Avon Burnet was in the act of lifting his Winchester from across the front of his saddle, when he made the discovery that, although the strange mustang in front of him bore no rider, yet a man was on the ground directly beyond and evidently watching every movement made by himself.  
This discovery could mean but one thing: the individual was an enemy, and was on the point of making a hostile movement against him. He had dismounted on learning of Burnet’s approach and interposed his steed between them. Despite the gloom on every hand, Avon read aright the meaning of the almost imperceptible movement on the other side of the saddle, and he slipped from the back of his mustang with a celerity which, being displayed almost at the instant of the discharge of the other weapon, looked as if it was the result of a fatal shot.
 
But, although the bullet so fired came near its mark, the youth was not touched. His action was in the nick of time: a second later could not have availed him.
 
He was , as he had the best cause for being, and he resolved that the should not escape him. His rifle was snatched from its resting-place, and, stepping from behind Thunderbolt, he drew the best possible on his .
 
The of the latter was marvellous. It was as if, at the very instant of discharging his weapon, he had into the saddle, and, wheeling the head of his horse away, sent him straight from his intended victim.
 
Not only that, but, in accordance with the fashion of the frontier in such emergencies, he flung himself forward on the neck of his animal, so as to offer the least possible target to the other, who, if not hit hard, was certain to return the shot.
 
The curious feature of the was that the man, having seen the youth vanish from the back of his steed at the instant the gun was discharged, did not assume that he was killed. Possibly such was his supposition, and his hasty flight was partly due to his anxiety to place himself beyond reach of his friends, who were likely to be by the sound of firing. His act in throwing himself upon the neck of his mustang was simply in to the rule which requires the frontiersman to avail himself of every possible means of safety, even when there is seemingly no call for it.
 
Despite the quickness of young Burnet, he was able to bring his Winchester to a level only at the moment the steed was thundering out of sight in the darkness, but he let fly three times in rapid succession, reckless whether he struck rider or animal; but since the sound of the still came to him, he was at the conviction that he had missed both.
 
“But you haven’t escaped me yet,” he muttered, swinging himself into the saddle; “there is no horse in Texas or the Indian Nation that can leave me behind; now, Thunderbolt, run him down!”
 
But, while the fates had been kind to Avon, in that he escaped death by the narrowest conceivable chance, they seemed equally well disposed toward the object of his . The boast of the pursuer as to the fleetness of his mustang was warranted, and had the circumstances continued favorable for only a few minutes, he would have brought his young rider beside the fleeing steed, where the account between the two men must have been quickly settled.
 
But at the very moment of starting, the forelegs of Thunderbolt sank into a hole above the knees. His activity saved him from harm, but his rider took a header over his ears, on the wet grass in front with a shock that him.
 
By the time he could rally and remount his mustang, the other was not only beyond sight, but his listening ear could not detect the slightest sound of the flying hoofs.
 
“He has escaped this time,” thought Avon, as he once more resumed his place in the saddle, “but the account is still open and must be settled very soon.”
 
He was right, except that the account was closed not only sooner than he suspected, but in a manner of which he never dreamed.
 
Despite his alarming experience he had not lost his reckoning, and, facing toward the bed-ground of the , he had ridden but a short way, when the familiar sounds told him he was near the animals from which he was lost only a sho............