e to take advantage of it.
Dropping from the rear of the wagon, he made a leap for the gully,
landing in its bottom upon all fours. He heard a crash, and a bullet
flattened itself against one of the rocks above his head.

"He ain't so slow, after all," he admitted grudgingly, referring to the
concealed marksman.

He kneeled in the gully and looked cautiously over its edge. The wagon
was directly in front of him; part of one of the rear wheels was in his
line of vision. The horses were standing quietly, undisturbed by the
shots. He resolved to keep them where they were, and, exercising the
greatest care, he found a good-sized rock and stuck it under the front
of the rear wheel nearest him, thus blocking the wagon against them
should they become restless.

The moon was at his back, and he grinned with satisfaction as he noted
that the rocks behind him threw a deep shadow into the gully. He could
not help thinking that his enemy, whoever he was, had not made a happy
selection of a spot for an ambuscade, for the moonlight's glare
revealed every rock on the other side of the wagon, and the few trees
in the wood behind the rocks were far too slender to provide shelter
for a man of ordinary size. Calumet chuckled grimly as, with his head
slightly above the edge of the gully and concealed behind the felloes
of the wagon wheel, he made an examination of the rocks beyond the
wagon.

There were four of the rocks which were of sufficient size to afford
concealment for a man. They varied in size and were ranged along the
side of the trail in an irregular line. All were about a hundred feet
distant.

The smaller one, he decided, was not to be considered, though he looked
suspiciously at it before making his decision. Its neighbor was
larger, though he reasoned that if he were to make a selection for an
ambuscade he would not choose that one either. The other two rocks
were almost the same size and he watched them warily. To the right and
left of these rocks was a clear space, flat and open, with not a tree
or a bush large enough to conceal danger such as he was in search of.
The slope up which he had just driven the horses was likewise free from
obstruction, so that if his enemy was behind any of the rocks he was
doomed to stay there or offer himself as a target for Calumet's pistol.

"Wise, I reckon," he sneered. "Figgered to plug me while the horses
was restin', knowin' I'd have to breathe them about here. Thoug