For gosh sake, did yu hear that ?" A bullet viciously hissed between them and flattened out on a near-by rock; others cut their way through the chaparral to the sound of falling twigs, and Skinny threw himself on the struggling man and strapped Hopalong with his belt to the base of a honey mesquite that grew at his side.
"Hold still, now, and let that bandage alone.

Yu allus goes off di' range when yu gets plugged," he complained.

He cut down a cactus and poured the sap over the wounded man's face, causing him to gurgle and look around.

His eyes had a sane look now and Skinny slid off his chest.
"Git that--belt loose; I ain't--no cow," brokenly blazed out the picketed Hopalong.

Skinny did so, handed the irate man his Colts and returned to his own post, from where he fired twice, reporting the shots.
"I'm tryin' to get him on th' glance' first one went high an' th' other fell flat," he explained.
Hopalong listened eagerly, for this was shooting that he could appreciate.