e outlaw, half-turning to cover Scott,
fired. The cat-like agility of the Indian answered the move in the
instant it was made. Scott was, in fact, the first scout from whom
mountain men learned to fire a revolver without aiming it and it was
not without reason that Levake sought no encounter with him. For Scott
to draw and fire was but one movement, and hating Levake as a monster,
the Indian had long been ready to meet him as he met him now, when he
should be forced to face him fairly.

A fusillade of shots rang down the street. The air between the two
men, feinting like boxers in their deadly duel, filled with whitish
smoke. Arnold, stunned by the suddenness of the encounter, jumped out
of range. In the next moment he saw Levake sink to the sidewalk.
Scott, springing upon him like a cat, knelt with one hand already on
his throat; with the other he wrung a second revolver from Levake's
hand. The surgeon ran to the two men.

Levake, panting, lay desperately wounded, as Scott slowly released his
grip upon him. The Indian rose as the surgeon approached, but Levake,
his eyes wide open, lay still.

"You are wounded, Bob," cried Arnold, tearing the stained sleeve of
Scott's coat from his shoulder. The scout shook his head.

"We're in danger here," he replied, glancing hurriedly up the street.
"We must get this fellow away."

The two picked the wounded man from the ground and started quickly
down street with him. The shooting, now so frequent all over the town,
had attracted little attention outside the few that had witnessed the
swift duel, and the two railroad men made good progress with their
burden before the alarm was spread. But the surgeon saw that the
strain was telling on Scott, whose shoulder was bleeding freely. He
had even ordered his companion to drop his burden and run, when he
heard a shout and saw Bill Dancing running across from the barricade
to their aid.

[Illustration: FOR SCOTT TO DRAW AND FIRE WAS BUT ONE MOVEMENT.]

Half a dozen of the rioters, shouting threats and imprecations, were
hastening down Front Street after Levake and his captors to rescue
their prisoner. Scott, reloading his revolver as Dancing relieved him
of his end of the burden, stood free to cover the retreat. He fired a
warning shot at the nearest of their pursuers. A scattering pistol
fire at long range followed. But the railroad men crossed the square
in safety, and the big lineman, with Levake in his arms, carried him
single-