This was not real, he thought curiously. It was a charade that all of
them were acting out, and as soon as they were finished acting the
Wintersons would hitch their horses and go home. Jim Snedeker might have
waited in a house such as this one while Indians prepared to attack it,
but such things did not happen to Joe Tower. Then he reminded himself
forcibly that they were happening to Joe Tower. A cold shiver ran
through him.
"Hey, Pa!" Tad breathed. "Look at Mike!"
The dog was standing very still, ears alert and nose questing. He moved
a step, as though to verify some elusive message that was reaching him
faintly. His hackles rose and a low growl rumbled in his throat. He was
looking toward the rear of the house, and when a door was opened for him
he padded into a back bedroom. At the same time they heard the crack of
a rifle and a sodden "splat" as a bullet thumped into an outer log.
Joe's fear and nervousness departed and he knew only a terrible,
white-hot anger. This was his house. He had built it with his own hands
and now it was threatened. At all costs he must avert that peril. No
enemy could enter. Rifle ready, Joe peered through one of the rear
windows.
He could see nothing except the mowed swath, the tall grass beyond, and
the green trees on top of the hill. It was as though a real bullet had
been fired by a ghost. Then the tall grass rippled slightly. Winterson
leveled his rifle through another window, shot, and the grass stopped
rippling.
"What'd you shoot at?" Joe queried.
"I didn't see any Indian," Winterson assured him, "but you don't see the
critters. Still, that grass wasn't moving itself."
"Think you got him?"
"Nah," Winterson said sadly. "I don't think so. We'll--"
"Joe!"
There was cold fear in Emma's voice, and when Joe moved to the front of
the house he saw the women looking out. Across the creek and up on the
opposite slope, sixteen Indians stood in the meadow. There was something
insultingly contemptuous about them as they either leaned on their long
rifles or held them in their hands. They were dressed in buckskin save
for one who wore a black suit that probably had been plundered from some
settler. Of the rest, some wore fringed shirts and some were naked from
the waist up. They stood so openly because they were out of rifle range
and knew it.