"Then be ready for Armitage!" Oscar was now turning his horse, but toward them and across Armitage's path, with the deliberate purpose of taking the first fire.

Before him rose the cedars that concealed the line of wall; and he saw the blue barrels of the waiting rifles.

With a great spurt of speed he cut in ahead of Armitage swiftly and neatly; then on, without a break or a pause--not heeding Armitage's cries--on and still on, till twenty, then ten feet lay between him and the wall, at a place where the cedar barrier was thinnest.

Then, as his horse crouched and rose, three rifles cracked as one.

With a great crash the horse struck the wall and tumbled, rearing and plunging, through the tough cedar boughs.