CLELL IS WOUNDED.
Made overconfident in the success of their "getaway" because of the
lack of opposition they had encountered in their dash for liberty, the
outlaws had neglected to hide behind the bodies of their ponies when
they galloped from the yard, as they would have had they been expecting
a fusilade of bullets, and the wounding of Clell was the result.
Whirling in his saddle as he heard the report of the rifle, the
world-famous desperado looked to see who had fired it.
Resting across the top of a fence at the house below, he beheld the
blue barrel of the Winchester and, bent down to sight it, the head of a
man.
One glance was enough to tell the bandit-chieftain who it was who had
balked their clear escape.
"It's old Rozier!" snorted Jesse, ripping out a terrible oath. "That
settles him! If I never live to do another thing, I'll raid his bank!
It will hurt the old cuss more to lose his money than it would if I
should kill his son or run off with his daughter!"
And in the fury of his rage, the great outlaw shook his unoccupied hand
defiantly at the banker.
So carried away had Jesse been with wrath at the discovery of the
identity of the man behind the gun that he seemed oblivious to the
fact that man-hunters and citizens of the Springs alike, yelling with
excitement and anger at the escape, were swarming from the doors and
windows of the farmhouse and around the side of the building, attracted
by the bark of the rifle.
A dozen pistols were popping but the distance between their firers and
the horsemen was too great for the bullets to have effect and Jesse
laughed at their abortive attempts to hit him, his contempt enraging
them the more.
But Cole was watching the banker. Suddenly he saw him shift the muzzle
of the Winchester till it pointed full at his chief.
"Duck, Jess, duck!" cried his chum.
Mechanically the famous desperado obeyed. And not a moment too soon!
Not a foot above the seat of the saddle where the bandit-chieftain had
sat an instant before sped the death-bearing slug of lead, burying
itself behind the ear of the horse on which Clell reeled, dropping the
animal to the ground.
An exultant cheer rose from the crowd as the horse fell.
"Charge 'em! Rush 'em!" shouted excited men. "They haven't any guns! We
can beat 'em down!"
To the townsfolk who had always thought of the terrible James gang
as shooting and howling fiends, the abstinence of the three men from
returning the shots sent at them suggested but one thing, that the
desperadoes were unarmed. Even Higgins, Dillaby and their men were
unable to understand the silence of the trio's guns.
But Jesse had not drawn his weapons for the best of reasons--the crowd
of would-be capturers was out of range of his "Colts."
With the loss of Clell's horse, he suddenly awoke to the extreme danger
of his position.
"Keep your eye on Rozier," he snapped to Cole, even as he spoke,
leaning from his saddle and dragging his wounded pal from the prostrate
beast.
"Here come some more men with Winchesters," gasped the eldest of the
Younger brothers as he descried several coatless and hatless farmers
line up at the fence beside the banker and rest the muzzles of their
rifles on the railing.
"Get on the other side of me, so your body'll be covered by your horse,
grab mine by the bits and ride. I can't guide him and hold Clell too.
Make for the woods!"
Convinced that the men whom they had believed wealthy miners were in
reality the terrible bandits, the men and women who had gathered to
condone with the Priors had experienced a change of feeling and were
yelling and shouting for the capture of the men who had defied the law
so many times and with such success.
As they heard the angry cries, Susie and the Prior girls trembled with
fear.
"They'll be caught! They'll be caught!" moaned Helen, wringing her
hands. "Why don't they fire back?"
From the windows they had seen the wounding of Clell and the killing of
his horse under him and believing that it was the beginning of the end,
they buried their heads on each other's shoulders, unwilling to see the
capture of their brother and heroes, and sobbed.
Yet as they waited for the shouts of triumph that would announce the
fact, they were surprised to hear the shout:
"Get horses! Get horses! Ring the church bells! Summon every man in
town! We'll surround the woods!"
Doubting their ears, they raised their heads and peered from the
windows.
There lay the dead horse, but no sign could they see of Jesse and his
chums.
"Thank goodness, they got away!" murmured Marjorie.
"Amen to that," exclaimed a voice behind them.
Startled by its nearness, the girls turned and beheld Lawyer Perkins, a
merry twinkle in his eyes.
"I used to do his father's business when the Rev. James lived in these
parts," he explained, in response to the looks of amazement on the fair
young faces gazing at him. "If people had given Jesse and Frank a fair
show after the war, they'd never have taken to their life of outlawry.
And if they ever are caught, which I don't believe they will be, I hope
I may be one of the men to defend them. I can tell a great many things
that were done to hound them from home that would open peoples' eyes!
"But now that they've gone, my girl," he continued, patting Susie on
the shoulder, "I think it is best for you to leave town as soon as
possible. The people may seek to vent their disappointment at Jesse's
escape on his sister. I know the nature of the Springites all too well."
"But there's no train till night," protested Marjorie.
"True, but Susie can come to my office and--hark! What's that cry?"
From a dozen throats rose the shout:
"Seize the girls! We'll have them, anyhow! They helped Jesse to get
away!"
"What did I tell you," muttered Lawyer Perkins, his face blanching
at the sinister cry. "Come, there isn't a moment to lose. Helen, you
won't be safe after summoning me. We'll go out by the front door while
they're trying to get in here."
With an agility surprising in one of his years, the barrister sprang to
the kitchen door, shut it and bolted it, then followed his frightened
charges into the parlour.
Only a few stragglers were there in the front of the farmhouse, the
rest of the crowd having swarmed into the yard in the wake of the
man-hunters, and when they saw the girls and the barrister emerge from
the front door they gave no heed, having been unable to patch the words
of the latest shout.
Hurriedly crossing to the house opposite, the lawyer led his charges
by a roundabout course, which showed surprising familiarity with the
back-yards of his fellow citizens, to his own home and hastily secreted
them in one of his chambers, telling them that he would arrange for
their departure from the Springs as soon as it should be safe, then
went out to mingle with the man-hunters and the excited populace again
that he might keep in touch with any changes in the situation.
The town was in a turmoil of excitement when he reappeared upon the
main street.
Church bells were clanging out a call to all who could move to leave
their homes or fields; mounted men were riding back and forth,
rounding up men and youths, yelling to them to bring rifles and shot
guns and to gather at the Prior homestead. And everywhere women were
adding to the excitement by screaming:
"Death to the bandits! Shoot 'em! Lynch 'em!"
But the confusion incident to the gathering of the posse of citizens
acted in favour of Jesse and his pals.
Giving his sole attention to running his own horse and leading his
chief's, Cole had left the watching of their pursuers to Jesse as he
held Clell in his arms.
By a sharp change in direction, he had got out of range of the
death-dealing rifles on the fence.
At the manoeuvre, a howl of baffled rage broke from the spectators who
had expected to see the fugitives crushed beneath their mounts when the
latter fell before the rain of lead.
Snatching their Winchesters from their supports, those who had them
rushed to another place from which they could see the escaping bandits,
but when they once more caught sight of them they were far across the
field toward the woods.
Training their rifles upon the horses, whose rising and falling
bodies presented difficult targets, the men fired. But their bullets
were harmless and, though they discharged several volleys, they soon
desisted.
"They're in a funk," announced Jesse, looking back toward where the
crowd were rushing aimlessly to and fro. "Don't go into the woods. Keep
along the edge. We can travel faster and if we're going to shake 'em
it'll be before they get horses to chase us."
This statement, somewhat involved and incoherent because of the stress
under which its utterer laboured, was understood by Cole, however, and
once again he changed the direction of their course.
The significance of the move was apparent to Higgins and his fellows.
"We've got to wire to the next town and have them send out a posse to
head 'em off," the former exclaimed. "Dillaby, I leave it to you to
make the arrangements. Wire them at Kearney to watch out. So long as
one of 'em's injured they may try to get him to Mrs. Samuels. The rest
of you come with me to get horses."
But Jeff had anticipated such action and, under cover of the firing,
had slipped to the barn and turned all the animals loose, throwing
saddles into the grain chests and bridles upon the hay, getting away
undetected.
In consequence, when the man-hunters reached the stable, they were
dismayed to find them empty and nary a piece of equipment to be
seen. And then it was that, in their rage, they raised the cry for
the apprehension of the girls, believing them to be the ones who had
liberated the horses, which was taken up by the crowd.
Precious minutes were wasted in breaking into and searching the house
for the young women.
Realizing at last that they had been balked in all directions, the
detectives turned their attention to organizing the horsemen who
were arriving, after requisitioning enough of the animals to mount
themselves.
When upwards of fifty men had gathered Jones rose in his stirrups.
"We'll ride out the road to head them off," he cried. "There's no use
following through the fields. When we get sight of them, don't shoot
till I give the word. When I do, make every bullet count! All ready?
Forward, then."
Leaping the mettlesome mounts into the road, the posse thundered up the
street, the cheers and shouts of the spectators ringing in their ears.
Eager to wipe out the disgrace of the escape of the notorious outlaws,
the men rode like fiends.
Past the houses on the outskirts of the town they dashed, never heeding
the questions of the people who were attracted by the rumble of the
many hoof beats.
But as they gained the clear field beyond the village, they could see
no sign of the men they were chasing.
"We've missed 'em again! We ought to have followed the woods. We could
at least have seen where the devils entered," growled the disgusted
members of the posse.
"Silence in the ranks!" snapped Jones, the criticism rankling. "They
may have struck into the road. We can soon tell."
For once, the detective had anticipated the move of the world-famous
desperado.
Noticing that the crowd was all up in the air as to what to do, Jesse
had swung his injured pal across the saddle in front of him, getting
back into the seat himself and ordering Cole to do the same.
"We've got a good lead," he chuckled. "And we can increase it by
getting into the highway. We'll ride till we come to Jack Brett's woods
and strike for his cabin. If Clell's too badly done up to go on, he'll
be safe there."
The plan offering the shortest way out of their predicament, for both
desperadoes were sufficiently versed in the ways of the detectives to
know that they would wire to the surrounding towns for men to ride out
to intercept them, they hurriedly struck toward the road where the hard
footing enabled their mounts to increase their speed.
Thoroughly familiar with the lay of the land, they reeled off mile
after mile, now and then looking back as they mounted a rise in the
road.
"Here they come!" exclaimed Cole suddenly as he caught sight of the
cloud of dust raised by the posse.
"Ha! I hadn't counted on their hitting the highway," growled his chief.
"We'll strike into the woods as soon as we reach 'em."
Fully half a mile lay between the outlaws and the protecting shelter of
the trees and in silence they rode for them.
Nearer and nearer came the whirlwind of dust and soon faint shouts told
that the pursuers had sighted their quarry.
But the cries caused the bandits no concern. They knew there were
several rises in the road that the posse must cover and timing their
arrival at the woods for the interval when they would be hidden by one
of them, Jesse swerved his mount into the underbrush.
And the howl of disappointment that broke on the air when the pursuers
gained the top of the hill and found the fugitives had disappeared was
sweet music to the ears of the bandits.
Again had the man-hunters been balked!