“Great fish hooks!” he gasped. “This is ticklish bizness, and I reckon it’s down in the bills for some one to git hurt. Hope it ain’t goin’ to be me!” Then he had an inspiration. He glanced at the sky, gray and cloudy, as if threatening rain. “Guess it’s time!” he said; “I reckon that this here dry country is bad needin’ rain. I might try some more rain-makin’ experiments, only I hate to waste the material here that I intended to experiment with down in the town. But----” He opened the “grip” he had brought, and, as he did so, heard a step behind him. He turned, with one of the “bombs” in his hand, intending to hurl it at any foe he saw there, and was astonished to behold Denton. “I couldn’t stay back there,” Denton whispered. “So I tied that villain, and came in, following you. Something’s doing down there.” He glanced up the trail. “Yes, and more men coming.” “Buffalo Bill’s down there,” said Deland, “and they’ve been trainin’ their batteries on him. I think I seen the flutter of a woman’s dress down there, too, and----” “Ellen!” gasped Denton, immensely excited. “I dunno. Seems as though it may be. And there comes more reënforcements; so they’s goin’ to be a lively time round here mighty quick, and in the end the folks down there will be killed, I reckon.” “We must go to their aid!” Denton panted, his eyes shining. “Jes’ what I was thinkin’ o’ doin’! But don’t holler ’bout it and give ’em warning. See this here?” He held up the “rain bomb.” “And ye see them men down there?” Denton nodded. “Well, now you’ll see some fun, fer this ain’t ezactly ther same kind as I fired into the crowd in the town. This will wake ’em up.” He lifted himself and hurled the bomb, with such true aim and force that it struck right in the midst of the hidden riflemen. There was a flash and a deafening roar, and a blinding cloud of white smoke covered everything. Out of that white smoke men leaped, some of them tumbling and falling, all thoroughly frightened. When the smoke lifted, three of them were seen dead on the ground, for the bomb this time had been a genuine one. “Ho, ho!” chuckled Deland. “When I chip into a fight of this kind something’s happenin’ right off.” The outlaws did not tarry there for their remaining reënforcements; they fled, vanishing into the hills. Buffalo Bill and his companions were relieved thus quickly of their enemies, and the big battle they had anticipated was not fought. Down in the town of Scarlet Gulch, less than a week later, Deland had an opportunity to try his rain-making bombs. He claimed the benefit of the “shower” that followed. Before that time Buffalo Bill had landed his prisoners, and had added to them Bug-eye Slocum and saloon-keeper Rainey. The fake Buffalo Bill had suddenly reached the end of his tether, and his “Border Ruffians,” who had fled ignominiously, were scattered throughout the hills. THE END.