distant, and he turned at
about the instant that Calumet saw him. That instant was enough for
Calumet, for as the man turned his face was bathed for a fraction of a
second in the moonlight, and Calumet recognized him. It was Neal
Taggart.

Calumet halted. His six-shooter roared at the exact second that the
man buried his spurs in the flanks of his horse and threw himself
forward upon its neck.

The bullet must have missed him only by a narrow margin, but it did
miss, for he made no sign of injury. His instant action in throwing
himself forward had undoubtedly saved his life. Calumet swung the
pistol over his head and brought it down to a quick level, whipping
another shot after the fleeing rider. But evidently the latter had
anticipated the action, for as he rode he jumped his horse from one
side to another, and as the distance was already great, and growing
greater, he made an elusive target.

Calumet saw his failure and stood silent, watching until Taggart was
well out into the valley, riding hard, a cloud of dust enveloping him.
A yell reached Calumet from the distance--derisive, defiant, mocking.
Calumet cursed then, giving voice to his rage and disappointment.

He went glumly around to the front of the house and closed the door to
the office. When he stepped off the porch, afterward, intending to go
around the way he had come in order to enter the house, he heard a
voice above him, and turned to see Dade, his head sticking out of an
upstairs window, his hair in disorder, his eyes bulging, a forty-five
gleaming in his hand. Back of him, his head over Dade's shoulder,
stood Malcolm, and Bob's thin face showed between the two.

At another window, one of the front ones, was Betty. Of the four who
were watching him, Betty seemed the least excited; it seemed to Calumet
as he looked at her that there was some amusement in her eyes.

"Lordy!" said Dade as Calumet looked up at him, "how you scairt me!
Was it you shootin'? An' what in thunder was you shootin' _at_?"

"A snake," said Calumet in a voice loud enough for Betty to hear.

"A snake! Holy smoke!" growled Dade in disgust. "Wakin' people up at
this time of the night because you wanted to shoot at a measly snake.
Tomorrow we'll lay off for an hour or so an' I'll take you where you
can shoot 'em to your heart's content. But, for the love of Pete, quit
shootin' at 'em when a guy's asleep."

Calumet looked up sardonically, not at Dade, but at Betty