VANISHED.
It was a startling sight, when Captain Shirril, stretched at full length
on the roof of his cabin, gazed in front of him and saw the head and
shoulders of a Comanche Indian slowly rise to view at the corner of the
eaves.
He could not doubt its meaning: the assailants were bent on burning the
structure, and were willing to face the danger that was sure to meet
them in making the attempt.
Even in this exciting moment, the Texan could not help asking himself
the question which he had asked many times before: why did not the
redskins set fire to the side of the house, where they were involved in
no such peril as now? They might have gathered several armfuls of
combustibles, and, heaping them against the wooden walls, fire them at
their leisure, but, for some reason, they preferred to climb upon the
roof, and run the risk of colliding with the courageous Dinah or her
fearless master.
In doing as they did, the Comanches were shrewder than would be
supposed. It is true that the narrow windows commanded only one side of
the cabin, and that the attempt spoken of brought little if any danger
to themselves. In fact, as afterward was learned, they did their best to
set fire to the rear, and at the end, but the timber was so damp that
the flames failed to communicate. The long continued drought affected
the walls to a far less degree than the roof, where the sun had free
play day after day. Had there been a driving storm, the top would have
been less favorable than the walls, but from the causes named it lost
its moisture much more readily.
Besides, the flames on the roof could not be reached as readily nor with
so much safety by the defenders as at the sides. They naturally believed
there was plenty of water at command. The moment the fire should begin
to show through the crevices in the timbers, this could be dashed
against the other side and brought into play.
It was different on the roof, which could not be reached so well. There
may have been other motives influencing the Comanches in the first
instance, such as supposing that the whites, having once repulsed the
attempt, would not look for its repetition, since the Indians must
expose themselves to the greatest possible peril.
However, without speculating as to their reasons, the fact remained that
a second Indian was rising like an apparition above the eaves, with the
evident intention of trying to repair the failure of his companion a
short time before.
Captain Shirril felt that it would have been better had he stayed where
he was; for, with his head just above the level of the scuttle, he could
have picked off the wretch the very moment he became aware of his
presence.
But now, while creeping so guardedly along the roof, he had held his
rifle by the barrel, with most of the weapon behind him. Had it been
discharged, in that position, it was he who would have received the
bullet, instead of the Indian.
To make the gun effective, he must bring it around in front and sight
it. While his own form pressed the planking so close that the savage
apparently failed to identify him, though carefully scanning the
surface, there was a strong probability that he would detect the meaning
of the slight noise involved in the act.
The Texan dared not advance nor retreat, though he would have preferred
to withdraw through the opening; but the moment he made sure of what
confronted him, he began bringing his gun forward, with the resolve to
fire the moment he could draw a bead on the miscreant.
The weapon advanced like the minute-hand over the face of a clock.
Knowing the stake for which he was working, he did not neglect any
precaution that could bring success.
"He can duck his head quickly enough," thought the captain, "but I'll
pick him off the instant there is reason to believe he scents
mischief."
His intention, in such an event, was to bring his Winchester to the
right position and discharge it with the utmost celerity. His experience
in the Civil War and in Texas rendered him an adept at this business,
but, on the other hand, it will be seen that the precautions of the
Comanche himself could be executed in a twinkling.
"Confound the luck!"
Captain Shirril had almost reached the decisive point, when the head of
the redskin vanished!
Whether or not he saw his danger cannot be said, but it is probable that
the slight noise of the arm and gun struck his ear and decided him to
drop out of sight until an investigation should be made.
The Texan was exasperated, for he was eager to bring down this scamp,
and, up to the moment of his disappearance, was confident of doing so,
but the opportunity was gone.
Instead of retreating to cover again, he decided to remain on the roof a
brief while longer; but he stealthily shifted his position a little
nearer the edge of the building. Now that he was at liberty for the
moment, he laid aside his gun and drew his revolver. That was the weapon
for such an emergency, and he kept it in position for instant use,
without the fatal preliminaries that had just defeated his purpose.
The captain clung to the belief that, despite the second repulse of the
Comanches, they would persist in their attempt until it should prove too
costly to them.
But he was not shortsighted enough to believe the repetition would be in
the precise fashion of the last: that is to say, he did not suspect the
Indian, after ducking so promptly out of range, would pop up his head
again to invite a shot.
"He will appear at some other corner," was his conclusion, "which they
believe is unguarded."
His eyes had become so accustomed to the gloom that he could trace the
outlines of the eaves around the cabin, and he felt little fear,
therefore, of his enemies stealing upon him unawares. They might try it,
but he was confident of defeating their purpose at the very onset.
Another fear troubled him: having learned that he was on the roof, they
were likely to begin firing at it from a distance, raking the entire
surface so effectively that some of the bullets were quite sure to find
him. Prudence whispered to him to withdraw into the interior of the
cabin while the chance was his, but there was a stubborn streak in the
Texan's composition which caused him to hold his place. He had been
under fire so often that it seemed as if nothing could disturb his
coolness or ruffle his presence of mind, and he was so inured to
personal peril that he felt something of the old thrill of which he had
spoken earlier in the evening, when recalling his experience in the war
that had closed only a few years before.
But none of the expected shots came. He heard the sound of more than one
mustang's hoofs, and several signals between the warriors, but no one
sent a bullet skimming along the slope on which he lay looking and
listening, and on the alert for the first appearance of his assailants.
This led him to suspect that, after all, they were not certain of his
presence. It was sound and not sight that had caused the sudden
withdrawal of the warrior.
If this were the case, there was a greater probability of his showing up
again.
It is at such times that the minutes seem to have ten-fold their real
length. The Texan, after glancing closely along the rim of the roof, not
forgetting to take a peep over the peak, turned his gaze to the
northward, and listened for the sounds that were so long in coming. Not
the glimmer of a light showed in that direction, nor could he catch the
faintest sound of a galloping hoof, other than such as was made by the
mustangs of the Comanches near the building.
"Avon ought to have arrived before this, and the boys would not throw
away a second after learning the truth from him. He may have been
hindered, but----"