d
far away that it was no more than the snapping of a little twig, but it
was a rifle shot and no mistake. Sol and that warrior have met."

"And who fired the bullet? And who received it? That's what we'd like to
know!" said Paul.

Complete silence succeeded the shot. Evidently the Indians around the
campfire had not heard it, as they showed no signs of interest, but the
four in the mouth of the cavern waited in painful anxiety, their eyes
turned toward the point from which the report had come. At last the
scalp lock appeared above the bushes and four hearts sank. Then the
figure of the warrior came completely into view and four hearts sprang
up again. The man's left arm was held stiffly by his side and he was
walking with weakness. Nor did any bright blonde scalp hang from his
waist or any other part of his body.

"I knowed it! I knowed it!" exclaimed Long Jim, triumphantly. "He come
too close to Sol, an' got a bullet in his arm. It must hev been a long
shot or he must hev been nearly hid, else he would now be layin' dead in
the bushes. But ez it is he's shorely got enough to last him fur a long
time."

Paul was less vocal, but like the others he shared in the triumph of the
shiftless one.

"I'll admit I was worried for a while," he said, "but Sol has given us
one more proof that he can take care of himself any time and anywhere."

"And he has also proved to our besiegers," said Henry, "that every hour
they spend there they're in peril of a bullet from the bush. I think it
will give them a most disturbing feeling."

Henry was right, and he was also right in some of his earlier surmises.
Red Eagle and Blackstaffe departed to join the main army, leaving
Braxton Wyatt in command of the besieging band which had been reinforced
by a half-dozen warriors. Wyatt, animated by wicked passion, was
resolved not to leave until he could kill or take those in the little
fortress, but he was upset by the certainty that one of the terrible
five was outside. He had believed from the first that it was Henry Ware,
and, when their best warrior came in shot through the arm, he was sure
of it.

The warriors shared his state of mind. Their losses had inflamed them
tremendously and all of them were willing to stay and risk everything
for eventual triumph. Yet a terror soon fell upon them. The single
marksman who roamed the woods sent a bullet singing directly through the
camp, and the search for him failed as before. An hour later an