hen I heard him scream I pulled my guns and began to shoot across the
canyon. I hadn't thought of it before; there are times when a man's
brain refuses to work like he'd like to have it. But the Toltecs
didn't mind the shooting a little bit.

"Three or four of them got hit and backed away from the edge of the
canyon, but there were enough others to do what they were trying to do,
and they did it. I stood there, helpless, and saw them shove Taylor
off the bridge with their spears. When he finally let go and went
turning over and over down into the black hole, my whole insides fanned
up into my throat. That sensation has never left me; I wake up nights
seeing Taylor as he let go of the bridge, watching him sink, tumbling
over and over into that black gash, and I get sick and dizzy just as I
did that night.

"But just then I didn't have much of a chance to be sick long. While I
was standing there wondering what to do I saw a Toltec priest come out
of the cave. He had a spear in his hand and was sneaking up on
Taggart--who stood there almost fainting from fright. There was murder
in the priest's eyes; I saw it and bent my gun on him. The trigger
snapped on dead cartridges, and I yanked out my knife. I'd have been
too late, at that. But the girl saw the priest, and she dodged behind
him and gave him a shove. He pitched out and went head first down into
the canyon.

"The Toltecs on the other side were watching, and they saw the priest
go. Until now they hadn't shot at us, probably afraid of hitting the
girl, but when they saw her push the priest over the edge of the canyon
they saw that her sympathies were with us, and they let drive at us
with their arrows. We were all slightly wounded--not enough to
mention--and we got back into the cave where their arrows couldn't
reach us. Three or four times the Toltecs tried to swing the bridge
back into position, but they couldn't make it because there was no one
on our side to help them, and Taggart and me made things mighty
unpleasant for them with our sixes. They finally went away and held a
council of war, which seemed to leave them undecided. They evidently
hadn't figured on the girl turning traitor. If she hadn't they'd have
got me and Taggart in short order.

"We'd got where the treasure was, all right, but it was a mighty bad
outlook for us. We were kind of anxious about the bridge, being afraid
the Toltecs would get it back into place; but the girl, who