Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/221

 risen from behind an immense rock, the head and shoulders of one showing while the other stood fully revealed in the open. It looked as if he despised the youth and was challenging him to do his worst.

That one quick glance showed Alden that the redskin thus exposed was fitting another arrow to the string of his bow. His companion seemed to be acting the part of spectator.

“Two can play at that game!” muttered Alden, bringing the rifle of Dick Light foot to his shoulder and sighting at the miscreant. He had noticed the straggling black hair of his foe, which dangled about his shoulders, his naked chest and deerskin shirt. He was of squat form, sturdy and enduring of frame, and a foe not to be despised by anyone.

Thus it came about that he and Alden Payne were aiming at each other at the same moment. That which followed was unprecedented in its way. The youth pulled trigger an instant before the other let fly. Had Alden possessed his own gun, he would have brought down the redskin, for the distance was not great, and we remember he was a fine marksman, but the new weapon did not feel precisely like the