Much depended upon coolness; somewhere he had heard that it was a mistake for a bitten man to exert himself in the first few minutes following a bite; exertion caused the virus to circulate more rapidly through the system.

And so he rode at an even pace, carefully avoiding the rough spots, though keeping as closely to the trail as possible.
"If it hadn't been a diamond-back--an' a five-foot one--this rope that I've got around my leg might be enough to fool him," he said once, aloud.

"But I reckon he's got me." His eyes lighted savagely for an instant.

"But I got him, too.

Had the nerve to think that he could get away after throwin' his hooks into me." Presently his eyes caught the saffron light that glowed in the western sky.