imself
behind his horse, while he took aim and fired. His never-failing rifle
brought down one of their enemies, a swarthy-looking man in the usual
Mexican sombrero, off his horse to the ground. In the twinkling of an
eye they led their horses behind some boulders of granite which
afforded them cover, and from behind which they saw four men come
charging down upon them. But Bradley and Don Luis, skilled in this kind
of warfare, had already stooped down and reloaded. Don Luis was the
first to let fly at the advancing party, but without success. His shot
was answered by a discharge of rifles from the enemy, which whistled
over his and Bradley's heads. Crack went Bradley's rifle again--"And
you would have thought," said Don Luis to us, "that the ball had split
into four pieces, and had given each man a tender touch, for they
wheeled round their horses in an instant, and galloped off, driving
Malcolm's horse before them, which we never saw again."

Don Luis then went on to say, that as soon as they saw the coast was
clear, they left their cover and sought out Malcolm, who was lying on
the ground with the lasso lightly pinioning his arms, and to all
appearance dead. On a closer examination, however, they found that he
still breathed, and also that he had been severely trampled on by some
of the horses of the robbers in their retreat. Bradley pulled out his
bowie-knife and cut the lasso in a few moments, when they tried to
raise him up, but found that the injuries he had sustained prevented
him from standing. He was, in fact, quite insensible. At that moment
they were alarmed by the sound of voices, and looking round they saw a
party of horsemen riding up at full speed from the direction of the
Sacramento. They gave themselves up for lost, but, to their delight,
the new-comers proved to be a party of miners, who hearing so many
rifle-reports in such rapid succession, had immediately hastened to the
spot. Don Luis supposed that the robbers had seen their approach, and
that this, and not the bullet from Bradley's rifle, had been the cause
of the scoundrels' precipitate retreat. They found the Indian's horse,
to the saddle of which the lasso was attached, quite dead. The Indian
himself had managed to crawl off, though doubtless much hurt, as Don
Luis saw the horse roll right over him. The body of the robber shot by
Bradley was found; life was quite extinct, the ball having passed
through his chest in a transverse direction, evid