luded the
basin where Leddy and his followers had tethered their horses. But this
part of it was dry sand. The standing figures around the water-hole had
sunk down. Jack could see them as lumps in a row. A blade of flame from
the setting sun fell on them, revealing the glint of rifle barrels.

"Firio! Quick--down! P.D., down!" Jack called, dismounting with a leap;
and as though in answer to his warning came the singing of bullets about
their ears.

P.D. had been trained to sink on all fours at a word and he and Jack
together dropped into the cover of the _arroyo_, below the desert line.
When he looked around Firio was at his side, still holding the reins of
Wrath of God. But Wrath of God's sturdy, plodding nature had little
facility in learning tricks. A tiny stream of blood was flowing down his
forehead and he lay still. At last, all in loyal service, he had reached
the horizon. His bony, homely, good old face seemed singularly peaceful,
as if satisfied with the reward at his journey's end. Jag Ear was
standing beside P.D. and Prather's burro next to him, both unharmed.
Nogales's horse had also been killed, but its rider was safe. Prather was
crawling down the side of the _arroyo_ on his belly, digging his hands
into the dirt, his face white and contorted and his eyes shifting back
and forth in ghastly incomprehension. His horse followed him and sank
down in final surrender to exhaustion.

By common impulse, Jack and Firio seized the rifles from Jag Ear's pack,
while Nogales, a spectator, squatted beside Prather.

"What--what does it mean?" Prather gasped, spasmodically. "I--I--was it
Leddy that fired on us?"

"Yes," said Jack over his shoulder, as he and Firio started up the bank
of the _arroyo_ facing the water-hole. "No doubt of it."

"It was you they wanted--not me--not me! I--I--"

"I don't know. At all events, I do not mean they shall rush us!" Jack
answered, as he and Firio hugged the slope with their rifles resting on
top and only their heads showing above it.

"No! It couldn't be that they recognized me. They will let me by! They
expect me!"

"Yes, you belong on their side!" Jack called back.

"I will send out a flag of truce!" said Prather, brightening with
the thought. "You, Nogales, take my handkerchief and go and explain
to Leddy!"

Nogales seemed agreeable to the suggestion. Indeed, he was very
expeditious in starting. While Jack never took his eye off the sight of
his barrel, Nogales walked