ed at me, trying to drag me toward the bridge. I didn't have
any objections to her liking me as much as she pleased, for she was a
beauty--I found that out afterward, of course; but though I couldn't
see her face very well just them, I liked her voice and knew she must
be good to look at. But I didn't like the idea of leaving the other
boys, and told her so.

"'You'll all be killed, anyway,' she said, all excited. 'They might as
well die now as later. They'll kill you, too, if you go back!'

"That was logic, all right, but I'd have gone back anyway if I hadn't
heard Nebraska and Taylor working their guns just then. The Toltecs
broke and scattered--some of them. Three or four of them couldn't
after the boys began to shoot. Soon as the Toltecs broke away a
little, Nebraska and Taylor made for where we stood. I saw them coming
and told the girl to lead us. The three of us--the girl, Taggart, and
me--got to the bridge, which was a light, flimsy, narrow affair made of
two long, straight saplings lashed together with vines, with a couple
of strips of bark for a bottom--and crossed it. Then we stood on the
ledge in front of the mouth of the cave, watching Nebraska and Taylor.
They were coming for all they were worth, shooting as they ran and
keeping the bunch of Toltecs at a respectable distance, though the
Toltecs were running parallel with them, trying to bring them down with
arrows.

"Nebraska and Taylor made the bridge. They had got about half way over
when a dozen or so of the Toltecs threw themselves at the end of the
bridge which rested on the village side of the canyon, grabbed hold of
it, and pulled it off the ledge on our side. I yelled to the boys and
jumped for the end of the bridge. But I was too late. The bridge
balanced for an instant, and then the end on which the boys were
standing started to sink. Nebraska saw what was coming, off and jumped
for the ledge on which we were standing. He missed it by five feet.
There wasn't a sound from his lips as he shot down into the awful
blackness of the canyon. I got sick and dizzy, but not so sick that I
couldn't see what was happening to Taylor. Taylor didn't jump for the
ledge. He turned like a cat and grabbed a rail of the bridge, trying
to climb back to the level. He'd have made it, too, but the Toltecs
wouldn't let him. They jabbed at him with their spears and arrows and
threw knives at him. One of the knives struck him in the shoulder, and
w