down, and then wouldn't hold him. I've a good notion
to shoot that dog if he ever comes back. Make haste, Felix! I can't stop
to tell you any more."

But, after all, Frank did stop to tell a great deal more; and, by the
time the Ranchero was dressed, he had given him a complete history of
all that had happened in the house since sunset. Felix, astonished and
enraged at the treachery of his companion, examined his pistols very
carefully before he put them into his holsters, and Frank knew, by the
expression in his eye, that if he should happen to meet Pierre, during
his ride to the Fort, the latter would fall into dangerous hands.

As soon as Frank had seen Roderick saddled, he ran back to the house,
and found Uncle James lying on a sofa, and the housekeeper engaged in
dressing a long, ragged cut on the back of his head. Being weak from the
loss of blood, he sank into a deep slumber before the operation was
completed, and Frank, finding nothing to do, and being too nervous,
after the exciting events of the evening, to keep still, went out to
watch for the doctor, who, seeing that the Fort was sixteen miles from
the ranch, could not reasonably be expected before daylight. For a long
time he paced restlessly up and down the porch, his mind busy with the
three questions that had so astonished and perplexed him: What had
happened to bring his uncle home that night? How had he been so easily
overpowered by Pierre? and, What was the matter with Marmion? The longer
he pondered upon them, the more bewildered he became; and, finally
dismissing them from his mind altogether, he went out to attend to his
uncle's horse, which, all this while, had been running back and forth
between the house and barn, now and then neighing shrilly, as if
impatient at being so long neglected.

As Frank passed through the court, he picked up his rifle, which Mr.
Winters had thrown down after taking that flying shot at Pierre. The
stock felt damp in his grasp, and when he looked at his hand, he saw
that it was red with blood.

"I understand one thing now, just as well as if I had stood here and
witnessed it," said he, to himself. "When Pierre went out of my room, he
ran in here to see who it was visiting the ranch at this late hour, and
when he found that it was Uncle James, he thought he would get the safe
key. He was too much of a coward to attack him openly, and so he slipped
up and knocked him down with the butt of my rifle. That's what made the