their feet, and were running wildly about. A man
crawled through the bushes--the man with the face he had seen at the
window.

As he crawled close to Ted the expression of his face was awful to
contemplate.

Such fiendish, murderous hatred he had never seen in a human countenance
before.

When he was so close to Ted that he could hear his feverish breathing,
the man suddenly thrust forward a pistol until the muzzle was within an
inch of Ted's head.

Ted struggled to grapple with him, but he had grown so stiff from his
wound that he could hardly stir. He was looking death close in the face.

The man was just about to pull the trigger when close at hand the
major's voice rang out in an exclamation of amazement:

"Mowbray! You here?"

The man with the pistol sprang to his feet and faced Major Caruthers for
a second. Then, with a wild cry of fear, he sprang away through the
shrubbery and escaped.

CHAPTER XIX.

HELEN MOWBRAY'S WILL.

By the time one could have counted ten there was not a man of Burk's
force in sight, but, on looking down the road where it led to the plain
that lay before the mountains, the dust of their retreat hung in the
air.

"We've got 'em on ther run," said Bud, throwing his hat into the air
with a joyous yawp. "Sufferin' tomcats, but them fellers has their
nerve, aber nit."

Ben and the major had carried Ted into the house, and the major, who was
a good surgeon, had Ted's coat off and was examining his wound.

When the shot had been fired through the door at him the ball had been
deflected by a piece of iron, and, instead of penetrating his heart, as
it surely would have done otherwise, it struck a rib and ran around
toward the back, coming out near the spine, and, although an extremely
painful wound, it was not at all serious.

A ball had passed through the fleshy part of Kit's forearm, but when the
major had washed it in warm water and dressed it, it ceased to pain, and
he could use it handily. But Ted's wound was different, and the impact
of the ball on the rib had made him so sore that he could not breathe
without suffering agony.

Stella had one of the boys make a fire for her, and, having found the
house well stored with provisions, she began to cook supper for them,
for they were all tired and hungry.

It was evening before they knew it, and it was decided to stay at the
house all night, keeping a careful guard against the return of Burk and
Mowbray.

"I never w