"I can't understand what happened!" exclaimed Mr. Norton, as he rode on. "Those steers had all quieted down, when all of a sudden they started up again. Something must have happened." He glanced over toward the mound. The cattle were still headed toward it. Would the cowboys be able to turn them aside in time? "Head 'em off!" "Shoot at 'em!" "Head 'em away from that mound!" Thus cried the cowboys as they raced to the rescue. They were at rather a disadvantage, for their horses were winded and exhausted from the previous rushes to stop the pretended stampede, and now, when all their energies were needed to end a real one, the animals were not equal to the demand. "Do you think they can stop 'em?" asked Russ of a passing cowboy. The young operator was still at his camera, but he was not going to take any pictures if Ruth, Alice and the others were really in danger. "Of course we'll stop 'em!" cried the cowboy, with supreme confidence in his ability and that of his companions. "Then I might as well get a film of this," decided Russ. "It would be a pity to let a real stampede get away from me. I can cut out some of the other pictures." He ran to where he had left a spare camera and soon was grinding away at the handle, making views of a real and dangerous stampede. "Oh, what shall we do?" gasped Alice, as she clung to her sister on the mound of safety. "We can't do anything," answered Alice, solemnly--"except to wait. They may divide and pass to either side of us. I've read of such things happening." "Oh, if they come any nearer I'll faint--I know I shall!" murmured Miss Dixon. "That's the surest way to be trampled on," remarked Alice, calmly. "Just faint, and fall down and----" She paused significantly. "I sha'n't do anything of the kind!" cried the other actress with more spirit. "I won't do it just because you want me to! There!" It was a silly thing to say, but then, she was half-hysterical. In fact, all four were. "That's what I wanted to do--rouse her up," observed Alice to her sister. "It's our only safety--to remain upright. And we might try to frighten the cattle." "How?" asked Ruth. "Let's shout and yell--and wave things at them. We've got parasols. Let's wave them--open and shut them quickly. That will make flashes of color, and it may frighten the steers. Come on, girls--it's worth trying!" The others fell in with her plan at once, and the spectacle was presented of four young ladies, perched on a hill, toward which a thousand or more steers were rushing, waving their parasols, opening and shutting them and yelling at the top of their voices. "Are--are they stopping any?" asked Miss Pennington, anxiously. "I--I'm afraid not," faltered Alice. And then, just in the nick of time, there came riding around one side of the stampeding cattle a group of the Rocky Ranch cowboys. They had succeeded in reaching the head of the bunch of steers, and now had a chance to turn the excited cattle to one side--to mill them again.