As his pony shot into the shadow, Jesse raised himself in his stirrups and caught a low-lying limb. With the agility of a trapeeze performer he drew his body up and free of the horse just at the instant when the bullets of the troops sang by beneath him and the screaming pinto went dashing to its death. Like a squirrel, Jesse ran up the trunk of the tree, and there he perched, his body convulsed with fiendish glee at the neat trick he had turned on the cavalry troop for the second time that night. And it was with intense interest that he listened to the comments of the officers down below. "So, Jesse James is dead, eh?" he chuckled. Yet at that moment the supposed dead man held with steady hand, a heavy "Colt," trained on the redoubtable captain. The officer was nearer to death than he ever knew, and Jesse himself, was not so far from it as he thought. It was a relief, however, that he noted the final departure of the troops. Jesse was anxious to get back to the cave. He wondered that none of the band had been out in search of him. This augured trouble of some sort. And he wondered too, how successful Dew Drop had been in corralling Great Bear's medicine man, for he felt that the need of the herb doctor's services, was urgent. Perhaps that was where the rub lay--perhaps his whole outfit had been picked up by the redskins. It suddenly occurred to the desperado too, that no redskin had shown himself during the melee. Certainly they had not been so deaf as not to have heard the bombardment of the cavalrymen. "There's sure something doing," he muttered. "Things look kinder ticklish." Jesse decided that it would be wise to get away while the coast was clear. The troops were now well out of the way. But his cogitations were rudely interrupted by a guttural grunt at the foot of the tree. Jesse started. He recognized the sound. No other than a redskin could give vent to an exclamation like that. The desperado's gun came out in a flash. He peered down through the foliage, dimly making out the figure of a savage. Perhaps the Indian was alone, but more than likely there were others nearby. The outlaw, adopting the policy of the savages, waited patiently for further developments. But all hope of the redskin not being aware of his presence in the tree, was shattered a moment later. "Ugh," said the Indian. "Great snakes," muttered Jesse. "Jesse James, um up tree," announced the Indian stoically. "That I am for certain," growled the great bandit chieftain, under his breath. "Jesse James um in a fix." "Great Bear, as I'm alive," whispered Jesse, slipping down the tree trunk a few feet. "Pale face um fool sojers. Um no fool Great Bear. Great Bear um see many things. Um see sojers shoot Jess Jame. Great Bear know um not shoot Jess Jame. Jess Jame he play possum. Ugh. Great Bear um wait. Um want pale face for umself. Huh." "Well, you've got another guess coming," retorted the outlaw.