haparral and in his haste to reload jammed the
cartridge, and By-and-by swept on toward temporary safety, with Red
dancing in a paroxysm of rage, swelling his vocabulary with words he had
forgotten existed.

By-and-by, rising to his full height in the saddle, turned and wiggled
his fingers at the frenzied Red and made several other signs that the
cowboy was in the humor to appreciate to the fullest extent. Then he
turned and shook his rifle at the marksmen on the larger knoll, whose
best shots kicked up the dust fully fifty yards too short. The pony was
sweeping toward the reservation and friends only fifteen miles away,
and By-and-by knew that once among the mountains he would be on equal
footing at least with his enemies.

As he passed the rock behind which Buck lay sprawled on his face he
uttered a piercing whoop of triumph and leaned forward on his pony's
neck. Twenty leaps farther and the spiteful crack of a rifle echoed from
where the foreman was painfully supporting himself on his elbows. The
pony swept on in a spurt of nerve-racking speed, but alone. By-and-by
shrieked again and crashed heavily to the ground, where he rolled
inertly and then lay still. Men like Buck are dangerous until their
hearts have ceased to beat.

CHAPTER VI. Trials of the Convalescent

The days at the ranch passed in irritating idleness for those who
had obstructed the flight of hostile lead, and worse than any of the
patients was Hopalong, who fretted and fumed at his helplessness, which
retarded his recovery. But at last the day came when he was fit for
the saddle again, and he gave notice of his joy in whoops and forthwith
announced that he was entitled to a holiday; and Buck had not the heart
to refuse him.

So he started forth in his quest of peace and pleasure, but instead had
found only trouble and had been forced to leave his card at almost every
place he had visited.

There was that affair in Red Hot Gulch, Colorado, where, under pressure,
he had invested sundry pieces of lead in the persons of several
obstreperous citizens and then had paced the zealous and excitable
sheriff to the state line.

He next was noticed in Cheyenne, where his deformity was vividly
dwelt upon, to the extent of six words, by one Tarantula Charley, the
aforesaid Charley not being able to proceed to greater length on account
of heart failure. As Charley had been a ubiquitous nuisance, those
present availed themselves of the opportunity offe