Part 24 (1/2)
They had hardly reached and flung open the door when Bluefire came foaming and smoking into the yard with Crux the cow-boy on his back.
”Wall, Roaring Bull,” cried Crux, leaping off his horse and coming forward as quietly as if there were nothing the matter. ”I'm glad to see you OK, for the Cheyenne Reds are on the war-path, an' makin' tracks for your ranch. But as they've not got here yet, they won't likely attack till the moon goes down. Is there any chuck goin'? I'm half starved.”
”Ay, Crux, lots o' chuck here. Come in an' let's hear all about it.
Where got ye the news?”
”Hunky Ben sent me. He wasn't thinkin' o' you at first but when a boy came in wi' the news that a crowd o' the reds had gone round by Pine Hollow--just as he was fixin' to pull out for Quester Creek to rouse up the cavalry--he asked me to come on here an' warn you.”
While he was speaking the cow-boy sat down to supper with the air of a man who meant business, while the host and his sailor guest went to look after the defences of the place.
”I'm glad you are here, d.i.c.k Darvall,” said the former, ”for it's a bad job to be obliged to fight without help agin a crowd o' yellin' Reds.
My boys won't be back till sun-up, an' by that time the game may be played out.”
”D'ee think the Redskins 'll attack us to-night then?” asked the sailor as he a.s.sisted to close the gates of the yard.
”Ay, that they will, lad. They know the value o' time better than most men, and, when they see their chance, are not slow to take advantage of it. As Crux said, they won't attack while the moon s.h.i.+nes, so we have plenty of time to git ready for them. I wish I hadn't sent off my boys, but as bad luck would have it a bunch o' my steers have drifted down south, an' I can't afford to lose them--so, you see, there's not a man left in the place but you an' me an' Crux to defend poor Mary.”
For the first time in his life d.i.c.k Darvall felt a distinct tendency to rejoice over the fact that he was a young and powerful man! To live and, if need be, die for Mary was worth living for!
”Are you well supplied with arms an' ammunition?” he asked.
”That am I, and we'll need it all,” answered the host as he led d.i.c.k round to the back of the yard where another gate required fastening.
”I don't see that it matters much,” said d.i.c.k in a questioning tone, ”whether you shut the gates or not. With so few to defend the place the house will be our only chance.”
”When you've fought as much wi' Reds as I have, d.i.c.k, you'll larn that delay, even for five minutes, counts for a good deal.”
”Well, there's somethin' in that. It minds me o' what one o' my s.h.i.+pmates, who had bin in the London fire brigade, once said. `d.i.c.k,'
said he, `never putt off what you've got to do. Sometimes I've bin at a fire where the loss of only two minutes caused the destruction of a store worth ten thousand pound, more or less. We all but saved it as it was--so near were we, that if we had bin _one_ minute sooner I do believe we'd have saved it.
”`But when we was makin' for that fire full sail, a deaf old apple-woman came athwart our bows an got such a fright that she went flop down right in front of us. To steer clear of her we'd got to sheer off so that we all but ran into a big van, and, what wi' our lights an' the yellin', the horses o' the van took fright and backed into us as we flew past, so that we a'most went down by the starn. One way or another we lost two minutes, as I've said, an' the owners o' that store lost about ten thousand pounds--more or less.'”
”That was a big pile, d.i.c.k,” observed the ranchman, as they turned from the gate towards the house, ”not easy to replace.”
”True--my s.h.i.+pmate never seemed to be quite sure whether it was more or less that was lost, but he thought the Insurance offices must have found it out by that time. It's a pity there's only three of us, for that will leave one side o' the house undefended.”
”All right d.i.c.k; you don't trouble your head about that for b.u.t.tercup fights like a black tiger. She's a'most as good as a man--only she can't manage to aim, so it's no use givin' her a rifle. She's game enough to fire it, but the more she tries to hit, the more she's sure to miss. However she's got a way of her own that sarves well enough to defend her side o' the house. She always takes charge o' the front. My Mary can't fight, but she's a heroine at loadin'--an' that's somethin'
when you're hard pressed! Come, now, I'll show ye the shootin' irons an' our plan of campaign.”
Roaring Bull led the way back to the room, or central hall, where they had supped, and here they found that the debris of their feast had already been cleared away, and that arms of various kinds, with ammunition, covered the board.
”Hospitable alike to friend and foe,” said Jackson gaily. ”Here, you see, Mary has spread supper for the Reds!”
Darvall made no response to this pleasantry, for he observed that poor Mary's pretty face was very pale, and that it wore an expression of mingled sadness and anxiety.
”You won't be exposed to danger, I hope,” said d.i.c.k, in a low earnest tone, while Jackson was loudly discussing with Crux the merits of one of the repeating rifles--of which there were half-a-dozen on the table.
”Oh no! It is not that,” returned the girl sadly. ”I am troubled to think that, however the fight goes, some souls, perhaps many, will be sent to their account unprepared. For myself, I shall be safe enough as long as we are able to hold the house, and it may be that G.o.d will send us help before long.”