More than that, it was not a gunshot away! For a space of sixty seconds he stood still, nerving himself for the final step.

His resolution was made.

He would creep upon the outlaw and shoot him down.

There would be no warning, no quarter, no parley.
Foot by foot he advanced, as stealthily as a fox.

The odor of smoke came to him more plainly; over his head he saw thin films of it floating lazily up the chasm.