They rose in their stirrups and charged, yelling l.u.s.tily, riding neck and neck toward the unseen foe, and with their horses at their highest pace they broke upon the mounted trio that now rode upon them grayly out of the mist.
There was a mad snorting and shrinking of horses. One of the animals turned and tried to bolt, and his rider, struggling to control him, added to the confusion. The fog shut them in with each other; and Armitage and Claiborne, having flung back their own horses at the onset, had an instant"s glimpse of Chauvenet trying to swing his horse into the road; of Zmai half-turning, as his horse reared, to listen for the foe behind; and of Durand"s impa.s.sive white face as he steadied his horse with his left hand and leveled a revolver at Armitage with his right.
With a cry Claiborne put spurs to his horse and drove him forward upon Durand. His hand knocked the leveled revolver flying into the fog. Then Zmai fired twice, and Chauvenet"s frightened horse, panic-stricken at the shots, reared, swung round and dashed back the way he had come, and Durand and Zmai followed.
The three disappeared into the mist, and Armitage and Claiborne shook themselves together and quieted their horses.
"That was too close for fun--are you all there?" asked Armitage.
"Still in it; but Chauvenet"s friend won"t miss every time. There"s murder in his eye. The big fellow seemed to be trying to shoot his own horse."
"Oh, he"s a knife and sack man and clumsy with the gun."
They moved slowly forward now and Armitage sent his horse across the rough ditch at the roadside to get his bearings. The fog seemed at the point of breaking, and the ma.s.s about them shifted and drifted in the growing light.
"This is my land, sure enough. Lord, man, I wish you"d get out of this and go home. You see they"re an ugly lot and don"t use toy pistols."
"Remember the potato sack! That"s my watchword," laughed Claiborne.
They rode with their eyes straight ahead, peering through the breaking, floating mist. It was now so clear and light that they could see the wood at either hand, though fifty yards ahead in every direction the fog still lay like a barricade.
"I should value a change of raiment," observed Armitage. "There was an advantage in armor--your duds might get rusty on a damp excursion, but your shirt wouldn"t stick to your hide."
"Who cares? Those devils are pretty quiet, and the little sergeant is about due to b.u.mp into them again."
They had come to a gradual turn in the road at a point where a steep, wooded incline swept up on the left. On the right lay the old hunting preserve and Armitage"s bungalow. As they drew into the curve they heard a revolver crack twice, as before, followed by answering shots and cries and the thump of hoofs.
"Ohee! Oscar has struck them again. Steady now! Watch your horse!" And Armitage raised his arm high above his head and fired twice as a warning to Oscar.
The distance between the contending parties was shorter now than at the first meeting, and Armitage and Claiborne bent forward in their saddles, talking softly to their horses, that had danced wildly at Armitage"s shots.
"Lord! if we can crowd them in here now and back to the Port!"
"There!"
Exclamations died on their lips at the instant. Ahead of them lay the fog, rising and breaking in soft folds, and behind it men yelled and several shots snapped spitefully on the heavy air. Then a curious picture disclosed itself just at the edge of the vapor, as though it were a curtain through which actors in a drama emerged upon a stage. Zmai and Chauvenet flashed into view suddenly, and close behind them, Oscar, yelling like mad. He drove his horse between the two men, threw himself flat as Zmai fired at him, and turned and waved his hat and laughed at them; then, just before his horse reached Claiborne and Armitage, he checked its speed abruptly, flung it about and then charged back, still yelling, upon the amazed foe.
"He"s crazy--he"s gone clean out of his head!" muttered Claiborne, restraining his horse with difficulty. "What do you make of it?"
"He"s having fun with them. He"s just rattling them to warm himself up--the little beggar. I didn"t know it was in him."
Back went Oscar toward the two hors.e.m.e.n he had pa.s.sed less than a minute before, still yelling, and this time he discharged his revolver with seeming unconcern, for the value of ammunition, and as he again dashed between them, and back through the gray curtain, Armitage gave the word, and he and Claiborne swept on at a gallop.
Durand was out of sight, and Chauvenet turned and looked behind him uneasily; then he spoke sharply to Zmai. Oscar"s wild ride back and forth had demoralized the horses, which were snorting and plunging wildly. As Armitage and Claiborne advanced Chauvenet spoke again to Zmai and drew his own revolver.
"Oh, for a saber now!" growled Claiborne.
But it was not a moment for speculation or regret. Both sides were perfectly silent as Claiborne, leading slightly, with Armitage pressing close at his left, galloped toward the two men who faced them at the gray wall of mist. They bore to the left with a view of crowding the two hors.e.m.e.n off the road and into the preserve, and as they neared them they heard cries through the mist and rapid hoof-beats, and Durand"s horse leaped the ditch at the roadside just before it reached Chauvenet and Zmai and ran away through the rough underbrush into the wood, Oscar close behind and silent now, grimly intent on his business.
The revolvers of Zmai and Chauvenet cracked together, and they, too, turned their horses into the wood, and away they all went, leaving the road clear.
"My horse got it that time!" shouted Claiborne.
"So did I," replied Armitage; "but never you mind, old man, we"ve got them cornered now."
Claiborne glanced at Armitage and saw his right hand, still holding his revolver, go to his shoulder.
"Much damage?"
"It struck a hard place, but I am still fit."
The blood streamed from the neck of Claiborne"s horse, which threw up its head and snorted in pain, but kept bravely on at the trot in which Armitage had set the pace.
"Poor devil! We"ll have a reckoning pretty soon," cried Armitage cheerily. "No kingdom is worth a good horse!"
They advanced at a trot toward the Port.
"You"ll be afoot any minute now, but we"re in good shape and on our own soil, with those carrion between us and a gap they won"t care to drop into! I"m off for the gate--you wait here, and if Oscar fires the signal, give the answer."
Armitage galloped off to the right and Claiborne jumped from his horse just as the wounded animal trembled for a moment, sank to its knees and rolled over dead.
CHAPTER XXV
THE PORT OF MISSING MEN
Fast they come, fast they come; See how they gather!
Wide waves the eagle plume, Blended with heather.
Cast your plaids, draw your blades, Forward each man set!
Pibroch of Donuil Dhu Knell for the onset!
--Sir Walter Scott.
Claiborne climbed upon a rock to get his bearings, and as he gazed off through the wood a bullet sang close to his head and he saw a man slipping away through the underbrush a hundred yards ahead of him. He threw up his rifle and fired after the retreating figure, jerked the lever spitefully and waited. In a few minutes Oscar rode alertly out of the wood at his left.
"It was better for us a dead horse than a dead man--yes?" was the little sergeant"s comment. "We shall come back for the saddle and bridle."
"Humph! Where do you think those men are?"
"Behind some rocks near the edge of the gap. It is a poor position."
"I"m not sure of that. They"ll escape across the old bridge."
"_Nein_. A sparrow would shake it down. Three men at once--they would not need our bullets!"