“Farewell, lady,” he answered mockingly. “I shall see ye just the same, and ye will answer my questions next time.” The fellow swung into his saddle, Miss Briggs still keeping her weapon trained on him as she followed him out.
Then she saw the man suddenly stiffen in his saddle, and what followed came at such speed that she was dazed. The fellow’s revolver leaped, it seemed to her, from its holster and met his hand half way. There was a sudden report, and a faint puff of grayish smoke from the muzzle.
A fraction of a second, after the report of his weapon, brought a shot from somewhere to the left of the Overland girl. The bandit’s horse jumped, and to Elfreda it was plain that the animal had been hit. It reared, and its rider toppled over and plunged backwards to the ground.
The Bandit Was Using Elfreda as a Shield.
“He’s killed!” cried Miss Briggs, dropping her own weapon and running to the prostrate bandit who lay where he had fallen, his face turned to one side, and half hidden by his sombrero. She gave no thought to the peril that she might be inviting by aiding the ruffian. Her one thought was to give aid.
The girl was bending over him, when, in a flash, the fellow was on his feet, and two sinewy hands had grabbed her arms and whirled her about in the direction of the shot that had been fired at him. Elfreda Briggs had walked into a trap!
That was not all. A report at her ear was followed by another and another. The bandit was shooting over her shoulder, using the Overland girl as a shield.
There were no answering shots, nor could Elfreda see what the bandit had been shooting at, but she stood frozen, while he, alert and cool, kept his gaze fixed on a clump of bushes a few dozen yards ahead of them.
Elfreda had not uttered a sound. She was trembling, but rather than have the man using her as a shield know this she summoned all her will power and gained control of herself.