They followed along the bank as the current swept horse and rider down.
"He swims too high--he's playin' out--there's so much mud he'll choke up quick. It'll soon be over now." Pinkey's face wore a queer, half-frightened grin. "Fifty yards more and----"
Wallie commenced to uncoil his saddle rope.
Wallie made no answer but touched his horse and galloped until he was ahead of Canby and the drowning horse. Making a megaphone of his hands he yelled.
A slow, tantalizing smile came to Wallie's face. Very distinctly he called back:
"How much damages will you give me for driving your cattle into my wheat?"
The rope Wallie had been swinging about his head to test the loop promptly dropped.
The horse was swimming lower at every stroke.
"Five hundred!" Fear and rage were in Canby's choking voice.
"Put another cipher on that to cover my mental anguish!" Wallie mocked.
The horse was exhausting itself rapidly with its efforts merely to keep its nose out, making no further attempt to swim toward the bank. Canby slapped water in its face in the hope of turning it, but it was too late. Its breathing could be heard plainly and its distended nostrils were blood-red.
Many things passed swiftly through Canby's calculating mind in the few seconds that remained for him to decide.
His boots had filled and he was soaked to the waist; he knew that if he left the horse and swam for it he had small chance of success. He was not a strong swimmer at best, and even if he managed to get to the bank its sides were too high and steep for him to climb out without assistance. He looked at Wallie's implacable face, but he saw no weakening there, it was a matter of a moment more when the horse would go under and come up feet first.
"Throw me the rope!" His voice vibrating with chagrin and rage admitted his defeat.
Wallie measured the distance with his eye, adjusted the loop, and as it cut the air above his head Canby held up his hands to catch it when it dropped.
"Good work!" Pinkey cried as it shot out and hit its mark. "You never made a better throw than that, old kid!"
Canby slipped the loop under his arm and, as he took his feet from the stirrups, shouted for them to tighten up.
The horse, relieved of his weight, took heart and struck out for the opposite bank, where a little dirt slide enabled it to scramble out. Shaking and dripping, at last it stood still at the top, while Canby, a dead weight, was dragged over the edge to dry land.