For, following that first shot, came a volley of them, accompanied by the whistling of bullets through the camp.
The leader of the invaders pitched and fell, shot through the hip.
"Take to cover, boys!" roared the stricken leader. "Take my rifle, too. Defend yourselves. The soldiers are down on us!"
But Sergeant Hal, after that first moment of joyous surprise, felt a thrill of astonishment.
The bullets that were whistling through camp had not the sound of Army missiles!
Yet the young sergeant had no time to speculate on this discovery, for now he heard a voice, and a wholly strange one, shout, as the volley ceased:
"You men surrender, if you don't want to be riddled. If you start to make a move away from camp we'll drop every one of you before any man can reach cover. We mean business!"
"Hello! What's going on here? Halt! Deploy, there! Lie down! Ready—load—aim!"
That was Noll Terry's voice, and the young sergeant was right on his word like a flash.
While the first party was hidden behind cover to the northward, Sergeant Noll and his men had come up from the westward.