He, too, tried circling, in the hope of cutting the other's circle; but, without catching a glimpse of him, he finally emerged upon a fresh clearing where the young trees, waist-high, afforded little shelter and less hiding.
Just as he emerged, stepping out a pace, a rifle cracked to his right, and though he did not hear the bullet in passing, the thud of it came to his ears when it struck a palm-trunk farther on.
He sprang back into the protection of the larger trees.

Twice he had exposed himself and been fired at, while he had failed to catch a single glimpse of his antagonist.

A slow anger began to burn in him.

It was deucedly unpleasant, he decided, this being peppered at; and nonsensical as it really was, it was none the less deadly serious.

There was no avoiding the issue, no firing in the air and getting over with it as in the old-fashioned duel.