Their pursuers were well over the crest of the dip, and he
counted nine. They were advancing in a group and he saw that both Hauck
and Brokaw were in the rear and that they were using staffs in their
toil upward, and did not carry rifles. The remaining seven were armed,
and were headed by Langdon, who was fifteen or twenty yards in advance
of his companions. David made up his mind quickly to take Langdon first,
and to follow up with others who carried rifles. Hauck and Brokaw,
unarmed with guns, were least dangerous just at present. He would get
Brokaw with his fifth shot--the sixth if he made a miss with the fifth.
A thin strip of shale marked his 100-yard dead-line, and the instant
Langdon set his foot on this David fired. He was scarcely conscious of
the yell of defiance that rang from his lips as Langdon whirled in his
tracks and pitched down among the men behind him. He rose up boldly from
behind the rock and fired again. In that huddled and astonished mass he
could not miss. A shriek came up to him. He fired a third time, and he
heard a joyous cry of triumph beside him as their enemies rushed for
safety toward the dip from which they had just climbed. A fourth shot,
and he picked out Brokaw. Twice he missed! His gun was empty when Brokaw
lunged out of view.
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