m south!" I cried.

And Rex Krane, like a centaur, swirled by me to do the thing I ordered.
Behind me rode Beverly Clarenden bareheaded, his face aglow with power.
As I looked back the dust engulfed him for a moment, and then I heard an
arrow sing, and a sharp cry of pain. The dust had lifted and Beverly and
a huge Indian, the tallest I have ever seen, were grappling together, a
scalping-knife gleaming in the morning light. I dashed forward and
felled the savage with the butt of my revolver. He leaped to his feet
and sprang at me just as Beverly, with unerring aim, sent a blaze of
fire between us. As the savage fell again, my cousin seized his pony;
and with an arrow still swinging to his arm, dashed into the chase, and
left it only when the stock, with the loss of less than a fourth, was
driven up the river's sandy bank and over the swell into the camp
inclosure.

Meantime, Jondo at the front of his men charged into the very center of
the savage battle-line as, furious for blood, they threshed across the
narrow draw--the disciplined arm and courageous heart against a
blood-thirsty foe. A charge, a falling back, another surge to win the
lost ground, a steady holding on and sure advance, and then Jondo, with
one triumphant shout of victory, struck the last fierce blow that sent
the Kiowas into full flight toward the northwest, and the day was won.

Out by the river, a sudden dullness seized me. I lifted my eyes to see
Beverly free and Rex directing the charge; cattle, mules, and ponies
turned back toward safety, and something crawling and writhing about my
feet; Jondo's great shout of victory far away, it seemed, miles and
miles to the north; a cloud of dust sweeping toward me; the crimson east
aflame like the Day of judgment; the dust cloud rolling nearer; the
yellow sands and slow-moving waters of the Arkansas; and six silent
stalwart Kiowa braves, with snaky black eyes, looking steadily at me.
Shadows, and the dust cloud upon me. Then all was night.

XII

THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE PLAINS

Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether,
But we do not fall on the neck, nor kiss when we come together.
--"A SONG OF THE ENGLISH."

The whole thing was clear now, clear as the big white day that suddenly
beamed along the prairies, scattering the clouds into gray strands
against the upper heavens. The treachery of the Kiowas had been cleverly
executed. Word of their