render. As a last resource he had his revolver, and, if he
had to die, he would take some of the outlaws with him. The thud of hoofs
was nearer now, and bullets began to whiz past him. A voice that he
knew was that of the leader of the gang shouted to him to halt. Before
him was a thinning of the woods that indicated open country. On a level
course they could never get him. His second wind was coming back and he
would distance them yet. On, on, he went, running like the wind.

A few rods ahead the trail bent round in a sweeping curve, and as Bert
approached it on flying feet, he heard horsemen coming from that
direction. With a groan he halted. They had him surrounded, then. He had
no chance. The game was up. He drew his revolver and dropped on his knee
to aim.

And then round the curve with a rush and a roar, riding like fiends, came
Melton, Dick and Tom, with twenty cowboys at their back.

There was a wild whoop when they caught sight of Bert, and his comrades
flung themselves from the saddle and rushed toward him. Melton, without
dismounting, reached over and gave him a bear grip that said more than
words. Then he straightened up and rode on at the head of his men to meet
the rustlers.

The latter, however, did not await his coming. They broke and ran,
bending low over the necks of their horses. But Melton's blood was up and
he rode them down relentlessly. Rifle and revolver shots merged into one
crackling fusillade. The cornered outlaws fought to the last ditch when
overtaken, and no one asked for quarter. And when at last the fight was
over, five, including the captain, lay stretched lifeless upon the
ground. One, by hard riding and his knowledge of the country, had
escaped, and "Red," still looking dazed and foolish, was a prisoner.

The cowboys were for stringing him up on the spot, but Bert, who had
swung up behind Dick and been in at the finish, pleaded hard that his
life might be spared.

"You win," conceded Melton. "You've done too much for me to refuse you
anything. We'll turn him over to the sheriff, and he'll have all the
chance that's coming to him, which, between you and me, I think is mighty
little."

Then he turned to Pedro, who, as Bert now noticed for the first time, was
sitting tied upon his horse and guarded by two of the ranchmen.

"Cut his ropes," he commanded, "and turn him loose. I promised the hound
his life if he led me to the rustlers' camp, and I keep my word."

Melton gathered hi