.

"Fire? Never had time, sir. But there, I managed to shut up, I hope,
so that the brutes couldn't follow me, and then I hurried on to join
you. Tut, tut, what a cracker that is! I didn't hurry a bit. It was a
regular crawl to the gully. Think me long?"

"Horribly," cried Chris.

"No wonder, my lad. It was a horrible crawl, for I was regularly done.
I felt what the Amurricans call real bad. But now tell me, did the
whole band come by here?"

"As far as we can tell," replied the doctor.

"That's right. I never had time to look back, but it seemed to me as if
the whole Indian nation was after my scalp on horseback. They didn't
get it, did they, Chris?"

"Get it? No, of course not."

"I'm glad of that; but it felt precious cold two or three times. But
now tell me--you've begun shooting--are the enemy coming on?"

"I believe we have only been attacked by a couple of stragglers--two who
passed through the narrow gap here last."

"And you've filled the gap well up?"

"Oh yes. No horse could get by here."

"That's right! Then the big lot haven't found out yet that they're
trapped?"

"Certainly not," said the doctor.

"Then there's going to be a big fight when they do find it out," said
Griggs quietly. "I don't want them to come yet till my hand grows a bit
steady, for, kill and slay or no, we've got to bring down all we can."

"I suppose so," said the doctor gravely. "It's their lives or ours."

"Yes. They'll be real mad; and we've got to give them a lesson--one
that will make them shy of trying bows and arrows against rifles.--Yes,
getting all right again now," continued the speaker, in answer to eager
inquiries from the other side of the gap.

"That's right," said Bourne. "Lee."

"Yes?"

"What do you think of making for the ponies and mules now, before the
Indians find that they're trapped?"

"May I tell him, sir?" said Griggs sharply.

"Yes, say what you think," cried the doctor.

"Look here, Mr Bourne," said Griggs quickly; "the doctor thinks the
same as I do--that it would be mad, giving ourselves up to be massacred.
We've got to hold this barricade for our lives, and shoot down every
man who tries to climb it. There must be no misses this time. Do you
hear, boys? You're fighting for your fathers' lives as well as your
own. It's no time to be sorry for the poor Indians now. Shoot your
best, and leave them to be sorry for themselves.--By the way, Chris, my
lad, can you gi