had suddenly become the
hunted. Filled with rage and venom he had expected an easy triumph, and,
instead, he was now fighting for his life.

Skelly struck again and again at the boy, but Harry, with instinctive
wisdom, pressed his head close to the man's chin, and Skelly's blows
at such short range lacked force behind them. All the while Harry's
youthful but powerful arms were pouring strength into the hands that
grasped the man's throat. The mountaineer choked and gasped, and,
changing his aim from the head, struck Harry again and again in the
chest. Then he remembered to draw his pistol, but Harry, raising his
knee, struck him violently on the wrist. The pistol dropped to the
ground, and Skelly, in the fierce struggle, was unable to regain it.

Neither had uttered a cry. There was not a single shout for help.
Skelly would not want to call attention, and Harry recalled afterward
that in the tremendous tension of the moment the thought of it never
occurred to him. He continued to press savagely upon Skelly's throat,
while the mountaineer rained blows upon his chest, blows that would
have killed him had Skelly been able to get full purchase for his arms.
He heard the heavy gasping breath of the man, and he saw the dark,
hideous face close to his own. It was so hairy that it was like the
face of some huge anthropoid, with the lips wrinkled back from strong
and cruel white teeth.

It seemed to Harry in very truth that he was fighting a great wild
beast. His own breath came in short gasps, and at every expansion of
the lungs a fierce pain shot through his whole body. A bloody foam rose
to his lips. The savage pounding upon his chest was telling. He still
retained his grasp upon Skelly's throat, where his fingers were sunk
into the flesh, but it was only the grimmest kind of resolution that
enabled him to hold on.

Harry saw the fierce light in Skelly's eye turn to joy. The man foresaw
his triumph, and he began to curse low, but fast and with savage
unction. Harry felt himself weakening, and he made another mighty
effort to retain his hold, but the fingers still slipped, and, as Skelly
struck him harder than ever in the chest, they flew loose entirely.

He knew that if Skelly had room for the full play of his arm that he
would be knocked senseless at the next blow, and to ward it off he
seized the man by his huge chest, tripping at the same time with all his
might. The two fell, rolled over in their strug