he and his followers were within less than two
hundred yards of the cabin. So entirely unexpected was their appearance
that for a moment the cattle-thieves were struck motionless with
astonishment; then they recovered their power of action, and those who
were on foot made a rush for their horses. Some succeeded in reaching
them, but others did not. Two or three of them fell before the carbines
of the troopers, who opened a hot fire as soon as they saw that they
were discovered, and the horse-guards, believing that the attacking
party was backed up by a large force of soldiers which was close at
hand, instantly put spurs to their nags and galloped off, taking the
loose horses with them and leaving their companions to look out for
themselves.

"Throw down and throw up, Greasers!" commanded Corporal Owens as he
dashed up to the cabin swinging his sabre over his head; and the order,
which meant, "Throw down your weapons and throw up your hands," was
obeyed by five sullen fellows, who muttered Spanish oaths between their
teeth and looked mad enough to do almost anything.

There was no fight at all. If there had been a shot fired at the
troopers, they didn't know it. The party that had gone off with the
horses outnumbered Bob's, and could, beyond a doubt, have driven them
off the field if they had only thought so; but their surprise was
complete, and, more than that, they were demoralized. The presence of
the troopers they regarded as part of a pre-concerted plan to cut them
off from the river, and that frightened them more than Bob's sudden
onslaught.

"Still another feather for your cap, Corporal Owens," said George, after
he and Loring and a few others had taken a shot or two apiece at the
retreating cattle-thieves, "and nobody hurt on our side, either. Now
I--What are you doing here? Is this the way you keep your promise?"

These questions were addressed to one of the prisoners, who took off his
sombrero and scratched his head as if he were trying to stir up his
ideas so that he could make some reply to these peremptory
interrogations.

"Springer," continued George, slowly, "what are you doing here? Where's
the squatter?"

"In there," replied the cattle-thief, jerking his head toward the cabin,
which was now fairly ablaze and sending out so much heat that the
troopers were obliged to draw away from it. "He never would have touched
him, Fletcher wouldn't, if he had kept in the house an' left us alone;
but he plumpe