And so it was. Macguire's villainous associate had disappeared, and with him the battery. He had left his hard-headed partner to bear the brunt of Jack's vengeful blow, probably by a preconceived arrangement, and, as Macguire most likely reasoned, a crack on the head with a rifle was better for him than the bullet which he would assuredly have received had he ventured flight at the same moment. They had trusted to the boy's unwillingness to shoot—after emptying their own firearms with deadly intent. They had pitted their murderous cunning against the lad's humane judgment, and they had succeeded in their nefarious plan.
"I ought to have fired; I ought to have killed them," muttered Jack, despairingly. "I knew their revolvers were empty at the last, only I didn't—like—to—shoot——"
"You did well, my lad," spoke Mackay, encouragingly. "I wouldna have cared for the blood o' even twa such scoundrels to be on your young heid, though had they killed you, I would have chased them up an' choked the breath oot o' them baith afore morning."
Very few of the tent dwellers around appeared to have been disturbed by the heavy firing. Only the Shadow and Emu Bill made their appearance to investigate the cause, and when they learned what had taken place, their language was full and eloquent.
"I'll twist that dandy chemist's neck in the morning," quoth the Shadow, with earnestness.
Mackay laughed mirthlessly. "They'll both probably stay in hiding for a bit," he said, "and the first thing we'll know is another process being stuck up on the Flat. They'll crowd us out, right enough, and we'll get nothing but what's in our own claims to put through."
"But won't the miners stand by us?" suggested Jack, hopefully.
"The miners, my laddie! The miners, especially on a new field such as this is, are like sheep. They'll gang the way o' least resistance, an' we canna afford to run a philanthropic concern for their benefit altogether. It's Bob I'm sorry for—Bob whose brain has done the work——"
"We'll let that go," said Bob, gently. "As you said last night, I'll have at least a vivid experience to remember."
Next morning news of the theft of Bob's secret appliances spread rapidly over the Flat. Mackay considered it advisable to let the affair be known ere some "new" discovery became heralded abroad by the perpetrators of the outrage.