“Get horses and after ’em!”
In shrill confusion, the shouts of advice and command were uttered by cowboys and foremen.
But loud above them all rang Bowser’s roar:
“Deadshot, get your man!”
Striving with might and main to live up to his nickname, the cowboy from the Double Cross ranch rushed on foot after the fleeing spectre, pumping lead at it as fast as he could throw shells into his repeating rifle.
The combination of effort to “make good” and the uneven footing, however, proved too much for the cowboy, and when his magazine was empty, the lone horseman was still riding away.
Realizing that were they to overtake the man, they must take up the pursuit without delay, the ranch owners shouted at the rest of their men to mount and give chase.
“Remember, a thousand dollars to the fellow who drops the fiend!” shouted Bowser.
“And I’ll give the same!” yelled the owner of the burned ranch houses.
The thought of being burned out of house and home by the very miscreant of whom they were planning to go in pursuit was sufficient incentive to make the cowpunchers eager to inflict vengeance on the men who had so defied them.