y defeated him. Cocking his rifle with
great deliberation, he said fiercely,

"You have eaten salt in my house, you have slept by my fire, you have
drunk from my spring when you were thirsty, you Indian dog, and now--"

When the man had gone thus far rage choked his utterance, and he could
not say another word. He drew his rifle to his shoulder, but the muzzle,
instead of covering the head of the Indian, covered the person of George
Ackerman, who was coming toward him with all the speed his horse could
put forth.

The boy had sprung into life and activity the instant he witnessed Mr.
Wentworth's cunning manoeuvre, for he knew what it meant. Giving a pull
at his left rein, at the same time touching his horse lightly with the
spurs, the animal wheeled like a flash on his hind feet, and, dashing
through the line behind Bob Owens (some of the troopers afterward
declared that he jumped clear over Bob's horse), brought his rider to
the right side of the Indian just in time to intercept the deadly aim.
In another second George had seized the rifle with both hands, and a
terrific struggle began between him and Mr. Wentworth for the possession
of the weapon. In less time than it takes to tell it the man, having no
stirrups to support him, was jerked off his horse, and before he could
recover himself and plant his feet firmly on the ground the rifle was
twisted out of his grasp, and the bullet contained in the chamber was
sent whistling harmlessly off over the sandhills.

"No more of that!" exclaimed Bob, who rode up just half a minute too
late to be of any assistance. "Keep quiet now, or you'll go back to camp
with a guard over you."

"Mr. Wentworth," said George, bending down from his saddle and laying
his hand upon the angry man's shoulder, "your good sense must tell you
that the corporal can't stand peaceably by and see his prisoner shot.
What are you thinking of?"

"Give me that gun," panted Mr. Wentworth, who was white to the lips and
trembling in every limb. "I'll--I'll--"

"You'll do nothing but behave yourself," interrupted Bob. "You can't
have that rifle again until Captain Clinton says so, for you don't know
how to act when you have it in your hands; you point it around too loose
and reckless. Haven't you something besides revenge to think of now?
Can't you see that we have brought your boys back to you safe and
sound?"

The man's face softened at once. Tears came to his eyes, and darting
quickly around Bob's