result; Alcatraz did not change his position; but inch by inch the rope crept in to him; he at length could shift holds, whipping his right hand in advance of the left and tugging again.  There was more rapid progress, now, but as the first frenzy of nervous energy was dissipated, a tremor of exhaustion passed through his limbs and the beat of his heart redoubled until he was well-nigh stifled.  True, the rope was coming in hand over hand, now, but another danger.  The head of Alcatraz was sinking, his nostrils distended to the bursting point, his eyes red and bulging from their sockets.  He was being throttled by the grip of the slip knot; and an instant later his head disappeared beneath the surface.

Then all weakness passed from Red Perris; there was invigorating wine in the air he breathed; a vast power clothed him suddenly and while the frenzy endured he drew Alcatraz swiftly in from the gripping currents and to the comparatively mild swirl of water where he stood.  Wavering, distorted, and dim as an image in a dull mirror, he saw the form of the horse float towards him beneath the water.  Still the frenzy was on him.  It enabled him to spring from his place, tear the strangling noose from the neck of the stallion, and lifting that lifeless head in both hands struggle towards the shore.  The water buoyed a weight which he could not otherwise have budged; he stumbled in the shoaling gravel to his knees, rose again lifting and straining, until blackness rushed across his eyes; and he pitched forward on his face.

He wakened in a whipping rain that stung the back of his neck and as he propped himself on his arms he found that he had been lying across the neck and shoulders of the stallion.  That much of him, and the slender forelegs, was clear of the water.  But had he not brought a dead thing to land?

He bent his cheek to the nostrils of Alcatraz, but he felt no breath.  He came reeling to his knees and slid his hand beneath the water to the heart of the horse; he felt no reassuring throb.  Yet he could not be sure that the end was indeed come, for the blood raged and surged through his brain and waves of violent trembling passed over him so that his sense of touch might well belie the truth.  How long had he lain unconscious—­a minute or an hour?

At least, he must try to get the body farther ashore.  Alas, his strength hardly sufficed now to raise the head alone and when he made his effort his legs crumpled beneath him.  There he sat with the head of Alcatraz in his lap—­he the hunter and this the hunted!

There was small measure of religion in Red Perris but now, in helplessness, he raised his trembling hands to the stormy grey of the sky above him.

“God A’mighty,” said Red Perris, “I sure ain’t done much to make You listen to me, but I got this to say:  that if they’s a call for something to die right now it ain’t the hoss that’s to blame.  It’s me that hounded him into the river.  Alcatraz ain’t any pet, but he’s sure lived according to his rights.  Let him live and I’ll let him go free.  I got no right to him.  I didn’t make him.  I never owned him.  But let him stand up on his four legs again; let me see him go galloping once more, the finest hoss that ever bucked a fool man out of the saddle, and I’ll call it quits!”