We must not forget our young friend, Avon Burnet, who volunteered so willingly to run every risk for the sake of his relatives out of the most of their lives.  
At the moment he saw Captain Shirril start forward to the fire, by throwing one of his heavy blankets over it, he lifted the heavy bolt from its place, and leaned it against the wall at the side of the door. Having on the step, he was wise in not permitting a minute’s unnecessary delay.
 
He stepped outside in the manner hinted, drawing the door gently to after him. He did not do this until he saw that the interior was veiled in impenetrable gloom.
 
He felt that everything now depended 62upon his being prompt, unfaltering, and yet not rash. It may be said that the whole problem was to learn the right step to take, and then to take it, not an instant too soon nor too late. That, however, sums up the task of life itself, and the knowledge was no more in one instance than in the other.
 
Finding himself in the outer air, Avon stood a few seconds, striving, as may be said, to get his bearings. He heard the of horses’ , several guarded signals passing between the Indians, and was quite sure he saw the shadowy outlines of a moving within a few paces of him.
 
While all this was not calculated to add to his comfort of body and mind, it was pleasing to the extent that it proved his presence on the outside was as yet neither known nor suspected. As my friend Coomer would say, he was “With the World Before Him.”
 
But he dare not think he was so much as on the edge of safety until he reached the mesquite bush, whose location he knew so 63well, and whose dark outlines were dimly discernible in front, and at the distance of only a few rods.
 
The youth was thinking rapidly and hard. It seemed to him that the Comanches would naturally keep the closest watch of the front of the cabin, and, therefore, he was less liable to discovery if he made a dash from another point.
 
This conclusion was confirmed by the sudden taking shape of not only the figure of a horseman, but of a warrior on foot, who approached at right angles, the two halting in such a manner just before him that he know it was but , and that they would come still nearer in a very brief while.
 
So long as he stood , with his back against the side of the , he was invisible to anyone who was not almost upon him. Retaining this , and with the rear of his clothing brushing against the building, he softly to the right until he reached the corner.
 
At the moment he arrived there, he saw that the horseman had slipped from his mustang, and he and the other warrior approached 64close to the door, where, as it will be remembered, Captain Shirril heard them talking together in low tones.
 
This was altogether too near for comfort, and Avon, with the same noiseless movement, slipped beyond the corner of the house.
 
As he did so, he felt for an instant that all was over. An Indian brushed so near that the youth could have touched him by extending his hand.
 
How he escaped discovery was more than he could understand. It must have been that the warrior’s attention was so upon the two figures at the front of the house that he did not glance to the right or left. Even such an explanation hardly makes clear the on the part of one belonging to a race proverbial for its alertness and keen vision.
 
Before the young man recovered from his shock, he was by another occurrence a hundred-fold more . The profound stillness was suddenly broken by the ringing report of a rifle on the other side of the building, accompanied by the wild cry which caused the listening Captain Shirril and 65his wife to believe it meant the death of their nephew.
 
While the captain committed a grave mistake, for which he was e............