shoulder; but before he could make his aim certain, the red scamp stepped
aside and vanished from view.

"Now, that's enough to break a man's heart!" wailed the chagrined Mickey.
"Why wasn't the spalpeen thoughtful and kind enough to wait until I could
have made sartin of him? But sorra and disappointment await us all, as
Barney Mulligan said when his friend wouldn't fight him. Maybe he'll show
himsilf agin."

Whether or not Lone Wolf learned of the precise location of the parties
for whom he was searching can only be conjectured; but during the ten
minutes that Mickey held his weapon ready to shoot him at sight, he took
good care to keep altogether invisible.

The Irishman was still looking for his reappearance, when another singular
occurrence took place. There was a whoop, or rather howl, followed by a
fall of a warrior, who was so near the edge of the narrow ravine that when
he came down, a portion of his body was seen by those below. The dull and
rather distant report of a gun told the curious story.

The same rifle that had picked off one of the Apaches at the mouth of the
fissure had done the same thing in the case of one at the top. The aim in
both instances was unerring.

"Freddy, me lad," said Mickey, a moment later, "whin we rushed in here wid
the spalpeens snapping at our heels, I hadn't any more hope that we'd ever
get clear of 'em than the man who was transported to Botany Bay had of
cutting out Prince Albert in Queen Victoria's graces."

"Have you any more hope _now_?"