ied Dave, in a broken voice. "Not--not dead?"

"Shot through the heart!"

Dave Naab flung Snap backward, almost off his horse. "D--n you! run, or
I'll kill you. And you, Holderness! Remember! If we ever meet again--you
draw!" He tore a branch from a cedar and slashed both horses. They
plunged out of the glade, and clattering over the stones, brushing the
cedars, disappeared. Dave groped blindly back toward his brothers.

"Zeke, this's awful. Another murder by Snap! And my friend!... Who's
to tell father?"

Then Hare sat up, leaning against the stone, his shirt open and his bare
shoulder bloody; his face was pale, but his eyes were smiling. "Cheer
up, Dave. I'm not dead yet."

"Sure he's not," said Zeke. "He ducked none too soon, or too late, and
caught the bullet high up in the shoulder."

Dave sat down very quietly without a word, and the hand he laid on
Hare's knee shook a little.

"When I saw George go for his gun," went on Zeke, "I knew there'd be a
lively time in a minute if it wasn't stopped, so I just said Jack was
dead."

"Do you think they came over to get me?" asked Hare.

"No doubt," replied Dave, lifting his face and wiping the sweat from his
brow. "I knew that from the first, but I was so dazed by Snap's going
over to Holderness that I couldn't keep my wits, and I didn't mark Snap
edging over till too late."

"Listen, I hear horses," said Zeke, looking up from his task over Hare's
wound.

"It's Billy, up on the home trail," added George "Yes, and there's
father with him. Good Lord, must we tell him about Snap?"

"Some one must tell him," answered Dave.

"That'll be you, then. You always do the talking."

August Naab galloped into the glade, and swung himself out of the
saddle. "I heard a shot. What's this? Who's hurt?--Hare! Why--lad--how
is it with you?"

"Not bad," rejoined Hare.

"Let me see," August thrust Zeke aside. "A bullet-hole--just missed the
bone--not serious. Tie it up tight. I'll take him home to-morrow....
Hare, who's been here?"

"Snap rode in and left his respects."

"Snap! Already? Yet I knew it--I saw it. You had Providence with you,
lad, for this wound is not bad. Snap surprised you, then?"

"No. I knew it was coming."

"Jack hung his belt and gun on Silvermane's saddle," said Dave. "He
didn't feel as if he could draw on either Snap or Holderness--"

"Holderness!"

"Yes. Snap rode in with Holderness. Hare thought if he was unarmed they
wouldn't draw. But Sna