.

The Advent of McAllister.
The blazing sun shone pitilessly on an arid plain which was spotted with dust-gray clumps of mesquite and thorny chaparral.

Basking in the burning sand and alkali lay several Gila monsters, which raised their heads and hissed with wide-open jaws as several faint, whip-like reports echoed flatly over the desolate plain, showing that even they had learned that danger was associated with such sounds.
Off to the north there became visible a cloud of dust and at intervals something swayed in it, something that rose and fell and then became hidden again.

Out of that cloud came sharp, splitting sounds, which were faintly responded to by another and larger cloud in its rear.

As it came nearer and finally swept past, the Gilas, to their terror, saw a madly pounding horse, and it carried a man.