and--they--ain't---no notion o' stoppin' this side of the ranch
corrals."

Ruth understood him. She stared straight ahead with a gaze that became
almost stony. This leading wagon was heading for the break of a ravine
into which the trail plunged at a sharp angle. If the mules were swerved
at the curve the heavy wagon would surely overturn.

In twenty seconds the catastrophe would happen!




CHAPTER XV

PURSUING DANGER


When a mule is once going, it is just as stubborn about stopping as it
is about being started if it feels balky. The leading span attached to
the covered wagon in which Ruth and her two chums, Helen Cameron and
Jennie Stone, rode had now communicated their own fright to the four
other animals. All six were utterly unmanageable.

"Do tell him to stop, Ruth!" shrieked Jennie Stone from the rear of the
wagon.

The next moment she shot into the air as the wheels on one side bounced
over an outcropping boulder. She came down clawing at Helen to save
herself from flying out of the end of the wagon.