"The cowards!" breathed Tad, his eyes glowing angrily.
"Oh, yes, they're all of that. They shoot when the other fellow isn't looking, and they shoot to kill. But we might as well go back. I could follow them, but it hardly is worth while. They will be hidden long before we can run them down. They'll leave a blind trail pretty soon after they get far enough away to make it safe for them to stop and cover their tracks."
"But, will they not come back again?" urged Butler.
"Not to-night. They know I am on my guard now. They will put off their attack on you until some other time. Lucky I chanced to be here when they first came. I hope they don't take the alarm and keep away from you now."
Butler grinned. He hoped so too, though the others of his party might not share this hope with him, especially Professor Zepplin who was getting rather more excitement out of this journey than he had looked for.
By the time the two had returned to the campfire the others had mustered courage enough to stand up. The professor, his whiskers bristling, had crawled from the depression into which he had rolled at the first sign of trouble, and Chunky was making his way cautiously from the bushes.
"Captain McKay, how much of this sort of thing shall we have to face?" demanded the professor.
"You might have had to face a good deal more of it, had I not been here," answered the Ranger shortly.
"What do you mean?"
"That had I not been here you would have got the bullets fired at me.
As I have already said to Butler, those men were after your party.
When they saw me they knew they would not dare to waste a shot on any
one else."