crushed out of him.

Hiram bounded to his feet and confronted the man into whose face he had
thrown the pine knot, and who now was rushing him, brandishing a
revolver. Hiram's blow had knocked the mask from this man's face, but
it was a face that Hiram had never seen before.

A shot barked dully in the heavy atmosphere of the forest, and the
smoke hung in a little ball. Hiram felt the impact of the bullet, and
was whirled half around with the force of it. He knew he had been hit
some place--in the breast or shoulder perhaps--but as yet felt not the
slightest pain. Fire flashed in his very face, now, and this time he
smelled the acrid powder; but he had been in motion when the trigger
was pressed and the bullet whined away fretfully through the trees. On
the heels of the second report came that sickening crack once more, and
the face of the man that glared through the smoke at Hiram went red
with a smear of blood.

He sank to his knees, and Hiram spun about just in time to aim another
crashing blow at the skull of the man whom he had catapulted into the
tree. His mask still held in place, but his hat was off and Hiram saw
that his hair was brown and wavy. There had not been time to aim, and
the blow fell on his assailant's neck.

They clinched, went down together, rolling over and over, clawing at
each other like fighting lynxes.

"Gi' me the paper! Gi' me the paper!" yelled a voice, as Hiram climbed
uppermost on his man and fought to free his entangled arms.

At the same instant other arms were thrown about him from behind. The
man he had hit first had reentered the fight, it seemed.

With a herculean heave the man from Wild-cat Hill lurched backward,
carrying his lighter assailant with him. Hiram had lost his club. He
grasped the man on his back by the under part of his thighs, as he had
the other, and lifted his feet from the ground. Then, so quickly that
the man was taken off his guard, Hiram leaped into the air and fell
backward, falling with all the weight of his huge body on the man who
clung to him like an abalone to a rock.

"_Wuff_!" he heard again, as the fellow's breath forsook him in a spasm
of pain. He lost his hold on Hiram, and Hiram flopped over.

"Run! Get a horse! Get away with the paper!" this fellow choked; and
as Hiram sprang upon him he saw the other rise and totter toward a
horse.

Crashing a blow to the face of the man under him, Hiram sprang to his
feet and lunged at t