What he feared, too, as much as anything else, was that the other Comanches, who had withdrawn from the race, would hasten to the vicinity of the cabin, and, mounting their mustangs, take part in the struggle. If a horseman should get but a single glimpse of him, it would not take him long to run the fugitive down.

It was this dread which caused him to swerve gradually to the left, though he kept such careful note of the change that there was no danger of his going astray as before.

None of the pursuers, from the moment of starting, gave vent to any outcry, as they are generally supposed to do under similar circ.u.mstances. Such a proceeding would have been as great a draught upon his strength as outright laughter, and the American Indian is too wise not to husband every resource.

It required little cessation of effort to permit the Comanche to come up with him at an alarming rate. A few minutes would have allowed the pursuer to overhaul the fugitive.

Only a few minutes had pa.s.sed since the furious start, and Avon felt that the time had come to consider himself as dealing only with this single redskin. Still bearing to the left he put forth all his energies, resolved to run away from him, if the achievement was within the range of possibility.

It was not. Try as desperately as he might, the Comanche could not be shaken off.

An encounter being inevitable, Avon had to decide upon the manner in which it should take place.

Inasmuch as the warrior must have felt certain of coming up with him, he was not likely to appeal to his rifle, or that would have been his first act when the contest opened. He would continue to run until near enough either to seize the youth or to use his weapon against him.

Avon concluded that the only course which offered hope was to allow the warrior to approach slightly closer, and then to wheel and let him have several chambers from his Winchester.

He would have to act quickly, but he had already proven himself capable of that, and it might be that the Comanche would be looking for something of the kind, and was supple enough to secure the drop on him.

His people were accustomed to border warfare and had graduated in all the subtlety of the fearful business.

Young Burnet had fixed his course of action in his mind when, to his consternation, he heard the sounds of approaching hoofs over the prairie!

CHAPTER XIV.

THE FRIEND IN NEED.

If hors.e.m.e.n were thundering toward the spot, the fugitive was doomed.

But, though seized with despair, he did not yield. On the contrary, he was nerved to such desperation that he put forth a tremendous effort, which quickly increased the s.p.a.ce between him and the pursuer.

But instead of heading away from the coming animals, he turned directly toward them, at the same astonishing velocity. Why he did this, he himself did not fully understand. It may have been that, impressed with the utter uselessness of trying to escape by running, he had a blind hope of unhorsing one of his enemies and wrenching his steed from him.

He had taken only a few leaps, however, when he discovered that the beasts running forward, as if to meet him, were cattle.

Fully fifty animals, belonging to the herd several miles distant, had started out on a little stampede of their own, and fate brought them and him in collision.

It mattered not, for nothing could make the situation worse. The next instant Avon was among them, in imminent risk of being trampled to death. The beasts were terrified by the advent of the footman, and scattered in the wildest confusion.

While he was in such deadly peril, the animals served as a shield against the a.s.sault of the Comanche close behind him. Anxious as he was to secure the fugitive, he was not prepared to "cut him out" from a drove of stampeded cattle.

He turned to avoid the terrific rush, and catching fitful glimpses of the leaping form among the beasts, raised his gun and let fly.

His shot struck, but, instead of bringing down the youth, it tumbled one of the bullocks headlong on the plain. Avon would have turned at once to give attention to his enemy, had he not been fully occupied in saving himself from the animals themselves.

Fortunately he had not penetrated far among the drove, and, by a continuance of his inimitable dexterity, he dodged from among them, helped thereto by the efforts of the cattle themselves to flee from the terrifying object.

It was at this juncture, when the youth was striving to get sight of his enemy, who, he believed, was trying equally hard to secure another shot at him, that he saw the very thing he had been dreading from the first.

It was a single horseman, who almost rode him down ere he could check his steed. Avon was so flurried from his fierce exertions, that, before he could bring his rifle to his shoulder and discharge it, the other antic.i.p.ated him.

But the man did not fire at _him_. He aimed at the Comanche, not a dozen yards distant, and hit him fairly and squarely.

"h.e.l.loa, Baby, what the mischief is up?"

"Thank Heaven, Ballyhoo, it's you!" exclaimed the panting youth, ready to drop from exhaustion.

"Ballyhoo," was the nickname of Oscar Gleeson, one of the cowboys in charge of the two thousand cattle that were to start northward on the morrow over the Great Cattle Trail.

"Baby" was the name by which Avon Burnet was known among the rest, because of his youth.

Leaning over his horse, the tall Texan reached down and grasped the hand of his young friend.

"It sort of looks, Baby, as though I had arrived in time to do you a little turn."

"There's no doubt of that, for I couldn't have run much further."

"But why did you run at all? I observed but one Injin, and he's of no further account now."

"When I started there were four after me, but I threw all out of sight except one. I was on the point of turning to fight him, when I heard the cattle, and thought they were other Comanches coming to the help of this fellow."

"But things seem to be in a queer shape at the house; tell me the trouble."

"Why, how did you know anything about it at all?" asked the surprised Avon.

"I've been down there and seen things for myself."

"Let me hear about that first, then I'll let you know what I have to tell, and it is important indeed."

The Texan, in obedience to his training, cast a look after the vanishing herd and sighed.

"It'll be a big job to round them up, but I guess we'll have to leave 'em alone for a time. Wal, you know we went into camp a few miles to the north, to wait for you and the captain that was to jine us in the morning. We were looking after things, when I remembered that I had left my package of tobacco at the house. Things were so quiet, and I was so afeared that you and the captain would forgit to bring it with you, that I concluded to ride over after it myself. I never dreamed of any of the varmints being there, and was going along at a swinging gait, when I heard the sound of a gun and I fetched up my horse to learn what it meant. I didn't see an Injin, but while I was looking somebody made a rush from the front of the house for the bush."

"It was myself," interrupted Avon excitedly, "and the captain fired to save me and did it."

"I reckon that was Ballyhoo Gleeson that let loose that partic'lar shot," said the cowboy with a chuckle; "I didn't know who it was running, but thought it was one of the varmints. Just afore that I was sure that I seed one of 'em and I let fly, shootin' on gineral principles as you might say. I might have investigated things, but the Comanches were too numerous for comfort, and I wheeled about and made off."

"So it was you who fired the shot that really cleared the way for me,"

said the astonished youth; "I supposed, all the time, that it was my uncle. Where have you been since?"

"I started for camp to tell the boys, and was on my way when I met these confounded cattle. I didn't want them to get too fur off, as none of the fellows 'peared to be after them. I was trying to round them up, when this little affair took place."

"But, Ballyhoo, why didn't you let the cattle go and make all haste after help."

"Who wants help?"