A STRANGE VISITOR
“Emma’s hit!” wailed Nora, as the girls sprang up at Emma Dean’s cry
and the tumble that they saw her take.
“Get down!” commanded Tom Gray. “You’ll be hit.”
Not one of the three girls gave heed to his warning. Elfreda, Grace
and Nora ran to the spot at which they had seen Emma pitch forward.
Elfreda was the first to reach her. Emma lay moaning, both hands
pressed to her right cheek.
“Where were you hit, dear?” questioned Miss Briggs with no trace of
excitement in her voice.
“In my cheek. I thi—think the bullet went clear through.”
“If it had you wouldn’t be talking to me now. Take your hand away,
please,” directed Elfreda.
Emma would not do so, so Grace stretched forth a hand and forcibly
removed Emma’s hand from her face. A red blotch on the cheek with a
small white center were the only indications that something really
had hit the girl. Elfreda examined the spot, and a smile rippled
over her face.
“You poor child! No bullet even grazed you, but something did sting
you,” announced Elfreda. “I think it is a bee sting. Did you feel
stings anywhere else?”
“Yes. On the other cheek, but not so bad there,” gasped Emma.
“That’s why I thought the bullet had gone through.”
“This is one instance in your life when you should have
demonstrated,” declared Miss Briggs. “You see how easy it is to
imagine things, and suffer because you imagine.”
Emma sat up and smiled.
The shooting was still going on from the borders of the meadow,
though the firing was not so rapid as before, both sides apparently
sparing their ammunition, but enough shots were being fired to make
it most uncomfortable for the Overlanders who were directly in line
of the firing between the two opposing forces.
Tom joined the girls and led them to a safer place behind some huge
boulders, where he sternly ordered them to remain until he gave them
permission to change positions. Tom, rifle in hand, then crept out
to a place where he could get a better view of what was going on. As
he reached a point of vantage a double blast of fire overhead
greeted him; then the firing ceased altogether.
It was then that the Overlander discovered a man creeping around the
far end of the meadow. Then he saw another man creeping out from the
opposite side of the field, and realized that the two men were
stalking each other.
“Keep low, girls!” he called softly. “Something is coming off here
if I’m not mistaken.”
Instead of keeping low four heads quickly bobbed up from behind the
boulders. At first the girls saw nothing unusual; then they
discovered what Tom had just seen. They could see both men at
intervals as the men’s heads came up.
“Girls!” Grace snatched her field glasses and directed them at the
creeping man on their side of the meadow.
“Wha—what is it?” cried Nora.
“The Peanut Man—it’s Jim Haley! There—see!” She passed her glasses
to Elfreda who took a long look.
“You are right, Grace. What does it mean?”
“That we have friends here, J. Elfreda, but I fear something
terrible is going to happen. Look!”
The two men had seen each other as their heads were cautiously
raised above the tall grass, and both exchanged shots with their
revolvers at identically the same second. Then they both ducked back
to the protection of the meadow grass.
Jim Haley was on his feet a few seconds later.
“Come out, you sneaking cur!” he shouted. “Stand up like a man!”
The taunt was too much for Haley’s adversary. The fellow leaped to
his feet, and, as he leaped, he fired. So did Haley. Neither scored,
and, so far as the Overlanders could observe, not a human being
except themselves saw the duel that was being fought out there in
the meadow. Haley’s adversary ducked, and the Overlanders saw what
his strategy was. A slight waving of the grass told them that the
fellow was crawling to the left. They did not know whether or not
Haley saw that.
A moment or so later the man again sprang up and fired, but the
Peanut Man had not been deceived. His revolver banged so quickly
that the watchers could not tell which man fired first.
“Good for Jim Haley!” cried Tom Gray.
“Don’t!” admonished Grace. “Tom, don’t forget that this may end in a
tragedy.”
“That’s what it is going to end in—perhaps more than one tragedy.
When Haley and the other fellow wind up you will see more lively
work, and—”
“Hippy! Oh, where is my Hippy?” cried Nora.
“Don’t worry. He has gone to join some of the men who are backing
Haley,” replied Tom.
Neither Haley nor his opponent ducked after that and to the Overland
girls, terrible as it was, it was a wonderful thing to see the two
men standing up in the meadow shooting at each other as calmly as
though they were firing at targets.
Emma Dean’s face was pale, and her whole body was trembling with
excitement.
A little cry from one of the girls greeted a new move on the part of
Haley’s antagonist. The fellow suddenly whipped out another
revolver, and began shooting with both guns at the same time.
Jim Haley demonstrated that he, too, could do that, and he did, and
the bullets flew thick and fast. Then suddenly they saw Haley’s
enemy spin half way around.
“He’s hit!” cried Nora.
The man was hit, and Haley held his fire. But the Peanut Man’s
adversary came back with two more shots, both of which grazed
Haley’s body. Then, like a flash, Jim Haley fired two shots at the
same instant. His adversary turned slowly and then pitched sideways
to the ground.
Haley himself went down almost as suddenly, the difference being
that Haley was not hurt, but he knew what to expect after his
adversary had fallen seriously wounded.
The crash of rifles was heard on the opposite side of the meadow,
but there was no reply from the Overland side.
“Where are they? Oh, where are Hippy and the people he is with?”
cried Nora.
“I think they are on the other side of the meadow among the trees,
creeping toward their enemies,” answered Grace Harlowe. “Two parties
are shooting over on that side now.”
“Yes,” answered Tom. “You have it right, Grace. The Peanut Man
offered himself as a possible sacrifice to enable his companions to
work around to the other side of the meadow and attack the enemy on
their own ground.”
“But where is Mr. Haley? Are you sure that he wasn’t hit?” begged
Emma.
“No. I could see by the way he went down that it was to avoid the
volley that he knew would be fired at him,” Tom informed them.
“Girls, I am in hopes that this morning’s work may mark the finish
of the job that certain men have been sent up here to accomplish.”
“I don’t understand,” said Elfreda, interested at once.
“You will later,” was Captain Gray’s noncommittal answer.
“Should we move from here, Tom?” questioned Grace a little
apprehensively. “The firing has stopped.”
“No. We must wait here. That is the arrangement, no matter which way
the fight goes. We must be on our guard, so get your rifles and sit
down behind the boulders, while I keep watch here.”
The Overland party obeyed, but not willingly. They had come out from
their hiding place to watch the duel, and preferred not to miss
further operations, but Tom was insistent.
It was well past noon when a loud hello brought the girls to their
feet. The call was uttered by Hippy.
“I had an awful time getting here without crossing the meadow. I
didn’t know what I might run into out there, so I came around
through the forest, and it was mighty rough going. Got anything
loose around here?” he demanded.
“Saddle rations; that is all,” replied Grace. “Help yourself to
whatever you can find.”
“Oh, Hippy, have you seen anything of Hamilton?” begged Emma
anxiously.
“Yes. Why?”
“Is—is he all right?”
“He was beating up Hawk Murray with his fists and doing it
beautifully, the last I saw of him,” answered Hippy. “Never saw a
fellow with a better punch than ‘Hamilton,’ as you call him, has.”
“Hippy, what about the man out there in the meadow?” asked Miss
Briggs. “I am going out there. He may not be dead, and it is inhuman
to leave him there to suffer, even if he is an enemy. Who is he? Do
you know, Hippy?”
“Yes. That fellow is Two-gun Murray, the slickest man with a
revolver that ever hunched a shoulder, and you will please stay away
from him.”
“Tom,” said Grace, laying a hand on her husband’s arm, “I wish
someone would go out there. Perhaps it isn’t wise that any of us
girls should do so, but we are not afraid, if you will permit.
Please!”
“Come along, Hippy. I guess it is up to us,” urged Captain Gray.
Hippy protested that he must have food, but Nora promised that, if
he would go out, she would have a nice meal ready for him when he
returned, so the two men, with drawn revolvers, walked out
cautiously to the spot where the mountain bandit had fallen. He was
not at the exact spot where he had fallen, but they had no
difficulty in following the trail which he had left.
They found Two-gun alive, but unconscious, and a few moments later
they were on their way back to camp, carrying the heavy burden. The
Overland girls, knowing that the man was still alive because Tom and
Hippy were carrying him so carefully, were ready with water,
bandages and antiseptics, to give first aid.
“Where is he hit?” was Elfreda’s first question.
“Both shoulders,” answered Tom briefly.
Grace and Elfreda began working on the bandit immediately, and in
half an hour he regained consciousness. The girls found that Two-gun
was seriously wounded, both bullets having gone through him. They
said that he should be taken to some place where surgical aid might
be had, but Tom said that was impossible. All that could be done had
been done. Further, he said that men of his type were fairly well
used to being shot up. No vital spot had been hit and both Tom and
Hippy were of the opinion that Two-gun would live to spend at least
a few years in prison. This bandit, however, probably had never
before enjoyed the really tender treatment such as the girls were
giving him. He followed Elfreda’s every movement with his eyes.
“I—I didn’t tell on you—about the saddle and the hoss,” he said
weakly.
“I know it,” answered Miss Briggs. “That is one reason why I am
trying to take good care of you. But you must be quiet and conserve
your strength.”
“Who was the fellow that got me?” demanded Two-gun.
“That I cannot tell you, Mr. Murray,” replied Elfreda.
“He was some handy with the gun, I’ll say, Miss.”
Elfreda moved away from Two-gun, and asked anxiously if any word had
been had of Stacy. None had. She then suggested to Tom that the
wounded bandit might be able to give them information that would
lead to finding Stacy, so Tom asked Two-gun if he knew of Stacy’s
whereabouts. The bandit shook his head. He said he knew that two
members of the Overland party had been captured, but that he had not
learned what had become of the prisoners.
“There is one of them,” Captain Gray informed him, pointing to
Hippy. “Were both men taken to the same place?”
“They might have been,” was the reply, and that was all that could
be elicited from Two-gun Murray.
There was nothing now to be done save to wait until the men, who had
tricked the bandits and saved the Overlanders from probable serious
consequences, advised them what to do; so the party made themselves
as comfortable as possible, sleeping part of the time and taking
turns at watching the camp and Two-gun Murray.
At night their vigil was redoubled, for none knew how many of
Two-gun’s companions were at large. They knew that some had been
captured, as Hippy Wingate had told them so, and that Ham White had
had a fist fight with Hawk Murray, the leader of the band of
marauders that had terrified the entire Cascade Range.
It was well after midnight when the camp was hailed. Tom answered
the hail.
“Come forward with your hands up and identify yourself,” he ordered.
“Yeow!” howled a voice that brought every member of the Overland
party to his feet.
“Stacy!” shouted the Overlanders.
“Wha—what!” exclaimed Tom Gray as an Indian loped into camp, a rifle
in his hand, which he kept pointed in the direction of Captain Gray.