This trick he would reverse, whirling the noose about a foot above the ground, step into it and whirl it up over his head into the air.
He could send it spinning far upward, till the rope looked like a big corkscrew top, with the little end touching his hand, and then, as it fell, he would jump through the noose and snap it into the air again.
“I can’t do that,” smiled Frank, as he watched the roper, “but I am not exactly a greenhorn with a rope. I can throw it fairly well.”
A sudden desire to get on horseback and join in the sports once more seized him. He could not keep still.
“I am all right,” he declared. “It will hurt me much more to hump up and keep still. Let me have the best horse you have, Mr. Rodney. If I harm the animal, I will pay for him.”
“You shall have Fleetfoot,” said the rancher. “In fact, I feel like letting you have anything I own.”
A short time later Frank was mounted on a handsome black gelding, a creature full of fire and intelligence.
Frank joined the cowboys in their sport, and, being provided with a rope, sprang another surprise on them by showing that he could cast the noose with more than ordinary skill.
The fun waxed fast and furious, and the cowboys, riding madly hither and thither, drew farther and farther from the house.
Suddenly all were startled to hear a shrill cry and see a girl running toward them.