aken by surprise as the others had been; his
revolver was ready for use, and it seemed as if the words had hardly
been uttered when he fired three times in rapid succession.

He aimed directly for the muzzle of Jet's gun, but was forced to
discharge his weapon so quickly that there was no time to shoot with
any degree of accuracy.

Two of the bullets whistled past Jet, but the third lodged in the
fleshy portion of his arm.

For the instant he was conscious of nothing more than a sharp twinge
such as might have been caused by the sudden application of a galvanic
battery, and he pulled both triggers of his gun at the same instant.

Unfortunately neither of the bullets took effect.

At the moment he fired Sam leaped behind a tree, thus shielding himself
from what might otherwise have put a speedy end to the battle.

"Stay where you are, and fire whenever he shows himself!" Jet whispered
sternly to Jim, who was showing signs of beating a retreat.

"Where's the use?" the small guide whined. "You're pretty nigh killed,
an' what am I goin' to do?"

"I'm all right; there's no need to worry about me if you'll only do
your share."

"But look at the blood!" and Jim pointed to his friend's shoulder down
which the life fluid was flowing copiously.

Just at that instant Jet had no time to bestow upon his own injuries.

He had seen Sam edging around as if to advance nearer, and he emptied
two chambers of his revolver as a warning that it would be dangerous
for him to make the attempt.

The man shrank behind the tree very suddenly, and this gave the amateur
detective an opportunity to slip a couple of cartridges into his gun.

"Shall I go to see if the prisoners are all right?" Jim whispered.
"They'll be sure to try an' give us the slip after hearin' all this
shootin'."

"Stay here, and keep your eyes oh that fellow! The others must be left
to do as they can for a while."

This scheme of Jim's for getting out of the way of danger had proven a
failure, and with a deep sigh he turned his attention once more to the
enemy in front.

Jet knew how dangerous it would be to allow Sam a chance to rush in
upon them, and after loading his gun he fired one ball at the fellow's
leg, which was visible from behind the tree.

A smothered curse, and two shots fired at random told that he had
succeeded in making matters even, so far as wounds were concerned, and
Jet whispered:

"Fire, whenever you see a bit of his clothes; that