On the Trail of Geronimo — page 254: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

242 ON THE TRAIL OF GERONIMO. but a moment before, but the savage eluded him with striking skill, and he was delighted to find one who was willing to stand his ground long enough for a fair bout. It was no time for chivalry. The Indians are the last people in the world to be accused of mercy, and in fighting them the white man rarely succeeds except by following aboriginal tactics. The savage who leaped toward Windstrom held his gun in his right hand, while his left was free. The space to pass in order to reach the horseman was so slight that it looked as if he had no inten- tion of bringing his rifle into use. But it wasn’t safe to count upon that, and, without a moment’s hesitation, Windstrom threw up his own gun and pulled the trigger. “Bad luck to it!” he muttered, as he impa- tiently flung the weapon to the ground; “I forgot it wasn’t loaded.” His revolver remained, but he recalled the fact that the chambers of that were also empty. Stopping like a flash, he did the very thing that was to be dreaded; his gun was brought to a level to shoot the cavalryman from his horse. While the other was in the act of aiming, the CoORnnicloooks (Cc)