fore him and he made out a
struggling mass on the ground before it, his partner's grunted curses
and the growls of Cooper's wagoner saving them from his attack. He went
into the mass feet first, landing with all his weight and the momentum
of his run on a crouched man whose upraised arm was only waiting for a
sure opening. The knife user grunted as he went down, and his head
struck the edge of a wagon-wheel with such force that he no longer was
a combatant. Tom had fallen to his knees after his catapulting impact
and when he arose he held a squirming halfbreed over his head at the
height of his upraised arms. One heave of his powerful body and the
human missile flew through the air and struck two of the half-breed's
friends as they sprang to their feet in sudden alarm. They went down
like tenpins and before they could gain their feet again Tom dropped on
one of them, his knees squarely in the pit of the man's stomach, his
right hand on the throat of the other, while his left gripped his
adversary's knife hand and bent it steadily and inexorably back toward
the wrist.

"Th' little bobcat's j'ined us," panted Hank, crawling onto the man he
now rolled under him. "Tom Boyd, Armijo's pet, with his fangs bared an'
his claws out. Take _this_, you----!" he grunted as his shoulder set
itself behind the smashing blow. "How ye makin' out with yer friend,
Abe?" he asked of the other rolling pair.

It seemed that Abe was not making out according to Hank's
specifications, so he crawled over to help him, and reached out a hand.
It fastened onto a skinny neck and clamped shut, whereupon Abe rolled
victoriously free and paused to glower at his victim. His surprise,
while genuine, was of short duration, and he shook his head at the
cheerful Hank and then pounced onto the man who had been used as a
missile, and pinned him to the ground. In a few moments the fight was
over, and the victors grinned sheepishly at each other in the
semi-darkness and re-arranged various parts of their clothing.

"I saw somethin' smash inter th' waggin wheel an' sorta reckoned you
war some'rs 'round," panted Hank. "Then I saw somethin' else sail inter
th' air an' knock over two o' th' thieves. Then I knowed ye war hyar. Me
an' Abe war doin' our best, but we war beginnin' ter slip, like fur at
th' end o' winter."

"Ye mebbe war sheddin' a little," laughed Tom, "but you'd 'a' shed them
thieves afore ye petered out. Tell me about it."

"Thar ain't nothin' te