"He did it! By the great rattler and all the little rattlers, he
did it!" shouted Yellin' Kid, as he pulled his horse to a stop,
an example followed by the others. For though they might all
(save one, perhaps) have pulled out of the encircling rope, there
possibly would have been an accident. One, or more, of the horses
would have stumbled, or been pulled to the ground. And there was
no need of that in what was only a friendly contest.

"You did it!" declared Yellin' Kid, as Four Eyes loosed his rope
and it fell to the ground, the riders guiding their horses out of
the loop. "You shore did it!"

"But it was a trick!" declared Old Billee. "'Tw'an't straight
ropin'!"

"Yes, it's a trick, but not every one can do it," said the new
cowboy.

"Betcher I can!" declared Snake.

He tried--more than once, but failed. It was not as easy as it
looked, in spite of the fact that it was a trick.

"No one can throw, with any accuracy, a loop big enough to take
in four horses on the run," declared Four Eyes when it had been
demonstrated that he alone, of all the "bunch" at the Happy
Valley ranch, could do what he had done. "At least if they can,
I've never seen it. Two, maybe, or three, but not four. Putting
your rope on the ground, and snapping it up as the horses get in