the bright sky.

Dick got ready his repeating rifle. We have already mentioned the fact
that he had learned to load and fire this formidable weapon with great
rapidity, though he had signally failed in his attempts to aim with it.
Being well aware of his weakness, he made up his mind in his present
desperate extremity not to aim at all! He had always felt that the
difficulty of getting the back and front sights of the rifle to
correspond with the object aimed at was a slow, and, in his case, an
impossible process. He therefore resolved to simply point his weapon
and fire!

"Surely," he muttered to himself even in that trying moment, "surely I
can't altogether miss a whole bunch o' fifty men an' horses!"

He waited until he thought the savages were within long range, and then,
elevating his piece a little, fired.

The result justified his hopes. A horse fell dead upon the plain, and
its owner, although evidently unwounded, was for the time _hors de
combat_.

True to his plan, Dick kept up such a quick continuous fire, and made so
much noise and smoke, that it seemed as if a whole company of riflemen
were at work instead of one man, and several horses on the plain
testified to the success of the pointing as compared with the aiming
principle!

Of course the fire was partly returned, and for a time the stout seaman
was under a pretty heavy rain of bullets, but as the savages fired while
galloping their aim was necessarily bad.

This fusillade had naturally the effect of checking the advance of the
Indians--especially when they drew near to the reckless man, who, when
the snap of his rifle told that his last cartridge was off, wheeled
about and fled as fast as Black Polly could lay hoofs to the plain.

And now he found the value of the trustworthy qualities of his steed,
for, instead of guiding her out of the way of obstacles, he gave her her
head, held tight with his legs, and merely kept an eye on the ground in
front to be ready for any swerve, bound, or leap, that might be
impending. Thus his hands were set free to re-charge the magazine of
his rifle, which he did with deliberate rapidity.

The truth is, that recklessness has a distinct tendency to produce
coolness. And there is no one who can afford to be so deliberate, and
of whom other men are so much afraid, as the man who has obviously made
up his mind to die fighting.

While Dick was loading-up, Black Polly was encouraged by voice and heel
to do