Ned could hear the deep blowing of his horse’s lungs. He let it rest for a moment, even as the rest of the herd receded from them. He looked out at the cow’s little island, and saw that the sand wasn’t as firm as it looked. The cow’s hooves were sinking past its ankles. It kept ripping them free, but every tugged fetlock pushed the remaining three further into the muck.

Ned drew in a breath and tried to harden his body, his mind, as he pushed again into the river’s depths. He made straight for the sandbar. The horse did not fight him. After a few tight minutes it found purchase on the island and dragged them both up. The cow blinked at them. Ned immediately brought his horse to its rear, took a crop from his saddle and began pummelling the cow’s flank, exhorting it with shouts of abuse and encouragement.

Under this assault, and perhaps at seeing how far it now was from the herd, the cow finally managed to squelch off the sandbar and back into the river. But its energy was sapped. It had spent too much in its escape attempt, and even more in removing itself from the sucking sand. Ned felt it looking at him, exhaustion in its shuddering body. A wet plea in its eyes. The sea lapped at its mouth and nostrils. Ned circled it again, kicking harder at its side, wailing again with his crop. The cow sprayed water from its nose. It was struggling to keep its head above water.

A shout hit him. An arrhythmic splashing. He looked up and saw a rider approaching. A woman he hadn’t spoken to that morning or the previous night, on a tall black horse. She plunged into the depths, yelling something Ned couldn’t make out. When she reached him she took a rope from her saddle and threw it over, keeping hold of one end. Ned saw it land by the cow. Understood the rider’s plan.

He leaped from his horse and felt the weight of his shirt and boots double, triple, as they took on water. He stroked forward and took the rope in his hands, as his horse swam away from him. The cow was struggling, going nowhere but up and down. He tried to wrap the rope under its stomach, but couldn’t reach, and with the burden of his clothes, couldn’t dive under it. He splashed forward and clung to the creature’s head as he wrapped the rope around its thick neck, aware that he was putting it under further strain. It was becoming harder to swim, harder to stay afloat. He tied off the rope with a prayer that the knot would hold. The cow’s nose again went under. He held a thumb in the air.