the cave and brought out my gun, and
Aggie roused Mr. Muldoon and explained the situation to him. He grew
quite white.

"Good heavens!" he exclaimed. "What possessed her anyhow? To the
farmhouse! Why, they'll----"

His face more than his words convinced us that the matter was really
serious. He examined Aggie's revolver, which he mostly carried in his
hip pocket, and, going to the mouth of the cave, listened carefully.
Everything was quiet. The cave and both sides of the valley were in deep
shadow, but over the ridge of the Camel's Back across from us there was
still a streak of red sunset light. Mr. Muldoon looked and pointed.

Against the background of crimson cloud a man's figure stood out
clearly. He was peering down toward us, although in the dusk he could
hardly have seen us, and he carried a gun. Mr. Muldoon smiled faintly.

"Well, they've spotted me, I guess," he said. "I'd better move on before
I get you into trouble. They won't hurt women."

"Why don't you shoot him?" Aggie asked. "It would be one bandit less. If
you do arrest him, and he gets nearly all his sentence off for good
behavior, he'll be out again in no time, doing more mischief."

But at that moment we saw the man on the hill throw his gun to his
shoulder and aim at something moving below in the valley. Aggie
screamed, and I believe I did also.

"Tish!" cried Aggie. "He's shooting at Tish!" And at that instant the
bandit fired. He fired three times, and the noise of his gun echoed
backward and forward among the hills. We thought we heard a yell from,
the valley. Then the next second there was a faint crack from below and
the outlaw's gun flew out of his hands. Mr. Muldoon's jaw dropped. "Did
you see that?" he said feebly. "Did--you--see--that--shot?"

The outlaw disappeared from the skyline and perhaps ten minutes later
Tish crawled up to the cave and put down a tin pail full of milk, a
glass of jelly wrapped in a newspaper, and a basket of eggs. Aggie fell
on her and cried with joy.

"Be careful of those eggs," Tish warned her. "That outlaw charged me
forty cents a dozen."

"You gave him a good fright anyhow," said Aggie fondly.

"Fright?"

"When you shot at him."

"Oh, that one! I'm talking about the woman at the farm."

"And--the one on the hill over there?"

"Oh! Well, he fired at me and I fired back. That's all."

With an air of exaggerated indifference Tish swaggered into the cave and
took off her overshoes.

"Hurry up