"ITS HOOFS FOULED THE TOP,
AND IN A SECOND HORSE AND MAN WENT HEADLONG"
To say that Dudley was shaken was to express the matter mildly. The breath was jarred out of his body, and for a minute perhaps he lay on the ground, his head swimming, and his senses somewhat scattered, while he gasped till his face assumed a purple hue. Then his breath came again, and with it his dogged spirit. He sprang to his feet and ran across to the horse, which was now lying on its side, scared and winded by the fall. Dudley took it by the ring of its bit and encouraged it to rise.
"Neither of us hurt, old man," he cried joyfully, as he walked the beast to and fro and noticed that it was not lame. "We were getting along too well together, and you seemed to think that you had a fine rider on your back. But we won't be beaten. We'll wait till you have your wind again, and then we'll have another go."
He patted the beast's neck, and then saw to the girths, which had slipped far back. Leaving the animal to stand alone, he slipped his gun from his shoulder and carefully examined it.
"Not even dented! That's another bit of luck, for it is hard to believe that it could have escaped. And, when one comes to think of it, it is as difficult to see how we both escaped breaking our necks. Lucky for me that I was thrown so far, for if I had struck close to him he might have fallen on me, and then there would have been an end to my prospects. I'll give him ten minutes more, and then we'll tackle the thing again."
He slipped the sling of the gun over one of the posts which held up the rails of the corral, and sauntered up and down, inspecting the rails somewhat grimly. There was a determined look on his sun-tanned face, a look which told that come what might he was going to persevere. The heavy tumble he had experienced had scared him not a little, and had shaken him considerably. Some would have considered it foolhardy for him to attempt the jump again, while others would have excused a second attempt, considering the narrow escape he had had. But Dudley was out there to conquer difficulties. He had a task to learn, and to hesitate now, to cry off because of a tumble, was not the way in which to overcome those difficulties. He hitched his belt in another hole, crammed his hat well down on his head, and walked steadily up to his horse.
"We're going to have another go, old boy," he said, as he patted the neck. "We'll take it steadily this time, for you want little run for the jump. Now, up we go!"
He himself was surprised at the ease with which he reached the saddle. Without touching the stirrup he vaulted into his seat, and after the practice he had had his toes fell of themselves into the stirrups. He gathered up his reins, patted the neck again, and walked his horse up to the rails to let it have a good look. Then he turned about, till they were thirty paces away, and with a touch of knee and rein he swung the beast round. There was no need to tell the gallant animal what was wanted. Dudley felt it bound forward. It took the bit in its teeth, gathered its feet beneath it, and hopped over the rails as if they had been a foot in height only, Dudley sitting well down all the time. A minute later they faced round again, and this time, with a leap which left a foot of light between its heels and the rail, the horse sailed over the obstruction, animal and rider alighting together, and without a jar, on the outside of the corral. Dudley slipped out of his saddle, slung his gun across his shoulders, and vaulted again into the saddle. Not till then did he observe that a horseman had ridden up. It was Mr. Blunt, looking a splendid figure as he sat in his saddle. There was a look of pleasure on his face, and he rode right up to Dudley's side.
"Hurt?" he asked curtly. "No bones broken? Then you are lucky. I saw everything. I could have shouted as you rode at the corral, but I knew that if I did so the beast you rode might have been startled, and perhaps might have changed step at the jump. That would have meant perhaps a worse fall. You were determined to do that jump, lad?"