THE STIRRING GAME AT DAWN
"THERE is the ledge, sir, right in yonder," announced Hal, peering
through the darkness. A wind was coming up and the stars had faded. It
was in the darkest hour before dawn.
Captain Cortland stepped back, holding out one hand as a signal.
Sergeant Hupner saw, and halted his detachment, marching almost without
a sound.
"Remain here, guides, with the detachment," directed the company
commander, in a whisper. "Sergeant Hupner, you and I will go forward and
reconnoitre."
As soon as the officer and the non-commissioned officer had departed
Private Bill Hooper growled out:
"What kind of a fool chase is this you've got us into, Overton?"
"Silence in the ranks," hissed Corporal Cotter sharply. "Not a word!"
Fifteen minutes later Captain Cortland and the sergeant returned.
"Take twelve of the men, now, Sergeant. You know where to post them,"
directed Captain Cortland briskly. "As soon as you have done so return
to me."
Hupner marched off in the darkness with his dozen men. In a few minutes
he was back.
"We'll want until daylight now for the rest of our work," announced the
company commander.
Slowly enough the time passed. No word was spoken. All was as still
around the little military force as though they had been isolated in the
center of a vast desert.
Then the first faint signs of dawn came. Some of the soldiers were
seated on the ground, gaping and with difficulty refraining from going
to sleep, for these men of Uncle Sam's Army had been routed from their
beds in the middle of the night.
The morning light increased, though it was still dim, and the first
vague shapes near the ledge began to take more definite shape.
"We won't need to wait more than five minutes more, Sergeant Hupner,"
declared the captain.
Cortland stood holding his watch close to his face. As soon as he could
read the time he turned to whisper:
"Now, Overton, lead us up to the exact spot from which you had your
interview with the fellow Branders."
"Shall the men load, sir?" whispered Sergeant Hupner.
"Yes; full magazines."
As silently as possible the men of the little searching party slipped
back the bolts of their pieces and loaded.
"Go ahead, Overton," whispered Captain Cortland.
Just behind Soldier Hal stepped the company commander himself, watching
every footstep in order not to step on any loose stone that might sound
a premature alarm.
Yet one man among them slipped and made a noise. It was trifling, but
almost instantly a whistle sounded ahead.
Without even thinking to wait for orders Hal returned the whistle.
"That you, Tip?" called the voice of an invisible man. "Good for you,
lad. We thought you was a goner."
Hal did not answer further, for Captain Cortland broke in:
"Rush 'em, men! We've got 'em."
"Ho! The blazes you have!" sounded a rough voice ahead. "Come on,
boys--it's the sojers! Give it to 'em!"
Almost in an instant the crevices between the rocks ahead were full of
red flashes.
Bullets sped, struck rocks with spiteful thuds and flattened out before
bounding into the air again.
"Lie down, men!" shouted Captain Cortland. "Give it to the rascals as
long as they shoot at us."
All in a moment this rock-strewn spot had become a bedlam of discharging
firearms.
Two regulars were hit before they could find cover from which to fire.
These men, however, made no outcry, but, finding themselves unable to
handle their rifles, lay quietly where they had fallen until the time
came for them to have attention.
Though he had sharply ordered his men to lie down, Captain Cortland did
nothing of the sort himself. Instead, with his revolver drawn, he stood
up, peering ahead and trying to get sight of the scoundrels beyond.
Bullets flew all about the captain, many of them passing his head. But
he stood there calmly until he caught just the opportunity for which he
had waited.
Then his pistol spoke, and a groan beyond showed that he had been a
successful marksman.
"Squad, rise!" shot out the commander's order. "Charge!"
Crouching low, the soldiers sprang suddenly forward.
"Halt! Lie down," continued Cortland. He had gained sixty feet by his
rush without loss of a man. "Fire only when you see something to shoot
at. Commence firing at will."
Now the firing slackened, though it was not less deadly. Even the
scoundrels ahead slowed down their fire, as though they found their
weapons becoming hot.
Captain Cortland was in no hurry. He meant to have the scoundrels, dead
or alive, but he did not intend to risk his own men needlessly. The army
officer knew it was now only a question of time. Nor did he fear running
out of ammunition, for the greater part of his small command was not yet
in action, but posted beyond.
The daylight grew stronger; then the upper rim of the sun peeped over
the horizon, sending its rays into the sky.
"Cease firing," commanded Cortland at last. Then he called over the
rocks.
"Are you fellows ready to surrender to United States forces?"
"Not until we're all dead," came the taunting reply.
"Then we'll try to accommodate you by killing you with as little delay
as possible," called back the captain. Then, to his own little force he
added:
"Men, advance as you see opportunity. Fire whenever you see anything to
aim at."
Steadily the regulars crawled forward, a foot or a yard at a time.
As they moved they tried, Indian fashion, to find new cover behind rocks
over which they could aim and fire.
Hal and Noll, not ten feet apart, occasionally glanced at each other
after firing.
Both young rookies were thoroughly enjoying this actual taste of
fighting life.
It was not many minutes before the advancing handful of soldiers were
within seventy or eighty feet of the rocks that sheltered the rascals.
Then suddenly they saw three crouching figures begin to retreat among
the rocks.
With a cheer the attacking force went forward, crouching.
But just then three rifles from out beyond spoke, and bullets whistled
past the scoundrels from a new quarter.
"Great smoke, boys!" bellowed one of the fugitives hoarsely. "The sojers
have us hemmed in on all sides."
"Yes, we have," shouted Captain Cortland. "Do you want to surrender?"
"Make your men stop shooting or moving, and give us two minutes to
think."
"We'll keep on advancing and firing until we have your surrender,"
retorted Captain Cortland grimly. "Whenever you want to surrender tell
me so and raise your hands high in the air."
"Wait a min----"
"Keep on firing, men," called Captain Cortland.
"Hold on! We give in, Cap."
"Cease firing, men," called the commander of B Company. "Now you fellows
jump up and show yourselves with your hands reaching for the sky."
Three rough-looking figures clambered up on rocks, holding their empty
hands as high as they could get them. One of them had his neck bound,
and there was blood on his clothing. This was the first man whom Hal had
wounded back of Captain Ruggles's quarters at the beginning of the fray.
"Stand just that way until we reach you," ordered the army officer.
"Close in on them, men, and fire if you see one of them reach for a
weapon."
But the trio plainly had no further intentions in the way of fighting.
They waited, sullen-faced and silent, until the soldiers had reached
them and had taken away their weapons.
"You have handcuffs, Sergeant?" inquired the captain.
Hupner and Corporal Cotter both produced the steel bracelets. The three
rogues were swiftly handcuffed.
"You'll find our boss over yonder," nodded one of the men. "He's bad
hit, too."
They found the fellow, nearly unconscious, but groaning, his right
shoulder badly shattered by the bullet from Captain Cortland's revolver.
"Sergeant," directed B Company's commander, "send a messenger back to
the post for hospital men and an ambulance. You can report that two of
our own men have been hit."
The leader of the scoundrels was lifted and carried back where the two
men of B Company lay. Captain Cortland directed such aid as could be
given on the spot to all of the wounded men.
"Shall I call in the men I posted, sir?" inquired Hupner.
"Not yet, Sergeant. There may be others of this gang hidden somewhere
among the rocks. But you may take three men and search for others."
Within ten minutes the search had been made thoroughly. No more of the
evil band had been found.
"We'll go back just as soon as the ambulance arrives and the wounded
have been taken care of," announced Captain Cortland.
Hal, at that moment, had his eye on one of the prisoners. He saw a gleam
of satisfaction show in the fellow's eyes.
"May I speak, sir?" asked Private Overton, saluting Captain Cortland.
"Yes," nodded the officer.
"May some of us remain behind them, sir, to search all this ground
over?"
"For what, Overton?"
"It doesn't seem likely, sir, that these scoundrels have been living in
the open air. And they must have some place for concealing their booty."
"Quite right, Overton. Corporal Cotter, take Overton, Terry and two
other men and make a thorough search of the rocks and ground
hereabouts."
Hal turned swiftly to the man in whose eyes he had seen that gleam of
satisfaction the moment before. Now the fellow was scowling.
"That was a hit," Hal murmured to himself. "The rascals have some hiding
place around here."
"Now we'll divide the ground up in small squares," announced Corporal
Cotter as he led his picked men away. "We'll search each square
minutely, so that no little patch may be overlooked."
"Won't it be best, Corporal," hinted Hal, "to start where the thieves
were when the fighting began?"
"Just the ticket, Overton," nodded the corporal.
So the search began at that point. Nor did it last long, for Hal,
thrusting with the butt of his rifle, poked a large bush partly aside
exclaiming:
"I guess you'd better come here, Corporal," the recruit called.
As Cotter came running to the spot Private Overton displayed a hole
rising some three feet above the grounds. It had been covered by the
foliage of the bush.
"Looks like the mouth of a cave, doesn't it?" Hal asked, with gleaming
eyes.
"A whole lot," agreed Corporal Cotter, producing a pocket electric
flashlight. "You can follow me in, Overton, if you like."
Corporal and private crawled into the hole. They did not have to go more
than six feet before they stood in a stone-walled chamber of
considerable size. Roughly, it appeared to be an apartment of about
twenty by thirty-five feet.
"Beds, tables, chairs, lamps, grub," enumerated Corporal Cotter,
looking about him gleefully. "Take the lamp, Overton. I'm going back to
call the captain."
Less than two minutes later Captain Cortland stood in the rockbound
chamber.
"Well, this is a place!" whistled the officer in surprise.
"This chest is locked, sir," reported Hal, who had been improving his
time by looking about. "Do you think it may contain loot. Captain?"
"There's an ax," nodded Cortland, glancing around him. "Corporal, just
try the ax on the chest--carefully."
With a few blows Cotter had the chest open. Captain Cortland knelt by
the wooden chest to inspect.
"This is clothing on top," he announced. "But--ah, what does this look
like?"
In the middle of the chest's contents he had come upon carefully wrapped
packages of jewelry, watches and the like.
"We won't go any further just now," declared the captain. "But we'll
take back this chest with us."
On the return to Fort Clowdry the prisoners, though captured on the
military reservation, were turned over to the civil officers. Even Tip
Branders and the wounded chief of the band were taken to Clowdry for
care by the town authorities.
The chest was found to have contained all the stolen jewelry. The money
that had been taken on the same raids, however, was not found. Plainly
the thieves had used the money for the needs of the moment.
Hal and Noll, on their return, reported promptly to the commander of the
guard, for they still belonged to the guard detail.
"Queer, ain't it?" asked Private Bill Hooper that morning in Hupner's
squad room as the men were washing up before morning mess call.
"What is?" demanded Private Hyman.
"Why, that kid, Overton, knew one of the gang--one, at least--all the
time. Yet Overton shot his old-time friend. And Overton knew all along
where the bunch was hiding. And did you hear how neatly he led Corporal
Cotter right to the cave of the gang? Now if that don't prove----"
Hyman promptly knocked Hooper down.
"It proves, Bill," growled Hyman, "that you're so fond of lying that you
don't know the truth when you hear it."