and had sought cover instead.

The stranger dragged himself to the canteens and drank what little water
remained, and then turned to watch the two men moving from place to
place, firing coolly and methodically. He thought he recognized one of
them from the descriptions he had heard, but he was not sure.

"My name's Holden," he whispered hoarsely, but the cracking of the
rifles drowned his voice. During a lull he tried again. "My name's
Holden," he repeated weakly. "I'm from the Cross-O-Cross, an' can't get
back there again."

"Mine's Cassidy, an' that's Connors, of the Bar-20. Are you hurt very
bad?"

"No; not very bad," lied Holden, trying to smile. "Gee, but I'm glad I
fell in with you two fellers," he exclaimed. He was but little more than
a boy, and to him Hopalong Cassidy and Red Connors were names with which
to conjure. "But I'm plumb sorry I went an' brought you more trouble,"
he added regretfully.

"Oh, pshaw! We had it before you came--you needn't do no worrying about
that, Holden; besides, I reckon you couldn't help it," Hopalong grinned
facetiously. "But tell us how you came to mix up with that bunch," he
continued.

Holden shuddered and hesitated a moment, his companions alertly
shifting from crack to crack, window to window, their rifles cracking at
intervals. They appeared to him to act as if they had done nothing else
all their lives but fight Indians from that shack, and he braced up a
little at their example of coolness.

"It's an awful story, awful!" he began. "I was riding towards Hoyt's
Corners an' when I got about half way there I topped a rise an' saw a
nester's house about half a mile away. It wasn't there the last time I
rode that way, an' it looked so peaceful an' home-like that I stopped
an' looked at it a few minutes. I was just going to start again when
that war-party rode out of a barranca close to the house an' went
straight for it at top speed. It seemed like a dream, 'cause I thought
Apaches never got so far east. They don't, do they? I thought not--these
must 'a' got turned out of their way an' had to hustle for safety.
Well, it was all over purty quick. I saw 'em drag out two women
an'--an'--purty soon a man. He was fighting like fury, but he didn't
last long. Then they set fire to the house an' threw the man's body up
on the roof. I couldn't seem to move till the flames shot up, but then
I must 'a' went sort of loco, because I emptied my gun at 'em, which was
plumb foolish at