The Fight, and not much else: except a little Happening at the End
which startles me greatly.
It seems a good deal to believe, but I actually half think that Kaiser
had begun to get hold of the fine points of a flag of truce, and that
he understood it was ended. What makes me have this idea is that I
think he must have taken after Pike at first, though I wasn't doing
much looking back just then, being busy at something more important;
but anyhow he wasn't with me till I was halfway to the store, when he
passed me with a great bark and went on tearing up the snow a few
steps ahead. I wish he had got ahead sooner, as I think I ran faster
trying to keep up with him; but as it was I don't know but he saved my
life.
Either Pike got back before I did, or one of his cutthroats fired for
him; I know not, probably the latter, but the shot was for me and
well aimed, so well that I guess the bullet went where I was when it
started. Thus it was: Kaiser was ahead, and reared up and threw
himself at the store door, which, being unlatched, flew open; it
stopped him a little, and I, being close behind, went down over him
and into the store head first, as if I had been fired out of a cannon;
and at that instant the bullet I spoke of struck the open door halfway
up. I slammed the door shut, grabbed my rifle, stuck the muzzle
through the port-hole, and pumped three shots out of it without once
trying to aim.
Then, without taking breath, I ran out the front by way of the tunnel
to the bank, and so up-stairs, where with another rifle I pumped out
two more shots, and then looked. The men had left the grade and were
coming full tilt out around the water-tank and graders' carts, their
horses rearing and floundering through the drifts. I fired twice,
aiming carefully each time, but I don't think I hit. I saw they would
soon be out of range. Again I dropped my gun, ran down-stairs and
through tunnel No. 1 to the hotel and up-stairs to a corner window,
double planked up, and giving me the range on the square and the foot
of the street. I was there first, with the hammer of my Winchester
back, and with Kaiser behind me wishing, I know, that dogs could
shoot.
The next second they came in sight and charged for the street. I aimed
and fired; I hit this time; one of the horses went down and the man
over his head. The other six came straight for the end of the street.
I fired again, but saw no results. I counted on the drift stopping
them. It did so less than I expected. Two went down in the snow; four
came on. I fired and one man dropped off his horse. The hard crust was
holding the other three. I fired again, but it did no good. Then the
head one, on a pinto pony, went down like a flash out of sight, horse
and man. He had gone into tunnel No. 3, leading to Townsend's store.
I fired three shots as fast as I could work the lever, without
stopping to aim. Then I looked out. The other two riders had turned
tail. The horse of one had gone down in the snow and he was running
away on foot; the other had got off the drifts without going down. I
thought it was Pike. It seemed a good time to shoot at him, and I did
so, but without so much as touching him, as I think. The man in the
tunnel got out and dodged around the corner of Townsend's store before
I could do my duty by him. They were all the next minute at the depot,
either in it or behind it.
This thing of their taking the depot was something which I had not
thought of. They were now as well covered and protected as I; and it
was still seven against one, because the man that I shot off of his
horse got over with the others by the help of one whose horse went
down in the drift. But their building was more exposed than mine, and
they could do nothing about their robbery so long as they stayed
there.
They now began to fire their first shots since the one which followed
me into Townsend's store. They were well-aimed shots, too, and the
bullets came through my window as if the planks were gingerbread. A
splinter of wood struck my left eye and closed it up; but I had it
shut most of the time anyhow, aiming with the other, so it didn't
matter. However, I didn't like the place, and went back into the room
in the northwest corner and got a range on them from one of the front
windows. I thought their bullets would glance off of the planks here,
and they did; however, the ones which struck the side came right on
through, lath partitions and all; but I kept close to the floor. All
the time Kaiser stayed close behind me, barking so that I thought he
would tear himself to pieces, and with the hair on his back standing
straight up.
I had two rifles and a hundred or more cartridges, and I began to give
the depot a pretty stiff bombarding. I don't think I missed the
building once, and I knew every ball went through the side; but what
they did after that I couldn't tell. There were three windows in the
depot on the side toward me, all close together near the east end, but
none at all to the right of them. None of them were boarded up, and
the robbers were pretty careful about showing themselves much at them.
They gradually dropped off the platform on the other side and crawled
under to the front from where I had watched the Indians that day. They
were well protected here, but the wind swept across the west end of
the square and blew such a spray of snow in their faces that they
could not see to aim well. On the other hand the sun had now got up
and the reflection came in my eyes and hurt my shooting. I wished that
the horse was out of the way so I could get through tunnel No. 3 into
Townsend's, where a side window, well planked, looked right down on
the depot; but it was just as well that I couldn't, as I found out
afterward.
They were still thinking that there was a large population in Track's
End, and I could see splinters flying all over town where they were
plugging away at windows and doors.
I soon noticed that they were not shooting quite so much, and thought
some of them might be sneaking around and thinking of coming up from
the west, so I went through to the bank once in a while, firing a few
shots from its front window at the depot so as to keep up their
large-population idea. At the third visit I looked out back and saw a
man run from the coal-shed to behind the water-tank. I got ready and
waited. Another ran across. I gave him a shot which made him jump.
Then I fired half a dozen shots through the inclosed part below the
tank, and if any of the balls missed the big timbers they must have
gone through. I thought those fellows would keep awhile, and ran back
to the hotel and began to pepper away at the depot again. This I kept
up for an hour, I think, when I caught a glimpse of one of the men
from the tank going back, and thought likely they had both gone.
The outlaws made just one more rally, and it was very well planned,
and if I had not been expecting it it might, after all, have gone hard
with the town of Track's End. All at once they began an uncommonly
lively firing from under the depot platform. I thought this might mean
a charge from the other side, so I started to see. Joyce's store ran
back farther than any of the others on that side of the street, and
had a side window near the back corner; so I went there instead of to
the bank.
It was slow work crawling under the sidewalk and getting up through
the trap-door, but I made it at last and ran to the window. Two of the
men were charging straight across the square for the rear of
Townsend's, carrying a big torch of sticks and twisted hay. The
window was not boarded up, but I stuck my rifle barrel through the
glass and fired at them. The bullet, I think, struck the torch,
because I saw the fire fly in all directions. They dropped it and
retreated in a great panic, while I shot again.
I ran back to the hotel and began shooting once more at the depot.
They never fired another shot. I went over to the bank and from the
back window I could see them going away to the southwest, keeping
under cover of the tank and coal-shed. They came around up on to the
grade a half-mile to the west. I had a look at them through the glass.
Some were walking and some riding. There seemed to be two men on one
horse. I think that more than one of them was wounded, but the
drifting snow now made it hard to see. I went back through the hotel
and down the street to watch them from the tower above the snow. The
pony which had fallen into the tunnel was still there. I noticed it
wore an expensive Mexican saddle, all heavy embossed leather, with a
high cantle, silver ornaments, big tapaderos on the stirrups, and a
horsehair bridle with silver bit. There was a red blanket rolled up
and tied on behind the saddle.
As I went by Townsend's I saw that the window I wanted to get to was
as full of holes as a skimmer, and I was glad the horse had blocked up
my way. I noticed that the depot wasn't much better off, however, for
holes. I went up the tower and watched the outlaws for half an hour.
They stopped a few minutes at Mountain's to get their extra horses and
then went on.
The wind was coming fresher all the time and I was pretty well chilled
when I got down. I was hurrying along across the drifts to the hotel
when I noticed the horse in the tunnel again. But his fine saddle and
bridle were gone. I knew instantly that it must be the work of my
unknown night visitor, who had not stolen anything for some time. This
was the first thing that had been disturbed by daylight; it was
growing bolder. My heart had behaved itself so well during the fight
that I had forgotten that I had such a thing; now it started to
thumping so hard that I thought it was all there was to me.