“Be very careful of yourself,” said Claude in an earnest whisper. “They have their revolvers in their hands, and are ready to shoot the first one who steps into the office.”

“I will take care of that,” said Mr. Preston. “You keep out of the way.”

Claude stood in the door of his uncle’s room and watched him as he moved with noiseless steps toward the office. He reached the door and went into it, and the next moment he heard the word “Surrender!” spoken in a loud tone, followed by the report of a pistol. A yell came close upon the heels of it, and after that the noise of the revolvers came faster than he could count them. He felt sure that his uncle had received his death-wound. Almost at the same instant, as if they had been waiting for this signal, there was the sound of hurrying feet in the hall, and the Page 234 foreman and cook ran by with their revolvers in readiness. They glanced in at the office door, and then went on to the front door, which they opened in great haste, and began shooting there; but presently the sound of flying hoofs came to Claude’s ears, which told him that the squawmen had succeeded in reaching their horses and were scurrying away toward the entrance of the valley. A moment afterward his uncle came out of the office. His face was very pale, but Claude could see that he was not wounded.

“They have got away,” said the foreman in disgust. “Did they hit you anywhere, Mr. Preston?”

“No, I am all right,” said his employer. “But bring a light and we will see if there isn’t some marks down here. Harding drew his pistol on me, but I got the first shot and he dropped the revolver out of his hand. When he yelled so, I thought surely I had him.”
Mr. Preston pointing a revolver at the robbers

The Robbers foiled.

View larger image.

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Of course the whole house was aroused by this time. Every man who was asleep under that roof was awakened by the pistol-shots, and had come out, revolver in hand, to see what was going on. Foremost among them was Carl, who, when he heard the particulars of the matter, ran to the front door and gazed out into the night.

“It is no use, Carl,” said his father. “They had their horses ready saddled, and of course took themselves straight off. I am not hurt, and that is one thing you ought to be thankful for.”

“Here’s Harding’s weapon,” said Carl, as the cook came in at that moment with a light. “It is all blood, too. Why, father, I don’t see how you missed them at that distance.”

“Probably my nerves had something to do with it,” replied his father. “A year ago I would have risked my chance of dropping them both where they stood; but my skill has gone from me.”

“Here’s some more blood on the window-sill,” said one of the cowboys. “You have probably marked them both.”

“Yes, I hit each one of them. Now we will go back, and go to bed. Claude, I owe you something for this. If they had taken Page 236 what there is in the safe it would not have ruined me. A few days ago I had five thousand dollars in there, but now it is safe in the paymaster’s hands at the fort. How much do I owe you, Claude?”

“Nothing at all, sir,” said Claude, as he shook hands with Carl, who came up but did not say anything. “I have saved your money, and that is all I cared for.”

Some little time was spent by the hands in talking over the incidents of the attempted robbery, and everybody except the foreman and cook were loud in their praises of Claude, who had led the squawmen on till he got all their plans. They were suspicious of Claude, and it would require something more than he had done to relieve them of it.

“Father, I have some fault to find with you,” said Carl, as they were about to separate and each one go to his own room. “Why did you not take some one into your confidence?”

“I did. These two men were wide-awake and came out as soon as they heard the pistol-shots. I could not have found anybody better than they, could I?”

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“No; but you ought to have had somebody along to back up your shots. I believe I could have done better than you did.”

This raised a smile on the part of all of them, and they bade Mr. Preston good-night and went to their rooms. Claude was the only one who did not feel very good over it. His uncle had said that he “owed him something,” but he did not say how much.

“Why didn’t he promise me the money to-morrow, so that I can go back to the city?” said Claude, as he took off his clothes and tumbled into bed. “They must see that I don’t want to live here. I wonder if I could punch him up and get him to draw on that five thousand dollars he has in the paymaster’s hands? That is something worth thinking of.”

Morning came at length, and Claude got up to find that he was treated with respect by all hands except the foreman and cook. These two did not seem to want anything to do with him. Of course they bid him good-morning and answered all the questions he asked them, but they did it in a short way, as though his talking bothered them. They were careful Page 238 not to let Mr. Preston see them in conversation with him, for they knew that their employer would take them to task about it. None of the hands referred to the matter at the breakfast-table, and in fact they seemed to have forgotten all about it, and Claude listened in vain for his uncle to mention the subject of a reward. He finally concluded that he was not going to get any.

“He is the meanest man I ever saw,” said Claude, as he went out to saddle his horse. “He lets me risk my life in saving his money, and doesn’t give me anything. I wish to goodness I had said nothing about it.”

A few days after this, Claude found a couple of strange men in the house when he came home to dinner. They were very different from Harding and his partner, for they were cattlemen on the face of them. They wore their revolvers strapped about their waists, had silk handkerchiefs around their necks, and their hats, which lay beside them on the floor, were sombreros of the widest kind.

“Well, Claude, it seems that you are not out of this scrape after all,” said Mr. Preston.

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“What scrape do you me............