"Not to-night. They know I am on my guard now. They will put off
their attack on you until some other time. Lucky I chanced to be here
when they first came. I hope they don't take the alarm and keep away
from you now."
Butler grinned. He hoped so too, though the others of his party might
not share this hope with him, especially Professor Zepplin who was
getting rather more excitement out of this journey than he had looked
for.
By the time the two had returned to the campfire the others had mustered
courage enough to stand up. The professor, his whiskers bristling, had
crawled from the depression into which he had rolled at the first sign
of trouble, and Chunky was making his way cautiously from the bushes.
"Captain McKay, how much of this sort of thing shall we have to face?"
demanded the professor.
"You might have had to face a good deal more of it, had I not been here,"
answered the Ranger shortly.
"What do you mean?"
"That had I not been here you would have got the bullets fired at me.
As I have already said to Butler, those men were after your party.
When they saw me they knew they would not dare to waste a shot on any
one else."
"While they were shooting you up, they knew my arsenal would get into
action. They figured on killing me the first shot. But they didn't,"
added the captain with a mirthless grin.
"I don't like this at all," declared Professor Zepplin with a slow
shake of the head.
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