"Oh, I wonder who it is, and what will happen when they see each
other?" cried the girl. "Look! There is Bat. Near the top of that
ridge. He's cutting across so he'll be right above them when they
meet." She was leaning forward watching: breathlessly the movements of
the three horsemen. "It is unreal. Just like some great spectacular
play. You see the actors moving through their parts and you wonder
what is going to happen next and how it is all going to work out."

"There! They see each other!" Endicott exclaimed. Each horseman
pulled up, hesitated a moment, and rode on. Distance veiled from the
eager onlookers the significant detail of the shifted gun arms. But no
such preclusion obstructed Bat's vision as he lay flattened upon the
rim of the coulee with the barrel of his six-gun resting upon the edge
of a rock, and its sights lined low upon the stranger's armpit.

"They've dismounted," observed Alice, "I believe Tex is going to
unsaddle."

"Tightening his cinch," ventured Endicott, and was interrupted by a cry
from the lips of the girl.

"Look! The other! He's going to shoot---- Why, they're fighting!"
Fighting they certainly were, and Endicott stared in surprise as he saw
the Texan knocked down and then spring to his feet and attack his
assailant with a vigour that rendered impossible any further attempt to
follow the progress of the combat.

"Why doesn't Bat shoot, or go down there and help him?" cried the girl,
as with clenched fists she strained her eyes in a vain effort to see