Rancho Bravo 2: The Big Drive

He charged among them, rifle empty now and thrown aside, Starr six-shooters drawn. A Lipan came at him, holding neither gun nor bow, but a long-bladed lance, putting his mount straight at Gannon’s, his objective to slam his horse into the Steel Dust while he skewered Gannon with the spear. Gannon thumbed two shots-the first missed; the second caught the Lipan’s horse and knocked it down. The Indian landed running, made for Gannon with lance out, ready to ram it in the Steel Dust’s belly. Gannon fired again, blew the man’s face apart, and rode over him as he went down.
Turning in the saddle he saw an Indian bearing down from the other flank. He fired and never knew whether he hit or missed, but the threat vanished; then, somehow, he was through their line. Ahead of them; and now they were chasing him, and the circle of dead horses was only a hundred yards away, still sprouting white flowers of gun smoke as at least two Hussars fired at the Lipans, and the blot of red was still moving there, still alive. Gannon’s heart lifted, and he let out an exultant yell.