Apache trap. The fourth one had allowed a wider
gap to open between himself and his fellows.

Then the Red leader came. His face below the bulge of the helmet was not
happy. Travis believed the man was not a horseman by inclination. The
Apache set arrow to bow cord, and at the chirp from Nolan, fired in
concert with his clansmen.

Only one of those arrows found a target. The Red's pony gave a shrill
scream of pain and terror, reared, pawing at the air, toppled back,
pinning its shouting rider under it.

The Red had had a defense right enough, one which had somehow deflected
the arrows. But he neither had protection against his own awkward seat
in the saddle nor the arrow which had seriously wounded the now
threshing pony.

Ahead the Tatars twisted and writhed, mouthed tortured cries, then
dropped out of their saddles to lie limply on the ground as if the
arrows aimed at the master had instead struck each to the heart.

11

Either the Red was lucky, or his reactions were quick. He had somehow
rolled clear of the struggling horse as Lupe leaped from behind a
boulder, knife out and ready. To the eyes of the Apaches the helmeted
man lay easy prey to Lupe's attack. Nor did he raise an arm to defend
himself, though one hand lay free across the plate on his chest.

But the young Apache stumbled, rebounding back as if he had run into an
unseen wall--when his knife was still six inches away from the other.
Lupe cried out, shook under a second impact as the Red fired an
automatic with his other hand.

Travis dropped his bow, returned to the most primitive weapon of all.
His hand closed around a stone and he hurled the fist-sized oval
straight at the helmet so clearly outlined against the rocks below.

But even as Lupe's knife had never touched flesh, so was the rock
deflected; the Red was covered by some protective field. This was
certainly nothing the Apaches had seen before. Nolan's whistle summoned
them to draw back.

The Red fired again, the sharp bark of the hand gun harsh and loud. He
did not have any real target, for with the exception of Lupe the Apaches
had gone to earth. Between the rocks the Red was struggling to his feet,
but he moved slowly, favoring his side and one leg; he had not come
totally unharmed from his tumble with the pony.

An armed enemy who could not be touched--one who knew there were more
than outlaws in this region. The Red leader was far more of a threat to
the Apaches now than