ble. One got knocked out entirely for a minute, by a nice piece of
country rock in the head.

"Otra vez!" yells I, which means "again."

"Boom!" goes the Ole Virginia prompt as an answer.

I put in my time dodging, but when I gets a chance to look, the Apaches
has all got to cover, and is looking scared.

"Otra vez!" yells I again.

"Boom!" says the Ole Virginia.

This was the biggest shot of the lot, and she surely cut loose. I
ought to have been half-way up the bill watching things from a safe
distance, but I wasn't. Lucky for me the shaft was a little on the
drift, so she didn't quite shoot my way. But she distributed about a
ton over those renegades. They sort of half got to their feet
uncertain.

"Otra vez!" yells I once more, as bold as if I could keep her shooting
all day.

It was just a cold, raw blazer; and if it didn't go through I could see
me as an Apache parlour ornament. But it did. Those Chiricahuas give
one yell and skipped. It was surely a funny sight, after they got
aboard their war ponies, to see them trying to dig out on horses too
tired to trot.

I didn't stop to get all the laughs, though. In fact, I give one jump
off that ledge, and I lit a-running. A quarter-hoss couldn't have beat
me to that shack. There I grabbed old Meat-in-the-pot and made a climb
for the tall country, aiming to wait around until dark, and then to
pull out for Benson. Johnny Hooper wasn't expected till next day,
which was lucky. From where I lay I could see the Apaches camped out
beyond my draw, and I didn't doubt they'd visited the place. Along
about sunset they all left their camp, and went into the draw, so
there, I thinks, I sees a good chance to make a start before dark. I
dropped down from the mesa, skirted the butte, and angled down across
the country. After I'd gone a half mile from the cliffs, I ran across
Johnny Hooper's fresh trail headed towards camp!

My heart jumped right up into my mouth at that. Here was poor old
Johnny, a day too early, with a pack-mule of grub, walking innocent as
a yearling, right into the bands of those hostiles. The trail looked
pretty fresh, and Benson's a good long day with a pack animal, so I
thought perhaps I might catch him before he runs into trouble. So I
ran back on the trail as fast as I could make it. The sun was down by
now, and it was getting dusk.

I didn't overtake him, and when I got to the top of the canon I crawled
along very cautious and