The Fight
: The Young ForesterHerky hauled me out of the brush, and held me in the light. The
others scrambled from under the remains of the loft, and all viewed me
curiously.
"Kid, you ain't hurt much?" queried Buell, with concern.
I would have snapped out a reply, but I caught sight of Dick's pale face
and anxious eyes.
"Ken," he called, with both gladness and doubt in his voice, "you look
pr
"It's nothing, Dick, only a little cut. The bullet just ticked my arm."
Whatever Dick's reply was it got drowned in Herky-Jerky's long explosion
of strange language. Herky was plainly glad I had not been badly hurt. I
had already heard mirth, anger, disgust, and fear in his outbreaks, and
now relief was added. He stripped off my coat, cut off the bloody sleeve
of my shirt, and washed the wound. It was painful and bled freely, but
it was not much worse than cuts from spikes when playing ball. Herky
bound it tightly with a strip of my shirt-sleeve, and over that my
handkerchief.
"Thar, kid, thet'll stiffen up an' be sore fer a day or two, but it
ain't nothin'. You'll soon be bouncin' clubs offen our heads."
It was plain that Herky--and the others, for that matter, except
Buell--thought more of me because I had wielded a club so vigorously.
"Look at thet lump, kid," said Bud, bending his head. "Now, ain't thet a
nice way to treat a feller? It made me plumb mad, it did."
"I'm likely to hurt somebody yet," I declared.
They looked at me curiously. Buell raised his face with a queer smile.
Bud broke into a laugh.
"Oh, you're goin' to? Mebbe you think you need an axe," said he.
They made no offer to tie me up then. Bud went to the door and sat in
it, and I heard him half whisper to Buell: "What 'd I tell you? Thet's
a game kid. If he ever wakes up right we'll have a wildcat on our hands.
He'll do fer one of us yet." These men all took pleasure in saying
things like this to Buell. This time Buell had no answer ready, and sat
nursing his head. "Wal, I hev a little headache myself, an' the crack I
got wasn't nothin' to yourn," concluded Bud. Then Bill began packing the
supplies indoors, and Herky started a fire. Bud kept a sharp eye on me;
still, he made no objection when I walked over and lay down upon the
blankets near Dick.
"Dick, I shot a bear and helped to tie up a cub," I said. And then I
told him all that had happened from the time I scrambled out of the
spring-hole till I was discovered up in the loft. Dick shook his head,
as if he did not know what to make of me, and all he said was that he
would give a year's pay to have me safe back in Pennsylvania.
Herky-Jerky announced supper in his usual manner--a challenge to find
as good a cook as he was, and a cheerful call to "grub." I did not
know what to think of his kindness to me. Remembering how he had nearly
drowned me in the spring, I resented his sudden change. He could not do
enough for me. I asked the reason for my sudden popularity.
Herky scratched his head and grinned. "Yep, kid, you sure hev riz in my
estimashun."
"Hey, you rummy cow-puncher," broke in Bud, scornfully. "Mebbe you'd
like the kid more'n you do if you'd got one of them wollops."
"Bud, I ain't sayin'," replied Herky, with his mouth full of meat.
"Considerin' all points, howsoever, I'm thinkin' them wallops was
distributed very proper."
They bandied such talk between them, and occasionally Bill chimed
in with a joke. Greaser ate in morose silence. There must have been
something on his mind. Buell took very little dinner, and appeared to be
in pain. It was dark when the meal ended. Bud bound me up for the night,
and he made a good job of it. My arm burned and throbbed, but not badly
enough to prevent sleep. Twice I had nearly dropped off when loud laughs
or voices roused me. My eyes closed with a picture of those rough, dark
men sitting before the fire.
A noise like muffled thunder burst into my slumber. I awakened with my
body cramped and stiff. It was daylight, and something had happened.
Buell ran in and out of the cabin yelling at his men. All of them except
Herky were wildly excited. Buell was abusing Bud for something, and Bud
was blaming Buell.
"Thet's no way to talk to me!" said Bud, angrily. "He didn't break loose
in my watch!'
"You an' Greaser had the job. Both of you--went to sleep--take thet from
me!"
"Wal, he's gone, an' he took the kid's gun with him," said Bill, coolly.
"Now we'll be dodgin' bullets."
Dick Leslie had escaped! I could hardly keep down a cry of triumph. I
did ask if it was true, but none of them paid any attention to me. Buell
then ordered Herky-Jerky to trail Dick and see where he had gone. Herky
refused point-blank. "Nope. Not fer me," he said. "Leslie has a rifle.
So has Bent, an' we haven't one among us. An', Buell, if Leslie falls in
with Bent, it's goin' to git hot fer us round here."
This silenced Buell, but did not stop his restless pacings. His face was
like a thunder-cloud, and he was plainly worried and harassed. Once Bud
deliberately asked what he intended to do with me, and Buell snarled a
reply which no one understood. His gloom extended to the others, except
Herky, who whistled and sang as he busied himself about the campfire.
Greaser appeared to be particularly cast down.
"Buell, what are you going to do with me?" I demanded. But he made no
answer.
"Well, anyway," I went on, "somebody cut these ropes. I'm mighty sore
and uncomfortable."
Herky-Jerky did not wait for permission; he untied me, and helped me to
my feet. I was rather unsteady on my legs at first, and my injured arm
felt like a board. It seemed dead; but after I had moved it a little the
pain came back, and it had apparently come to stay. We ate breakfast,
and then settled down to do nothing, or to wait for something to turn
up. Buell sat in the doorway, moodily watching the trail. Once he spoke,
ordering the Mexican to drive in the horses. I fancied from this that
Buell might have decided to break camp, but there was no move to pack.
The morning quiet was suddenly split by the stinging crack of a rifle
and a yell of agony.
Buell leaped to his feet, his ruddy face white.
"Greaser!" he exclaimed.
"Thet was about where Greaser cashed," relied Bill, coolly knocking the
ashes from his pipe.
"No, Bill, you're wrong. Here comes Greaser, runnin' like an Indian."
"Look at the blood! He's been plugged, all right!" exclaimed
Herky-Jerky.
The sound of running feet drew nearer, and suddenly the group at the
door broke to admit the Mexican. One side of his terrified face
was covered with blood. His eyes were staring, his hands raised, he
staggered as if about to fall.
"Senyor William! Senyor William!" he cried, and then called on Saint
Somebody.
"Jim Williams! I said so," muttered Bud.
Bill caught hold of the excited Mexican, and pulled him nearer the
light.
"Thet ain't a bad hurt. Jest cut his ear off!" aid Bill. "Hyar, stand
still, you wild man! you're not goin' to die. Git some water, Herky.
Fellers, Greaser has been oneasy ever since he knew Jim Williams was
lookin' fer him. He thinks Jim did this. But Jim Williams don't use a
rifle, an', what's more, when he shoots he don't miss. You all heerd the
rifle-shot."
"Then it was old Bent or Leslie?" questioned Buell.
"Leslie it were. Bent uses a 45-90 caliber. Thet shot we heerd was from
the little 38--the kid's gun."
"Wal, it was a narrer escape fer Greaser," said Bud. "Leslie's sore, an'
he'll shoot fer keeps. Buell, you've started somethin'."
When Bill had washed the blood off the Mexican it was found that the
ball had carried away the lower part of the ear, and with it, of
course, the gold earring. The wound must have been extremely painful;
it certainly took all the starch out of Greaser. He kept mumbling in his
own language, and rolling his wicked black eyes and twisting his thin,
yellow hands.
"What's to be done?" asked Buell, sharply.
"Thet's fer you to say," replied Bill, with his exasperating calmness.
"Must we hang up here to be shot at? Leslie's takin' a long chance on
thet kid's life if he comes slingin' lead round this cabin."
Herky-Jerky spat tobacco-juice across the room and grunted. Then, with
his beady little eyes as keen and cold as flint, he said: "Buell, Leslie
knows you daren't harm the kid; an' as fer bullets, he'll take good care
where he stings 'em. This deal of ours begins to look like a wild-goose
stunt. It never was safe, an' now it's worse."
Here was even Herky-Jerky harping on Buell's situation. To me it did not
appear much more serious than before. But evidently they thought Buell
seemed on the verge of losing control of himself. He glared at Herky,
and rammed his fists in his pockets and paced the long room. Presently
he stepped out of the door.
A rifle cracked clear and sharp, another bellowed out heavy and hollow.
A bullet struck the door-post, a second hummed through the door and
budded into the log wall. Buell jumped back into the room. His face
worked, his breath hissed between his teeth, as with trembling hand
he examined the front of his coat. A big bullet had torn through both
lapels.
Bill stuck his pudgy finger in the hole. "The second bullet made thet.
It was from old Hiram's gun--a 45-90!"
"Bent an' Leslie! My God! They're shootin' to kill!" cried Buell.
"I should smile," replied Herky-Jerky.
Bud was peeping out through a chink between the logs. "I got their
smoke," he said; "look, Bill, up the slope. They're too fur off, but we
may as well send up respects." With that he aimed his revolver through
the narrow crack and deliberately shot six times. The reports clapped
like thunder, the smoke from burnt powder and the smell of brimstone
filled the room. By way of reply old Hiram's rifle boomed out twice, and
two heavy slugs crashed through the roof, sending down a shower of dust
and bits of decayed wood.
"Thet's jist to show what a 45-90 can do," remarked Bill.
Bud reloaded his weapon while Bill shot several times. Herky-Jerky
had his gun in hand, but contented himself with peering from different
chinks between the logs. I hid behind the wide stone fireplace, and
though I felt pretty safe from flying bullets, I began to feel the icy
grip of fear. I had seen too much of these men in excitement, and knew
if circumstances so brought it about there might come a moment when
my life would not be worth a pin. They were all sober now, and deadly
quiet. Buell showed the greatest alarm, though he had begun to settle
down to what looked like fight. Herky was more fearless than any of
them, and cooler even than Bill. All at once I missed the Mexican. If
he had not slipped out of the room he had hidden under the brush of the
fallen loft or in a pile of blankets. But the room was smoky, and it was
hard for me to be certain.
Some time passed with no shots and with no movement inside the cabin.
Slowly the blue smoke wafted out of the door. The sunlight danced in
gleams through the holes in the ragged roof. There was a pleasant swish
of pine branches against the cabin.
"Listen," whispered Bud, hoarsely. "I heerd a pony snort."
Then the rapid beat of hard hoofs on the trail was followed by several
shots from the hillside. Soon the clatter of hoofs died away in the
distance.
"Who was thet?" asked three of Buell's men in unison.
"Take it from me, Greaser's sneaked," replied Buell.
"How'd he git out?"
With that Bud and Bill began kicking in the piles of brush.
"Aha! Hyar's the place," sang out Bud.
In one corner of the back wall a rotten log had crumbled, and here it
was plain to all eyes that Greaser had slipped out. I remembered that
on this side of the cabin there was quite a thick growth of young
pine. Greaser had been able to conceal himself as he crawled toward the
horses, and had probably been seen at the last moment. Herky-Jerky was
the only one to make comment.
"I ain't wishin' Greaser any hard luck, but hope he carried away a
couple Of 45-90 slugs somewheres in his yaller carcass."
"It'd be worth a lot to the feller who can show me a way out of this
mess," said Buell, mopping the beads of sweat from his face.
I got up--it seemed to me my mind was made up for me--and walked into
the light of the room.
"Buell, I can show you the way," I said, quietly.
"What!" His mouth opened in astonishment. "Speak up, then."
The other men stepped forward, and I felt their eyes upon me.
"Let me go free. Let me out of here to find Dick Leslie! Then when you
go to jail in Holston for stealing lumber I'll say a good word for you
and your men. There won't be any charge of kidnapping or violence."
After a long pause, during which Buell bored me with gimlet eyes, he
said, in a queer voice: "Say thet again."
I repeated it, and added that he could not gain anything now by holding
me a prisoner. I think he saw what I meant, but hated to believe it.
"It's too late," I said, as he hesitated.
"You mean Leslie lied an' you fooled me--you did get to Holston?" he
shouted. He was quivering with rage, and the red flamed in his neck and
face.
"Buell, I did get to Holston and I did send word to Washington," I
went on, hurriedly for I had begun to lose my calmness. "I wrote to
my father. He knows a friend of the Chief Forester who is close to the
Department at Washington. By this time Holston is full of officers of
the forest service. Perhaps they're already at your mill. Anyway, the
game's up, and you'd better let me go."
Buell's face lost all its ruddy color, slowly blanched, and changed
terribly. The boldness fled, leaving it craven, almost ghastly.
Realizing he had more to fear from the law than conviction of his latest
lumber steal, he made at me in blind anger.
"Hold on!" Herky-Jerky yelled, as he jumped between Buell and me.
Buell's breath was a hiss, and the words he bit between his clinched
teeth were unintelligible. In that moment he would have killed me.
Herky-Jerky met his onslaught, and flung him back. Then, with his hand
on the butt of his revolver, he spoke:
"Buell, hyar's where you an' me split. You've bungled your big deal. The
kid stacked the deck on you. But I ain't a-goin' to see you do him harm
fer it."
"Herky's right, boss," put in Bill, "thar's no sense in addin' murder to
this mess. Strikes me you're in bad enough."
"So thet's your game? You're double-crossin' me now--all on a chance at
kidnappin' for ransom money. Well, I'm through with the kid an' all of
you. Take thet from me!"
"You skunk!" exclaimed Herky-Jerky, with the utmost cheerfulness.
"Wal, Buell," said Bill, in cool disdain, "comsiderin' my fondness fer
fresh air an' open country, I can't say I'm sorry to dissolve future
relashuns. I was only in jail onct, an' I couldn't breathe free."
It was then Buell went beside himself with rage. He raised his huge
fists, and shook himself, and plunged about the room, cursing. Suddenly
he picked up an axe, and began chopping at the rotten log above the
hole where Greaser had slipped out. Bud yelled at him, so did Bill;
Herky-Jerky said unpleasant things. But Buell did not hear them. He
hacked and dug away like one possessed. The dull, sodden blows fell
fast, scattering pieces of wood about the floor. The madness that was
in Buell was the madness to get out, to escape the consequences of his
acts. His grunts and pants as he worked showed his desperate energy.
Then he slammed the axe against the wall, and, going down flat, began to
crawl through the opening. Buell was a thick man, and the hole appeared
too small. He stuck in it, but he squeezed and flattened himself,
finally worked through, and disappeared.
A sudden quiet fell upon his departure.
"Hands up!"
Jim Williams's voice! It was strange to see Herky and Bud flash up their
arms without turning. But I wheeled quickly. Bill, too, had his hands
high in the air.
In the sunlight of the doorway stood Jim Williams. Low down, carelessly,
it seemed, he held two long revolvers. He looked the same easy, slow
Texan I remembered. But the smile was not now in his eyes, and his lips
were set in a thin, hard line.
More
-
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"That is the only step I have had to take this whole trip," said the Virginian. He holstered his pistol with a jerk. "I have been fearing he would force it on me." And he looked at empty, receding Dakota with disgust. "So nyeh back home!" he mutte... The Game And The Nation Last Act
It has happened to you, has it not, to wake in the morning and wonder for a while where on earth you are? Thus I came half to life in the caboose, hearing voices, but not the actual words at first. But presently, "Hathaway!" said some one more c... The Game Butchers
"Ain't this an awful world!" By this observation Uncle Bill Griswold, standing on a narrow shelf of rock, with the sheep's hind quarters on his back, meant merely to convey the opinion that there was a great deal of it. The panting sportsman di... The Gathering Storm
On the north bank of the river, from which it derived its name, the town of Crawling Water lay sprawled out in the shape of an irregular horn. Its original settlers had been men of large ideas, and having had plenty of space at their disposal, the... The General Manager
Jennings and Woods were now sworn enemies and the stringing of the wires became a matter of intense interest, as this was the test which would prove the truth or fallacy of Jennings' cantankerous harping that the cross-arms were too light. In i... The Gentle Castaways
Miss Keene was awakened from a heavy sleep by a hurried shake of her shoulder and an indefinite feeling of alarm. Opening her eyes, she was momentarily dazed by the broad light of day, and the spectacle of Mrs. Brimmer, pale and agitated, in a hal... The Ghost At The Banquet
T. Victor Sprudell's dinner guests were soon to arrive, and Mr. Sprudell's pearl gray spats were twinkling up and down the corridor of Bartlesville's best hotel, and back and forth between the private dining-room and the Room of Mystery adjoining,... The Ghost In The Crosstrees
I Cyrus Ryder, the President of the South Pacific Exploitation Company, had at last got hold of a "proposition"--all Ryder's schemes were, in his vernacular, "propositions"--that was not only profitable beyond precedent or belief, but that also... The Ghost Of The San Miguel
Juan Alvarez had not been in San Felippe since Dick Martin left, which meant for over a month. Martin was down the river looking for a man who did not wish to be found; and some said that Martin cared nothing about international boundaries when he w... The Ghosts Of Stukeley Castle
There should have been snow on the ground to make the picture seasonable and complete, but the Western Barbarian had lived long enough in England to know that, except in the pages of a holiday supplement, this was rarely the accompaniment of a Chr... The Golden Pathway
Young Norcross soon became vitally engaged with the problems which confronted McFarlane, and his possible enrolment as a guard filled him with a sense of proprietorship in the forest, which made him quite content with Bear Tooth. He set to work at... The Gossips Awake
It was dark when they reached the village, but Wayland declared his ability to go on, although his wounded head was throbbing with fever and he was clinging to the pommel of his saddle; so Berrie rode on. Mrs. McFarlane, hearing the horses on th... The Governor's Answer
Judging that it was almost time for his interview with the governor, Kid Wolf saddled Blizzard in the public establo, or stable, and rode at once to the governor's palace. Although it did not occur to him that Quiroz would reject his plea for aid... The Grizzly And The Indians
For a moment Dorothy sat still in bed, afraid to move or cry out while the great animal at the window remained equally motionless. Then she was able to shriek: "Alf! Helena! Somebody--help--help! HELP!" Alfy leapt from her little bed with an ... The Guzman Incident
Ricardo Guzman did not return from Romero. When two days had passed with no word from him, his sons became alarmed and started an investigation, but without the slightest result. Even Colonel Blanco himself could not hazard a guess as to Guzman's ... The Happy Family Buys A Bunch Of Cattle
With the Kid riding gleefully upon Weary's shoulder they trooped up the path their own feet had helped wear deep to the bunk-house. They looked in at the open door and snorted at the cheerlessness of the place. "Why don't you come back here and st... The Happy Family Herd Sheep
The boys of the Flying U had many faults in common, aside from certain individual frailties; one of their chief weaknesses was over-confidence in their own ability to cope with any situation which might arise, unexpectedly or otherwise, and a belief... The Happy Family Learn Something
"Well, I hope this farce is about over," Dunk sneered, with as near an approach to his old, supercilious manner as he could command, when the three who had ridden apart returned presently. "Perhaps, Weary, you'll be good enough to have this fellow p... The Happy Family Turn Nesters
"Say, Andy, where's them dry-farmers?" Big Medicine inquired at the top of his voice when the Happy Family had reached the biscuit-and-syrup stage of supper that evening. "Oh, they're trying to make up their minds whether to bring the old fannin'...