SURROUNDED BY RED-SKINS.
The large band of Indians had checked their horses some five hundred
yards from the foot of the buttes as they saw the survivors of the
party in front galloping back to them, and realized that the whites
had gained shelter. Some of the more impetuous spirits had, however,
ridden on, and were some distance in advance when the rifles of the
defenders cracked out. Four of the Indians fell from their horses,
three others were wounded, and these, with their companions, wheeled
round and rejoined the main body, who now, at the order of their chief,
fell back, and were, a few minutes later, reinforced by the band that
had followed on the footsteps of the fugitives.
"Now, boys, we can go up to the top, but first let us see how we stand.
Has any gone down?"
"Yes, there are two missing," Long Tom said. "I saw two of the first
line go down as we charged them."
"John Spencer wur killed," Jim Gattling said. "He wur riding next to
me."
"Boston wur the other," Broncho Harry said. "I wur riding in a line
with him behind, and saw him go back ker-plumb. I knew he wur hit
through the head by the way he fell."
Four other men were, it was now found, wounded, and one of the women
had been hit in the shoulder with a rifle ball.
"The Red-skins ain't no account with their rifles on horseback," Long
Tom said. "Let them lie down and get their piece on a log and they
can shoot pretty straight, but it's just throwing away lead to try to
shoot with a rifle from a horse. I never knew more than two or three
whites who was anyway sartin with their pieces when their horses was
on the move. A six-shooter's worth ten rifles on horseback. A fellow
kin gallop and keep his arm straight, but when it comes to holding
out a long tube with both arms, and your pony going on the jump, it
stands to reason there ain't no keeping the thing straight. If those
Red-skins had hurried up and dismounted, and steadied their rifles on
their saddles, I reckon they might have wiped out half of us before
we reached them. Waal, Steve, you and the women, and best part of
the others, may as well get up to the top; but Broncho and me, and
two or three of the boys, will stop down here and look after the
horses. Lightning, you may as well stop down here with a kipple of
other fellows with rifles, so as just to give them a hint to keep at a
distance, otherwise they will be sending their lead up while the others
are getting to the top."
But the Indians showed no signs of any intention of harassing them for
the present. They knew that the rifles in the hands of the defenders
carried farther and straighter than their own. They had suffered heavy
losses already, and were in no way disposed to do anything rash. They
knew that there was no occasion for haste, and no fear of the fugitives
attempting to make their escape. After some consultation they drew
further off into the plain, and in a short time smoke could be seen
ascending at several points.
"There ain't no occasion to wait down here no longer," Long Tom said.
"The Injuns know well enough that they can't take this place, not at
least without losing a hundred men; and it ain't Red-skin fashion to
throw away lives, special when they know they have only got to wait to
do the job without any fighting at all. So let us go up."
The path was comparatively easy for three-quarters of the way to the
summit of the buttes. It seemed that on this side either the rock had
crumbled away in past ages so as to make a gradual slope, or else water
or wind had thrown up a bank against it. The height of the butte above
the broad valley would be about three hundred feet, and the slope was
covered with trees and undergrowth, until it terminated abruptly at the
face of a wall of rock fifty feet from the summit. At one point only
this wall was broken by a sort of gap or cleft some three feet wide at
the bottom, and slanting as steeply as the roof of a house. The bottom
was worn almost smooth by the rains of centuries and by the feet of
cattle, and Hugh had to sling his gun behind him and use both hands
to grasp the irregularities of the rock on either side to get up. On
reaching the top he found that the summit was almost flat, a couple of
hundred yards in length, and as many feet in width. It was covered with
grass, and several trees, some of considerable size, were scattered
about over the surface.
"Well, Bill," he said as Royce came up to him, "have you found any
water?"
"Yes, there is a rock pool in the centre there by that big tree. There
is water enough for us and the horses for maybe a week. Enough for us
without the horses for a month or more."
"What are you going to do? Bring the horses up here?"
"We haven't settled that yet. I reckon we shall bring the best of them
up anyhow."
"I suppose there is no possible place the Indians can get up except by
that gap?"
"Nary one, everywhere else the rock goes straight down to the plain.
There ain't no way, except by flying, to get up here if you don't come
by this gap. Anyhow we shall bring the horses a good long way up the
slope; it is a long line along the bottom there, and the Red-skins
might crawl up in the night, and we should pretty nigh all have to keep
guard. Steve says that though where we came up the ground wur smooth
enough, it ain't so over the rest of the slope, but that, what with the
boulders and the undergrowth and thorns, it is pretty nigh impossible
to get up through the trees anywhere else. He expects that it's been
water washing down the earth and sand through that gap that has filled
up between the boulders, and made it smooth going where we came up. So
we will bring up the horses, and get the best of them up here, and tie
the others just below the gap. We can take them down water in our hats
if we decide to keep them, or get them up to-morrow if we like. Anyhow
all we shall want will be to keep four men at watch down below them."
"I should have thought it best to bring them all up at once, Bill; what
is the use of leaving them below?"
"Waal, Hugh, there ain't grass enough to bring them all up here, and
every morning we can take them down and let them graze below. There air
no fear of the Injuns coming close to drive them off, and if they tried
it, the critturs would come up the path again of their own accord,
except those we took from the Indians. They can get a good lot of sweet
grass under the trees down thar, and as long as they get that they can
do pretty well without water. Thar, do you see thar are two or three
more lots of Indians coming down to join the others. They'll have three
hundred of them down thar before long."
"It don't make much difference how many of them there are, if they dare
not attack us," Hugh said.
"That's where you are wrong, Hugh," Broncho Harry, who had now joined
them, said. "The more thar are of them the closer watch they can keep
to see that none of us gets away, and the more thar are of them the
bigger the party must be that comes to rescue us. You may be sure that
they have scouts for miles and miles off, and if they get news that
there is a party coming up, they will just leave a guard to keep us
here, and go down and fall on them."
"I didn't think of that, Harry. Yes, it will need a very strong party
to bring us off. But perhaps they will get tired and go."
"Don't you bet on that, Hugh. Ef thar air one thing an Injun never gets
tired of, it's waiting. Time ain't nothing to them. Them chaps can send
out parties to hunt just as if they wur in their own villages. The boys
will bring them down corn, and gather their firewood for them, and as
long as we are up here, they will stop down thar, if it was six months.
They know how many of us thar are here. Lots of them must have been
up here at one time or another, and knowing the time of year, and how
much rain has fallen lately, there ain't no doubt they can calkilate
pretty well how much water there is in this pool. They will know that
we shall keep our horses as long as we can, and they will reckon that
three weeks at the outside will see the end of the water. As for food,
of course, we are all right. We have got the horses to eat, and horse
is pretty nigh as good as cow-beef. I would just as soon have one as
the other. A young broncho's a sight tenderer than an old cow any day."
Hugh now took a turn round the edge of the butte. It was, as Royce
had said, a mass of rock rising perpendicularly from the plain. It was
separated from the other butte by a gap a hundred and fifty feet wide.
It was clear that they had once formed one mass, for between them was
a rocky shoulder connecting them. This was very steep on both sides,
narrowing almost to a razor edge at the top, where it joined the butte
on which they were standing. This edge was fifty feet below the top,
but it rose as it retreated from it, and on the opposite side reached
up to a level with the plateau.
A fire had already been lighted on the top of the butte, and over this
the women were cooking some of the meat they had brought from the
Indian village, and in a short time the whole party except two, who
were placed on sentry to watch the movements of the Indians, gathered
round it.
"Waal, boys," Steve said when the meal was finished, "I reckon that
thar ain't no time to lose, and that I had best start to-night. There
ain't no denying that we air in a pretty tight fix here, and it won't
be easy to get a force as can fight their way through that crowd.
I reckon I shall not be able to gather over fifty cow-boys on the
Canadian, and so I'll have to ride to the nearest fort and get the
troops to help. That air about two hundred miles from the Canadian.
It ull take me three days to get there after I leave the ranches. It
ull take four at the very least before the troops will get down there.
You can't reckon less than a week. I shall be two days getting down to
the ranches, as there won't be any travelling by day. So you see if I
start to-night, you can't reckon on seeing us back afore ten days at
the earliest."
"That will be about it, Steve. I don't see as you can do without the
troops noway. Waal, we can hold out a fortnight easy. We must put the
horses on mighty short allowance of water, so as to make it last a
fortnight. If we find it running out quicker'n we expect, we must kill
off half the animals. It don't matter about them a bit, ef you come up
strong enough to thrash the Red-skins without our help. Yes, I think
you had better go to-night. You are as likely to get out to-night as
any night, but you'll have to look mighty sharp, Steve, for you may bet
your life them Injuns will be as thick as bees round the butte."
"How do you mean to go, Steve?" Hugh asked.
"Tie the ropes together, Lightning, and get lowered down over the edge."
"I have been looking at the ridge that runs from this butte to the
other," Hugh said, "and it struck me that if you were lowered down on
to it you might get along on to the other butte. Of course two others
would be lowered with you, and then you could be let down from the
farthest side of the other butte. You said nobody had ever been on it,
and anyhow the Indians are not likely to be as thick over there as they
would be round this one."
"Thunder! You are right again, Lightning. I will go and have a look at
it at once. It will soon be getting dark; Broncho, do you and Long Tom
go along with me. We will lie down afore we get to the edge. You may
be sure that there are plenty of sharp eyes watching all round, and if
they was to see us standing there, and looking at that ledge of rock,
they might guess what we had in our minds. While we are away, the rest
of you might go down and get up the ponies."
It took some time to lead all the horses up the slope. Prince and four
others were brought up to the plateau, but it was necessary to tie
strips of blanket under their feet to enable them to get sufficient
footing to climb up through the gap.
"I shouldn't have thought that cattle could have come where horses
can't," Hugh said.
"Cattle can climb pretty nigh anywhere," the cow-boy he addressed
replied. "I have seen cattle climb places where you would have thought
that nothing but a goat could get to. You see their hoofs are softer
than horses, and get a better hold on rocks. But horses could get up
here easy enough if they weren't shod. They don't have a fair show with
shoes on."
By the time the horses had been brought up, night had fallen. Four men
were told off as a guard; two of them took up their post half-way down
the slope; two went down to its foot. No attack was anticipated, for
the Indians would be sure that a sharp watch would be kept, and there
would be no chance whatever of their making their way up to the summit
unobserved. Hugh was not with the first party on watch, and joined the
crowd round the fire.
"What time are you going to start, Steve?"
"As soon as it gets quite dark. Thar ain't no good in waiting. They
air on watch now, and they will be on watch all night, so thar is no
difference that way, and the sooner I goes, the farther I will git
afore morning. It is settled that if I am caught to-night, Jim Gattling
will try next; ef he goes down too, Broncho Harry will try. After that
you can settle among yourselves."
"I will volunteer to be next," Hugh said. "Another couple of days and
Prince will be ready to do anything. If I was to try I should start
on his back and take my chance. The Indians cannot have many horses
as fast as he is, and if I can get through safely, they may ride as
hard as they like. There won't be many who can catch me anyhow, and
if they came up one at a time, I have my revolver and can hold my own.
I shouldn't like to try to-night, for many of their horses are fresh,
and Prince wants at least twenty-four hours before he is fit for work
again; but if you like to give up your attempt to-night, Steve, I will
try to-morrow night."
"No, no, lad, we will do as we have planned. You might do it, and you
might not. More likely you would not, for like enough you would run
agin a dozen of them going out, and would get a lasso dropped over your
shoulders afore you saw or heard them. Besides, you are young, lad. You
have got your life afore you. I am getting on, and Rosie will have Jim
to look after her, so it don't make much matter along of me."
An hour later it was perfectly dark. Steve had left his hat lying on
the edge of the rock exactly above the ridge, when he had visited it
with Harry and Long Tom. Several of the ropes were knotted together;
while this was being done, Steve withdrew with his daughter and Jim
Gattling from the fire, and was absent five or six minutes. He came
back by himself.
"I am ready," he said. "Good-bye to you all! I hope as I'll see you all
agin afore long." He shook hands with them all round, and then, taking
up his rifle, walked away without looking round, followed by Broncho
Harry and Long Tom, the latter saying to Hugh and two others, "You come
too. We shall want you to lower the last of us down, and to hoist us up
again."
The hat was soon found. All three men took off their boots. Broncho
Harry tied those of Steve together by a short piece of rope and slung
them over his shoulder, and he and Tom left their revolvers and belts
behind them.
"Now we are ready," Harry said; "mind, Steve, as you go down you keep
your face to the rock, so that that gun of yours sha'n't strike it;
you can't be too keerful, you know." A loop was placed round Steve's
shoulder under the arm. "You lie down, Hugh, with your face over the
edge, then Steve can tell you if we are one side or other of the ledge.
It looked plumb down from here, but it mayn't be."
Harry had, rather to Hugh's surprise, taken up his blanket as he left
the fire, but he now saw the object; it was partly folded and laid over
the edge so as to prevent any chance of the rope touching a rock and
being cut by it.
"Now, Tom and I will hold it out a bit beyond the face," Harry said;
"and you two do the lowering away. Now, Steve."
Steve knelt down at the edge and lowered himself until the strain came
on the rope. This Broncho and Tom held out as far as they could, and
the other two steadily lowered it. It was so dark that Hugh could not
see the ridge and presently lost sight of Steve. Soon, however, he
heard his voice, "About a foot more to the right." A few seconds later
the strain on the rope ceased.
"Are you all right, Steve?" Hugh asked.
"Yes, I am astride of it; it is wider than I thought it was. Now I will
move on; you can let Broncho down as soon as you like."
The other two men were lowered, and then there was a long silence. It
was no easy matter, Hugh knew, to crawl along the ridge, for it was by
no means even. The great danger was that there might be loose pieces
which would be dislodged and go clattering down below. When, however,
ten minutes had passed without any sound being heard, the watchers felt
sure that the three men must have gained the opposite summit. There was
nothing now to do but to sit down and wait. At the end of an hour and
a half, Hugh, who was again leaning over listening intently, heard a
voice below him, "Lower down that other rope, Hugh, we are both here."
The short rope was lowered, for the long one had been taken by them to
lower Steve from the other butte, and in a short time Broncho and Long
Tom stood beside them.
"I think the old man has got safe off," Broncho Harry said. "We have
stood over there listening all this time and ain't heard a sound. There
are plenty of the varmint about. You hear that barking of prairie-dogs
and hooting of owls? That's them letting each other know where they
are; they are thick everywhere, I guess, round the foot of this butte,
but we didn't hear them on the other side, and I reckon there ain't
many of them there anyhow. Steve must have got beyond them by this
time. That wur a first-rate idea of yours, Hugh; he never would have
got through if we had lowered him off here; but it wasn't no joke
getting along that ridge in the dark, I can tell you. We air all
accustomed to balance ourselves in the saddle, and so made a shift to
get across; but in some places the rock wur pretty nigh as sharp as a
knife."
"Do you think that there is any chance of a night attack, Broncho?"
"One never can answer for the varmint, but I don't reckon as they are
like to try it; they know they couldn't get up to the top, and all they
could hope for would be to kill some of the horses and cut off the men
on watch. It wouldn't be worth risking many lives to do that; besides,
it ain't a nice place to climb in the dark. They can crawl along out on
the plain without making more noise than a snake would do, but that is
a different thing to climbing up among bush and rock in the dark. They
couldn't reckon on doing it without being heard. No, Hugh, it may be
that one or two of the young bucks wanting to distinguish themselves
and thirsting for scalps, may crawl up and see if they can catch any
one napping down below there, but I reckon that is all, and that ain't
likely to be tried to-night. They are all out there trying to make
sure that no one gets away. That is their first consarn; besides, like
enough the chiefs will try in the morning to get us to surrender,
and it wouldn't do for any young brave to make a venture on his own
account, until it is sartin that they ain't going to get us without
fighting; still, I wouldn't say that when it comes to your turn to be
on guard, Lightning, it would be altogether safe for you to put your
rifle down and take an hour's sleep."
"Well, I am not likely to try that experiment anyhow, Broncho."
"No; I didn't guess as you was. I only said as it wouldn't be safe. I
don't think Steve put enough men on guard. I am going to talk to the
others about it. I reckon we ought to divide into two guards, say ten
on each watch: four down below, four up with the horses, two up here at
the top of the path. We sha'n't have much to do all day, and can sleep
as much as we like. Steve is an old Injun fighter, and he knows better
than we do what the chances air, still there ain't no good taking
risks."
"I quite agree with you, Broncho. Now that Steve has got safe away we
know we shall get help before very long; and it would be foolish to
run any risk merely from want of care. I would go even farther and let
fifteen men be on watch at night, and let five sleep and keep look-out
during the day."
"That would be no better, lad, that would be worse, for it is difficult
to keep awake the whole night, especially if night after night passes
without an alarm."
By this time they had reached the others, and there was much rejoicing
when it was heard that Steve Rutherford had got safe away.
"Do you feel sure, Harry, that they might not have caught him and
killed him without any noise?" Rosie asked anxiously.
"Sartin. Steve's last words was: 'I shall keep my six-shooter in my
hand, and if they riddle me with arrows, Broncho, I will fire a shot
or two before I drop, don't you fear about that.' And he would do it.
Besides, it ain't in Injun nature to kill an enemy without setting up
a yell over it. A Red-skin's like a hen laying an egg; he has got to
boast of it loud enough for all the world to hear. No; you needn't be
a bit afeard, gal. Your father has got off safe, and by this time I
reckon he is ten miles away."
Harry then made the proposal that half the men should be always on
guard, to which they at once agreed, and six of them, taking up their
arms, left the fire without further words, and started to take up their
post on the slope.
"Now, Rosie, you shall give us a pan of tea and a bit of meat, and then
the sooner we are all asleep the better. We shall want to use our eyes
when it is our turn on watch."
At twelve o'clock they were on their feet again, and went down the
hill. "Now, Harry," said Long Tom, "Lightning and you and me will go
along to the bottom; three others keep about fifty yards behind us, two
up below the horses, and two on the top here."
As they took their places, and the men they relieved returned to the
summit, Long Tom said: "Listen to the calls, Lightning; the Red-skins
have heard us moving and are warning each other to look sharp. I reckon
they are as thick as peas all round here, for they know that if one
of us tries to make a bolt on horseback it is here he must start; but
they can hardly suppose that we are such fools as that comes to. Now
you move away five or six yards to the right and post yourself behind a
rock. You have got to keep your eyes in front of you to see if you can
see anything moving in the grass; and you have got to listen for any
sound over there to the right, in case any of the Red-skins should try
to crawl up through the bushes to circumvent us. I'll go to the left,
and Broncho kin take the middle of the path."
Hugh took up his post and maintained a vigilant watch; he was much
more afraid of an attempt on the part of the Indians to crawl up
on the right than of an attack in front, and listened intently for
the slightest sound of moving leaves on that side, for he knew that
the Indians would not be likely to break the smallest twig in their
progress. In front of him he could discern the expanse of the plain
stretching out; there were a few low bushes here and there, and at
times, to his straining eyes, it seemed that some of the dark masses
moved, but he knew that this might be only fancy. Hour after hour
passed. Presently Harry stole up to his side. "Day will be breaking in
an hour, Hugh, keep a sharp look-out now; they will try it, if they try
it at all, just as the sky begins to lighten."
All, however, remained quiet, and Hugh felt in no slight degree
relieved as the light stole gradually up the eastern sky, and he felt
that Harry's anticipations were incorrect, and that no attack would be
made. As soon as the sun rose the sentries were relieved, and the party
on watch retired to the crest, for from there a view over the whole
of the plain was obtainable, and it was impossible for the Indians to
crawl up towards the buttes without being seen. Two hours later a party
were seen approaching from the main Indian camp; they stopped five
hundred yards away; then two Indians advanced and held up their arms to
show they had left their rifles behind them.
"I thought they would be wanting to have a talk this morning," Broncho
Harry said. "I suppose two of us had better go down to meet them."
"You and Jim Gattling had better go, Broncho."
"No," Jim said; "Rason had better go with you, Broncho: he speaks a
little of their language, and I don't; it is not likely either of the
chiefs speak English."
"All right!" Broncho said; "it is as well to understand what they
say, though we know well enough that nothing will come of it. Put your
six-shooter in your pocket, Rason, they will have their tomahawks and
knives hidden about them somewhere; half a dozen of the rest had better
come down the slope. It ain't likely they will make a rush, but when
they find we won't agree to their terms they may turn nasty."
Hugh watched the meeting from the top of the butte. It lasted about ten
minutes, and then the envoys separated and returned to their respective
parties. The result was clear enough, for when the Indian chiefs
reached their followers they raised a defiant war-cry, which was taken
up all over the plain.
"Just as I expected," Harry said. "The Red-skins always like to have a
talk before they begin to fight, even when they know well enough that
nothing can come of it."
"What were their proposals?"
"They said that they knew we could hold out for a time, but that the
water would soon be finished, and we must give in then. We had stolen
the white women out of their camp, and had killed their young men; but
if we would give up the women and surrender our arms and ammunition,
they would let us depart free."
"What did you say, Broncho in return?"
"I said that we was very comfortable up here, and that if we had
taken the women, they had stolen them away from us. As to our arms, we
thought they was more useful in our hands than they would be in theirs;
but that if they would go back to their villages we would promise to do
them no farther harm until they troubled us again."
"Who were the chiefs, Harry?"
"One was the Eagle; he is a big chief. I have often heard of him. The
other was the Owl. I fancy the Eagle is the fighting chief, and the Owl
the counsellor. He is a crafty-looking beggar. The Eagle is a fine tall
Red-skin, a sort of chap I shouldn't care about having a hand-to-hand
fight with, with knives and tomahawks. He told us it wur no use our
hoping for assistance, for that none could come to us, and unless we
could fly we could not get through his young men; and that even if we
could, our scalps would be hanging in their lodges long before we could
get down to the ranches. I said he might have our scalps if he could
take them; but that if he did it would be off dead bodies, for as long
as one of us had strength to draw trigger he would not get up on to
the butte. That was all. He knew well enough what the answer would be.
He wanted to see, I fancy, how we took it, and whether we were in good
heart. It wur just a game of bluff, and neither of us wur going to show
our hands."
That night Broncho Harry's party went first on watch, and were relieved
at twelve o'clock. The Indians had remained quiet all the day, and
Harry said to Hugh as they returned up the hill after being relieved,
"I shouldn't be surprised if they try and attack before morning. In the
first place, they have been wonderful quiet all day; and in the next
place, I reckon that when the chief said he acknowledged that we could
hold the place, he just meant to give us the idee that he didn't mean
to attack, and wur only going to starve us out. In course they will do
that afterwards, but I think they will try one rush first. I tell you
what, Hugh, we will set to work now and get the rest of the horses to
the top. They can't pick up much where they are now, and they may as
well be out of the way if there is a fight."
The ten men soon got the horses up on to the plateau and then lay
down to sleep. The morning was just breaking when the crack of a rifle
was heard, and it was followed instantly by a score of others and an
outburst of fierce yelling; every man sprang to his feet and ran to
the top of the path. "Hugh, do you and two others take your place on
the edge of the rock on the right of the gap. Tom, you and Stumpy and
Rason, take your places on the left and kiver us as we fall back, if we
have to, as is like enough. Come on with me the rest of you."
Standing on the edge of the cliff, Hugh saw the flashes bursting out
rapidly among the rocks and trees at the foot of the slope, and soon
perceived that they were mounting upwards. A crowd of Indians must have
thrown themselves suddenly forward and established themselves in cover,
and they were now fighting their way up. The defenders had fallen back,
for the answering flashes were half-way up the slope. The rattle of
musketry was incessant, but far above it rose the yells of the Indians.
The whites fought silently.
It was still too dark to make out the figures, and Hugh and his
companions remained inactive.
"Our men are falling back, Bill," he said presently to Royce, who was
standing a few yards away on the other side of the gap.
"They are sure to do that," Royce replied. "I guess there are two
hundred Injuns down there, and though it is difficult for them to make
their way through the bushes, they will do it. You will see our fellows
will soon be up here."
Five minutes later, indeed, three or four figures were seen coming up
the path. "Who are you?" Hugh shouted.
"It is all right," one of them called out. "There air too many for us,
and Broncho has ordered us to fall back, and help you cover the rest."
Gradually the flashes of the defenders' rifles ceased to spurt out from
among the rocks, and died away altogether. Then at full speed the men
dashed up the pathway, followed closely by a number of leaping figures.
Then the rifles of those along the edge of the rock cracked out. There
was a chorus of cries and yells, and the pursuers bounded in among the
rocks and bushes again, and their rifles flashed out angrily. Rason
fell backwards, shot through the head, and a cry on the other side of
the gap showed that at least one was hit there.
"Lie down," Hugh shouted, "and fire over the edge."
In a minute the whole party were gathered on the crest. The daylight
was now broadening rapidly; but not one of the assailants could be
seen, though the puffs of smoke from behind rock and bush showed how
thickly they were gathered.
"Will they try a rush, do you think?" Hugh asked Broncho, who had taken
his post beside him.
"I don't think so," Harry said. "I expect they didn't reckon on finding
so many men on guard on the slope, and thought they might carry it
with a rush and get here afore we was ready for them, and before it wur
light enough for us to shoot straight. They can't gather thick enough
among the rocks down thar to give them a chance of making a big rush."
Apparently this was also the opinion of the Indians, who soon learned
that it was dangerous to show their position by firing, for every shot
was answered instantly, and several were killed as they raised their
heads to fire from behind the rocks. The firing, therefore, gradually
ceased.
"Now we are just as we was before," Harry said. "It wur sartin we
couldn't hold the slope if they made an attack. The only thing is, they
are nearer for a rush in the dark than they was afore. There ain't no
fear of their trying it as long as it is light. Six will be enough to
keep guard at present. We will talk over what is best to be done."
Six men were picked out as a guard, the rest assembled in council. "We
have got to block up that gap somehow," Harry said. "If they make a
rush in the dark we may kill a lot of them; but the chances are, they
will get up. It seems to me that we had best kill half the horses and
pile them up down near the mouth. That will make a breast-work, and
will stop their bullets."
There was a general chorus of assent. Then Hugh said, "That seems
a very good idea, Harry, but I should think that it would be better
if we were to make that breast-work half-way up the gap, and to cut
off some big arms of these trees and pile them in front of it. If
we were to pretty well fill up the gap with boughs it would be very
difficult to get through, and a couple of us behind the breast-work
with six-shooters would prevent them from clearing it away, especially
as the others could fire down from above on them."
"That's it," Broncho Harry said. "That will make us as safe as if there
wur no gap at all. Bully for you again, young un! Let us set to work
about it at once."
There was not a hatchet among them, and it took them the whole day
to cut off five or six stout boughs of trees with their bowie-knives.
However, it was done at last. The boughs were dragged along until near
the mouth of the gap and then dropped into it, the butt-ends inwards,
Broncho Harry and two or three of the others going down into the gap
and arranging them so that a dense screen was formed outwards with the
boughs and leaves. One or two shots came up from the bottom of the
slope, but these were harmless, and the guard took care that no one
was able to fire from a direct line with the gap from anywhere near
the summit. At last the boughs were all in position, and a dense hedge
filled the gap twelve feet high.
"We can spare the horses," Harry said. "They can't get through that
hedge with us above them. They will never even try it. They see as we
are up to something by their firing, but I don't suppose they can make
out what it is. Like enough one of them will crawl up after it gets
dark to see, and when he reports what we have done they will know that
the game is up as far as taking the place by storm is concarned."
From this time forward no attempt was made to renew the attack.
The Indians still held the slope, for shots were occasionally fired
whenever one of the defenders came near enough to the edge to allow his
head to be seen, otherwise all was quiet. As soon as the meat brought
up was finished, one of the Indian horses was killed, and Hugh found
that its flesh was by no means bad eating. The water was carefully
husbanded, horses as well as men being placed on the smallest possible
allowance. The horses too were picketed so as to prevent them from
grazing at will, and the grass was cut and supplied to them in small
bundles, mixed with leaves from the trees. With good management it
was agreed that they would be able to hold out for a fortnight without
difficulty.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]