Grace already had slipped her feet from the stirrups, and, when the collision came, she too threw herself on the neck of the runaway.
"Ha—ang on! We'll stop him!" she cried, her arms now tightly encircling the runaway's neck, her feet dragging on the ground just as Elfreda's were.
By this time the two girls on the running pony's neck were surrounded by mounted cowboys.
"Let go! Jump clear so we kin rope him!" shouted Bud, for the men dared not rope and throw the horse, fearing that he might fall on one of the girls and crush her.
The cowboys did not seem to realize that neither girl would let go of her own free will until the runaway had been stopped.
The end came suddenly. The heavy burden on his neck was too much for the bronco, and, his knees weakening, all at once he stumbled and went down on his nose, then toppled over on his side, enveloped in a cloud of dust.
"They're caught!" shouted Hi Lang.
CHAPTER IV
PING WING MAKES A DISCOVERY
When the cowboys, with Hi Lang in the lead, reached the Overland girls, they discovered Grace Harlowe calmly sitting on the runaway bronco's head to hold him down.