head of that Indian
into a perfect pulp. I know positively that I mashed it into a pulp, for
I tried afterwards to measure it, and found that for craniological
purposes it was utterly valueless.

Even had I required Pablo's aid in this encounter he could not possibly
have given it to me, for he was himself just then very hotly engaged.
Indeed, but for assistance that come to him from an unexpected quarter
his life assuredly would have been lost. He was in the act of hauling
back to strike at the fellow facing him, and he did not at all know that
he was in imminent danger of a thrust in the back from a wounded wretch
who, having struggled upon his knees, was using what little life was
left in him to deliver yet another blow. Just at this critical instant
it was that Fray Antonio dashed into the thick of the fighting, and
covered Pablo's body with his own against this assault in the rear; so
that, as the Indian struck, the knife only cut through the monk's habit
and slightly scratched his arm, instead of making a hole between Pablo's
shoulder-blades that would have let the life out of him. Young, who was
close beside Pablo, saw what was going on, and checked it before further
harm was done by turning quickly and shooting off the top of the wounded
Indian's head; and then Fray Antonio retired out of the fighting in
which, without himself striking a blow, he had taken so gallant a part.

So far as I was concerned, the fight was at an end when I had so
cleverly mashed the head of my second assailant. No more Indians came at
me, and as I looked around I perceived that this was for the excellent
reason that there were no more to come. Two were just advancing on
Young; who had them covered with his revolver, and dropped them, one
after the other, in less time than is required to tell about it. The
only other survivor among the enemy--at least the only one able to keep
his feet--was the tall young chief, and he and Rayburn were just
finishing the last round of what probably was as fine a fight as ever
was fought. They were well matched in size and in weight; and if the
Indian was any stronger than Rayburn, I can only say that he must have
been a most wonderfully strong man. They were fighting on even terms;
for the Indian was armed only with a short club, that he held in his
left hand--and this left-handed method made him all the more awkward to
deal with--while Rayburn, having emptied his revolver, was using as a
club its heav