Part 18 (1/2)

He had thought of the , and therefore of the necessity that he should protect hiht of his father and his ht what a dreadful thing it was to shoot straight at a man, and perhaps to kill hiht just kill his horse, and then I could get away from him”

At that very instant the two rifles came to a level, whether he would or not He felt no syue” this ti, while his tired horse stood as still as a stone That here he had a priceless advantage The spirited animal ridden by his enemy was a trifle restive for soh to give Sile his only re chance

”If I hit his horse in the head,” he was thinking as he pulled the trigger: but that would have been close shooting at a hundred yards, and just beyond the head of the horse was the naked breast of the warrior

There were two reports close together, and Sile felt so prick him sharply on the left arm near the shoulder At the same moment he saw the red man reel to and fro upon his horse, and then pitch off head forerass

”Oh, dear me, I've shot him!” he exclaimed, and his first impulse was to ride away as fast as he could

Then caht be only wounded, and that it was his duty to go and see if he could do anything for hiush of curiosity and a fierce and feverish sense of triuht a duel on horseback with an Indian warrior, with rifles, and there were no other white boys who could say that they had done that He sat still upon his horse for a moment, and his breath came and went very quickly, and then he somewhat cautiously rode forward The Indian's horse had bounded away for a little distance when hisat hiht to do next Not another hu of any kind was to be seen, but Sile looked around hih to make sure that he was alone Not one sound disturbed the peaceful silence of the valley after those two rifles had spoken

All irresolution passed out of Sile's htly, and had done nothing for which he could blame himself He watched the fallen man narrowly as he drew near hin of life

”Ifrom his horse and bent over the prostrate form, but he did not have to look more than once

”That hole--that's where the bullet went in It h his heart Well, he would have killed me if I had not killed him I would not have hurt him if I could have helped it”

It seemed to Sile a matter of course that he should pick up the red warrior's rifle, unbuckle and take off the bead-worked belt that carried his knife and revolver, take his lance, catch his horse, and then ride onward, carrying with him all as ”spoils of war” He did it coolly and steadily but rapidly, and without any idea how very fast he was growing

He was learning lessons in a great school, but any wise old man could have told hiood deal more depends upon the boy himself than upon the school or the teacher

That tall, brawny Apache warrior had been a distinguished brave, and he had been sent upon a scouting trip away in advance of the rest merely as a customary precaution There had been no expectation that he would discover anything re a solitary pale-face, he had undertaken to kill him very much as a matter of course, for he was just then at ith all white men Sile had made the better shot of the two, and that was about all that could be said As for Sile, he was in a greater hurry than ever to get to the ain he wondered whether Two Arrows had met any Apaches

”I do hope he hasn't,” he said to himself, ”with only a bow and arrows

I wish he had a rifle”

CHAPTER XXV

A MIDNIGHT MARCH

When Two Arrows parted from Sile he ell aware that the errand of the Red-head had more real peril in it than his own, and he would not have had hi for a repeating-rifle for his own use! He had been hungry enough for one before; but now that there was a pro in the world worth the having, except a horse, was one of the white man's terrible weapons With such as he now had he had killed wild animals and won for himself a name and fame, but in spite of that he alainst an Apache well armed, as all that warlike tribe were said to be?

He also had a prejudiced idea that if Sile were to norant, green, untaught, unready, white boy, not the son of a Nez Perce chief, nor skilled in the wiles and ways of Western warfare As for himself, he felt quite confident that all he needed ith toor anybody was just such a perfect ”repeater” as Sile carried He somehow overlooked the fact that he had never practised ed to the race that made them He had been used to a bow and arrows from the time he had learned to ride, and almost from the tiht be his safest weapon

He rode on steadily for a few miles, and then he crossed the stream and proceeded under cover of the trees It was tiallop left in him The approach to the camp even was made with sooing down, and the fires were blazing brightly The hunters had done well that day, and there were preparations for s orking prosperously, and that his people had no suspicion of any danger near them The vast importance of his errand filled him very full, and he halted under the shadow of the trees

Warriors were stalking around here and there, or were lazily stretched upon the ground Squaere busily dressing skins, or cooking or chattering with one another, and children were hungrily watching the cookery and wishi+ng that their turns to be fed ht come pretty soon