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 shines, 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 shipmates, 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 shipmate 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."
"You may be quite sure," returned d.i.c.k, with suppressed emotion, "that no Redskin shall cross this threshold as long as we three men have a spark o" life left."
A sweet though pitiful smile lighted up Mary"s pale face for a moment, as she replied that she was quite sure of that, in a tone which caused Darvall"s heart to expand, so that his ribs seemed unable to contain it, while he experienced a sensation of being stronger than Samson and bigger than Goliath!
"And I suppose," continued d.i.c.k, "that the troops won"t be long of coming. Is the man--what"s his name, Humpy Ben--trustworthy?"
"Trustworthy!" exclaimed the maiden, with a flush of enthusiasm; "there is not a more trustworthy man on this side of the Rocky mountains, or the other side either, I am quite sure."
Poor Darvall"s heart seemed suddenly to find plenty of room within the ribs at that moment, and his truthful visage must have become something of an index to his state of mind; for, to his surprise, Mary laughed.
"It seems to me so funny," she continued, "to hear any one ask if Hunky--not Humpy--Ben is to be trusted."
"Is he, then, such a splendid young fellow!" asked the seaman, with just the slightest touch of bitterness in his tone, for he felt as if a rock something like Gibraltar had been laid on his heart.
"Well, he"s not exactly young," answered Mary, with a peculiar expression that made her questioner feel still more uncomfortable, "yet he is scarcely middle-aged, but he certainly _is_ the most splendid fellow on the frontier; and he saved my life once."
"Indeed! how was that?"
"Well, it was this way. I had been paying a short visit to his wife, who lives on the other side of the--"
"Come along, Darvall," cried Roaring Bull at that moment. "The moon"s about down, an" we"ll have to take our stations. We shall defend the outworks first to check them a bit and put off some time, then scurry into the house and be ready for them when they try to clear the fence.
Follow me. Out wi" the lights, girls, and away to your posts."
"I"ll hear the end of your story another time, Miss Mary," said d.i.c.k, looking over his shoulder and following his host and Crux to the outer door.
The seaman was conscious of a faint suspicion that Mary was wrestling with another laugh as he went off to defend the outworks, but he also, happily, felt that the Rock of Gibraltar had been removed from his heart!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
DEFENCE OF THE RANCH OF ROARING BULL.
Every light and every spark of fire had been extinguished in the ranch of Roaring Bull when its defenders issued from its doorway. They were armed to the teeth, and glided across the yard to the fence or stockade that enclosed the buildings, leaving the door slightly open so as to be ready for speedy retreat.
It had been arranged that, as there was a large open field without bush or tree in the rear of the ranch, they should leave that side undefended at first.
"They"ll never come into the open as long as they can crawl up through the bush," Jackson had said, while making his final dispositions.
"They"re a"most sure to come up in front thinkin" we"re all a-bed. Now, mind--don"t stand still, boys, but walk along as ye fire, to give "em the notion there"s more of us. An" don"t fire at nothin". They"d think we was in a funk. An" when you hear me whistle get into the house as quick as a cotton-tail rabbit an" as sly as a snake."
After the moon went down, everything in and around the ranch was as silent as the grave, save now and then the stamp of a hoof on the floor of a shed, where a number of horses stood saddled and bridled ready to mount at a moment"s notice; for Jackson had made up his mind, if it came to the worst, to mount and make a bold dash with all his household through the midst of his foes, trusting to taking them by surprise and to his knowledge of the country for success.
For a long time, probably two hours, the three men stood at their posts motionless and silent; still there was no sign, either by sight or sound, of an enemy. The outline of the dark woods was barely visible against the black sky in front of each solitary watcher, and no moving thing could be distinguished in the open field behind either by Crux or Darvall, to each of whom the field was visible. Jackson guarded the front.
To d.i.c.k, unaccustomed as he was to such warfare, the situation was very trying, and might have told on his nerves severely if he had not been a man of iron mould; as it was, he had no nerves to speak of! But he was a man of lively imagination. More than fifty times within those two hours did he see a black form moving in the darkness that lay between him and the wood, and more than fifty times was his Winchester rifle raised to his shoulder; but as often did the caution "don"t fire at nothin"" rise to his memory.
The stockade was of peculiar construction, because its owner and maker was eccentric, and a mechanical genius. Not only were the pickets of which it was composed very strong and planted with just s.p.a.ce between to permit of firing, but there was a planking of strong boards, waist high, all round the bottom inside, which afforded some protection to defenders by concealing them when they stooped and changed position.
While matters were in this state outside, Mary Jackson and b.u.t.tercup were standing at an upper window just opposite the front gate, the latter with a huge bell-mouthed blunderbuss of the last century, loaded with buckshot in her hands. Mary stood beside her sable domestic ready to direct her not as to how, but where and when, to use the ancient weapon.