ment of firing perhaps fifty yards separated pursuer and
pursued. The two guns were discharged so nearly simultaneously, that
they might have well been mistaken for one. The escape of Ned was a
narrow one. He felt one of the bullets pierce his clothing, and a sting
in the hand told him that he had been slightly wounded. At the same
moment he felt a peculiar twitch or quiver of the steed, which indicated
that he also had been hit. It was like the jar of the smoothly-moving
machinery when some slight obstruction gets into the works. Still there
was no abatement of the tremendous speed of the magnificent little
animal, and Ned concluded that the hurt was not a serious one. A minute
later two more reports were heard, but they were faint and far away, and
the bullets sped wide of the mark.

All danger was passed from that quarter, and once more Ned straightened
up, and, looking about him, felt that the Indian mustang he bestrode had
been the means of saving his life. But for him he would have been in the
hands of the Apaches long since.

"I wonder whether there are Indians in every bush?" he said, as his eyes
roamed over the prairie in search of some place of shelter. "They seem
to be watching for me from every tree in the country. Well, my good
horse, we shall have to keep on the go till dark comes, when we'll get
some chance to creep off and hide."

Looking to the southward, a wooded section was to be seen, but Ned
concluded to give all such places a wide berth for the present. He had
missed recapture by too narrow a chance to risk it blindly again. A long
distance to the northwest he discerned a range of hills of moderate
elevation, and it occurred to him that there was a suitable place in
which to spend the coming night. By journeying forward at this easy,
swinging pace, he calculated upon reaching them about nightfall, and in
the shelter which they offered he was confident of being able to hide
away beyond the vision of the most vigilant Apache or Comanche.

"What has become of those fellows?" he abruptly asked himself, as his
eye glanced hastily around in search of the hunters from whom he had now
been separated the better portion of twenty-four hours. "I can't
understand how we got so far apart. If they meant the whole thing as a
joke, I think it is played out by this time."

He was a little nettled when he came to reflect that the parting was
probably arranged by Dick and Tom for the purpose of giving him a lesso