Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/132

114 and, although the backs of the two Indians were, by this time, almost directly toward him, both whirled on the instant. At the same time, behind their rocks, the eyes of Tex Gordon and Toad Jones squinted along the barrels of their rifles until the sights found the exact centre of the great yellow circle that adorned the breast of each Indian. For a moment the two bucks stared in astonishment at the slight, uniformed figure that had seemingly sprung from the earth itself, then, without warning, both rifles flew up—two reports sounded as one, and two thin puffs of smoke dissolved into the air—from the muzzles of the prospectors' rifles. One Indian pitched forward and crashed heavily to the ground, where he lay without a sound, but the other, dropping his rifle, clutched frantically at his shoulder and staggered backward among the rocks.

Better le'me finish him," pleaded Toad Jones. "A doggone skeeter lit plumb on th' notch o' my hine sight jest as I pulled, er they'd a be'n another good Injun—you bet!" But Connie shook his head.

We'll take him with us. I want some information, and I guess Ick Far can make him talk."