isorder. This disorder, this evident nervousness, he feared. He
knew somehow that the first real trouble would come from this source. He
knew men to that extent. And suddenly his fears were realized. With the
three converging lines of direction drawing closer, and the mouth of the
canyon but a short distance away, out of this group on his left came a
nasty rifle-fire, followed by a mighty chorus of yells. There was a
result at once. Close beside him a horse stumbled; the man astride the
horse was thrown headlong; from the cavalrymen on his right came a
single shrill, piercing outcry--a cry to desist! But he did not
understand this. Nor did he heed it. Galloping forward, eyes upon the
ever-nearing canyon, he at length became grimly conscious of approaching
defeat--of the firm and ruthless closing in upon him from either side of
the two bands. And now, and not till now, realizing as he did that the
thing was beyond him, that he could not reach the canyon first--now, and
not till now, though soul and body were wrecked by exhaustion, Pat
abated his speed.

Instantly pandemonium broke loose. He heard the firing on his left
increasing. He felt his master make ready to return it. He saw others
around him, twisting vengefully into position, open with repeating
rifles. Then the cavalrymen, evidently forced into it by the others,
swung to the fray with their carbines, which began to boom on his right.
The whole basin echoed and re-echoed sharp reports. Across his eyes
burst intermittent flames. His ears rang with shots and yells. The
shooting became heavier. Bullets sang close about him--seemed
centered--as if the enemy would cut down his master at once and disrupt
the others through his loss. The bullets sang closer still. And now
immediately about him men and horses dropped, upsetting other riders,
tumbling over sound horses--all in a seething chaos. He became dazed.
His eyes were blinded with the flashes, and his ears ached with the
crash and tumult. He grew faint. A dizziness seized him. But on he
labored, his head aching, his eyes growing dimmer, his limbs numb and
rebellious, his heart thumping in sullen rebellion, his ears bursting
with the uproar.

Another change swept over him. Mist leaped before his eyes. The roaring
in his ears subsided. His legs flew off--he had no legs! The mist became
a film. Yet he could see--see faintly. He saw a mad jumble of flying men
and horses--a riotous mixture of color, arms, and firearms