Then, growing impatient, he moved stealthily around the rear corner, stole to the rear window, and peered inside.
It took him long to prepare for the look--he accomplished the action in an instant--a flashing glance.

A gun roared close to his head, the flash blinding him; the glass tinkling on the ground at his feet.
But Nyland had not been hit, and he grinned felinely as he dropped to the ground, slipped under the window, and ran around the house.
Ducking under the side window he ran around to the front.

From the front window he could look through the house, and he saw the man, gun in hand, watching the side door.
Nyland took aim through the window, but just as he was about to pull the trigger of the weapon the man moved stealthily toward the door--out of Nyland's vision.
Evidently the man considered the many windows to be a menace to his safety, and had determined to go outside, where he would have an equal chance with his intended victim.
Grinning coldly, Nyland moved to the corner of the house nearest the kitchen door.

The man stepped out of the door, and at the instant Nyland saw him he was looking toward the rear of the house.
Nyland laughed--aloud, derisively.

He did not want to shoot the man in the back.
At Nyland's laugh the man wheeled, snapping a shot from his hip.