“Gosh ding him, he didn’t stay dead!” blurted Slim; and out of the door he went.
Soup Lannigan, running like a rabbit, was heading for the brushy hills, when Slim went into his saddle, shook out his rope and gave chase. And Sadie was not far behind him.
Straight up over a brushy slope galloped Soup, bending every effort to gain deeper cover, while behind him pounded two running horses; and now he could hear the swish of a whirling loop. Again the engine whistled, as if cheering them on.
Down through a gully went Soup, where Slim was forced to detour; but a few moments later he was chased on to the next slope. For ten minutes they played hide-and-seek; but the hard riding cowboy won, when Soup essayed to cross a fifty foot stretch of open country to gain a mesquite patch.
The loop caught Soup in mid-air and brought him down on his neck in a cat-claw bush.
The jerk of the rope knocked all the fight out of the hard-faced yegg, who was content to lie there and goggle at the sky. Slim kept the rope tight and waited for Sadie to join him.
“What are you goin’ to do with him, Slim?” asked Sadie.
“Huh! I dunno. Prob’ly turn him over to them folks.”
“Did you know it was a holdup, Slim, dear?” asked Sadie.