Immediately afterward a thirty-thirty struck a rock in front of them, glancing off at an angle, wailing away into the distance. Sandy McCrae, lying at full length peering along the slim barrel of his weapon, pressed the trigger and swore in disappointment.
"Centred a stump," he said. "There it is yet. It looked like somebody."
All was quiet for five minutes. Then a sleet of lead pelted their position, patting against the cliff behind them, and splashing upon the rocks in front. Splinters and particles of stone, lead, and nickel flew everywhere.
"Git down low," McHale advised, hugging a bowlder.
"I am down," said Sandy.
"Then dig a hole." McHale laughed, and then swore as a sharp fragment of rock ripped his cheek.
"Hit you?"
"Nope. Rock sliver. I"ll bet their guns is gettin" hot. This won"t last."
The fusillade ceased. McHale shoved his rifle barrel through a crevice.
"Maybe some gent will stick out his head to see how many corpses there is of us. This light"s gettin" durn bad. I wish I had an ivory foresight, "stead o" this gold bead. I can"t see----"
His rifle muzzle leaped in recoil as he spoke. Two hundred yards away a man making a rush forward for a closer position winced and half halted.
Instantly Sandy"s rifle lanced the dimming light with a twelve-foot shaft of flame. The man straightened, staggered, and threw both arms upward as if to shield his face. Sandy fired again as the lever clashed back into place. The man fell forward.
"Got him!" cried Sandy exultantly. "Centred him twice, Tom!"
"I reckon you did. That"s one out of it." He fired again without result. Sandy shot three times rapidly, and swore at the light.
"You"re overshootin"," said McHale. "You can"t draw the foresight fine enough in this light. Hold lower."
"Nothing to hold on," grumbled McCrae. "They"re cached close. If one of them would only come out to fetch in that dead one I wouldn"t do a thing to him."
McHale eyed him speculatively. "Seems like your young soul ain"t swamped by no wave of remorse at killin" a man. Don"t make you feel shaky nor nothin"?"
Young McCrae smiled grimly. "Not that I can notice. All that lead they slung at us scared remorse clean out of my system. I"m lookin" for a chance to repeat."
But darkness settled down without that chance, making accurate shooting impossible. Objects at fifty yards became indistinct. Only the smoky-red reflection of the sunset remained.
"Think they"ve got enough?" asked Sandy.
"Why, they ain"t got started yet. Lucky we had our supper. We can stand quite a racket on a full stomach. Might as well smoke, I reckon."
Sandy shivered slightly as the chill of the mountain night air struck through his thin clothing. "Wish I"d grabbed a blanket or a coat."
"It"ll be a heap worse before mornin"," said McHale.
"You"re a cheerful devil!"
"Think of how good the sun"ll feel. Maybe something will happen to warm us up before then."
A forty-pound stone suddenly crashed down to one side of them, smashing in the rocks and bushes with terrific impact. Sandy leaped to his feet, his revolver streaming continuous fire at the top of the cliff.
"Git down, you durn fool!" cried McHale.
Sandy dropped just in time. A volley came from in front, and a leaden storm howled overhead.
"Talk about luck!" said McHale. "Don"t you take a chance like that again." He rolled over on his back and put his rifle to his shoulder.
"If I could only git that cuss up there against the sky line----"
But the top of the cliff was fringed with bushes. Another stone bounded down, struck a projection, leaped out, and hit ten feet in front of them. McHale fired by guess; but, like most guesswork shooting, without result. Another stone struck in front. He moved in closer to the cliff and chuckled grimly.
"We"re right under a ledge. Them rocks all bounced off it. Mighty lucky for us. You feelin" any warmer now?"
"You bet. Summer done come again. I wish I could see to shoot." He fired at the flash of a gun, and winced suddenly.
"Burned me that time!"
A glancing bullet had ripped the flesh of his left side along the ribs.
McHale made a bandage of the handkerchief he wore around his neck.
"You"ll sure have a sore side, kid. Keep down tight. Don"t take no more chances." But a moment afterward he grunted and his rifle clattered against the rocks.
"What is it?"
"My right arm. Busted above the elbow." He breathed deeply with the first pain throbs following the shock, and gritted his teeth. "Ain"t this h.e.l.l? I"m out of it for rifle shootin". Here, come and cut off my shirt sleeve and tie her up some. See how much blood she"s pumpin"!
Take a turn above the hole and twist her up tight. Blamed if I want to bleed to death. I got a lot of things to see to first."
Sandy examined the wound by the feeble light of matches, which McHale held in his left hand, and declared that the arteries were uninjured.
He cut off a leg of his trousers below the knee, and, with McHale"s shirt sleeve, organized a bandage, binding it with the thongs of his moccasins, swearing steadily below his breath.
McHale leaned back against the rock and demanded his pipe. Sandy filled it, and held a match to the load. McHale puffed great smoke clouds into the darkness.
"Tobacco"s sure a fine anaesthetic. She beats chloroform and tooth jerkers" gas. And now, kid, you git!"
"Do what?"
"Make a get-away. Hike. Leak out o" this. You can do it in the dark just as easy as a weasel."
"Say," said Sandy, "you didn"t get hit alongside the head, too, did you?"
"Not yet. This is straight goods. I mean it. There"s no use you stickin". There"s too many accidents happenin". Come mornin" maybe you don"t git a chance."
"Come mornin"," Sandy replied, "when I can see my sights, I"ll clean the whole bunch out."
"Other people can see sights then. Kid, they got me rounded up. I ain"t no good except on a horse. If I could make a get-away I would. But I can"t. You can. There"s no sense in both of us bein" wiped out. Also, there"s your folks. I ain"t got any. And, then, I"ve lived longer than you, and I"ve had a heap more fun. I"m plumb satisfied with the deal.
If I quit the game now I break better"n even. Shake hands and git out o" here while you can."
"Forget it!" snapped Sandy. "Would _you_ quit _me_? Not any. D"ye think I could look Casey in the face, or Sheila, or my old dad? Would one of _them_ quit _you_? You bet they wouldn"t. I"ll see this through. Here, gimme what rifle cartridges you got, and shut up that line of talk. I won"t stand for it, and I won"t go."
""Most every family has one blame fool in it," said McHale. "All right, durn you, stay. If I could chase you out I"d do it. Reach down and pull my belt gun for me. I can shoot left-handed some."