on

He rode low on the mare's neck.

The Gap looming before him -- the place where had confronted Jack English on that day so many years ago -- was his exit from all that had meaning to him.

Fiske joined them, unsteady on his feet.

He turned to Susan and kissed her on the cheek.

Someone evidently was on duty there.

There's bound to be someone on guard, but the hat might fool them long enough for me to get close ''.

They were tethered, army style, on stable lines.

This time it connected solidly on the man's temple, felling him.

The startled horses began rearing on their tethers.

The rest of us can fort up in the house and hang on until you get back.

Dean leaned from the saddle and gave him a mighty whack on the back.

Then he was on his way at a gallop.

A brace of pistols, holstered on belts, hung from a peg, along with ammunition pouches.

Mike seized a blanket from a pallet in a corner, spread it on the floor and used it to form a bag in which he placed his booty.

The bullet had torn through the flesh just above the knee, inflicting an ugly gash that was forming a pool of blood on the floor.

But it had missed the bone and had passed on through.

Mike tested the leg and found that he was able to hobble around on it.

There's a large war party on their way ''!!

And here all the time you knew the Sioux would be using our rifles on them!!

`` Old Knife's got the largest war party ever seen on the river '', he said calmly.

Let Old Knife come up and kill you and your people, or would you steer him on someone else ''??

Then he went on to the Cheyennes and told them that the Sioux was goin' to move up.

`` There's no war on now ''.

In this country there's a war on every time the grass turns green.

And it's goin' to go on like this year after year until the white people take over this land ''.