At this reply, the cowpunchers stared at one another in amazement.
“If we were so near, why didn’t you sneak up and put a bullet into him?” queried Ki Yi.
“Louie snooping. Me no know where, but me fool um.” And again he chuckled at the realization his cunning had outwitted his mortal enemy.
But their rejoicing was premature. In their calculations, they had forgotten the cattle.
As it happened, the steers were grazing not far from where they had kindled the fires, and quickly the creatures sensed the danger, lowing and groaning.
“That will give the alarm to Louie, won’t it?” anxiously inquired Deadshot.
“Uhuh. But steers never get through swamp.”
Yet, though Slippery Nig was right in this contention, the animals came near causing the death of the trio.
With that perversity which makes steers so impossible to rely on, and because many animals are prone to rush into fire instead of away from it, the cattle charged directly at the wall of flame.
Instantly realizing this action, and knowing the danger with which it threatened them, Nig leaped upon his pony and, calling to the others to mount behind him and abandon their own horses, he guided the wiry little pinto to a place of safety just at the edge of the fire. But, even with such a distance between them and the spot where they had been standing, they were only able to save themselves by shooting three steers that thundered down upon them.