Fearful that words would not check him, the rancher sprang up and, bending his head to save himself from his foes, ran the few steps necessary to reach the animal. Catching hold of his bridle, he jerked his head in the opposite direction, and, to teach him prudence, delivered a vigorous kick. The startled animal headed toward the west and broke into a gallop straight across the plain.
"Let him go," said the impatient owner, looking after him: "he is too lazy to travel far, and we'll follow him soon."
"Why not do so now?" asked his wife.
"I fear that they are looking for such a move, and will be across before we can gain sufficient start."
"But they may do so now."
"Am I not watching them?" asked the husband, beginning to creep up the swell again, but pausing before he was high enough to discern the other side.
"They may cross above or below, where you cannot see them," remarked the wife, giving utterance to the very fear that had troubled him some minutes before.
"They may do so, but I have just defeated such an attempt, and they will probably wait a while before repeating it."
"Then we can have no more favorable time to leave them than now."
"Such would be the fact, if I only knew of a surety that they would wait a while."