The prostrate horses, and a partial glimpse of a figure lying between them, caused the rescuers to believe that the captain and his nephew were either slain outright or badly hurt.
The approaching mustangs kept up their run until they were thrown on their haunches 280 with such suddenness that the shock seemed to fling the riders from their saddles. They leaped forward, and vigorous arms quickly lifted the body of the captain’s horse from off young Burnet, who opened his eyes and looked up with that faint wildness which showed he had no conception of the situation.
“Where’s the captain?”
This was the question that was asked by several, as all glared around for their leader. Before anyone attempted an answer, others examined the nephew and found he was without a wound. He had swooned under the sudden pressure of the horse shot by his uncle, but he quickly recovered, and, after being assisted to his feet and shaking himself together, everything came back to him. Turning to Thunderbolt he ordered him to rise, and the animal obeyed. He had received a couple of flesh-wounds, which stung him for the moment without incapacitating him for effective service.
Then, in as few words as possible, Avon told his story. He remembered that his uncle was 281 wounded before his horse was killed, and it was self-evident to everyone that the poor man had been carried off by the Comanches.
“Did you see Shackaye among ’em?” asked Gleeson, his face like a thunder-cloud.
“He was not with those who attacked us; I could not have failed to see him if he had been.”
“But what became of him? He started off with you, and you must have parted somewhere on the road.”
Young Burnet now told about Shackaye’s encounter with the steer which came near slaying him. Avon’s pursuit of the other troublesome animal withdrew all attention from him, and there was no certainty of the manner of his disappearance, which, to say the least, was extraordinary.
But the absence of Captain Shirril forbade that the cowboys should waste time in idleness. Instinctively every eye was turned toward the hills to the eastward among which the Comanches had vanished with their captive.