Random began a flippant reply. Then he saw the big man’s hand move. Firelight danced along the blued barrel of Sutter’s Colt as it swung inexorably up. Fast as Random was, he had no chance to draw.
As the pistol roared, Random threw himself into the fire.Sutter squealed like a wild horse as he pulled the trigger three times, the yellow flashes of his handgun rupturing the dark. To his horroi; though, he saw an unearthly figure suddenly loom at the edge of the fire—a blazing man, tall and terrible—with a pistol in his hand. . . .