Redskins who pressed home the first
charge, having held a palaver, induced the whole band to make another
attempt, but they were met with the same vigour as before--a continuous
volley at long range, which emptied several saddles, and then, when the
plucky men of the tribe charged close, the white men stood up, as
before, and plied them with revolvers so rapidly that they were fain to
wheel aside and retire.

"Ammunition's gettin' low," said Dick, in an anxious tone.

"Then I'll waste no more," growled Jackson, "but only fire when I'm safe
to hit."

As he spoke a distant cheer was heard, and, looking back, they saw, with
a rebound of hope, that a band of five or six cow-boys were coming from
the ranch and galloping full swing to the rescue. Behind them, a few
seconds later, appeared a line of men who came on at a swinging trot.

"Troopers, I do believe!" exclaimed Jackson.

"Thank God!" said Mary, with a deep sigh of relief as she sat up to look
at them. The troopers gave a cheer of encouragement as they thundered
past to the attack, but the Indians did not await the onset. At the
first sight of the troops they fled, and in a few minutes pursued and
pursuers alike were out of sight--hidden behind the prairie waves.

"I can't tell you how thankful I am that I didn't shoot the mare," said
Dick, as they unfastened the feet of Black Polly and let her rise. "I'd
never have been able to look Hunky Ben in the face again arter it."

"Well, I'm not sorry you spared her," said Jackson; "as for the two that
are dead, they're no great loss--yet I've a kind o' regret too, for the
poor things served us well."

"Faithfully--even to death," added Mary, in a sorrowful tone as she
stooped to pat the neck of her dead pony.

"Will you mount, Miss Mary, and ride home?" asked the sailor.

"Thank you--no, I'd rather walk with father. We have not far to go
now."

"Then we'll all walk together," said Jackson.

Dick threw Black Polly's bridle over his arm, and they all set off at a
smart walk for the ranch of Roaring Bull, while the troops and cow-boys
chased the Redskins back into the mountains whence they had come.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

TREATS OF VARIOUS INTERESTING MATTERS, AND TELLS OF NEWS FROM HOME.

Dick Darvall now learned that, owing to the disturbed state of the
country, Captain Wilmot had left a small body of men to occupy Bull's
ranch for a time; hence their presence at the critical moment when
Jackson and