If Jed thought Jenny was trying to hide under her horse's belly, he was mistaken. True, she had caught on to riding a well trained mount in short time. But, Jed —assuming that the girl he loved could do anything— didn't realize that what he had made look so easy, was not something that could be acquired in one month, or even one year, no matter how brave and bold the rider. When Jenny's horse spooked from the sudden noise of such an unfamiliar object descending out of the sky, she had fallen.

Worse, her foot had not slipped out of the rope stirrup. Jed looked back just in time to see Jenny's runaway horse dragging her by one leg. Because the terrain was steep, there were only two ways the horse could try to escape from the perceived danger. Retreating downhill would have been the logical choice, but frightened horses rarely stop to think. Ignoring the girl bouncing along the ground, just out of reach of being trampled to death, Jenny's mount charged directly into the herd ahead. The danger was that the whole string would stampede, and Jenny would be caught in the middle.

Jed also had only two ways out of his predicament. From the deadly attack they had experienced in the Power Wagon, he knew running, exposed, to rescue Jenny would be suicide. For all of them.

Fortunately, the horsepacker was the type of person who was able to slow down sequence of events in his inner mind, and act accordingly, instead of panicking. He crossed under the belly of his horse to the side, away from the view of the helicopter. Then, with only a leg gripping over the withers, and a hand holding the Paso Fino's head, he maneuvered his very skitterish mount into trotting towards Jenny's horse. With his other hand he reached for a knife.

Then with precise timing, he let go and rolled to the left. One arm was brought up to protect head and face, streamlining the body so his momentum would carry him down the hill to Jenny. One slash of the razor sharp blade was enough to sever the parachute cord. United again as one, they continued the roll on downward, into a bush.

"Let's see if we can call Artillio without giving away our position to the spy-in-the sky," Jed suggested once he had regained normal breathing. Their guide was busy at the moment, rounding up loose horses. Another Choco´ was boldly shooting arrows at the hovering chopper. Through the cover of the bush, even without his field glasses which had disappeared in the pandemonium, he could look into the bubble of the iron bird. The fellow he knew as Kearns seemed to be enjoying the chaos he had caused.

"What do you know about crows? And scarecrows?" Jed asked as he wiped mud off Jenny's face, to keep her from thinking about what might have happened.