Seeing the Steam Man they had seized what seemed to them a fine opportunity to destroy it.
How far short they came of it we have already seen.
A red-hot contest now began between the cowboys and those in the steel wagon.
Of course our three friends had a vast advantage inasmuch as they were protected from the shots of their foes.
Of course the outlaws far outnumbered them, but it was not at all a difficult matter to pick them off occasionally with a rifle bullet.
Volley after volley the cowboys fired at the Steam Man.
When at length it became patent to them that their shots were futile, they made the air ring with yells of baffled rage.
Then they ceased firing and silence ensued. Every cowboy had disappeared seemingly from the canyon wall.
But this did not deceive Frank Reade, Jr.
He knew that this was only a game of the foe and that it would yet be unsafe to try the pass.