“Esmeralda!” he shouted, his voice thick and husky. “Esmeralda, is that—”
“Yes, yes, yes! It’s I—Esmeralda! Varley! Varley!” she cried, holding out her arms to him.
In the excitement of recognition they appeared to have quite forgotten what was going on around them, and Varley was completely ignoring the fact that the lamp was revealing him to his foes and making a splendid mark for them.
One of the Dog’s Ear men rode round, stared, swore, and raised his revolver, and Varley would have paid the penalty for his fool-hardiness there and then, but with a cry of warning Esmeralda bent down and snatched the lamp from Varley’s hand and dashed it into the face of his assailant. The next instant all was darkness, for one of the Dog’s Ear men had smashed the other lantern with a bullet.
[CHAPTER XXXV.]
As the bullet crashed through the lamp, and it fell to the ground, the whole scene was plunged in darkness. Varley reached up for Esmeralda, calling for her, but before he could reach her, his horse fell under him, and he heard through the din her voice crying with a sharp sound of alarm. He struggled to his feet and shouted for a light; Taffy answered the shout with a yell, and suddenly the scene was illumined by a fierce glare. Taffy had torn off his coat and set fire to it.
As Taffy waved the burning coat above his head, Varley saw Simon riding across the plain. There was something lying across the saddle in front of him, and Varley saw that it was Esmeralda. He snatched up a rifle lying beside him, and kneeling, took careful aim at Simon’s horse. The bullet whizzed past its neck, and Simon, with a yell of derision, dug his spurs into the animal’s side and tore on. Varley set his teeth hard and fired again; the bullet struck the stirrup and Simon pulled up for an instant, hesitated, then dropped Esmeralda to the ground. Varley went across the plain like a greyhound, but before he had reached her she was standing upright, and the next instant she was on his breast, sobbing and laughing hysterically.
“It is you—it is you, Esmeralda!” was all he could say for a moment or two. “I can scarcely believe my eyes. How did you come here? But there is no time for questions; I must go back!”