CHAPTER XXIV

A MYSTERY SOLVED


Frank, after that one spasm of alarm, gritted his teeth, and thought
fast. He had heard the rancher, as well as the cowboys, speak of the
terrors of the stampede, when the cattle were in a frenzy, through fear,
and utterly beyond all management.

He knew that frequently experienced cowmen, caught in the rush of a
thousand lumbering steers, had been ground to death under countless
hoofs. It was so in the old days, when bison dotted the plains of the
great West.

Mounted on a good horse, one might hope to ride clear of the advancing
avalanche of hoofs and horns. But his steed was lame, and hardly able to
limp along. The situation was one calculated to arouse a boy as he had
never been awakened before in all his life.

Frank jumped upon the back of his horse. He knew instantly that his one
hope must lie in getting clear of the immense herd; and that this could
only be done by either riding faster than they were going down the wide
valley, or in making for the nearest hillside, where trees would offer
him a refuge.

He chose the latter. Flight in a straightaway course was utterly out of