"Steady, boys. Here they come!" whispered Vipan, his eyes strained upon
the point of a long narrow spit of scrub looming dark and indistinct in
the heavy morning mist. Within the waggons, whose sides were securely
padded with sacks of flour and other protective material, the women and
children, worn out with anxiety and apprehension, were slumbering hard.
It was the gloomy hour of early dawn.
A moment's aim, and he discharged his Winchester. The report rolled out
like thunder upon the heavy mist-enshrouded atmosphere. Then a moment
of dead silence.
Suddenly a line of fire darted along the ground. Then whirling down
like lightning upon the corral came what resembled a number of wavy
balls of flame. There was a roar and thunder of hoofs, the loud,
horrible, quavering war-whoop rent the air, and a plunging sea of
hideously painted centaurs, streaming with feathers and tags and
scalp-locks, and bathed as it were, in a ring of flame, surged around
the corral, enfolding it in a mighty moving mass of demon riders and
phantom steeds. A shower of blazing torches came whizzing right into
the midst of the camp, followed by another. Thick and fast they fell,
lying sputtering and flaring everywhere. The encampment and its
defenders were in a sheet of flame, and amid the clouds of sulphurous
smoke, even the crash and rattle of volleys was well-nigh drowned in the
demoniacal and stunning yells of the attacking savages, who, pressing
the advantage afforded them by this unlooked-for panic, saw success
already theirs.
In the excitement of this sudden surprise the shooting on both sides was
wild in the extreme. Amid the whirling, plunging mass, a warrior was
seen to leap convulsively in his saddle, and, throwing up his arms, sink
beneath the pounding hoofs. More than one pony rolled upon the ground,
but still the flying horde circled in nearer and nearer, full half its
strength preparing for a final and decisive charge. It seemed that the
doom of every man, woman, and child in that camp was sealed.
Maddened by the terrific yells, by the flames of the burning missiles
scorching their legs, the frantic animals picketed within the corral
plunged and kicked, and strained wildly at their picket ropes. It only
needed for them to break loose to render the general demoralisation
complete.
But amid the indescribable tumult, the yelling of the Indians, the
plunging of the frenzied cattle, the crash and rattle of volleys, the
fiery peril which threatened to wrap the whole camp in flames, the
on-rushing squadrons of demon centaurs, and the piteous shrieks of
terrified women and children, three or four men there kept their heads,
and well indeed was it for the rest that they did so.
"Keep cool, boys! Don't fire too quick," thundered Vipan, deliberately
picking up one of the blazing torches and hurling it with good aim full
against the striped countenance of a too daring assailant. Winthrop,
whose trained eye took in the weakness, the frightful jeopardy of the
situation, had his hands full at the side of the corral which he had
elected to attend to.
"Jee-hoshaphat!" exclaimed Oregon Dave, between his set teeth. "Now for
it, boys! They mean hair this time."
For the Indians, who, wheeling and turning on their quick active little
steeds in such wise as to render themselves difficult targets in the
uncertain light, as well as to bewilder the eye of their enemy, were now
seen to mass together with marvellous celerity. Then, with a long,
thrilling whoop, they charged like lightning upon the weakest point in
the defences.
Never more deadly cool in their lives, half-a-dozen men, among them
Vipan and Oregon Dave, stand in readiness.
"Now let drive," whispers the latter.
A raking volley at barely a hundred yards. Several saddles are emptied,
but it does not stop the charge. Led by a chief of gigantic stature and
wildly ferocious aspect, the whole band hurls itself forward, as a stone
from a catapult. Then the fighting is desperate indeed, for it is
hand-to-hand. A score of warriors slide from their horses and leap
within the enclosure, their grim and savage countenances aglow with the
triumph of victory, only, however, to retreat helter-skelter as several
of their number drop dead or wounded before the terrible six-shooters of
that determined half-dozen. In the confusion the gigantic chief,
watching his opportunity, puts forth his lance and spears one of the
unfortunate emigrants through the heart. Then bending forward he drags
out the still quivering body, and with amazing strength throws it across
his horse.
"That's that devil Crow-Scalper," cries Vipan, amid the roar of rage
which goes up at this feat. But the chief, flinging the body to the
earth again, wheels his horse and utters his piercing rallying _cry_,
brandishing aloft the bleeding scalp he has just taken. More than one
bullet ploughs through the eagle plumes of his war-bonnet; his horse is
shot under him; but he seems to bear a charmed life. Leaping on the
pony of a warrior at that moment shot dead at his side, again he utters
his shrilling, piercing whoop and strives to rally his band.
But the latter have had about enough. The deadly precision of those
unceasing close-quarter shots is more than Indian flesh and blood can
stand up to.
"They're off, by th' Etarnal, they're off!" roared one of the emigrants,
a tall Kentuckian who boasted a strain of the blood of the Boones.
"Give 'em another volley, boys!"
"Guess so, Elias," yelled his spouse, a raw-boned masculine virago, who
throughout had been wielding a rifle with good effect. But the Indians
showed no desire to wait for this parting attention. They kept up a
show of fight just long enough to enable them to bear away their dead,
always an important feature in their military drill. Then with a final
whoop of defiance they vanished into the mist.
Suddenly they returned, but only a handful. One of their fallen
comrades had been overlooked. Darting from among the rest a couple of
warriors, riding abreast, skimmed rapidly along towards the corral.
Suddenly they were seen to bend over, and seizing an inert corpse by the
neck and heels, raise it and fling it across the pommel in front of one
of them. Then, almost without abating speed, they wheeled their ponies
and disappeared.
"By the Lord! but that was well done," cried Winthrop.
Throughout this desperate affray, which had not occupied many minutes,
the weaker members of the community, frozen with fear, crouched
shudderingly within their shelters. These helpless women knew what
terrible fate awaited them in the event of the savages proving
victorious, and to their appalled senses the hideous war-whoop, the
thunder of charging hoofs, the shouts and the wild crashing of shots
seemed as a very hell opening before them.
Shivering in her well-padded waggon, poor little Mrs Winthrop was in a
pitiable state of terror and anxiety.
"Oh, Yseulte, I wish I could be as brave as you," she moaned, clinging
to her friend as to a final refuge. "How do you manage it? Tell me."
"I don't know," answered the girl, with something of a warrior-light
shining in her eyes. "Only I'm sure we shall win."
The calm, steadfast tones conveyed to the distracted, terrified
creature, as she herself phrased it, "tons of comfort." Then the tumult
had ceased.
The mist was rolling back, unfolding heaven's vault of brilliant blue,
and in less than half an hour the whole country-side stood revealed.
Not an Indian was in sight. Slain ponies lay around, and here and there
a dark clot of gore showed where a warrior had fallen.
"Will they come again?" said Winthrop, turning to Vipan. Many an ear
hung upon the answer.
"No," replied the latter, tranquilly, beginning to sponge out his rifle.
"I never saw a finer charge than that last, and they know perfectly
that if it wouldn't carry the corral nothing will. They intended a
surprise, you see, but it broke down completely, and unless they try the
palaver trick we shall see no more of them just yet. But we shall have
to keep a bright lookout, for depend upon it, they won't let us be out
of sight long--for some time at any rate."
"Waal, boys," drawled the tall Kentuckian, "I reckon we'll jest squat
around a bit, and be darn thankful."
"That's so, Elias," assented his martial spouse, diving into the waggon
to lug out her brood by the ears, as if nothing had happened.