val. Quickly the fellow mounted his horse, and, before they could
stop him, was out of sight in the timber.

"I've done it now," exclaimed Patches in dismay. "I forgot all about
Joe."

"I don't think he counts for much in this game anyway," returned Phil,
gruffly.

As he spoke, the foreman turned his back to Patches and walked toward
his gun. He had reached the spot where the weapon lay on the ground,
when, from the bushes to the right, and a little back of Patches, who
stood watching his companion, a shot rang out with startling suddenness.

Patches saw Phil stumble forward, straighten for an instant, as though
by sheer power of his will, and, turning, look back at him. Then, as
Phil fell, the unarmed cowboy leaped forward toward that gun on the
ground. Even as he moved, a second shot rang out and he felt the wind of
the bullet on his cheek. With Phil's gun in his hand, he ran toward a
cedar tree on the side of the open space opposite the point from which
the shots came, and as he ran another bullet whistled past.

A man moving as Patches moved is not an easy mark. The same man armed,
and protected by the trunk of a tree, is still more difficult. A moment
after he had gained cover, the cowboy heard the clatter of a horse's
feet, near the spot from which the shots had come, and by the sound knew
that the unseen marksman had chosen to retire with only half his evident
purpose accomplished, rather than take the risk that had arisen with
Patches' success in turning the ambush into an open fight.

As the sound of the horse's swift rush down the side of the ridge grew
fainter and fainter, Patches ran to Phil.

A quick examination told him that the bullet had entered just under the
right shoulder, and that the man, though unconscious and, no doubt,
seriously wounded, was living.

With rude bandages made by tearing his shirt into strips Patches checked
the flow of blood, and bound up the wound as best he could. Then for a
moment he considered. It was between three and four miles to the ranch.
He could ride there and back in a few minutes. Someone must start for a
doctor without an instant's loss of time. With water, proper bandages
and stimulants, the wounded man could be cared for and moved in the
buckboard with much greater safety than he could be carried in his
present condition on a horse. The risk of leaving him for a few minutes
was small, compared to the risk of taking him to the house under the
only conditions