There was such determination in the sailor"s command, that Jackson felt bound to obey. At the same moment d.i.c.k bound the horse"s hind-legs. He fully understood what Jackson intended, and the latter was as quick to perceive the seaman"s drift. Seizing the reins, while his friend caught hold of the la.s.so, d.i.c.k cried, "Out o" the way, Mary!" and with a mighty effort the two men threw the mare on her side.
"First-rate!" cried Jackson, while his companion held down the animal"s head. "It couldn"t have dropped better. Jump inside, Mary, an" lie down flat behind your pony. Let Mary have the reins, d.i.c.k. She knows how to hold its head down without showin" herself."
Even while he was speaking, Jackson and d.i.c.k leaped into the triangle of horses thus formed, and, crouching low, disappeared from the sight of the savages, who now came on yelling with triumph, for they evidently thought themselves sure of their victims by that time.
"Are ye a good shot, d.i.c.k?" asked Jackson, as he gazed sternly at the approaching foe.
"No--abominably bad."
"Fire low then. You may catch the horses if ye miss the Redskins.
Anyhow you"ll hit the ground if you aim low, an" it"s wonderful what execution a bullet may do arter hittin" mother Earth."
"I never aim," replied the sailor. "Only a waste o" time. I just point straight an" fire away."
"Do it, then," growled roaring Bull, with something that sounded like a short laugh.
At the same moment he himself took quick aim at the foe and fired; the leading horse and man immediately rolled upon the plain.
As both men were armed with repeating rifles the fusillade was rapid, and most of the savages, who seldom fight well in the open, were repulsed. But several of them, headed apparently by their chief, rode on fearlessly until within pistol-shot.
Then the two defenders of this peculiar fortress sprang up with revolvers in each hand.
"Lie close, Mary," cried Jackson as he fired, and the chief"s horse rolled over, almost reaching their position with the impetus of the charge. The chief himself lay beside his horse, for another shot had ended his career. As two other horses had fallen, the rest of the band wheeled aside and galloped away, followed by a brisk fire from the white men, who had again crouched behind their breast-work and resumed their rifles.
Bullets were by that time flying over them in considerable numbers, for those Indians who had not charged with their chief had, after retiring to a safe distance, taken to firing at long range. At this work d.i.c.k"s rifle and straight pointing were of little use, so he reserved his fire for close quarters, while Jackson, who was almost a certain shot at average ranges, kept the savages from drawing nearer.
"Lie closer to the pony, Miss Mary," said d.i.c.k, as a shot pa.s.sed close over the girl and whistled between him and his comrade. "Were you hurt in the fall?"
"No, not in the least. Don"t you think they"ll hear the firing at the ranch, father?"
"Ay, la.s.s, if there"s anybody to hear it, but I sent the boys out this mornin" to hunt up a bunch o" steers that have drifted south among Wilson"s cattle, an" I fear they"ve not come back yet. See, the reptiles are goin" to try it again!"
As he spoke, the remnant of the Redskins who pressed home the first charge, having held a palaver, induced the whole band to make another attempt, but they were met with the same vigour as before--a continuous volley at long range, which emptied several saddles, and then, when the plucky men of the tribe charged close, the white men stood up, as before, and plied them with revolvers so rapidly that they were fain to wheel aside and retire.
"Ammunition"s gettin" low," said d.i.c.k, in an anxious tone.
"Then I"ll waste no more," growled Jackson, "but only fire when I"m safe to hit."
As he spoke a distant cheer was heard, and, looking back, they saw, with a rebound of hope, that a band of five or six cow-boys were coming from the ranch and galloping full swing to the rescue. Behind them, a few seconds later, appeared a line of men who came on at a swinging trot.
"Troopers, I do believe!" exclaimed Jackson.
"Thank G.o.d!" said Mary, with a deep sigh of relief as she sat up to look at them. The troopers gave a cheer of encouragement as they thundered past to the attack, but the Indians did not await the onset. At the first sight of the troops they fled, and in a few minutes pursued and pursuers alike were out of sight--hidden behind the prairie waves.
"I can"t tell you how thankful I am that I didn"t shoot the mare," said d.i.c.k, as they unfastened the feet of Black Polly and let her rise. "I"d never have been able to look Hunky Ben in the face again arter it."
"Well, I"m not sorry you spared her," said Jackson; "as for the two that are dead, they"re no great loss--yet I"ve a kind o" regret too, for the poor things served us well."
"Faithfully--even to death," added Mary, in a sorrowful tone as she stooped to pat the neck of her dead pony.
"Will you mount, Miss Mary, and ride home?" asked the sailor.
"Thank you--no, I"d rather walk with father. We have not far to go now."
"Then we"ll all walk together," said Jackson.
d.i.c.k threw Black Polly"s bridle over his arm, and they all set off at a smart walk for the ranch of Roaring Bull, while the troops and cow-boys chased the Redskins back into the mountains whence they had come.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
TREATS OF VARIOUS INTERESTING MATTERS, AND TELLS OF NEWS FROM HOME.
d.i.c.k Darvall now learned that, owing to the disturbed state of the country, Captain Wilmot had left a small body of men to occupy Bull"s ranch for a time; hence their presence at the critical moment when Jackson and his daughter stood so much in need of their a.s.sistance. He also found that there were two letters awaiting the party at Traitor"s Trap--one for Charles Brooke, Esquire, and one for Mr S. Leather. They bore the postmarks of the old country.
"You"d better not start back wi" them for three or four days, d.i.c.k,"
said Jackson, when they were seated that evening in the hall of the ranch, enjoying a cup of coffee made by the fair hands of Mary.
d.i.c.k shook his head. "I"m acting post-boy just now" said he, "an" it would ill become me to hang off an" on here waitin" for a fair wind when I can beat into port with a foul one."
"But if the Redskins is up all round, as some o" the boys have reported, it"s not merely a foul wind but a regular gale that"s blowin", an" it would puzzle you to beat into port in the teeth o" that."
"I think," remarked Mary, with an arch smile, "that Mr Darvall had better `lay to" until the troops return to-night and report on the state of the weather."
To this the gallant seaman declared that he would be only too happy to cast anchor altogether where he was for the rest of his life, but that duty was duty, and that, blow high or blow low, fair weather or foul, duty had to be attended to.
"That"s true, O high-principled seaman!" returned Jackson; "and what d"ye consider your duty at the present time?"
"To deliver my letters, O Roarin" Bull!" replied d.i.c.k.
"Just so, but if you go slick off when Redskins are rampagin" around, you"ll be sure to get nabbed an" roasted alive, an" so you"ll _never_ deliver your letters."
"It"s my duty to try," said d.i.c.k. "Hows"ever," he added, turning to Mary with a benignant smile, "I"ll take your advice, Miss Mary, an" wait for the report o" the soldiers."
When the troopers returned, their report was, that the Redskins, after being pretty severely handled, had managed to reach the woods, where it would have been useless to follow them so close upon night; but it was their opinion that the band, which had so nearly captured the boss of the ranch and his daughter, was merely a marauding band, from the south, of the same Indians who had previously attacked the ranch, and that, as for the Indians of the district, they believed them to be quite peaceably disposed.
"Which says a good deal for them," remarked the officer in command of the troops, "when we consider the provocation they receive from Buck Tom, Jake the Flint, and such-like ruffians."
"The moon rises at ten to-night, d.i.c.k," said Jackson, as they went together to the stables to see that the horses were all right.
"That"s so," said the sailor, who noticed something peculiar in the man"s tone; "what may be the reason o" your reference to that bit of astronomy?"
"Why, you see," returned the other, "post-boys in these diggin"s are used to travellin" night an" day. An" the troopers" report o" the weather might be worse. You was sayin" somethin" about duty, wasn"t you?"
"Right, Jackson," returned d.i.c.k, "but Black Polly is not used to travellin" night an" day. If she was, I"d take her back to-night, for moonlight is good enough for a man that has twice taken soundin"s along the road, an" who"s well up in all the buoys, beacons, an" landmarks, but it would be cruelty to the good mare."
"Duty first, d.i.c.k, the mare second. You don"t need to trouble about her. I"ll lend ye one o" my best horses an" take good care o" Black Polly till Hunky Ben claims her."