Friar Tuck Part 49

hosses, so I knew they had rode most of their trip, and would be in a position to circle around all they wanted to.

I soon caught up with the others, and Tank was puffin' purty freely.

All the rest were runnin' easy, and we came out o' the mouth o' the ravine without seein' a single soul. Now, we hardly knew what to do.

It was about the same distance from the mouth o' the ravine to the first curve in it, as it was to the woman's cabin; so I told Spider to stay at the corner o' the cabin, and watch that curve.

Then we went around and found the door locked. We called twice to the woman, but the' was no reply; so Olaf picked up a big stone and knocked off the lock. We made a quick examination; but the' was no one there. I posted Horace and Spider in this cabin to watch the mouth o'

the ravine through the window facin' it, and to shoot into 'em, should they foller us close.

We next went to the big house, where we had more trouble as everything was fastened with bars on the inside, except the front door which had an immense padlock on the outside. We finally broke it off, and out dashed three o' their confounded dogs. We killed 'em, and went inside; but the' was no one else there. Next we went to the workshop, and after breakin' off the padlock, we found the Friar and Promotheus gagged and tied. The Friar was sad, and Promotheus was mad. We sent 'em up to the cook-shack to get on speakin' terms with food again, and rummaged the rest o' the buildin's; but could find neither the woman nor the c.h.i.n.k, and by the time we were through, it was gettin' along towards dark.

I set Tank to cookin' a meal while the rest of us carried logs and piled 'em in the mouth o' the ravine. It would be moonlight up to ten o'clock, and after that I intended to have a fire to see by. We also set up some logs at each o' the two fords. After supper we divided into two equal groups o' four each, to stand guard, each man to watch two hours, one at the window of the new cabin, the other from the porch of the old one, where a view across both fords could be had.

The Friar was purty downcast at our not bein' able to find the woman, and at our still bein' in a state o' war; but he didn't kick none. He promised not to go over and surrender himself any more, and said he would stand guard careful, and warn us the first thing 'at happened.

We decided 'at they would probably attack us that night, and we finally chose the old shack, as it had water piped into it from a spring a hundred yards above. I figured 'at they'd be most apt to come down the ravine, so I picked out the Friar, Olaf, and Tank to help me watch it, and the others to take turns watchin' the fords.

About half past nine, we lit the fires and turned in, with Oscar on the porch, and Olaf at the window of the new cabin. I thought they wouldn't come before two o'clock, and had it arranged so 'at the last ford watches would be held by Spider and Promotheus.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

THE NIGHT-ATTACK

I wasn't sleepy, and lyin' stretched out is the worst cure for sleeplessness 'at ever I tried; so after twistin' about for a while, I got up and took a look around. Oscar hadn't seen a thing, which I took to be a mighty encouragin' sign. Mostly, when you set a boy on guard he rouses ya out to meet the enemy every fifteen minutes, and then goes to sleep just before the enemy actually does arrive; but Olaf had trained Oscar to do what he was told, as he was told-when he was told-and then not to talk about it for a couple o' years afterward.

Oscar was reliable to a degree; but for conversational purposes, I'd sooner have been shipwrecked with a brindle bull pup.

I didn't have any doubts of Olaf; but I dropped in to see what sort of a view he had, now that it had got dark. The fire was burnin' high, and the ravine was as bright as day. Enough o' the fire would last until mornin' to give a good view, so I strolled down around the bunk-shack and stables. I saw a form movin' in the shadow o' the cottonwoods, and stalked it careful, finally gettin' close enough to make out the Friar.

"Can't ya sleep, Friar?" sez I.

"No, no, I can't sleep," sez he with a sigh. "Where do you think she is, Happy?"

"They probably took her with 'em; and left the c.h.i.n.k to guard her, back in the hills," sez I. "No matter what happens, they're not liable to harm her."

"It's sore hard to be patient," sez the Friar. "I am honestly opposed to all violence and bloodshed. I have allus believed that all wars were useless and unnecessary; but it's sometimes hard for me to love my enemies."

"You're just worried and can't see clear," sez I soothin'ly. "It's plain enough if you just think it out-that's the best part o'

religion. One place it sez: 'Love your enemies.' In another it sez: 'Foller the Lord's example.' In still another it sez: 'Whom he loves, he chasteneth'-which you said meant to punish. Now then, you have it all worked out: the proper way to love your enemy is to punish him; and, accordin' to this rule, we're goin' to love the hide off o' one o' your enemies, if so be we're able to do it."

But the Friar never would stand for havin' his religion doctored to suit the taste, he had to take it as stiff and raw as alcohol, where he was concerned, himself; so he turned in and explained things to me until from my standpoint, misery was the only religious excuse a feller had for bein' happy.

By this, it was time to change watches, so the Friar relieved Olaf, while Horace and his elephant-pest went out on the front porch to watch the fords, and I turned in. None of us took our boots off that night; we had a little fire in the big room, and slept on the floor, holdin' our belts in our hands. I drowsed off quick enough this time, knowin' 'at Tank and Promotheus would be next on watch and certain not to let anything surprise them.

Sure enough, just about the time we had slept ourselves into complete forgetfulness, we were all jerked to our feet by the first shot Tank fired, and this one shot was followed by a bunch of others. The Cross-branders had crept down the ravine, and a little after three when the fire had burned low, they had tried to get by unnoticed. Ol'

Tank only had one eye, but it was a workin' eye, if ever the' was one, and he shot two of 'em with one o' their own rifles, and when they rushed him in a body, spreadin' out wide, he retreated to the old cabin, accordin' to directions.

The old cabin had loopholes in it, and we had found three fairly good rifles, but not much ammunition. We didn't waste any shots while it was still dark; but they fired at us now and again. They had brought the five rifles we had left at our camp, and used 'em freely. Slim had taken the other rifle with him.

All durin' that day they broke the monotony by takin' frequent shots at us; but the logs in the cabin had been matched up for just such a purpose, and not one of us was even scratched with a splinter. What we were most afraid of was, 'at they would find some way to set fire to the cabin, and we counted on that bein' one o' the night's diversities.

There were three good sized rooms in the old cabin which was only one story high. One big room occupied the full south half o' the cabin, a bedroom was in the northeast corner, and a library in the northwest corner. Yes, sir, a regular library, and the Friar and Horace both said it was a choice collection o' books. Horace showed us one book which had a photograph of the original Prometheus chained to a rock with the vultures peckin' at his liver, and he certainly must have been some man to stand it. This picture made The's eyes light up consid'able.

The' was also some chromos of naked stone images on the wall, which the Friar and Horace called mighty fine copies. They were purty well dumb-founded to find 'at Ty Jones didn't live as much like a bob-cat as they'd thought. Under the book shelves was a row o' locked drawers.

They stuck out farther than the shelves above 'em, and we wanted to pry 'em open to see what was inside; but the Friar wouldn't let us.

That was a wearin' day, and we were all glad when it finally dragged itself to the lake o' darkness, and dove in. We had our minds made up for a busy night, but waitin' for trouble is more crampin' to the soul than bein' in the midst of it, so we felt cheerfuller as soon as night actually settled down.

We didn't dare have a fire in the fireplace, for fear it would show 'em our loopholes, and we didn't care to advertise these any more 'n was necessary; but we set a lighted candle far back in the fireplace, to see to load by. The fireplace was across the southwest corner o'

the big room. There were no loopholes in the library, but we feared the light might leak through a c.h.i.n.k in the window shutter, so we didn't have any light there. We kept one man watchin' through loopholes in the bedroom, and two watchin' in the big room, and were able to cover the whole neighborhood.

The cook-shack was the nearest buildin', and only the two loopholes in the north end o' the bedroom covered that; so we decided to fling the library window open and fire through that, in case they made a rush from that direction. We knew they wouldn't be likely to start anything until after eleven, as the moon wouldn't set until then, so we stretched out on the floor, leavin' Oscar, Horace, and Spider on watch.

When a feller has been keepin' his attention wound up for several days, his mainspring finally gets strained, and the cogs in his head get to cuttin' up regardless. I managed to get a purty fair dab o'

sleep; but it seemed as though I dove straight out o' wakefulness into a dream, and it was some the rottenest dream I ever had. I dreamed that Ty Jones had come and stooped over me and asked me what I thought o' the way he had conducted his life. In a dream a feller is apt to do the foolest things imaginable, so I looked up into Ty's face and told him my true opinion. I sez to him: "Ty, if your brains were blastin'

powder, they wouldn't make enough explosion to raise your hat."

Ty didn't take kindly to this opinion; so he jumped into the air and lightin' on my face, began to trample it with his heels. The discomfort of this wakened me; but at first I didn't know I was awake.

Several men had been actually tramplin' on me, and the' was a general fight takin' place in that room which was hard to make head or tail of.

In the flickerin' candle rays, it was mighty bothersome to tell who from which; so the' was no shootin'. Aside from Ty and Pepper Kendal, we averaged bigger 'n they did, except Horace and Spider. Spider had length but he ran small in the arms and legs, while Horace was twenty-two caliber any way you looked at him. They abused Horace some consid'able, and he got kicked and trampled on purty liberal; but he was of terrier blood, and the second or third time he got kicked into a corner, he crawled out on his hands an' knees, picked out a pair o'

legs which was strange to him, wrapped his arms about 'em, and fetched their owner to the floor with a thump. I spared enough time to knock the feller on the head; and then Horace played his trick over again.

Olaf was a mad bull in a mix-up like this-Horace said he had beershirker blood in him, and this must be good stuff for it made Olaf grin when Horace accused him of it. O' course the' ain't much head or tail to such a fight, and in lookin' back on it, it's just like spurtin' the pages of a picture-book with your thumb and tryin' to observe the pictures. I saw the Friar leanin' again' the mantel-piece with a hurt look on his face; and it disgusted me.

In times o' peace, I respected his prejudice again' violence; but this was no time for foolishness, and I recall mutterin' to myself a wish that Horace might have the loan of his big body for the next half hour. I saw Olaf knock down two men with one blow, I saw The save ol'

Tank's life, just as a half-breed was about to knife him from behind; but for the most part it was just about as orderly a mess as a popper-ful o' corn over a bed o' coals.

The fight didn't last more 'n five or ten minutes. They had banked on surprisin' us; and when this failed they were ready to back out. I afterward found out that it was the Friar who had caught sight of 'em first, he not' bein' able to sleep.

Ty and Pepper Kendal were the last to leave the big room; and when their own men were out of it, they opened fire on us; we fired back, and when they backed into the library where the rest o' their gang had disappeared, we made a rush for 'em. I supposed they had come in through the library window, and I called for a candle, hopin' to grab Ty before he could get out.

Spider Kelley had already picked up the candle, and he had it in the doorway in a second. The big drawers at the bottom o' the bookcase were swung back, showin' a stairway behind 'em, and Ty Jones stood at the top with Pepper Kendal just behind him. I dove through the air, catchin' Ty's wrist with my left hand and his throat with my right, Pepper Kendal bent his gun on me, Olaf grabbed the gun which was fired just as The grabbed Pepper's arms. It looked to me as though the bullet must have gone into Olaf's head; but just then we tripped, rolled down the stairs and the imitation drawers swung to behind us.

All holts were broke on the way down, and when I reached the bottom, I lay as quiet as a frozen moonbeam. I heard steps runnin' away from me in the dark, and presently the legs of the man next to me moved, and he got up. I rose to a crouchin' position, held my arm above my head, and whispered, "Who is this?"

For answer, I got a smash on the arm with the b.u.t.t of a forty-five which drove it down again' my head hard enough to bring me to my knees and wake up my horse-sense. I might 'a' known they'd have a signal.

I waited with my back again' the wall until the silence began to soak into my nerve. One o' my guns had got lost durin' the mess upstairs; but I still had the other, and when I closed my grip around it, it seemed like I was shakin' hands with my best friend. As far as I could discover I hadn't been shot; but several knife-cuts and bruises began to hum little tunes which wasn't in nowise cheerin'. I just simply don't like to be kept waitin' in the dark!

After a bit I reached my hand out cautious, and felt the heel of a ridin' boot. I examined as careful as though the feller inside the boot was a disguised bear-trap; but the' was no need. His neck was broke. I felt of his face, and it was soft and smooth. The face of the young feller with the boy's eyes, I had seen put to bed drunk that night at Skelty's, flashed across me, and I gave a sigh; but I had too much on my mind to turn soft, so I began to feel around again.

Presently my fingers struck the heel of another boot. I shut down on my bellows until the breath didn't get down past the top inch o' my neck, and I was as gentle with the heel o' that boot, as though it was a bitin' man's eyeball; because I sure felt a quiver in it. I slid my fingers up that boot a quarter inch at a time, and I didn't use no more rudeness 'n a mouse would use in tryin' to sneak a cheese piller out from under a sleepin' cat. When my fingers finally struck corduroy, I purt nigh gave a shout, for this was what Promotheus wore.

It allus embarra.s.ses a man to be felt over in the dark, so I took my time with The; but after locatin' both hands and his crooked mouth, I discovered he'd been knocked out complete. I rubbed his wrists until he began to moan, and then I pinched his nose until he was able to notice my name when I whispered. He had b.u.mped his head in fallin', and it made him sick to the stomach; so while he was gettin' tuned up again, I prospected around.

I crawled up the stairs but couldn't hear a sound, I scratched with my fingers, knocked softly, and pushed until my eyes began to hurt; so I knew 'at the only way out for us was to follow the Cross-branders.

Things had happened so sudden up above that I hadn't an idy as to how many were fightin' us; but I was still purty certain that a fair sized bunch had run out the tunnel just as I dove into it, and I didn't choose to b.u.mp into 'em in the dark.