The two troopers bent over to lift the body to the litter that the others were bringing up.
At that instant a strange and unexpected thing happened.
The supposed dead man moved.
Both arms shot out and the moon beams caught and reflected a steely glint in each hand.
With lightning-like quickness the bandit's hands shot into the shadows formed by the bodies of the two troopers. The movement was so slight as to have been almost indistinguishable two paces away.
The soldiers with a groan settled down in a heap.
Yet nothing of the tragedy being enacted before their very eyes, conveyed itself to the troopers just beyond, and the Captain was calling out some order to the men that the bandit had laid low. They did not know that two of their companions lay dying there, their life blood staining the virgin rocks.
"Hey, what is going on over there?" shouted the Captain, his keen eyes noting something unusual in the attitude of his men.
There was no response.