One by one he passed the steers in his path, and just before he reached the entrance to Devil's Hole he passed the foremost steer.
Glancing back as Streak thundered through the neck of the Hole, Sanderson saw Soapy coming, not more than a hundred yards behind.
Soapy had succeeded in getting clear of the great body of steers, but there were a few still running ahead of him, and he was riding desperately to pass them.
Just as Sanderson looked back he saw Soapy's horse stumble.

He recovered, ran a few steps and stumbled again.

This time he went to one knee.

He tried desperately to rise, fell again, and went down, neighing shrilly in terror.
Sanderson groaned and tried to pull Streak up.

But the animal refused to heed the pull on the reins and plunged forward, unheeding.
There would have been no opportunity to save Soapy, even if Streak had obeyed his master.