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Good Indian B M Bower 7390K 2023-09-02

Good Indian was going to the stable to feed the horses nextwhined past hiainst the side of the chicken-house Iht he heard the sharp crack which a rifle ly up the valley, and he could not be sure

He went over to the chicken-house, probed with his knife-blade into the plank where was the splintered hole, and located a bullet He was turning it curiously in his fingers when another one plunked into the boards, three feet to one side of hiun-sound, and he also saw a puff of blue smoke rise up on the rim-rock above him He marked the place instinctively with his eyes, and went on to the stable, stepping rather more quickly than was his habit

Inside, he sat down upon the oats-box, and uess at his assailant, much less reach him A dozen men could be picked off by a rifle in the hands of one at the top, while they were cli the foot of the rim-rock, there was a forty-foot wall of unscalable rock, with just the one narrow fissure where it was possible to cli to certain sharp projections while the feet sought a niche here and there in the wall Easy enough--if one were but left to climb in peace, but absolutely suicidal if an eneh the little paneless hat he could see of the bluff, and thought of the h stretch of lava rock, sage, and scattered bowlders to be gone over before one could reach the place upon a horse Whoever was up there, he would have et coain so li at Good Indian, so far a non-cole shot since the trouble began?

Wally caarette in the corner of his mouth, and his manner an odd mixture of conciliation and defiance, ready to assume either whole-heartedly at the first word froly before he slept He looked at Good Indian, caught sight of the leaden pellet he was thoughtfully turning round and round in his fingers, and chose to ignore for the moment any unpleasantness in their immediate past