AT BAY
It was late in the afternoon when he awakened from a sleep which had
been sound despite the stings. Removing the plasters he made a tour of
the plateau, satisfying himself that there was really only one way up
and that the rustlers were not trying to get to him. Returning to the
camp, he filled a hollow in the rock floor with water, bathed, put on
his other change of clothes, and then made a supper of cold beans and
bacon. Filling another hollow, he pushed his soiled clothes in it to
soak over night.
When he passed a break in the rampart-like wall near the top of the
trail, which at that point shot up several feet above the top of the
butte, a bullet screamed past his head, so close that he felt the wind
of it. Peering cautiously across the canyon he saw a thin cloud of
smoke lazily rising over the top of a huge, black lava bowlder on the
crest of the other butte. A head was just disappearing and he jerked
his rifle to his shoulder and fired.
"Five hundred an' a little more," he muttered. "I got it now, you
wall-eyed thief!"
Another puff of smoke burst out from the lower edge of the lava
bowlder, the bullet striking the rampart below him. His reply was
instantaneous, and was directed at a light spot which ducked instantly
out of sight, just a little too quickly to be hit by the bullet, which
tossed a fine spray of dust into the air and put a leaden streak where
the face had been. He fired again, this time at the other side of the
bowlder, where he thought he saw another moving white spot, and he
thought right.
After a quick glance down the trail, Johnny took a position a hundred
yards to the left, trying to find a place where he could catch a
glimpse of the hostile marksman. But Fleming had a torn and bloody ear
and a great respect for the man on the southern Twin, and henceforth
became wedded to caution. Curiosity was all very well, but his was
thoroughly satisfied, and discretion meant a longer life of sinful
activities.
"I had my look, three of 'em," growled Fleming. "An' three looks are
enough for any man," he added quizzically, binding up his bloody ear
with a soiled and faded neckerchief, which should have given him
blood-poisoning, but did not.
"Now that we got him treed, there ain't no use goin' on th' rampage an'
gettin' all shot up tryin' to get him. All we got to do is wait, an'
get him when he has to come down. It'll be plumb easy when he makes his
break. A man like him is too cussed handy with his gun for anybody to
go an' get reckless with. If we keep one man near th' bottom of that
trail, he's our meat. I don't know how he ever got up that scratch on
th' wall; but I'll bet there ain't a man livin' that can go _down_ it."
Johnny grew tired of watching for Fleming, and wriggling back to where
he could safely get on his feet he arose and made the rounds again.
When he reached the place where he had floundered over the edge to
safety he critically examined the faint trail from cover, and the more
he saw of it the more he regarded his ascent as a miracle.
"Only a fool would 'a' tried it," he grinned. "It's somethin' a man can
do once in a hundred times; only he's got to make it th' very first
time, or th' other ninety-nine will shore be lost. I'll never forget
it, not never."
Watching a while, he wondered if it were guarded, and grinned at the
foolishness of the idea; but he slowly pushed his sombrero out around a
rock to find out. An angry _spang!_ and a wailing in the sky told him
the answer. The flat report in the valley became a mutter along the
distant hills.
"Good shootin'," he grunted. "Glad you was out of breath, or excited,
or somethin' this mornin'."
Back at the top of the other trail he found two large rocks lying close
together near the edge, and he crawled behind them and peered out
through the narrow opening for a closer look at the canyon.
It was a chaos, dotted with bowlders of granite, sandstone, and lava,
some of them as large as small houses, their tops on a level with the
tops of the nearest trees. It was cut by rock ridges, great backbones
of stone that defied Time; and dotted with heavily wooded draws which
extended up to the foot of the great pile of detritus embracing the
foot of the buttes. Down its lowest levels ran a zigzag streak of
bright, clean rock, the water-swept path of the torrents sent roaring
down by melting snows and an occasional cloud-burst. Several pools,
fed by a dark trickle of water from the springs back in the upper
reaches, could be seen. Of timber there was plenty, heavy growths
of pine extending from the edge of the creek bed to the edge of the
detritus, with here and there an opening made by the avalanches which
had cut into the greenery for short distances. At other places even the
stubborn pines could not find a grip, and a thinning out of the growth
let him see the rocky skeleton below; but these were so few that he
easily memorized their positions. Trouble would come a-winging to any
careless rustler who blundered out onto any of them.
The opposite butte took his attention and he marveled at it. Under its
lava cap and the great layer of the limestones was a greater layer of
clay and shale and the softer sandstones. These had been harassed and
battered by the winds and rains and frosts of ages and the resulting
erosion had chiseled out wonderful bits of natural sculpturing. At one
place he could see, and with no very great strain upon his imagination,
part of a massive building with its great buttresses, where a harder,
more enduring streak of rock had offered greater resistance to the
everlasting assaults.
Farther to the right was a wonderful collection of columns and
pinnacles, and some of the openings between them ran back until
shrouded in darkness; great caverns in which houses could be built.
As the sun sank lower the shadow effect was beautiful, and even
Johnny's practical mind was impressed by it. The color effect he had
seen before--the streaks of black, gray, red, green, maroon, and white.
Bits of crystal and quartz were set afire by the sun's slanting rays
and some of them almost dazzled him.
To the west the sky was a blaze of color and the lengthening shadows
made an ever-changing picture. Below him the dusk was beginning to
shroud the bottom of the canyon, creeping higher and higher as the
minutes passed. To see better, he wriggled closer to the edge, and a
venomous whine passed over his head to die out swiftly in the air.
"Huh!" he grunted. "Fine target I must 'a' been for that thief down
there, with such a sky behind me. I've got to remember things up here,
or I'll lose my rememberer. I'm on a skyline that _is_ a skyline. An' I
ain't goin' to answer every fool that cuts loose at me, neither. I got
plenty of cartridges, but I won't have if I start gettin' foolish with
'em. An' before dark I'm goin' to rustle me a blanket; it's gettin'
cooler by jumps."
He made another visit to the south side of the butte for a glance down
the trail of misery, and then dismissed it from his mind. In view of
his experiences with it in daylight, he knew that no human being could
climb it in the dark.
"It's as safe, day _an'_ night, as if Red or Hoppy was layin' right
here--an' that's plenty good enough for me," he smiled. "William,
Junior's, bobcat kitten won't never grow big enough to climb that
place--an' it's th' only thing on earth that he can't climb, blast him!"
Returning to his camp he had a drink and a smoke, and then, taking up
a blanket and a pan of cold beans, he went to the head of the trail,
there to keep a long and wearisome vigil.
Darkness had descended when he reached his chosen spot, and wrapping
the blanket around him he sat down cross-legged, laid his rifle near
him, and leaned back against a rock to watch the trail and wait for
daylight. Faint, long-drawn, quavering, came the howl of a wolf, and
from a point below him in the blackness of the canyon a cougar screamed
defiance. He was surprised by the clearness with which occasional
sounds came up to him, for he distinctly heard the crack of dead wood
where some careless foot trod, and he heard a voice ask who had the
second shift on the south side of the butte.
"Turn in," came the answer. "We ain't watchin' that side no more. You
relieve me at midnight, an' don't forget it!"
For some time he had been hearing strange, dragging sounds which seemed
to come from the foot of the trail; and had been fooled into believing
that an attack was under way. Then several low crashes gave him the
distance, and he again leaned back against the rock, slipping the Colt
into its holster.
A tiny point of light sprang up in the darkness, whisked behind a
bowlder as he reached for his rifle, and grew rapidly brighter. Then it
soared into the air and curved toward the foot of the trail, and almost
instantly became a great, leaping flame which soon lit up the trail,
the towering walls of the buttes, and the glistening bowlders in the
canyon.
He stared at it and then laughed. "They ain't satisfied with watchin'
th' trail an' listenin' with both ears, but they has to light it up!
There ain't no danger whatever of me tryin' to get down now; an' I'd
like to see anybody try to get up it while that fire's burnin'!
They're shore kind to me."
"You be careful an' keep it out of th' brush," warned a faint
voice. "If she catches, this canyon will be a little piece of h--l.
Everythln's so dry it rustles."
"Ain't you turned in yet?" demanded the guard. "You never mind about
th' fire. You get to sleep; an' you get awake again at twelve."
"Huh!" came the laughing retort. "We can _all_ go to sleep while
_that's_ blazin'. Go gnaw yore bone an' quit growlin'."
Johnny laughed loudly, derisively. "I may set it on fire myself!" he
jeered. "An' if I don't, th' rainy season is purty near due--an' when
it comes you'll need a boat. Fine lot of man-hunters you are. All you
can shoot is boots an' skunks!"
A flash split the darkness, and the canyon tossed the report from side
to side as though loath to let it die. When the reverberations softened
to a rolling mutter he jeered the marksman and called him impolite
names. The angry retort was quite as discourteous and pleased him
greatly.
An hour passed, and then Johnny arose and crept softly down the trail,
hugging the rock wall closely. When he reached a small pile of broken
branches, caught in a fissure, he gathered an armful and carried them
up on the butte. Firewood was too scarce for him to neglect any
opportunities. A second trip enabled him to find a few scattered pieces
and they were added to his store. Then he went to his horse, removed
the picket rope, and going to the edge of the cliff at a spot over the
trail he tied one end of the rope around a rock and lowered the rest of
it over the rim. Another trip down the trail was necessary to make the
free end fast to a dead fir that lay along the wall, and having tied it
securely he slipped back to the plateau, hurried to the rope and pulled
on it in vain. Try as he might he could raise only one end of the log.
"Cuss it!" he grunted; then he grinned and whistled a clear note. A few
minutes passed and soft hoof-beats came slowly nearer. Then a black
bulk loomed up beside him and nuzzled his neck. "I forgot th' saddle,"
he said. "You wait here, Dearly Beloved," and he slipped away, the
horse following him.
They returned together and Johnny made the line fast to the pommel of
the saddle, took hold of it himself to show his good will, and spoke to
the horse.
"Oh, you don't know nothin' about haulin', huh?" he grunted, dropping
the rope and taking the reins. "Come on, now--easy does it. Easy! Easy!
Keep it there--th' cussed thing's got stuck on th' edge." In a moment
he returned. "All right! _Over_ she comes."
The man at the foot of the trail hurled more wood on the fire and then
tried a few shots when the noise above caught his ear. Then as the
flames shot up he grunted a profane question and stared at the animated
tree trunk which climbed sheer cliffs in the dark.
"Well, I'm cussed!" he grumbled. "Firewood! An' me lettin' him get down
there to tie that rope!"
Johnny peered over the rim and noticed that the flashes came from one
place, and getting his rifle he kicked a few rocks over and fired
instantly at the answering flash. Two guns in the canyon awakened the
echoes and he stepped back to let the whining lead pass over his head.
"There I go!" he snorted. "Wastin' cartridges already! But I
wish--gosh! _I_ got it!"
Grinning with elation he felt his way along the butte until he was
directly over the fire, where he stopped and began to search for rocks
and stones, and he did not cease until he had quite a pile of them.
Approaching the rim he peered over cautiously and searched the canyon
within the radius of the firelight, but without avail. He noticed,
however, that there seemed to be a nest of rocks and bowlders on the
outer edge of the circle of illumination and he surmised that it was
there the guards were lying. He heaved a big stone and watched it
whiz through the lighted arc. It fell short and he tried again. The
second rock struck solidly and made quite a noise, and choice bits of
profane inquiry floated up to him. Several more rocks evoked a sudden
scrambling and more profanity, and a lurid bayonet of fire flashed
from a dark spot.
"Now he's took to heavin' rocks!" growled a peeved, angry voice. "D--d
if he ain't th' meanest cuss I ever saw!"
Johnny threw a few more missiles and a deep curse replied from the
pit. Close to the edge of the wall was a large rock, nicely balanced.
It was the size of a small trunk, and a grin crept across his face as
he walked over to it. Putting his shoulder, all his wiry strength, and
plenty of grunts into the task, he started it rocking more and more,
and, catching it at the right instant, he pushed it over and rolled it
to the edge, where it threatened to settle back and remain; but another
great effort rolled it slowly over the edge and it disappeared as if
by magic. Striking a sharp bulge in the great wall when about half way
down, it bounced out in an arc; and when it struck the bowlder pile it
was a real success, judging from the noise it made. The canyon roared
and seemed to shudder as the crash boomed out; and the huge missile,
shattering into hundreds of fragments, lavishly distributed itself
through the brush and among the bowlders like a volley of grape.
Deep curses roared from the canyon and several flashes of flame darted
out.
"Lay on yore stummicks, fightin' mosquitoes, an' heavin' wood on that
fire at long range, huh?" jeered Johnny, throwing another rock. "These
are better at night than cartridges, an' they won't run out. I'll give
you some real troubles. I only wish I had a bag of yellow-jackets to
drop!"
Another jet of flame stabbed upward, but from a new place, farther
back; and a voice full of wrath and pain described the man on the
butte, and with a fertile imagination.
"What's th' matter with _you_? An' what's all th' hellaballo?"
indignantly demanded another and more distant voice. "How can a man
sleep in such a blasted uproar?"
"Shut up!" roared Purdy with heat. "Who cares whether you sleep or not?
He cut my head an' near busted my arm with his d--d rocks! Mebby you
think they ain't makin' good time when they get down here! Only hope he
stumbles an' follers 'em!"
"He's a lucky fool," commented Fleming, serene in the security of his
new position. "Luckiest dog I ever saw."
"Lucky!" snorted Purdy. "_Lucky!_ Anybody else would 'a' been picked
clean by th' ki-yotes before now. For a cussed fool playin' a lone hand
he's doin' real well. But we got th' buzzard where we want him!"
"Lone hand nothin'," grunted Fleming. "Didn't he have that drunken Long
Pete helpin' him?"
Purdy growled in his throat and gently rubbed his numbed arm. "There's
another. It just missed th' fire. Say! _That's_ what he's aimin' at!"
"Mebby he is," snorted Fleming; "but if he is he's got a cussed bad
aim. Judgin' from where they landed, I bets he was aimin' 'em all at
me. I got four bits that says he wasn't aimin' at no fire when he thrun
them little ones. One of 'em come so close to my head that I could hear
th' white-winged angels a-singin'."
"'White-winged angels a-singin'!'" snorted Purdy. "H--l of a chance
_you_'ll ever have of hearin' white angels sing. Yore spiritual ears'll
hear steam a-sizzlin', an' th' moans of th' damned; an' yore spiritual
red nose will smell sulphur till th' stars drop out."
"I'm backin' Purdy," said the distant voice. "They don't let no skunk
perfume get past th' Golden Gates."
"They won't let any of you in hell," jeered a clear voice from above.
"You'll swing between th' two worlds like pendulums in eternity.
Cow-thieves are barred."
A profane duet was his answer, and he listened closely as Holbrook's
voice was heard. "Say!" he growled, killing mosquitoes with both
hands and sitting up behind his bowlder. "Can't you hold yore pow-wow
somewhere else? Want him to heave rocks all night? How can I sleep
with all that racket goin' on? Yo're near as bad as these singin'
blood-suckers; an' who was it that kicked me in th' ribs just now?"
"If you wouldn't sprawl out in a natural path an' take up th' earth you
wouldn't get kicked in th' ribs!" snapped Fleming.
"Yo're a fine pair of doodle-bugs," sneered Holbrook, sighing wearily
as he arose. He lowered his voice. "Here he is over this end of th'
trail an' givin' you a fine chance to sneak up an' bushwhack him; an'
all you do is dodge rocks, cuss yore fool luck, an' kick folks in th'
ribs. Don't you know an opportunity when you see one?"
"Is _this_ an opportunity?" mumbled Purdy sarcastically, rubbing his
arm and fighting mosquitoes.
"With that fire showing up everything for rods?" softly asked Fleming
with heavy irony. "Who's been puttin' loco weed in _yore_ grub?"
"'Tain't loco weed," growled Purdy. "It's redeye. He drinks it like it
was water."
"No such luck," retorted Holbrook; "not while yo're around. It ain't
no opportunity if yo're aimin' to have a pe-rade past th' fire," he
continued in a harsh whisper; "but it shore was a good one if you had
cut down through th' canyon a couple of rods below th' end of th'
trail, an' then climbed up to it an' stuck close to th' wall. You could
'a' been up there now, a-layin' for him when he went back on guard.
It's cussed near as simple as you are."
"You must 'a' read that in that joke book what come with th' last
bottle of liniment," derided Purdy. "Fine, healthy target a man would
make if he didn't get over th' top in time! Lovely job! You must think
he's a fool."
"Don't be too sarcastic with him, Purdy," chuckled Fleming. "He does
real well for a man that thinks with his feet."
"You fellers make me tired!" muttered Holbrook in sudden decision as
another rock flew into pieces on a bowlder and rattled through the
brush. "I'd just as soon get shot on a good gamble as die from these
whinin' leeches. I'm all bumps, an' every bump itches like blazes.
I never thought there was so many of 'em on earth. You watch me go
up there--an' cover me if you can. Jeer at him an' keep him up there
heavin' rocks as long as you can."
"Watch you?" grunted Purdy. "That's just what I'm aimin' to do. I'm
aimin' to watch _you_ do it. We don't have to take chances like that.
His grub will run out an' make him come down. Time is no object to us.
We can afford to wait."
"You can't do it, Frank," said Fleming, dogmatically, ducking low as
another rock smashed itself to pieces against a bowlder.
"Huh!" snorted Holbrook, picking up his rifle and departing.
His friends chose their positions judiciously and shouted insults at
the man on the butte; and after a few minutes they saw Holbrook, bent
double, dart swiftly across a little open space, disappear into the
brush and emerge into sight again, vague and shadowy, near the base of
the wall a dozen yards below the end of the trail. He crept slowly over
a patch of detritus which sloped up to the wall, and began his climb,
which was not as easy a task as he had believed.
The wall, eroded where rotting stone had crumbled away in layers,
was a series of curving bulges, each capped by and ending in an
out-thrust ledge. He forsook his rifle on the second ledge and went
slowly, doggedly upward, but despite all his care to make no noise, he
dislodged pebbles and chunks of rotten stone and shale which lay thick
upon the rocky shelves. When half way up he paused to search out hand
and foot holds and became suddenly enraged at the amount of time he
was consuming; and he realized, uneasily, that he had heard no more
crashing rocks. The knowledge sent caution to the winds and drove him
at top speed, and it also robbed him of some of the jaunty assurance
which had urged him to his task. Fear of the ridicule and the jeers
of his sarcastic friends now became a more compelling motive than the
hope of success; and he writhed and stretched, twisted, clawed, and
scrambled upward with an angry, savage determination which he would
have characterized as "bull-headed" in anyone else. Then another
smashing rock revived his hopes and made him strain with renewed
strength.
At last his fingers gripped the crumbling sandstone of the trail's edge
and by a fine display of strength and agility he swung himself over
it and rolled swiftly across the slanting ledge to the base of the
wall, where he arose to his feet and leaped up the precarious path.
The ascent was twelve hundred feet long and it swept upward at a grade
which defied anyone to dash along it for any distance. Walking rapidly
would have taxed to the utmost a man in the pink of condition; and his
pedal exercise for years had been mostly confined to walking to his
horse.
The footing was far from satisfactory and demanded close scrutiny in
daylight, while in the dark it was a desperate gamble except when
attempted at a snail's pace. Ridges, crevices, stones, pebbles, drifts
of shale and rotten stone, treacherous in their obedience to the law
of gravity when the pressure of a foot started them sliding toward the
edge of the abyss; places where the soft sandstone had split in great
masses and dropped into the canyon, taking parts of the trail with them
and leaving only broken, narrow ledges of the same rotten stone, all
these conspired to make him use up precious minutes.
Below him to his right lay a sheer drop of two hundred feet; above him
towered the massive wall; behind him and unable to help him, were
his friends, and the fire, which was not bright enough to let him see
the footing, but too bright for his safety in another way; before him
stretched the heart-breaking trail, steep, seemingly interminable,
leading to the top of the butte, where the silence was ominous, for
somewhere up there was an expert shot defending his life. He had heard
no more crashing rocks, and the insults of his friends had not been
answered; and to hear such an answer or the crash of a rock he would
have given his season's profits.
He paused for breath more frequently with each passing minute and his
feet were like weights of lead, the muscles in his legs aching and
nearly unresponsive. He was paying for the speed he had made in the
beginning.
The great wall curved slightly outward now and he hugged it closely
as he groped onward, and soon emerged from its shadow to become
silhouetted against the fire below. And then a spurt of flame split the
darkness above him and a shriek passed over his head and died out below
as the roar of the heavy rifle awoke crashing echoes in the canyon.
Below him lurid jets of fire split the darkness and singing lead
winged through the air with venomous whines, which arose to a high
pitch as they passed him and died out in the sky. He knew that his
friends were firing well away from the wall, but he cursed them for
the mistakes they might make. Another flash blazed above him, and the
sound of the lead and the roar of the gun told him that his enemy was
now using a Colt. Ordinarily this would have given him a certain amount
of satisfaction, for everyone knows that while a rifle is effective at
such a range, a hit with a revolver is largely a matter of luck; but as
he leaped back into a handy recess a second bullet from the Colt struck
the generous slack of his trousers and burned a welt on that portion of
his anatomy where sitting in a saddle would irritate the most. It was a
lucky shot, but Holbrook was too much of a pessimist at that moment to
derive any satisfaction from the knowledge.
"I'm in a h--l of a pickle!" he growled as the shadows of the recess
folded about him. "I can't go up, an' I can't go down--I can't even
_sit_ down. I got to wait till that fire dies out--an' suppose they
don't let it die? Five minutes more an' I would have won out."
"Hey, Frank! Are you all right?" asked a voice.
"That's Fleming, th' fool," growled Holbrook. "I suppose he wants me to
step out on th' edge of the platform an' speak a piece for him."
A laugh rang out at the head of the trail. "Answer th' gentleman," said
Johnny in a low voice, fully appreciating Holbrook's feelings. "Don't
it beat all how some folks allus pick th' wrong time in their yearnin'
for conversation? I've been there; more'n once. You promise to go down
an' give him a lickin' an' I won't pull a trigger on you while yo're on
th' trail!"
"Hey, Frank! _Oh_, Frank!" persisted Fleming.
"Tell him to shut up," chuckled Johnny. "Here, I'll do it for you:
Hello!" he shouted. "Hello, you loquacious fool! Frank says for you to
shut up!"
Fleming's retort was unkind.
"Frank says he ain't smelled no skunk since he left th' canyon!" jeered
Johnny. "Don't you get up-wind of me!"
Fleming's retort was even more unkind.
"Hey!" yelled Purdy, cheerfully "You ought to 'a' heard what Quigley
said when Art odored into th' house! Dan'l Boone was scared it would
get in his wounds an' poison him to death."
"Yo're a sociable ki-yote!" jeered Fleming.
Johnny laughed. "I'm that sociable I carries callin' cards, like you
read about in th' mail-order catalogues. They're snub-nosed an' covered
with grease, which I mostly rubs off because of th' sand stickin' to
it. I'm 'most as sociable as th' dogs that drove me out of my valley,
burned my cabin, stole my cows, an' put me out of th' game. I'm 'most
as sociable as th' three skunks that laid for me that night. I told
Quigley in Pop Hayes' saloon what I'd do if I was pestered; an' I've
been doin' it. An' I ain't through yet, neither. Here's one of my cards
now," he jeered, sending a .45 down the trail to let Holbrook know that
he was not forgotten.
"You stopped my play, an' stole my cows," he said. "So I'm goin' to
take all them that you got in yore sink. When I gets through _I'll_ be
th' owner of th' QE ranch, all by myself; an' there won't be none of
you left to bother me. Hoggin' a free country is a game two can play
at, an' you shore got a good pupil when you taught me th' game. I'm
aimin' to set up a record for th' cow-country. I never heard tell of a
man shootin' off a whole outfit an' takin' their ranch; but that's just
what _I'm_ goin' to do unless you fellers get out of th' country while
you can."
Jeering laughter and ridicule answered him; and then Purdy had an
inspiration and voiced it with unnecessary vigor and quite a little
pride.
"Hey, Frank!" he yelled. "If yo're all right, heave a rock over th'
edge!"
There was a moment's silence and then a faint crash sounded in the
canyon.
"There," called Johnny pleasantly. "Does that satisfy you, or shall I
heave another?"
Fluent swearing came from below, in which Holbrook fervently joined,
_sotto voce_, and he heaved another rock.
Johnny laughed loudly. "There's another in case you didn't hear th'
first. I'm tellin' you about it because I don't want to deceive you.
Mebby one of you fellers would like to sneak up here an' drag yore
friend down?"
Holbrook reviewed the situation and could not see that he gained
anything by keeping silent.
"_I_ heaved them rocks!" he shouted savagely. "I'm all right. Now you
put out that fire an' gimme a chance. I don't want to stay up here
forever!"
"All right, Frank," called a new voice, which Johnny recognized as
belonging to Quigley.
"Shore," jeered Johnny. "Run out an' kick it apart an' smother it with
sand," he invited, reaching for his rifle. "But you want to do a good
job. An' if he's still there at daylight you won't have to bother about
him no more. I mean business now. I gave three of you thieves yore
lives th' night you burned my cabin; but I'm shootin' on sight now."
"You got too cussed much to say!" snapped Holbrook angrily.
"An' I'll have more to say if yo're there at sunup," retorted Johnny.
"An' lemme tell you, fire or no fire, you ain't down in th' canyon yet!"
Holbrook laughed. "You'll be as savin' of yore cartridges as you are of
yore grub. How long do you reckon you can hold out?" he sneered.
"It only takes four bullets to clear a way for me," retorted Johnny.
New sounds came from the canyon. Rock after rock curved into the arc
of illumination and landed in the fire, knocking it apart and sending
blazing sticks flying toward the wall of the butte. Quigley warned his
men to be careful and not set the brush on fire. There was a sudden
puff of steam and the light dimmed quickly. Several other hatfuls of
water turned the blazing embers into a black, smoking mass, where only
an occasional red speck showed in the darkness.
The trail was blotted out and Johnny sent a .45 whining along it. A
flash from below replied to him and he listened for a sound which
would tell him that Holbrook had started on the return trip. But that
individual, boots in hand, made no noise as he slipped along the
wall. Coming to another recess, he sought its shelter, tied the boots
together with his neckerchief, slung them over his shoulder and started
down again.
Quigley ordered his companions not to shoot. "You might get Frank; an'
he's in danger enough as it is. Yore flash will give that coyote a fair
idea of where th' trail is."
"Did you hear what that ki-yote said about takin' our ranch?" asked
Purdy.
Quigley laughed. "Yes; an' I admire his gall. He's got three of us, if
he got Ackerman; but we wasn't awake to his game then." Another flash
came from the top of the butte, and he growled when he heard the spat
of the bullet. "He ain't lost th' trail yet, but he's puttin' 'em high."
"He'd be a handy man to have around," said Fleming. "I wonder if he'd
'a' throwed in with us, 'stead of rustlin' by hisself?"
"I'd 'a' found that out if Ackerman hadn't 'a' been so dead set ag'in
him," grunted Quigley, not refusing to take credit for an idea that was
not his own. "I wonder," he mused.
"Offer him a share," suggested Purdy. "If we change our minds later,
that's _our_ business. We're losin' a lot of time with him; too much."
There was a sudden rattle of shale and pebbles, low-voiced profanity
and a crash of breaking branches. "Cuss them rotten ledges!" said a
voice not far distant. "An' d--n these cactus an' locusts! I owe him
more than he can ever square up, blast his hide!"
"Thank th' Lord," muttered Quigley in sudden relief.
"But mebby he _is_ workin' for Logan," objected Fleming. "Hey, Frank!
Over here."
"If he is it's about time for th' CL to hunt him up," Purdy growled
anxiously. "We'd shore be in a fix if they caught us down here!"
"CL or no CL, we stays!" snapped Holbrook, rounding a bowlder and
swearing at every step. "We got him now; an' we ain't goin' to let him
go!"
"Shore!" endorsed Quigley. "They drove me off th' range; but I'll stay
in these hills if I dies for it. Once we get this feller out of th' way
an' get back to th' ranch we can put up an awful fight from th' houses,
if we're forced to. They're stocked good enough to last us six fellers
over four months. It's a show-down for me, come what might; but any man
can take his share of th' money an' get away, if he wants."
Growls answered him, and he laughed. "That's th' way! Well, Frank; now
what do you think of th' grand opportunity?"
"It was there; I started too late!" snapped Holbrook angrily. "If Art
an' Purdy had any sense, one of 'em would 'a' jumped for that trail
when th' first rock came down, instead of duckin' around these bowlders
like a pair of sage hens. I didn't wake up till th' show was 'most
over; an' I got within a hundred yards at that. Five minutes more an'
I'd 'a' been layin' behind a rock waitin' for him to come back. It
would 'a' been all over by now."
"Well, don't try it again," said Quigley. "He's got all th' best of it
up there. We'll give him a week for his grub to peter out before we
force things. An' there ain't no use of all of us stayin' out here.
This is th' only way he can come down. Two of us out here is plenty,
takin' turns watchin' th' trail. An' if you keep a fire burnin' you
both could almost sleep nights. He'd never tackle it. Purdy, you an'
Art clear out for th' ranch at daylight. Me an' Holbrook will stay here
tomorrow an' tomorrow night, when you fellers can relieve us. I'd feel
better, anyhow, if there was somebody besides Ben an' th' cook in them
houses. You can't tell what might happen. It'll be light in an hour, so
I'll go over an' start some breakfast."
"Say, Tom," said Fleming. "Make yore camp up on th' other Twin, an' get
out of this cussed hole with its heat an' its pests. Th' man off guard
could get a real sleep up there. But, of course, you'll have to do th'
cookin' down here, where there's water handy."
"See about that later," answered Quigley. "Anyhow, we can sleep up
there without shiftin' th' camp," and he disappeared in the darkness.
Fleming rolled a cigarette by sense of touch and thoughtlessly struck
a match. _Spang!_ said a bowlder at his side. _Ping-ing-ing-g-g!_ sang
the ricochet down the canyon.
"Put it out!" yelled Holbrook, diving for cover.
"You d--d fool!" sputtered Purdy from behind a pile of rocks.
"Beats all how careless a feller will get," laughed Fleming as he slid
behind a rock. "I plumb forgot!"