Like deers the outlaws sped toward the cavalrymen, their presence unsuspected.
But as they got within twenty feet of them, a voice suddenly shrilled:
"There he is! There's Jesse James!"
In their reckoning, the desperadoes had forgotten the old witch whose son they had killed.
The cause of the fight between soldiers and Indians, Kaw-Kaw, had ducked into a niche out of range of the bullets, from which she watched the conflict.
And as the bandits rushed past, she recognized them.
Yet before her warning had rung out, the bandit-chieftain thundered:
"Fire! Rake 'em, boys! Drop 'em!"
But while his men poured their murderous fire into the troopers, Jesse turned and sent a shot crashing into the brain of the old hag and she toppled from her hiding place, a blood-curdling shriek coming from her lips as she fell.
Amazed at the warning which was followed on the instant by the fusilade from behind, the cavalrymen whirled to face their foes from the new quarter.