ng.

It need not be said that the Texan had not the remotest intention of
following the example of his servant. If he should discover the presence
of an Indian on the roof, little fear of an attempt to steal upon him
unaware and fling him to the earth below. The captain held his
Winchester firmly grasped and most of its chambers were charged. That
offered the true solution of his problem, in case of the appearance of
danger, and he was not the man to hesitate in such an emergency.

He did not fail to notice that which was observed by his nephew: the
Comanches had ceased their whooping and firing, though the tramping of
their mustangs proved that most of the warriors were still mounted and
circling back and forth in the aimless effort to detect some means of
getting at the defiant inmates of the house.

"Avon has given them the slip," was his conclusion, "though he must have
had a close call. There is one Indian less, at any rate, than when he
stole out of the cabin."

Such was the fact, though, as we have shown, he did not fall by the
rifle of the youth.

The Texan was standing on the chair in the upper room, with his head and
shoulders through the opening, all his senses on the alert, when he
caught the faint report of a rifle, repeated several times. The sounds
came from a point a long way off, and he could only conjecture their
cause.

"If it was over yonder," he added, referring to a point of the compass
almost opposite, "I would believe the boy fired the gun and had come in
collision with some more of the scamps that are so plenty to-night, but
he can't be over there, because that would lead him further from the
camp of the cattlemen."

And yet, as the reader suspects, the rifle was discharged by the young
man, who, in obedience to the general law, had strayed in the wrong
direction in his blind search for his friends.

It was not necessary to give any attention to matters below stairs. He
could not believe that danger threatened there, but, should it appear in
an unexpected form, the women would give quick notice, and he could
hasten to their aid.

"Avon ought to reach camp in half an hour," continued the Texan,
following his train of thought; "true, he is on foot, but he knows every
step of the way, and won't allow the grass to grow under his feet; it
will take the boys about half a minute to make ready; the cattle can be
left to themselves, so they ought to be here within three-quarters of an
hour, a