skins collected around my cabin, and were preparing to break in the
door, when I leveled my revolver and brought down their foremost man.
This threw them into confusion. They retreated a little way, then
advanced again with a horrible yell, and I gave myself up for lost. But
I got in another shot, bringing down another warrior, this time the son
of their chief. The same scene was repeated. Well, to make a long story
short, I repulsed them at every advance, and finally when but three were
left, they concluded that prudence was the better part of valor, and
fled, leaving their dead and wounded behind them."

"How many were there of them?" asked Herbert.

"Well, in the morning when I went out I found seven dead redskins, and
two others lying at the point of death."

"That was certainly a thrilling adventure, Colonel," said George
Melville, smiling.

"Egad, I should say so."

"I confess I don't care to meet with any such."

"Oh, no danger, no danger!" said the colonel, airily. "That is,
comparatively speaking. In fact, the chief danger is of a different
sort."

"Of the sleigh upsetting and tipping us out into some of the canyons, I
suppose you mean?"

"No, I speak of the gentlemen of the road--road agents as they are
generally called."

"You mean highwaymen?"

"Yes."

"Is there much danger of meeting them?" asked Melville.

"Well, there's a chance. They are quite in the habit of attacking
stage-coaches, and plundering the passengers. Sometimes they make rich
hauls."

"That must be rather inconvenient to the passengers." said Melville.
"Can't the laws reach these outlaws?"

"They don't seem to. Why, there are men who have been in the business
for years, and have never been caught."

"Very true," said a fellow traveler. "There's Jerry Lane, for instance.
He has succeeded thus far in eluding the vigilance of the authorities."

"Yes," said the colonel, "I once saw Lane myself. Indeed he did me the
honor of relieving me of five hundred dollars."

"Couldn't you help it?" asked Herbert.

"No; he covered me with his revolver, and if I had drawn mine I
shouldn't have lived to take aim at him."

"Were you in a stage at the time?"

"No, I was riding on horseback."

"Is this Lane a large man?" asked George Melville.

"Not larger than myself," continued the colonel.

"Where does he live--in some secret haunt in the forest, I suppose?"

"Oh, no, he doesn't confine himself to one place. He travels a good
d