[Mlterm-dev-en] he fancied he could see this energ

[Gramberg <equ...@ve...>]

 detachment wheeled and came clattering down the trail in the direction
of the camp. A single riderless horse, evidently that of the fugitive,
followed. "Spread yourselves along the ridge, every man of you, and
cover them as they enter the gulch!" shouted the leader. "But not a shot
until I give the word. Scatter!" The assemblage dispersed like a
startled village of prairie dogs, squatting behind every available bush
and rock along the line of bluff. The leader alone trotted quietly to
the head of the gulch. The nine cavalrymen came smartly up in twos, a
young officer leading. The single figure of Major Overstone opposed them
with a command to halt. Looking up, the young officer drew rein, said a
word to his file leader, and the four files closed in a compact square
motionless on the road. The young officer's unsworded hand hung quietly
at his thigh, the men's unslung carbines rested easily on their saddles.
Yet at that moment every man of them knew that they were covered by a
hundred rifles and shot guns leveled from every bush, and that they were
caught helplessly in a trap. "Since when," said Major Overstone with an
affectation of tone and manner different from that in which he had
addressed his previous companions, "have the Ninth United States Cavalry
helped to serve a State court's pettifogging process?" "We are hunting a
deserter--a half-breed agent--who has