"Yee-ow!"
The boy yelled as he banged his heels into the pony's sides and the spirited little animal leaped forward.
Bang!
Nat's sombrero was lifted from his head and he could feel the bullets fairly fan his hair as he rode on.
"Stop him! Stop him!" came cries from behind. And then a sudden order:—
"Let go the man-trap!"
If Nat had realized what this meant he would have been tempted to give up his dash for freedom then and there. But he had hardly given a thought to the big suspended platform of pine trunks and rocks while on his way to the outlaws' fort, nor even if he had noticed it more minutely, would he have guessed its purpose.
But as the order to release the crushing weight and send it crashing down upon the trail was roared out by the colonel, a clatter of hoofs came close behind. It was Dayton, who had hastily thrown himself upon the other horse and was now close upon Nat. Drawing a revolver he fired, but the bullet whistled harmlessly by Nat's head. At the terrific pace they were making an accurate shot was, fortunately for our hero, impossible.
Nat, as the pony leaped forward, instinctively bent low in the saddle.