Ned might have kept on propounding to himself questions that he could not answer, but his thoughts were carried into other channels by the actions of the raiders, who walked straight up to the porch where Philip was standing, and entered into a whispered conversation with him. Ned could not overhear what was said, but he saw the cook turn toward the house and extend his hands in different directions, as if he were trying to give his friends (for such they undoubtedly were) some idea of its internal arrangements. Probably he was telling them where to find the office and the strong box. If such was the case, it took him but a moment to do it; and when the raiders had learned all they wanted to know, they stepped lightly upon the porch and followed Philip toward the open door. When they reached it, Philip pushed it farther open, stood on one side to allow them to pass, and the raiders filed in, one after the other, on tip-toe! Half their number had disappeared in the house, when all at once a deafening uproar arose. There was a fight going on in the hall. First there was a loud yell, that was evidently given by one of the servants to arouse his sleeping companions, and the yell was accompanied rather than followed by a crash which made Ned believe that the inside of the house was being torn in pieces. It was the report of a revolver. Another and another followed, and an instant afterward, the raiders, having failed in their efforts to surprise the inmates of the rancho, appeared in great confusion, crowding through the door in a body, and in their haste prostrating the cook, who was knocked off the porch to the ground. He lay for a moment as if stunned by the fall, and then sprang up and ran away with the rest. The baffled raiders scattered in every direction, and taking refuge behind the outbuildings and lumber piles opened a hot fire on the rancho from their carbines. To Ned’s intense alarm two of them ran straight for the shed. He saw them coming, and ducking his head crept swiftly into the farthest end of the manger and crowded himself into the darkest corner. One of the men dodged behind a wagon, but the other dashed into the shed, jumped into the manger and taking up a position in the opposite end, scarcely fifteen feet from the trembling boy, fired his carbine at the door from which he and his companions had just been driven. Ned was almost ready to scream with terror, but knowing that his safety depended upon his preserving the strictest silence, he choked back the cry while it was trembling on his lips, and covering his face with his hands awaited the issue of events with all the fortitude he could command.