Indian Charlie was astonished as well as disgusted.
“Why that trick should have finished him!” he muttered. “He should have been killed by the fall!”
Barney Mulloy was near enough to catch the words.
“G’wan wid yez!” he cried. “Loightning can’t kill thot b’y!”
The broncho was not satisfied by any means. If possible, it continued its wild gyrations with renewed fury. It darted hither and thither, and, finally, made straight for the nearest corral in a blind manner.
“Look out! look out!” shouted several cowboys.
It seemed the furious animal meant to run straight into the corral fence, but it wheeled sideways and tried to rub Frank off. In this attempt it was not successful, and, with a scream that was wilder than any yet uttered, it again threw itself backward.
Then it was that Frank demonstrated that his escape on the previous occasion had been no accident, for he alighted on his feet with quite as much skill as before, and was in the saddle again when Firebrand got up.
Bill Rodney waved his hat with one hand and the stake money with the other, uttering a genuine cowboy yell of delight.
“Why, he’s a wonder—a howlin’ wonder!” the admiring rancher shouted. “Look out, Pecos Pete, for hyer’s a chap what’s mighty nigh your equal.”