All at once, as there came a momentary lull while the redskins awaited the result of their broadside, a voice bellowed:
"Back, boys! Run for your lives! The bucks have tons of rocks!"
It was Comanche Tony, who, despite the danger he ran of having a knife jabbed into him as he spoke, had braved death to warn his pals.
A moment Jesse hesitated.
Loath was he to leave his intrepid pal in the hands of the Indians. But he realized that should they tarry longer where they were, in the face of Tony's warning, the lives of all of them might be crushed out in a death more horrible than by bullets or torture—their bodies mashed to a pulp between the boulders hurled from the cliff and the rocky bottom of the canyon.
"Stop firing! Back to the horses!" he roared.
Amazed at this desertion of their comrade, the outlaws, nevertheless, obeyed.
And scarcely had they moved from where they had been standing before another broadside of boulders was launched.
"That was a close call," gasped Bud Noble. "It's a good thing we started when we did. But it don't seem right to leave Tony."
"We're not going to leave him," snapped the world-famous desperado. "When we get back to the horses, I'm going to take Wild Bill and Texas and go after him."