of the main stampede, however. All that found the motor-car
in the path could not perform his feat. Some would be sure to plunge
into the car where Ruth and Helen and Jennie crouched.
Suddenly there rode into view, coming from the head of the string of
cars, a wild rider, plying whip and heel to maddened pinto pony.
"Wonota! Go back! You'll be killed!" shrieked Ruth. And then she added:
"The picture will be ruined if you are hurt."
Even had the Indian girl heard Ruth's cry she would have given it small
attention. Wonota was less fearful of the charging ponies than were the
punchers and professional riders working for Mr. Hammond.
At least, she was the first to visualize the danger threatening the
girls in the motor-car, and she did not wait to be told what to do. Up
ahead the men were shouting and telling each other that Miss Fielding
was in danger. But Wonota went at the charging horses without question.
She forced her snorting pinto directly between the motor-car and the
stampede. She lashed the foremost horses across their faces with her
quirt. She wheeled her mount and kept on beside the motor-car as its
driver tried to speed up along the trail.
The mad herd seemed intent on keeping with the motor-train. Wonota gave
the pinto his head and lent her entire attention to striking at the
first horses in the stampede. Her quirt brought squeals of pain from
more than one of the charging animals.
She fell in behind the car at last, and the scattering members of the
stampede swept by. Back charged several of the pony riders, but too
late to give any aid. The chauffeur of Ruth's car slackened his
dangerous pace and yelled:
"It's all over, you fellers! We might have been trod into the ground for
all of you. It takes this Injun gal to turn the trick. I take off my hat
to Wonota."
"I guess we all take off our hats to her!" cried Helen, sitting up
again. "She saved us--that is what she did!"
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