"Two," said Boyd. "Didn't I tell you, Will, that he was a wonder with the rifle?" "I had to do it. I call you both to witness that I had to do it," said the Little Giant in a melancholy voice. "I'm a hunter o' gold an' not properly a killer o' men, even o' savage men. An' yet I find no gold, but I do kill. Sometimes I'm sorry that I happened to be born jest a natcherly good shot. I reckon we'd better whoop up our speed ez much ez we kin now, 'cause after that lesson they'll hang back a while afore follerin'." "That's good generalship," said Boyd. Will was already urging forward the animals, which, frightened by the shots, were making speed of their own accord toward the pass. The hunter and the Little Giant followed at a more leisurely gait, with their rifles ready to beat off pursuit. Some shots were fired from the bushes, but they fell short, and the two laughed in disdain. "They'll have to do a lot better than that, won't they, Giant?" said the hunter. "A powerful sight better, but they'll hope to slip up on us in the dark. It hurts my feelin's to hev to shoot any more of 'em, or to shoot anybody, but I'm afeard I'll hev to do it, Jim Boyd, afore we git through with this here piece o' business." "In that case, Giant, just let your feelings go and shoot your best." Will still led on, and, though his heart beat as hard as ever, it was more from the exertion of climbing than from apprehension. He had seen the two wonderful shots of the Little Giant, he knew what a wonderful marksman Boyd was also, and he felt since they were within the shelter of the pass, their three rifles might keep off any number of Sioux. The shallow gully up which they were travelling now narrowed rapidly, and soon they were deep in the looming shadow of the pass, which seemed to end blindly farther on. But for the present it was a Heaven-sent refuge. At one point, where it widened somewhat, the horses and mules could stand, and there was even a little grass for them. A rill of water from the high rocks was a protection against what they had to fear most of all, thirst, and the three human beings in turn drank freely from it, letting the animals follow. Boyd deftly tethered the horses and mules to bushes that grew at the foot of the cliff in the wide space, and then he joined the other two, who, lying almost flat, were watching at the entrance to the pass. The rocks there also gave them fine protection, and they felt they had reached a fort which would test all the ingenuity, patience and courage of the Sioux. Will drew back behind a stony upthrust, sat up and used his glasses, searching everywhere among the rocks and bushes down the pass. "What do you see, Young William?" asked the Little Giant. "Nothing yet, Tom, except the bushes, the stones and the slopes of the mountains far across the valley."