GURLEY'S GET-AWAY
The boulder cave to which the Apaches had driven Dinsmore and Ramona had
long since been picked out by the outlaws as a defensible position in
case of need. The ledge that ran up to it on the right offered no cover
for attackers. It was scarcely three feet wide, and above and below it
the wall was for practical purposes perpendicular. In anticipation of a
day when his gang might be rounded up by a posse, Pete Dinsmore had gone
over the path and flung down into the gulch every bit of quartz big
enough to shelter a man.
The contour of the rock face back of the big boulders was concave, so
that the defenders were protected from sharpshooters at the edge of the
precipice above.
Another way led up from the bed of the creek by means of a very rough
and broken climb terminating in the loose rubble about the point where
the ledge ran out. This Dinsmore had set Gurley to watch, but it was not
likely that the Indians would reach here for several hours a point
dangerous to the attacked.
Of what happened that day Ramona saw little. She loaded rifles and
pushed them out to Dinsmore from the safety of the cave. Once he had
shouted out to her or to Gurley news of a second successful shot.
"One more good Indian. Hi-yi-yi!" The last was a taunt to the Apaches
hidden below.
There came a time late in the afternoon when the serious attack of the
redskins developed. It came from the left, and it was soon plain that a
number of Apaches had found cover in the rough boulder bed halfway up
from the creek. Ramona took Dinsmore's place as guard over the pathway
while he moved across to help Gurley rout the sharpshooters slowly
edging forward.
One hour of sharp work did it. Man for man there never was any
comparison between the Indians and the early settlers as fighting men.
Dinsmore and Gurley, both good shots, better armed and better trained
than the Apaches, drove the bucks back from the boulder bed where they
were deployed. One certainly was killed, another probably. As quickly as
they could with safety disengage themselves the braves drew down into
the shelter of the brush below.
But Dinsmore knew that the temporary victory achieved could not affect
the end of this one-sided battle. The Apaches would wipe all three of
them out--unless by some miracle help reached them from outside. Ramona,
too, knew it. So did Gurley.
As the darkness fell the fingers of 'Mona crept often to the little
revolver by her side. Sometime soon--perhaps in three hours, perhaps in
twelve, perhaps in twenty-four--she must send a bullet into her brain.
She decided quite calmly that she would do it at the last possible
moment that would admit of certainty. She must not make any mistake,
must not wait till it was too late. It would be a horrible thing to do,
but--she must not fall alive into the hands of the Apaches.
Crouched behind his boulder in the darkness, Gurley too knew that the
party was facing extinction. He could not save the others by staying.
Was it possible to save himself by going? He knew that rough climb down
through the boulder beds to the canon below. The night was black as
Egypt. Surely it would be possible, if he kept well to the left, to
dodge any sentries the Indians might have set.
He moistened his dry lips with his tongue. Furtively he glanced back
toward the cave where the girl was hidden. She could not see him. Nor
could Dinsmore. They would know nothing about it till long after he had
gone. Their stupidity had brought the Apaches upon them. If they had
taken his advice the savages would have missed them by ten miles. Why
should he let their folly destroy him too? If he escaped he might meet
some freight outfit and send help to them.
The man edged out from his rock, crept noiselessly into the night. He
crawled along the steep rubble slide, wary and soft-footed as a
panther. It took him a long half-hour to reach the boulder bed. Rifle in
hand, he lowered himself from rock to rock, taking advantage of every
shadow....
An hour later Dinsmore called to 'Mona. "Asleep, girl?"
"No," she answered in a small voice.
"Slip out with these cartridges to Steve and find out if anythin's
doin'. Then you'd better try to sleep. 'Paches don't attack at night."
Ramona crept along the ledge back of the big boulders. Gurley had
gone--vanished completely. Her heart stood still. There was some vague
thought in her mind that the Indians had somehow disposed of him. She
called to Dinsmore in a little stifled shout that brought him on the
run.
"He's gone!" she gasped.
The eyes of Dinsmore blazed. He knew exactly how to account for the
absence of the man. "I might 'a' known it. The yellow coyote! Left us in
the lurch to save his own hide!"
"Perhaps he's gone for help," the girl suggested faintly.
"No chance. He's playin' a lone hand--tryin' for a get-away himself,"
her companion said bitterly. "You'll have to take his place here. If you
see anything move, no matter what it is, shoot at it."
"If I call you will you come?" she begged.
"On the jump," he promised. "Don't go to sleep. If they should come it
will be up through the boulder bed. I'm leavin' you here because you can
watch from cover where you can't possibly be seen. It's different on the
other side."
She knew that, but as soon as he had left her the heart of the girl
sank. She was alone, lost in a night of howling savages. The horrible
things they did to their captives--she recalled a story whispered to her
by a girl friend that it had been impossible to shake out of her mind.
In the middle of the night she had more than once found herself sitting
bolt upright in bed, wakened from terrible dreams of herself as a
prisoner of the Apaches.
'Mona prayed, and found some comfort in her prayers. They were the
frank, selfish petitions of a little child.
"God, don't let me die. I'm so young, and so frightened. Send Daddy to
save me ... or Jack Roberts."
She recited the twenty-third Psalm aloud in a low voice. The fourth
verse she went back to, repeating it several times.
"'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
me.'"
And the last verse:
"'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.'"
Somehow she felt less lonely afterward. God was on her side. He would
send her father or Jack Roberts.
Then, into her newborn calm, there came a far cry of agony that
shattered it instantly. Her taut nerves gave way like a broken
bow-string. Her light body began to shake. She leaned against the cold
rock wall in hysterical collapse.
The voice of Dinsmore boomed along the passageway. "It's a cougar, girl.
They've got a yell like the scream of lost souls. I've often heard it
here."
Ramona knew he was lying, but the sound of his cheerful voice was
something. She was not utterly alone.
Again that shriek lifted into the night and echoed up the canon. The
girl covered her ears with her hands and trembled violently. A shot rang
out from the other end of the passage.
"Saw one of 'em movin' down below," the outlaw called to her.
But Ramona did not hear him. She had fainted.