Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/253

 be questioned whether in the majority of cases, one was not as effective as the other.

The particular red man in whom we are now interested had a formidable bow at command, and no doubt was an expert in its use, but before discharging an arrow, he must snatch it from behind his shoulder, fit it to the string and aim. Ere he could do all this the white youth could bore him through a dozen times had he possessed that number of guns. He had one which in the circumstances was as good as the larger number.

Dick at sight of the redskin had also stopped. Thus he and the savage faced each other as if the two were carved in stone. Alden was quickwitted enough to bring his rifle to his shoulder and aim between the ears of his pony. There was no mistake about it: he had “the drop” on the other fellow.

And that other fellow knew it. He had been trained never to give or ask quarter, and he did not ask for it now. Instead, he whirled about and dashed off in a wild headlong flight. There was something grotesquely comical in his performance, for instead of running in a straight line, he leaped from side to side,