e men followed up the bottom of the
canon on foot, five mounted flankers were thrown out on either side. At
last, high up the canon, Kit's party was found at bay, lying in some
thick underbrush. It was a desperate position to attack, but the
pursuers did not hesitate. Dismounting, they advanced on foot with
rifles cocked, but with all the caution of a hunter trailing a wounded
grizzly. The negro opened the ball at barely twenty yards' range with a
shot that drove a hole through the Boston boy's hat. Dropping at first
with surprise, for he had not seen the negro till the instant he rose to
fire, the Boston boy returned a quick shot that happened to hit the negro
just above the centre of the forehead and rolled him over dead.

Approaching from another direction, Shannon was first to draw Taggart's
file. Taggart was lying hidden in the brush; Shannon standing out in the
open. Shot after shot they exchanged, until presently a ball struck the
earth in front of Taggart's face and filled his eyes full of gravel and
sand. Blinded for the time, he called for quarter, and came out of the
brush with his hands up and another man with him. Asked for his pistol,
Taggart replied:

"Damn you, that's empty, or I'd be shooting yet."

Meantime, Whitehill was engaging Mitch Lee. In a few minutes, shot
through and helpless, Lee surrendered.

It was quick, hot work!

All but Kit were now killed or captured. He had been separated from his
party, and La Fer was seen trailing him on a neighboring hillside.

At this juncture the sheriff detailed Shannon to return to town and get a
wagon to bring in the dead and wounded, while he started to join La Fer
in pursuit of Kit.

An hour later, as Shannon was leaving town with a wagon to return to the
scene of the fight, a mob of men, led by a shyster lawyer, joined him and
swore they proposed to lynch the prisoners. This was too much for
Shannon's sense of frontier proprieties. So, rising in his wagon, he
made a brief but effective speech.

"Boys, none of our men are hurt, although it is no fault of our
prisoners. A dozen of us have gone out and risked our lives to capture
these men. You men have not seen fit, for what motives we will not
discuss, to help us. Now, I tell you right here that any who want can
come, but the first man to raise a hand against a prisoner I'll kill."

Shannon's return escort was small.

But once more back in the hills of the Pinos Altos, Shannon foun