"So what do we do?" asked Raoul.

"It's all flat land hereabouts."

Before Raoul could demand an explanation of that, he saw the fleeing
Indian on his mount scramble out of the ravine and ride southward, just
as Eli had predicted. Raoul glanced at his men as they came to a halt,
puzzlement showing in their gestures. Hodge fired at the Indian, who
rode on unharmed. Though Raoul would not have known what else to do, he
despised his two men for their uselessness.

Soon the Indian, riding hell-bent south, was a tiny dark silhouette
against the yellow prairie. Eli raised the barrel of his Kentucky long
rifle. It was an impossible shot, Raoul thought, but he said nothing.
Eli seemed to be aiming slightly high, not straight at the redskin.
Raoul heard the Puke suck in a deep breath through his missing front
teeth.

The rifle boomed. The muzzle flash made Raoul blink, and a cloud of
blue-white smoke drifted across the canyon.

A long time seemed to pass with nothing happening. But maybe it was only
a heartbeat or two. Then the dark, distant figure threw up his arms and
toppled sideways from his horse. The horse kept running and was gone
over the horizon a moment later.

"Right through his noodle," Eli said. "I couldn't of made that shot if
he hadn't been riding due south. Too hard to get a lead on him _and_
arch the bullet just right."

Eli made it seem just a simple matter of skill, but Raoul felt as if he
had just seen a miracle.

The faces of the other men, as they climbed down from their horses,
showed as much awe as Raoul felt.

"Pretty good shooting, for a Puke," said Levi Pope.

"Better'n any Sucker could do," Eli returned genially.

Raoul said, "Otto, go get that Indian's body and bring it back here."

Otto Wegner turned at once to remount his horse. Raoul liked the way the
Prussian obeyed every order instantly.

But Hodge Hode glowered at Raoul. "Waste of time. Coyotes and buzzards
have a taste for Injun meat."

Annoyed at being questioned, Raoul said, "I don't want anybody to know
what happened to these redskins."

As Otto rode off, Eli, pointing to the mine entrance, said, "We got one
still alive. At least one."

"I'll take care of him," said Raoul.

Eli, Hodge and Levi looked at him, surprised.

Eli's fine shot had not only awed him; he felt it, uneasily, as a
challenge. The law was absent in Smith County, which was the way Raoul
liked it. Gave an edge to a man who could handle a rifle as we