light leap,
which landed him behind him.

It was a delicate and difficult task, and despite the skill with which
it was executed, both came within a hair of tumbling headlong to the
ground.

Quickly as it was done, it was not a moment too soon. The mortally
wounded Billy suddenly went forward, his nose ploughing up the snow and
earth, and after a few struggles all was over.

The action had not only increased the danger of both of the fugitives,
but it rendered the situation of the Irishman doubly perilous. Although
both leaned forward, they could not do so as effectually as when each
was on his own horse, and Tim of necessity was the more exposed of the
two.

Leaving Warren to guide and urge Jack, he gave his attention to the
Sioux, who did not relax their efforts, but whose relative situations,
owing to the varying speed of their horses, underwent a curious change
of position.

Two were riding abreast, and so far as Tim could see there was not the
least difference in the speed of their ponies. Behind them at a distance
of several rods came two others, holding precisely the same relative
positions, while the rest were strung along over the prairie, until it
looked as if the hindmost was a third of a mile distant.

Nothing was to be feared from them, but what of those that were so much
nearer?

That was the vital question that must soon be answered.

While the position of the Irishman was anything but pleasant, and with
the horse on a jump he was required to take the utmost care to maintain
his seat, he decided to try his gun once more.

This proved harder than he supposed. He could make no use of the saddle
in which young Starr sat, and when he sought to turn he would have
fallen, had he not kept one arm about the waist of his friend. And yet,
in the face of all this, he managed to get his Winchester in position
with the muzzle toward the leading Sioux.

Anything like aiming the weapon was out of the question, and it would
have been folly to expect that a second chance shot would favor him.
Nevertheless, the demonstration accomplished something unexpected. He
had done execution with one shot, and when the bucks saw the muzzle
pointing backward, they were scared.

The leaders naturally supposed they were the ones intended to serve as
targets, and they ducked their heads with such suddenness that the
Irishman grinned. Not only that, but one of them caused his
pony--probably through some inadvertent act on t