“and is making for the next station as fast as his horse can carry him.
“Ye’re right, younker,” remarked Shagbark, who appeared at the side of the two with no more noise than that of the flitting shadows on the plain.
“Did he fire any of those shots?” asked Alden.
“He couldn’t; he don’t carry a rifle.”
“He has his revolver.”
“It’s easy to tell the difference atween the barking of a revolver and a big gun; there warn’t any pistol used. He run right into the hornet’s nest afore he seed it, and the varmints opened on him; he must have throwed himself forrard on his hoss and the animal scratched gravel as them ponies know how to do. Every shot missed ’em both; I reckon that rider will carry his gun after this, even if its adds to the weight of his load.”
“It seems to me,” said Alden, “that if those Indians intended to attack us they wouldn’t have fired at the express rider.”
“Why not?”
“Because it warns us of our danger.”
“Thar’s a heap of sense in what ye say,
