The redskin sprang almost clear of the ground, then settled back with a heavy groan, his stupor too heavy to resist the work of the vengeful blade.
With a fiendish light in his eyes the desperado gloated over the death throes of the unconscious savage, whose writhings, whose agonized twistings and muscular contractions, sent the outlaw into an ecstasy of delirious joy.
After a little, the Indian stiffened out and lay still.
Once more the avenging outlaw crawled laboriously to his victim. And that despite the fact that every moment's delay placed his own life more and more in jeopardy.
Now came the most difficult part of his task. The bowie, driven in to its keen-edged limit, was tightly wedged in the body of the dead savage.
With feverish haste, the world's greatest desperado again buried his face in the awful pool of blood.
His teeth closed over the slippery hilt of the blade.
But it stubbornly resisted all his efforts.
The knife was too firmly embedded in its human sheath, to come away at his command.
The cords of the outlaw's neck swelled to enormous proportions from the fearful strain he was subjecting them to.
He sought to accomplish his ends, in another way. Biting the hilt as if he would sever it in twain, Jesse pushed against it with all the weight of his body. The keen edge, under his irresistable pressure, cut its way into the Indian's flesh at right angles to his body, thus widening the wound and making its sheath less binding.
Back and forth did the blood-thirsty outlaw work the blade.
He pushed and he pulled like a dog wrestling with a bone. He shook it like a rat. Then he gave it a long, vicious tug.
The bloody blade came away with a sickening sound.
And the desperado fell backward with a terrible curse. Yet, withal, his grip on the bloody hilt did not relax.
Now came the most arduous task of all, that of crawling over the body of his victim and rolling to the remaining savage, without losing the knife from his teeth. The feat was not so easy as it would seem, and he could accomplish it only by keeping his head from touching the ground over every inch of the way.
But the second redskin died more speedily than had the first, Jesse having given him a terrible thrust with the deadly blade. And with eager, fascinated eyes he watched the death agonies of his victim. In a moment all movement ceased. The man was dead.