hrough such mistakes;
and now he was trapped. At the point where he stood, the shelf ended
abruptly "in the air"; and between him and the exit at the other end
of the platform was Haig. The trail had come down to about the middle
of this platform, which was like an unrailed balcony, scarce three
feet in width, with a high wall of rock on one side, and on the other
a straight drop of twenty feet to a veritable chute of stones that
terminated in a widespread litter of debris on the meadow.

"Caught like a rat!" cried Haig. "I've got you now!"

But what could he do with him? His rope was useless on that meager
footing, where there was barely room for his horse to stand, much less
for Haig to swing a noose. And worse: if Sunnysides was trapped, so
was his enemy; for the horse was already, through fright or
belligerency, moving slowly toward Haig. In a flash it was clear to
Haig that the outlaw meant to have it out with him then and there; and
that there would be no time to turn Trixy, and find the outlet into
the valley.

"It's too bad, but--"

He drew his revolver, and waited. There was yet a chance, he thought,
or hoped, that the horse would halt, and postpone the issue. He did
not want to kill him; he had not come across Thunder Mountain to kill
him; he had come to take him back to Paradise Park. And so he
waited--fatally. The outlaw came slowly until half the space between
him and Haig had been covered. Then, at a distance of perhaps a
hundred feet, when no choice was left to him, Haig swung up his gun,
and fired. At that very instant, Sunnysides uttered a savage cry, a
shrill neigh ending in a scream; and, charged at the horse and rider
in his path.

Haig fired again, and missed; threw himself forward on Trixy's neck,
jerked the pony's head in toward the wall, and fired again; and
missed. He tried to shoot once more, into the very face of the
oncoming brute, but too late. There was a vision of flaming black eyes
and white teeth, in a yellow blur; and then a tremendous impact, a
crash. Trixy was flung back on her haunches, with one hind leg over
the edge of the shelf, Haig barely hanging in the saddle. The outlaw
leaped back, and lunged again; thrust himself between Trixy and the
wall; toppled pony and rider off into the void; and passed on, with a
shriek of triumphant rage.

Haig and Trixy turned in the air, struck the chute of stones and sand,
and rolled over and over as they went down in a flying slide of
de