He was still far away when he saw them—Isabel and Dakota. The cowboy was sitting boldly on a rock close to her, one foot swinging. His Stetson was pushed to the back of his head, and now and then he threw back his head to laugh. Isabel did not laugh. Stamford saw her withdraw suddenly and turn, and Dakota reached swiftly for her, seizing her arm. She struggled but did not scream. Dakota laughed and drew her to him.
At that moment Cockney Aikens hurled himself from above and landed on all-fours close to Dakota. The cowboy recoiled, leaped farther back, and his hand went to his belt. Cockney raised himself, lunged, and Dakota flashed his gun and fired. Cockney halted for but the fraction of a second, then his great fist landed on Dakota's face, and the cowboy tumbled back among the rocks.
Cockney seemed to go limp then; he sank to his side. But he turned to Isabel and pointed, and she dropped behind a rock. The wounded man rolled himself slowly to cover. Dakota was nowhere to be seen. Cockney threw his left arm over the rock to ease his position, and a spot of smoke broke from the place where Dakota was hiding, and the arm slid off and Cockney fell back in a contorted position. Another burst of smoke, and Isabel ducked. Dakota was keeping them both to cover.
Stamford dashed upward to the prairie to make better speed. He could see Cockney better now. His left arm lay limp. One side of shirt and trousers was soaked with blood. His one sound hand reached up and pushed a bandage from his eyes. On the exposed rock, ten yards away, lay his revolver. In his leap from the rocks it had fallen from his belt. He was unarmed, of which Dakota was evidently ignorant. Cockney's hand was fumbling at his belt. Isabel, too, had her eyes on the revolver.
Stamford dropped to cover in the upper rocks behind Isabel to consider the situation. Then he advanced stealthily to the edge of the open, drew a long breath, and dashed out on the ledge where the revolver lay. He scooped it up and tossed it to Cockney. As he turned Dakota fired. A hot needle pierced his left shoulder. A second bullet missed him altogether, though it fanned his hair.
"Gosh!" he exclaimed, as he sank beside Isabel. "Gosh!"
It was so boyishly inadequate that Isabel smiled through the fear that had come into her eyes.
"Bah!" he jeered. "I thought those cowpunchers were dead shots."
He kept his left shoulder away from her and settled down with his back to the rock. He did not ask for an explanation. It only mattered that Dakota was on one side and the other three of them on the other. Cockney, by the sound of things, was making it hot for Dakota, now that he had his gun. A curse from the cowboy registered a nip. Stamford grinned foolishly.
"I bet on Cockney," he said.