"Hi--yi!" yelled the cowboys. "Hi--yi!" Bang! Bang! boomed the revolvers. "Shoot right in their faces!" cried Buster Jones, as he fired point blank at the steers. Most of the cowboys had blank cartridges in their pistols for the purpose of making a noise. But others had real bullets, and with these some of the wildest of the steers were killed. It was absolutely necessary to do this to stop the rush. And this was just what was needed, for the fallen cattle tripped up others and soon there was a mound of the living bodies on the ground, offering an effectual barrier to those behind. The cattle were now almost at the hill where the four young ladies stood in fear and trembling, but with the advent of the cowboys new hope had come to them. "Now we're all right!" cried Alice, joyfully. "How do you know?" Miss Pennington wanted to know. "You'll see. They'll stop the stampede," was the confident answer. And this was done. With the piling up of some of the steers into an almost inextricable mass, and the dividing of the other bunch just as they reached the foot of the mound, the danger to the girls was over. In two streams of living animals the steers passed on either side of the little hill, and after running a short distance farther they came to a halt, being taken in charge by other cowboys who rode up from the rear on fresh horses. Other horses were brought up for the girls to ride, as they were too weak and "trembly" to walk. Besides, it is always safer to be in the saddle among the lot of Western steers. "Oh, what a narrow escape!" panted Miss Dixon. "It was," agreed Alice. "But it shows you what cowboys can do! It was just splendid!" she cried to Baldy Johnson, who was riding beside her. "Glad you liked it, Miss," he responded, breathing hard, "but it was rather hot work all around." "You're not hurt; are you, girls?" cried Mr. DeVere as he came up to them, having had no part in the drama, but having heard in the ranch house of the real stampede. "Not a bit, Daddy!" answered Alice. "I don't believe the steers would have trampled us anyhow." "Well," remarked Baldy, slowly. "I don't want to scare you; but for a minute there I thought it was all up with you--I did for a fact." "Some stampede!" cried Paul, as he rode up, looking almost like a cowboy himself. "And some film!" laughed Russ, delighted that he had gotten one of the real stampede, now that his friends were out of danger. "But I can't understand it," said Mr. Norton. "What started the cattle off the second time? They were really frightened at something." "Did you see those men over that way?" asked the ranch owner, pointing in the direction where he had observed the retreating cowboy band. "I saw 'em," admitted Pete, "but I thought they were some of our boys that you'd sent up to the North pasture." "They weren't from Rocky Ranch!" declared the owner of the Circle Dot outfit.