But he saw more.

He saw that his plot was known.

Outlaw and desperado as he was, he saw that he had lost his moral power in this actual possession, and that from that moment he must be the aggressor.
He saw he was fighting no irresponsible hirelings like his own, but men of position and importance, whose loss would make a stir.

Against their rifles the few revolvers that his men chanced to have slung to them were of little avail.

But he was not cowed, although his few followers stumbled together at this momentary check, half angrily, half timorously like wolves without a leader.