overtake him before long."

At that moment, he caught sight of the Indian galloping leisurely
forward, amid the stolen horses. The cunning savage, as the scout
had suspected, was constantly on the alert, and detected Carson
the same moment that he himself was discovered. Quick as a flash,
he leaped from the back of his horses and started on a swift run for
a clump of trees between him and his pursuer. The latter understood
his purpose on the instant. If the Indian could secure the shelter
of the grove, he would have his enemy at his mercy; for not only
would he be able to protect his body, while loading and firing,
but Carson himself, being in an open space, would be without the
slightest protection against his deadly aim.

Carson cocked his rifle and driving his spurs into the flanks of
his high spirited steed, charged at full speed for the same shelter.
Whoever should reach it first would be the master.

The Indian had much less distance to run, and was as fleet of foot
as a deer. He bounded forward with such tremendous strides, that
while the horseman was still some distance away, he plunged in among
the trees; but for the last few seconds the foes had approached each
other at a terrific pace, a result that was not only inevitable,
but desirable, to the pursuer.

The very second the savage arrived on the margin of the grove,
he made a leap for the nearest tree from behind which he meant to
shoot his enemy; but in the very act of doing so, he was smitten
by his bullet. Without checking his animal in the slightest, Carson
had aimed and fired.