Butte responded instantly. Uttering a grunt, both hind heels went into the air before Judy had succeeded in getting her feet into the stirrups.
The mountain girl made a quick reach for the swinging stirrups and missed, whereupon the mustang leaped clear of the ground, coming down stiffly on all four feet, head down with hind quarters shooting into the air. Judy was catapulted over his head and landed on her back with a whack that should have knocked all the breath out of her.
Tom Gray made a quick spring for the pony’s head and grabbed the bridle. The pony fought him, but a firm grip on the animal’s nose shut off his breathing and subdued him in a moment.
The girls ran to Judy just as she sat up. Judy was a little dazed, but she grinned.
“Oh, you poor girl! You’re hurt,” cried Nora.
“Mebby I be, but I reckon the ground is hurt worse. Anyhow what happened to me an’ the ground ain’t a flea-bite to what’s goin’ to happen to Butte afore we gets home. Say, Emma! I don’t reckon as I’ll say that word to Pap all of a sudden. I’m too dad-busted sore now to have another fight on my hands tonight, and I’ll be sorer by the time I gets home. I’m goin’ to ride him this time.”
Judy again flung herself into the saddle, and this time both feet caught the stirrups. The mustang instantly threw himself into another buck. The spur dug into him harder and harder and Judy’s whip came down on his flank again and again. A leap carried them clear of the Overland party, and for the next few moments they were treated to the most spirited exhibition of horsemanship that they had ever seen. Old Bindloss was shaking with laughter, and the cowpunchers were howling with delight and firing their six-shooters into the air.
“She’s got him!” cried Emma. “Oh, I wish I could ride like that. There she comes!”
Judy, who was by now a full quarter of a mile out in the valley, had whirled and was driving straight at them. On she came, the pony’s efforts to unseat its rider growing less and less, as its speed increased.
“Whoo—pe-e-e-e!” yelled Judy in her shrill, high-pitched voice as she reached the Overlanders, and turning, tore off down the valley where she was soon lost to sight in a cloud of dust.