e field from the left. The men behind the cedars
fired now from within the enclosure at both men without exposing
themselves; but their shots flew wild, and the two horsemen rode up to
Claiborne, who had emptied his rifle into the cedars and was reloading.

"They are all together again, are they?" asked Armitage, pausing a few
yards from Claiborne's rock, his eyes upon the barricade.

"The gentleman with the curly hair--I drove him in. He is a damned poor
shot--yes?"

Oscar tightened his belt and waited for orders, while Armitage and
Claiborne conferred in quick pointed sentences.

"Shall we risk a rush or starve them out? I'd like to try hunger on
them," said Armitage.

"They'll all sneak off over the bridge to-night if we pen them up. If
they all go at once they'll break it down, and we'll lose our quarry. But
you want to capture them--alive?"

"I certainly do!" Armitage replied, and turned to laugh at Oscar, who had
fired at the barricade from the back of his horse, which was resenting
the indignity by trying to throw his rider.

The enemy now concentrated a sharp fire upon Armitage, whose horse
snorted and pawed the ground as the balls cut the air and earth.

"For God's sake, get off that horse, Armitage!" bawled Claiborne, rising
upon, the rock. "There's no use in wasting yourself that way."

"My arm aches and I've got to do something. Let's try storming them just
for fun. It's a cavalry stunt, Claiborne, and you can play being the
artillery that's supporting our advance. Fall away there, Oscar, about
forty yards, and we'll race for it to the wall and over. That barricade
isn't as stiff as it looks from this side--know all about it. There are
great chunks out of it that can't be seen from this side."

"Thank me for that, Armitage. I tumbled down a good many yards of it when
I played up here as a kid. Get off that horse, I tell you! You've got a
hole in you now! Get down!"

"You make me tired, Claiborne. This beautiful row will all be over in a
few minutes. I never intended to waste much time on those fellows when I
got them where I wanted them."

His left arm hung quite limp at his side and his face was very white. He
had dropped his rifle in the road at the moment the ball struck his
shoulder, but he still carried his revolver. He nodded to Oscar, and they
both galloped forward over the open ground, making straight for the cedar
covert.

Claiborne was instantly up and away between the two riders. T