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236 lips close to Stone's ear. "And sneaked. Mebbe we can git a pot at 'em goin' down or see w'ot they're up to."

They emerged on the summit. The dark blotches proved to be potholes worn into deep pits by sand-whirls in the eroded surface. One of these had been deepened for the way they had come. They moved over toward the edge. Then two shadows lifted from the holes and two shots blazed.

Stone felt the wind of the bullet pass his face as he leaped for his man, who sprang out of his concealment. Back of him Larkin fired and jumped fairly on top of his man, as Stone's opponent fired again, in the same second with Stone. A red-hot iron seemed to pass by Stone's shoulder, close to his neck, and then he grappled. His own shot had missed in the rush of the encounter.

"Ha, Gringo! Thees time I keel you!"

It was Padilla, and Stone's forces surged within him as he wrestled fiercely with the Mexican. Padilla's bull strength got the first advantage. The man was like an enormous eel. He twisted and sank his teeth into Stone's wrist forcing him to drop the gun which he was trying to use as a club. Then Padilla dropped his own weapon and, though his arm was forced down by his side, managed to wriggle and get out a knife. Stone caught the blue gleam of the steel in the moonlight and, with a sudden burst of energy, forced Padilla's arm backward and upward toward the small of his back. The Mexican cursed and struggled but the knife fell tinkling into one of