The hidden rifleman was not seeking to murder him, but to destroy his tools.
There were no more shots and he resumed work.

Later on, as he neared the fence and was establishing his last points within the field, a horseman with a gray moustache came galloping up along the stretch of barb wire.

He nodded, inquired if the engineer was named Bryant, and announced that he had half a dozen injunctions to serve.
"I expected something like this; glad you didn't arrive any sooner," Lee remarked.
"Well, I was away from town, or I'd have been here by noon," the horseman, an American, stated.

"The injunctions cover all these places between here and the river.

You and any one you hire must keep off the tracts specified until the cases come up before the judge." "All right, sheriff.