disappeared. I don't know yet whether I hit him or not; we never found
any blood.

We made Miss Emory lie down behind a little slide of rock, and disposed
ourselves under shelter.

"We can take them as fast as they come," exulted Tim.

"I don't believe there are more than two or three of them," I observed.
"It would be only a scouting party. They will go for help."

As there was no longer reason for concealment, we talked aloud and
freely.

Now ensued a long waiting interim. We could hear various sounds outside
as of moving to and fro. The enemy had likewise no reason for further
concealment.


"Look!" suddenly cried Tim. "Something crawling."

He raised the 30-30 and fired. Before the flash and the fumes had
blinded me I, too, had seen indistinctly something low and prone gliding
around the corner of the entrance. That was all we could make out of it,
for as you can imagine the light was almost non-existent. The thing
glided steadily, untouched or unmindful of the shots we threw at it.
When it came to the first of the crazy uprights supporting the roof
timbers it seemed to hesitate gropingly. Then it drew slowly back a foot
or so, and darted forward. The ensuing thud enlightened us. The thing
was one of the long, squared timbers we had noted outside; and it was