Get out!" The mountaineer, as Hippy released him, sprang away a few paces, then, suddenly whirling, fired point blank at Hippy.
Expecting this very move, Lieutenant Wingate had dropped down the instant he saw the man turning, and the bullet went over Hippy's head, and incidentally over the heads of the Overland Riders in the camp a few yards to the rear.
Lieutenant Wingate was unarmed, his revolver being in its holster on his saddle, so all he could do was to duck.

His experience as a fighting aviator in France had made Hippy somewhat callous to bullets, as well as an expert in ducking.

In the present instance, Lieutenant Wingate made so many ducks and dives, side-slips and Immelman turns that the mountaineer, crack shot that he was, found himself unable to score a hit.

The darkness, too, prevented his getting a good sight at the man he was trying to shoot.
Back in the camp the rest of the Overland outfit were lying flat on the ground, just as they used to do in France when they heard a shell coming, which might be due to land somewhere near them.

Not one of them had a weapon handy, nor would they have dared use them had weapons been at hand, because there was no telling where Hippy Wingate was at any given second.