‘I will let him pass me,’ thought Kay, ‘I will let him pass me before I pounce out upon him, and then I shall take him more by surprise, and he will be less likely to offer any resistance.’ The traveller had now left off whistling, and had broke into a negro melody, which he sang in self-satisfied tones, but which were anything but harmonious. ‘Your money or your life!’ cried Kay in a disguised voice, rushing up to the traveller, from his place of concealment, and laying hold of the horse’s bridle. The old man, was of course, rather startled, but he collected himself in a moment, and with the utmost coolness, said:— ‘I tells thee what it is, young man, you’re on a bad errand, and I advise you let go the bridle, and go about your business, before harm come to you.’ ‘There, there, no nonsense,’ replied Kay, in an impatient tone; ‘I am a desperate man and must have money.’ ‘D—n you, you are a daring rascal,’ cried the traveller, ‘let go of the bridle, or it may not be long ere I make you repent thy job. Leave go of the bridle, I again tell you! You won’t, then, d—n me, if I don’t soon make you, and that’s all about it.’ With these words the traveller flourished his heavy whip, and aimed a blow at the head of Kay with the butt-end of it, which if he had not stepped quickly aside and avoided would, in all probability have deprived him immediately of farther power. ‘Old idiot!’ cried the enraged ruffian, ‘you will urge me to that which I would rather avoid; will you deliver up your money, I say, once more?’ ‘No,’ promptly replied the old man; ‘I’ll see you d—d first, and all such scoundrels.’ ‘Then, by h—ll! you will have to pay for your obstinacy with your life!’ cried Kay, hastily groping about beneath his poncho to get out one of the pistols. The old man immediately guessed at what he was about, and sprang from his horse’s back with the agility of a youth, and the moment that Kay got out his pistol, and before he could cock it, he closed with him, and being a strong, powerful man, the struggle threatened to be a determined one. Kay, however, was wound up to a pitch of desperation, for it was a moment of life or death, and he was taken somewhat by surprise, as, from the age of the traveller, he had not expected such an antagonist. Kay was a very muscular man, and had youth on his side, and he, of course, mustered up all his strength for this occasion, and endeavoured to get his hands at liberty; but the old man had pinned them with such an iron grip, that all his efforts were ineffectual, and maledictions the most terrible escaped his lips, as the danger of his situation became every instant greater; for, as his strength decreased, so did that of the traveller appear to increase, and he expected nothing less that he must be overpowered.