The other tightened his rein and struck with his spurs.

His horse "gathered," and leaped across the stream.

As the armed hoofs struck sparks from the smooth stones on the opposite side, the rider of the drinking horse saw burst out of the white rock above them a gray cloud, with a central tongue of flame, and his comrade fell to the ground.
His immediate reply with both barrels of his shotgun showed that he did not mistake this for any natural phenomenon.

The sound of the shots brought the rest up at a gallop, and a rapid fire was opened on the end of the rock.
But the instant Fortner fired he sprang back behind the rock, and then ran under its cover a little distance up the mountain side to a dense laurel thicket, in which he laid down behind a log and reloaded his rifle.

He listened.