The riflemen in the Taubes on the wings of the attacking force fired a few shots, but all of them went wild.

John, tense and silent, sat with his own rifle raised, but half of the time he watched Wharton.
The two forces came a little nearer.

Again the machine gun poured forth its stream of bullets.

Two glanced off the sides of the _Omnibus_, and then John saw Wharton's rifle leap to his shoulder.

The movement and the flash of the weapon were so near together that be seemed to take no aim.
Yet his bullet sped true.