WHITE VS. RED.
The hunter seemed to step forth from some crevice in the rocks, wherein
he had been concealed, and strode forward in such a manner that Lone
Wolf saw him at the very instant the first word was uttered.
The latter withdrew his gaze from the boy and turned with lightning-like
swiftness upon his adversary, while the latter, as cool and
self-possessed as if he were about to slice up an antelope or buffalo,
continued approaching with his hunting knife firmly clasped in his right
hand. The Indian, perceiving the character of the fight, flung his rifle
several yards from him, where it was beyond the reach of both, and
recoiling a single step, put himself in form to receive the charge of
his assailant.
"Ned, my boy," said the latter, without looking at him, "get back.
There's no telling what may happen."
This was no more than a prudent caution. The fight was over the boy, and
if Lone Wolf should find the battle going against him, he would resort
to any treacherous trick by which to destroy the prize,--such, for
instance, as a sudden dart upon the unsuspecting spectator and the
plunging of his knife to his heart before the active hunter could thwart
him. Ned obeyed his rescuer, whom he had never seen before, and stepped
back full a dozen yards from the combatants, but with his eyes intently
fixed upon them.
Tom was not the man to advance blindly to the assault, for none knew
better than he did the character of the foe he was about to assail.
When, therefore, he was just within striking distance, he paused, and,
with his grey eyes centered upon the black, snake-like orbs of the
chief, began circling around him in a stealthy cat-like movement, on the
lookout for some opening of which he might take advantage.
"Lone Wolf is a coward and a dog," he growled between his set teeth. "He
fights with pappooses, but he is afraid of men."
This was said with the sole purpose of exasperating the warrior, who
would thus have been placed at a slight disadvantage; but he was already
like a concentrated volcano--calm outwardly, but surcharged with fire
and death within. The taunt did not move his nerves an iota, and he
replied in words which were scarcely less irritating.
"It is the boasting dog which never hurts. If Lone Wolf is a dog, why
are you so afraid to come within his reach?"
The words were yet in his mouth when the scout dashed forward like a
catapult and struck a tremendous blow, driven with such directness and
swiftness that it could not have been parried. At the very instant
Hardynge made the charge, Lone Wolf did the same, and the two similar
blows, aimed at the same moment, encountered half way with such terrible
violence that both knives were hurled twenty feet beyond over the cliff
at their side, and irrevocably beyond their reach. This left them with
no weapons except such as nature had provided them with, and, now that
their blood was up and each was smarting under the pain of the first
collision, they immediately closed in and grappled each other like a
couple of infuriated gladiators.
Hardynge was a marvel of strength and activity, and so was the Apache.
The two were nearly evenly matched, a slight superiority in wrestling
attaching to the white man, who, after a furious struggle of a minute or
so, flung his antagonist as flat as could be, upon his back. He struck
like an India-rubber ball, and, before Tom could fasten him down, so as
to hold him, bounded up again and renewed his fight without a second's
hesitation.
"The devil take you!" growled the maddened hunter, as he let drive a
sledgehammer-like blow straight from the shoulder.
It encountered the chief fairly upon the forehead, with a force
apparently sufficient to crush his skull, but it only sent him reeling
back several paces, when his sinewy activity saved him from falling.
With the same unhesitating promptness he charged as before.
"If that skull ain't more than six inches thick, it'll go this time,"
muttered Tom, as he gathered all his strength and sent out his fist like
the thrust of a piston rod.
But Lone Wolf was expecting it and a quick flirt of the head to one side
let the mallet go harmlessly by, while the impetus of his own blow threw
Hardynge forward several steps, and narrowly escaped carrying him off
his feet altogether. With an exasperating taunt the chief landed a blow
upon the face of his antagonist as he shot by, and, catching him about
the shoulder before he could recover, flung him to the ground with great
violence, falling heavily upon him.
Had the knife of the Apache been in his hand at this juncture he would
have ended the struggle in short order; but he was without the means of
improving his advantage, and before he knew it he was turned from the
chest of the prostrate man. And this critical moment, when the issue of
the contest was very doubtful, a second figure came out from the rocks,
and approached the combatants. It was that of Dick Morris, who coolly
asked:
"Sha'n't I knock him on the head, Tom, and end this little row?"
"No," fairly shouted the enraged hunter, as they hammered away at each
other. "If you do it, I'll knock you on the head. This is a fair and
square fight in which the best man wins. If I can't knock thunder and
lightning out of this redskin, let him knock it out of me. Stand back!"
"All right," replied Dick, very contentedly, walking to where the
enthralled Ned Chadmund stood and asking him whether he wished to stake
a little wager on the result.
The appearance of this third party ended the contest in a manner neither
of the whites anticipated. The words of Tom Hardynge, declining the
assistance of his friend, were understood by Lone Wolf; but, treacherous
and faithless himself, he regarded them as only a part of a trap in
which he was to be caught, and his whole purpose was to get out of the
dilemma as quickly as possible. However hopeful he might be in a single
hand-to-hand encounter with one of the men, he was not vain enough to
think that he could master both. In their struggling they had approached
quite close to the cliff, and Lone Wolf made a determined attempt to
throw Tom over. By a little feinting and dodging, he managed to get him
between himself and the edge and then began pressing him furiously.
"That's your game, is it?" exclaimed the scout. "If it is, sail in, and
may the best man win."
Both were striking very wildly, when, hastily parrying several blows,
Hardynge made a sudden rush, closed in, grasping the chief around the
waist, and, lifting him clear of the ground, ran to the edge of the
cliff and flung him over!
But Hardynge was outwitted. This was the very thing for which Lone Wolf
had maneuvered so slyly. The cliff was not more than twenty feet in
height, and when the hunter peered over the margin, expecting to see his
enemy dashed to pieces at a great depth below, he saw him land as
lightly as a panther upon his feet and then whisk out of sight among the
rocks.
"Thunder and blazes!" he exclaimed, when he comprehended the little
trick that had been played upon him. Jerking off his hat, he slammed it
impatiently to the ground, and turning to his comrade, said:
"Did you ever see a bigger fool than me?"
"Don't think I ever did," was the serious reply.
"Never thought what the Injun was after till it was too late to hinder
him."
"I knowed it all the time. This ere little chap could have seed as much
himself," was the tantalizing reply.
"Why didn't you sing out, then, when you seed me pick him up and start
to throw him over?"
"'Cause I thought you was only fooling. Do you know there's a reward of
five hundred dollars offered for Lone Wolf, dead or alive? See what you
have lost?"
"Who offered it?" demanded Tom.
"Colonel Chadmund told me that old Captain Alvarez, that owns a big
ranch near Santa Fe, lost a thousand cattle by a stampede that he had
got up, and he's the man that has promised a hundred times to give that
reward to whoever wipes out the chief."
"Anything else to tell?" said Hardynge, disgustedly.
"Yes. When Colonel Chadmund told me that, he punched me slyly in the
side, and says, 'And yes, Dick, I'll put another five hundred on top of
it.'"
"Hain't you got a little more such news?" asked poor Tom, who was
wondering whether it was possible to feel any more angered or disgusted
with himself than he now felt.
"No--that'll do just now. I think you've had enough."