es open all round--specially on the
horses. When the gate is open I'll shout, and you'll run down to the
shed wi' the women.--You understand?" Crux nodded.

Acting on this plan Dick ran to the gate; Jackson followed, rifle in
hand, and, having reached the middle of the fort, he faced round; only
just in time to see a gun barrel raised from behind a shed. Before he
could raise his own weapon a shot was heard and the gun-barrel
disappeared, while the Indian who raised it fell wounded on the ground.

"Well done, Crux!" he exclaimed, at the same moment firing his own rifle
at a head which was peeping round a corner. The head vanished instantly
and Darvall rejoined him, having thrown the gate wide open.

"Come round wi' me an' drive the reptiles out," cried Jackson. At the
same time he uttered a roar that a bull might have envied, and they both
rushed round to the back of the outhouses where three Indians were found
skulking.

At the sudden and unexpected onslaught, they fired an ineffectual volley
and fled wildly through the now open gate, followed by several shots
from both pursuers, whose aim, however, was no better than their own had
been.

Meanwhile Crux and the girls, having reached the shed according to
orders, mounted their respective steeds and awaited their comrades.
They had not long to wait. Jackson and Dick came round the corner of
the shed at full speed, and, without a word, leaped simultaneously into
their saddles.

"Keep close to me, girls,--close up!" was all that Jackson said as he
dashed spurs into his horse, and, sweeping across the yard and through
the gate, made straight for that part of the woods where yells, shouts,
and firing told that a battle was raging furiously.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

THE RESCUE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

The ground in the neighbourhood of the ranch favoured the operations of
an attacking party, for it was so irregular and so cumbered with knolls
and clumps of trees that the defenders of the post scarce dared to make
a sally, lest their retreat should be cut off by a detached party of
assailants.

Hence Jackson would never have dreamed of quitting his house, or ceasing
to act on the defensive, had he not been under the natural impression
that it was his own returning cow-boys who had been attacked and
out-numbered by the Indians. Great, therefore, was his surprise when,
on rounding a bluff and coming into view of the battle-field, the party
engaged with the India