A ROMAN BATTERING-RAM
It was noon. A molten sun looked down from a copper sky. The rocks
reflected the terrific glare. What little shade there was brought no
ease from the furnacelike heat. As one man expressed it: "You roast in
the sun and stew in the shade." The water was gone, and there would be
no more until evening; the men's suffering from thirst was intense. All
thought themselves beaten.
"Reckon the judge is due to get his neck stretched," Toothpick Jarrick
confided dolorously to Silent Moore.
The two were sprawled behind a boulder in the thin shade cast by a
cactus. The taciturn deputy thrust out his jaw and growled:
"We sticks just the same."
Sam Hogg wormed his way between the blistering rocks and joined them.
He nudged Toothpick and pointed up toward the valley wall behind them.
"What's the Wolf doin' up there? He's been lookin' through those
glasses of his for an hour and shiftin' his position constant. Yuh
reckon he's figurin' up somethin'?" the cattleman asked eagerly.
Allen was lying flat on a high shelf of rock. They watched him for a
time. Now he vanished. A little later they saw him again, fifty yards
farther along the shelf. From the shelter of some brush he focused his
glasses on the long adobe building. Toothpick was puzzled as to what
Allen was studying. He decided that it must be the lone window that
broke the surface of the western wall in the outlaws' fortress. The
window was little more than a porthole, about three feet by two.
Toothpick knew that a real purpose lay behind all of Allen's actions;
that many of his surprising victories were the result of carefully
thought-out plans. But what did the little outlaw hope to gain by
studying that window? Allen closed his glasses and looked down at the
three watching him. He waved his hand and wiggled out of sight.
"What's he aimin' to do?" Sam Hogg addressed Toothpick.
The lanky cow-puncher considered a moment and shook his head.
"I dunno. But the little hellion has sure got somethin' in his head,"
he said thoughtfully.
"If he's aimin' to go through that window, the gents in there will
shoot him in two," the cattleman protested.
"Sure would," Silent agreed.
"I don't know what he's aimin' to do, but I'm sayin' positive, whatever
it is, I'm backin' his play," Toothpick stated emphatically.
"Hey, Toothpick, come over here," Allen called from his hidden perch.
Toothpick, followed by Sam Hogg, wiggled toward the depression from
which he knew the voice came. A rifle cracked from within the adobe
building, and Toothpick's hat flew from his head. He flattened out and
wiggled the faster. A few seconds later he slid down the side of the
small basin to Allen. He was closely followed by Sam Hogg, who had
retrieved the hat. Toothpick looked at it ruefully for a moment and
poked his finger through the hole in the crown.
"Huh! That gent sure parted my hair."
"Jim, yuh figured out a way we can get at them hombres?" Sam Hogg
demanded.
"I ain't sure she works," Allen replied. "Yuh gather Tom Powers and
yuhr brother over the hill by that ore wagon--if she works, I'll come
and tell yuh about it."
The cattleman told himself that Allen deliberately tried to be
mysterious. However, he went to collect his brother and Tom Powers.
Allen and Toothpick sought out Tad Hicks. The three passed along a deep
gully to a ledge some ten feet high. Here Allen explained to them the
first part of his plan and the part they were to play in it. A half
hour later, when they approached the ore wagon, all three were grinning
like schoolboys.
"Yuh two is sure baseball players--yuh tossed me at that mark and hit
it every time," Allen said to them.
Tad Hicks halted to explain to his bosom friends, Windy Sam and Kansas.
"The Wolf is goin' to have us toss him through that window, an' he
makes us practice tossin' him at a rock an' keeps us doin' it, until we
hit it three time runnin' with his head."
Sheriff Tom Powers, the Hogg brothers, and several men of the posse
listened in silence until Allen had finished telling his plan. For a
moment its sheer audacity held them silent, then they shook their
heads. The thing was impossible. Sam Hogg glanced wonderingly at
Allen's freckled, youthful face. He could discern nothing but the
spirit of youthful adventure there, like that of a schoolboy planning
to rob an orchard. He sighed and again shook his head. Courage such as
Allen's was too precious to be wasted. There wasn't a chance in a
thousand of success.
"Yuh can't do it," the sheriff objected.
"Hell, there's thirteen men in there," the little cattleman added.
"A darned unlucky number for them," remarked Allen.
"And five of the best gun fighters on the border," Toothpick pointed
out.
"I ain't aimin' to wipe out all them gents. I'm aimin' to sorta keep
'em busy, while you bust the door down," Allen explained.
"You're loco! Bust that door down? It would take an hour to do it," Jim
Hogg protested.
"Yuh ever see a Roman batterin'-ram?" Allen asked.
"Roman batterin'-ram?" the sheriff queried in return.
"He's funnin' us," the storekeeper insisted.
But one glance at the little outlaw's face convinced him Allen was
serious.
"Waggle yuhr ears, gents, and I'll learn yuh what erudition, as
Toothpick calls it, does for an hombre." Allen grinned at the tall
cow-puncher, then told them of his scheme to break in the door.
"She sure works!" Sam Hogg cried, a few minutes later. He gave a whoop
and sent his Stetson sailing into the air. Then all at once he grew
silent and stared at Allen. A sinister thought had come to him.
"I figure we'll get in, but they'll shoot yuh to bits," he said.
"Not any. I'm so darn small I ain't easy to hit, an' I'll keep moving
constantly," Allen said cheerfully.
He stepped up to the ore wagon, which was just over the crest of the
hill, and out of sight of those in the fortress.
"Yuh take the box off, take that boom off the derrick by the mouth of
the mine and rig her up, and yuh'll have a Roman batterin'-ram that'll
bust that there door to splinters," he said.
Sam Hogg dashed off to bring in some of his men. Tom Powers went to the
roofless tool house to see what he could find. He returned a little
later with a couple of rusty picks, a battered saw, and an ax that had
seen better days.
When the Frying Pan punchers arrived, they fell to work with a will.
The box on the freight wagon was dumped off, and on the frame they
lashed two cross bars. They had no nails, but plenty of rope which
served the same purpose. After much cursing, sweating, and heaving, the
arm of the derrick was pushed in between the crossbars. It then hung in
such a way that it would swing back and forth. It was a little wabbly
when finished, but, after an examination, both Tom Powers and Sam Hogg
admitted it would serve its purpose.
It was close to five o'clock before the battering-ram was finished. The
men scattered to seek rest in the shade. The deputation which had been
sent for water and provisions arrived. Fires were built, and
preparations made for the evening meal. The cow-punchers cast curious
glances at Allen, as he sat and talked to Sam Hogg, Toothpick, and
Snippets. They shook their heads, wonderingly.
"He ain't got no chance of comin' out of that place, unless he's
carried, yet look at him over there. The others who ain't riskin'
nothin' a-tall is plumb gloomy and gravelike, while he is happy as a
kid," pronounced one admirer.
The sun hung low over the western hills; then went down with a rush,
and its farewell painted the sky in a thousand brilliant colors. Dusk
softened the flaming canvas to soft pastels, and then darkness fell
over them swiftly, like a velvet, all-concealing mantle.
The men talked in hushed whispers, cleaned and oiled their guns and
paced up and down nervously.
It had been decided to make the attack at midnight; the men were
impatient. Hogg and Toothpick wandered away, and Snippets and Allen
were left alone before the fire. They chattered and laughed. He told
her of that valley of his in the Painted Desert where he had other and
younger gray horses.
"I got two colts up there--twins. Yuh never see their like. They ain't
nothin' but legs and nerve. Do yuh know what they do--them little
jaspers? Walk right into my house an' help theirselves. I can't cook me
a dinner, they don't eat it up. Huh, if I didn't chase 'em out, they'd
get in bed with me."
He went on, painting that valley of his as a veritable paradise.
Snippets laughed. "Jim, I never know when you stop tellin' the truth
and start lying."
Toothpick, Sam Hogg, and Tom Powers watched the two by the fire.
"Look at that runt," Sam Hogg said. "Laughin' his head off, an' in an
hour he's goin' to pull a stunt that he ain't got a Chinaman's chance
in."
"He's sure got nerve," Tom Powers agreed.
"He's darned sure to cash in, an' he's laughin'." Sam Hogg shook his
head.
"That's why he's laughin'," Toothpick said heavily.
"Yuh mean----"
"I know the little cuss. He tole me once, if yuh sit in a game and is
dealt two-spots, yuh can't quit until the Lord cashes yuh in."
"I dunno," Tom Powers said thoughtfully. "If I'd been on the dodge for
ten years, maybe I'd feel the same."
"And the gal?" Sam Hogg asked.
"She knows," Toothpick said. "She knows everything. She's plumb bright.
That day he gets throwed off the train she knows him pronto, and he has
me fooled complete."
"She's in love with him an'----" Tom Powers left his sentence
unfinished.
"Knows he's goin' to cash pronto an' keeps laughin'," Sam Hogg finished
for him.
"She's got nerve, even if she is only a gal," Toothpick stated.
"It's a shame. Ain't there a chance of gettin' the little cuss a
pardon?" Tom Powers asked.
"Not any, an' that's positive. The United States wants him, an' every
State west of Mississippi has a price on him," Toothpick replied.
"I'm tellin' yuh he'll get a pardon in Texas if he comes out of this,"
Sam Hogg cried.
"Yea, _if_----" Tom Powers said softly.
The two they watched continued their laughter.
"Tell me where this valley of yours is," Snippets pleaded.
"Yuh start from Wilton in Arizona. Yuh follow the sun until yuh come to
the Three Widows. They is Black Buttes what looks sorrowful. The trail
goes up Paintbox Canyon. An' when yuh can't go no farther, yuh start
climbing to the moon, and pretty soon yuh see it. It ain't very big,
but there's surprising trees an' grass an' plumb gorgeous flowers, an'
there's a house an' hosses--regular man-eaters. An' there's a gal
cooking pies fer 'em an'----Shucks!" Allen interrupted his dreaming.
"They's everything yuh want, when yuh get to the moon."
He leaped to his feet and looked down at her. Suddenly she seemed to
have grown very small and childish. Her dark eyes glistened with unshed
tears.
"Shucks, kid. I was usin' plumb-loose language," he said, with an
effort at lightness. He turned abruptly and walked to the men beside
the other fire. Snippets watched him; his shoulders sagged, as if they
were drawn down by the weight of the two big guns he wore. But a few
minutes later he was laughing again and making the others laugh with
him.
The men examined their weapons and gathered about the battering-ram. It
was pushed to the top of the crest. There, only a slight shove would be
needed to send it rolling toward the fortress. Ropes were attached to
the front axle, and mounted men held their ends.
"Yuh stays put, until I lights the match. Then yuh comes a-hoppin'
straight for the light. An' Toothpick an' Tad tosses Allen in through
the window," Sam Hogg explained.
The ex-Ranger had insisted that it was his right to give the signal. He
was to creep down to the fortress, and his lighted match would mark the
position of the door as well as give a signal.
He removed his boots and crept through the darkness toward the black
blotch which was the fortress.
Allen, followed by Toothpick and Tad Hicks, walked past the fire beside
which Snippets was sitting. The little outlaw did not speak to her, but
as the firelight caught his eyes, she saw they glinted with yellow, and
she knew the boy who had talked to her a short time before was gone. He
had given way to the Wolf.
"Yuh remember, if yuh gents don't toss me straight, the judge will sure
enough stretch rope," Allen warned.
Tad and Toothpick nodded. They knew that, not only would the judge be
lost, but that, if Allen failed to clear the window at the first
attempt, the gunmen within would make a sieve of him before he could
struggle clear.