Bang! went a gun almost before the words were finished. But because the wily old half-breed had made his men crawl on their hands and knees, the bullet whistled harmlessly over their heads.
Expectantly, the cowboys listened for the answering crack of the aged scout’s sixshooter. Instead, however, they felt a quick jerk on the rope and then felt it taughten as Nig crept forward.
The failure to draw fire from his pursuers worried the Midnight Raider. Realizing full well the desperateness of his position, he determined to learn their whereabouts at any cost—and of a sudden he flashed a torch.
Taken by surprise, the wily old half-breed was not prepared to fire and before he could do so, the hard-pressed renegade threw away his light, and dashed down the tier of tombs.
“Up! After him!” hissed Nig.
Quickly the cowboys obeyed, plunging blindly through the darkness, guided only by the rope which bound them to the aged scout.
In the instant that the torch had flared, Scalping Louie had recognized the grizzled features of his arch-enemy—and realized he must outwit him were he to escape.
With this purpose, he suddenly darted into the row of tombs second from the rear wall, unwound his lariat, made one end fast about one of the pillars and then tied it around a pillar of the outside tier, some eighteen inches from the floor.
This done, the scheming fiend glided noiselessly back to the second row, took a position whence he could leap upon the rope and shouted:
“Slippery Nig, nor you nor hundred paleface no catch Louie!”