They were near the corner of the hill when the terrified horses dashed toward them, and to avoid being run down they had spurred their ponies ahead and were swept along with the flying riders.
Well, Mart Cooley had made the mistake of not figuring on the cleverness of Donald Spellman, and the result of this was not only to make him furious with himself, but to add to his, and to all the other men's desire for revenge.

All thoughts of starving the enemy out were lost, absorbed in a lust for killing.

The excited men paid no attention to the boys.

It is doubtful if they even saw them.
Mart took his forty-odd men back to the firs and scrub oaks at the lower point of the western hills, and there they stretched out in the brush, and prepared to bombard the ranch house.

The moonlight was now Mart's friend instead of his enemy.