They proved to be two in number, and at sight of them Felix realized that his worst fears were about to be realized, in that he was face to face with a pair of the most notorious characters in the whole region—the descriptions tallied exactly, even to the single eye of Abe Cozzins; and the flaming red beard of Perley Kline.
In times past these men had served as guides, and possibly skillful ones too, because they were born woodsmen; but the love of liquor had dulled their sense of honesty, and after a time they began to gain a reputation for being light fingered, valuables disappearing mysteriously from camps where they had charge. By degrees, then, they lost all chance for securing regular employment, since gentlemen coming from the East for big game shooting, liked to feel that they could depend fully on the guide, in whose hands they entrusted their fortunes, even their lives, at times.
Consequently Cozzins and Kline, being unemployed most of the time, began to hunt game illegally within the confines of Yellowstone Park; which, coming to the attention of the authorities, always keen to punish anything of this sort, the men were really being looked for, far and wide, and in a measure found themselves in the place of the hunted.
It was this unwholesome looking couple who now strode angrily up to young Edmondson, with fury blazing in their eyes.
Felix held his rifle in such a manner that, had they shown a disposition to attack him, he could have defended himself, and treated them to a dose of the same medicine he had handed out to their dogs.
"Hold hard, there!" he remarked, sharply; "you've come close enough. Now say what you want from there!"
The two rough men, while evidently astonished to find themselves spoken to in this strain, understanding that the young fellow who could stand there and deliberately knock over three savage hounds in succession was not one to be easily daunted, pulled up, and divided their scowling glances between the hunter and the dead dogs, for the last animal had ceased to make a movement by now.
"Say, what d'ye mean ashootin' our dawgs thataways?" spluttered the fellow who had only one eye, though that was now glaring with a fierceness equal to half a dozen ordinary optics; he also punctuated his words with a variety of forcible exclamations, which there is no necessity for repeating, though doubtless Abe Cozzins imagined they added vim and picturesqueness to his query, and might help awe the boy.
"I was minding my own business when they started to attack me, with murder in their eyes. If I hadn't shot I'd have been torn to pieces. Everybody has a right to defend himself. If I hadn't happened to have a repeating rifle of the best make to fall back on, and knew how to use it, there'd have been murder done; and you'd have to stand the blame. I'm sorry, now, I had to kill the poor brutes, for they hardly knew what they were doing. I reckon the whole blame lies with their owners."
Bold words these, from a young fellow not yet fully grown, and addressed to two of the wildest, most reckless spirits in all Wyoming; perhaps those men could not remember having been taken so to task for many a day; and in surprise they exchanged dubious glances, and then looked hastily and uneasily around, as though half expecting that Felix must be backed up by half a dozen comrades.