This officer was a wise man; he knew better than to tell an incredible truth.  He said nothing of what he had seen.  But when the commander asked him if in his scout he had learned anything of advantage to the expedition, he answered: 

“Yes, sir; there is no road leading down into this valley from the southward.”

The commander, knowing better, smiled.

After firing his shot, Private Carter Druse reloaded his rifle and resumed his watch.  Ten minutes had hardly passed when a Federal sergeant crept cautiously to him on hands and knees.  Druse neither turned his head nor looked at him, but lay without motion or sign of recognition.

“Did you fire?” the sergeant whispered.

“At what?”

“A horse.  It was standing on yonder rock-pretty far out.  You see it is no longer there.  It went over the cliff.”

The man’s face was white, but he showed no other sign of emotion.  Having answered, he turned away his eyes and said no more.  The sergeant did not understand.

“See here, Druse,” he said, after a moment’s silence, “it’s no use making a mystery.  I order you to report.  Was there anybody on the horse?”

“Yes.”

“Well?”

“My father.”

The sergeant rose to his feet and walked away.  “Good God!” he said.

Here ends No.  Four of the Western Classics containing A Son of the Gods and A Horseman in the Sky by Ambrose Bierce with an introduction by W. C. Morrow and a photogravure frontispiece after a painting by Will Jenkins.  Of this first edition one thousand copies have been issued printed on Frabriano handmade paper the typography designed by J. H. Nash published by Paul Elder and Company and done into a book for them at the Tomoye Press in the city of New York MCMVII

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