“Some breed tried to knife me,” choked the frightened man, holding on to the chair for support.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know,” wheezed Murky. “Never seen him before. He came up while I was a standin’ over there an’ first thing I knowed he made a slash at me.”
Nichols trembled as he spoke, drawing attention to the wide slit in his mackinaw shirt just below his left arm-pit.
“This is where the knife caught me when I jumped back. Good thing I did or he’d o’ got me sure.”
“Did he hurt you at all?” inquired Rand.
“Nothing but a scratch.”
“You were lucky. You say you didn’t know the breed?”
A slight hesitation on the part of the prospector was noted probably by only two persons in the room—Dick and Corporal Rand.
“First time I ever set eyes on him, corporal.”