Mr. Masterson had covered half the distance, that is to say, he had approached within a half mile of his game, before the buffaloes displayed a least excitement. When he had travelled thus far, however, those nearest began to exhibit a slow, angry alarm. They would paw the gra.s.s and toss a threatening horn; at times one would throw up his nose and sniff the air. The wind being from the buffaloes to Mr. Masterson, these nose experiments went without reward.
Yielding to the restless timidity of the perturbed ones, who if set running would infallibly stampede the herd, Mr. Masterson threw himself on his face and began to creep. His brown right hand gripped the stock of his rifle, and he dragged it over the gra.s.s, muzzle to the rear.
Also, he was careful to keep his face hidden from the buffaloes behind the wide brim of his sombrero.
The herd"s interest was sensibly abated when Mr. Masterson forsook the perpendicular. So long as they were granted no terrifying glimpses of his face, the buffaloes would believe him some novel form of wolf, and n.o.body to fly from. Acting upon this wolf theory, they watched the creeping Mr. Masterson curiously; they stood their ground, and some even walked towards him in a threatening mood, disposed to bully.
As Mr. Masterson, eyes to the gra.s.s, crept slowly forward, a dry "Bzz-z-z-z-z!" broke on his ear from a little distance in advance.
Cautiously he lifted his eyes; the rattlesnake lay, coiled and open-mouthed, in his path. Mr. Masterson pushed the Sharp"s towards the reptile; at that it uncoiled and crawled aside.
For twenty minutes Mr. Masterson continued his slow, creeping advance.
When he was within four hundred yards of the herd he rose on one knee.
There was a big bull, evidently an individual of consequence, who, broadside on, stood furthest up the wind. Deliberately and without excitement, the Sharp"s came to Mr. Masterson"s shoulder and his steady eye brought the sights to bear upon a spot twelve inches square, just behind the foreshoulder.
For the sliver of a second Mr. Masterson hung on the aim; then the heavy buffalo gun, burning one hundred and twenty grains of powder and throwing a bullet eight to the pound, roared, and the bull leaped heavily forward, shot through the lungs. With forefeet spread wide, blood pumping from both nostrils, the buffalo fought desperately for breath and for strength to stand. The battle was against him; he staggered, caught himself, tottered, stumbled, and then with a sigh of despair sank forward on his knees to roll at last upon his side-dead.
At the roar of the buffalo gun, the herd, fear at their hearts" roots, began to run. Instantly a change came over them. The dying bull was to windward gushing blood, and the scent of that blood swept down upon them in a kind of madness. Their wits forsook them; they forgot their peril in the blood-frenzy that possessed them, and charged ferociously upon their dying comrade. When he fell, they gored him with crazy horns-a herd of humped, four-legged, s.h.a.ggy, senseless, bellowing lunatics!
"Bang!" from the big buffalo gun, and another bull stood bleeding out his life. The herd, wild and frantic, fell upon him.
"Bang!" spoke the buffalo gun; a third, shot through and through, became the object of the herd"s crazy rage.
Killing always to windward, Mr. Masterson might have stood in his tracks and slain a dozen score; the scent of the new blood would hold the fury-bitten buffaloes like a spell.
Knowing this to be the nature of buffaloes, Mr. Masterson felt profound surprise when after his third fire, and while still the last stricken bleeding buffalo was on his feet, the whole band seemed suddenly restored to their senses, and went lumbering off at a right angle.
"Cheyennes!" exclaimed the sophisticated Mr. Masterson; "they are over the brow of the hill!" Then he turned, and started for Ruth Pemberton and the others at a sharp trot.
While Mr. Masterson was creeping on the buffaloes, Ruth Pemberton from her buckboard perch, followed him through the field gla.s.ses. She saw him pause, and push forward with his rifle at the rattlesnake; while she could not see the reptile, by some instinct she realised it-coiled and fanged and venomous-and shuddered. She drew a breath of relief as Mr.
Masterson re-began his stalk. She saw him when he rose to his knee; then came the straight, streaky puff of white smoke, and the dying bull stood staggering and bleeding. Next there drifted to her on the loitering breeze the boom of the buffalo gun, blunted by distance and direction.
Her gla.s.ses covered the herd when in its blood-rage it held furious wake about the dying ones.
And, what was most strange, Ruth Pemberton took a primal joy therein.
She was conscious of the free, original sweep of the plains about her, with the white shimmer of the Canadian beyond. And sensations claimed her, to flow in her veins and race along her nerves, which archery and tennis had never called up. There abode a glow in her blood that was like a brightness and a new joy. If the handkerchief-declining Mr.
Masterson were a white Indian, what now was she? Only she never once thought on that.
Mr. Masterson came up at top speed, and said something in Spanish to the Mexican. That hare-heart became pale as paper; instead of bringing in his team, as Mr. Masterson had commanded, he cut the hopples of the nearest horse, and went powdering away towards the "Dobe Walls. Mr.
Masterson tossed up his Sharp"s with a half-notion of stopping him; then he shook his head cynically.
"He"s only a Mexican," said he. Helping Ruth Pemberton from the buckboard, where she sat in startled ignorance, he remarked: "Get into the buffalo wallow; you"ll be safer there."
"Safe?" whispered Ruth Pemberton.
Mr. Masterson pointed to eleven Cheyennes on the far crest of the hill.
Then he led Ruth Pemberton to the buffalo wallow, where Count Banti was already crouching.
"You"ve left your Winchester on the buckboard," said Mr. Masterson.
Count Banti stared gla.s.sily, the purple of his face a dingy gray. The man was helpless; the nearness of death had paralyzed him.
Mr. Masterson shifted his glance to Ruth Pemberton. Her eyes, shining like strange jewels, met him squarely look for look; there was a heave to her bosom and a red in her cheek. His own eyes were jade, and his brows had come sternly forward, masking his face with the very spirit of war. The two looked upon one another-the boy and the girl whose rearings had been so far apart and whose natures were so close together.
"I"ll get it," she said, meaning the Winchester.
Mr. Masterson made her crouch down in the bottom of the buffalo wallow, where neither bullet nor arrow might reach her. Then, walking to the buckboard, he got the Winchester and the cartridge belt that belonged with it.
"It"s Baldy Smith"s," remarked Mr. Masterson, as though Ruth Pemberton might be interested in the news. "It"s a good gun-for a Winchester."
One of the Cheyennes, glimpsing the recreant Mexican, started in pursuit; the others rode down the slope for a closer survey of the trio in the buffalo wallow. Mr. Masterson threw the loop of a lariat over the head of Houston and fastened him, hopples and all, to the buckboard.
Understanding that no surprise was possible, the Cheyennes began at a sweeping gallop to circle the garrison in the buffalo wallow, their dainty little war ponies a-flutter of eagle feathers and strips of red cloth. As they circled, they closed in nearer and nearer; at less than six hundred yards they opened fire.
Each attacking buck kept his pony between himself and Mr. Masterson, firing from beneath the pony"s neck. The shooting was bad; the bullets struck the gra.s.s and kicked up puffs of dirt one hundred yards in front, and then came singing forty feet overhead. Count Banti heard the zip!
zip! zip! and groaned as he lay on his face.
Mr. Masterson, who-being on his feet-was head and shoulders above the level of the flat, paid no heed to the terror-ridden Count Banti. Once he cast a look at Ruth Pemberton, making sure she was below the danger level. She, for her side, watched his expression as he stood, rifle in hand, observing the attack. She felt no fear, felt nothing only a sweep and choke of exultation. It was as though she were the prize for which a battle was being fought-a battle, one against ten! Also, she could read in the falconed frown of Mr. Masterson somewhat of that temper wherewith he had harvested those scalps on his bridle.
While Ruth Pemberton gazed in a kind of fondness without fear, the heavy Sharp"s came to the sudden shoulder of Mr. Masterson. The roar of it fell upon her so close and loud that it was like a fog to her senses.
Mr. Masterson threw open his gun, and clipped in a second cartridge. The bra.s.s sh.e.l.l flirted over his shoulder by the extractor, struck Count Banti"s face. That hero-who had hunted lions by night and tigers on foot-gave a little scream, and then lay mute.
"It was this!" said Ruth Pemberton, holding up the empty sh.e.l.l to Mr.
Masterson.
Mr. Masterson"s bullet had gone through pony and rider as though they were papier-mache. What life might have been left in the latter was crushed out by the falling pony who smashed chest and ribs beneath his heavy shoulder.
The nine other circling bucks gathered about the one who had died.
Cl.u.s.tered as they were, there could be no thought of missing, and Mr.
Masterson emptied another saddle. With that, the others swooped on the slain and bore them off beyond the hill.
As they did so, far away to the right a single Cheyenne came riding; he was yelping like twenty wolves at once, and tossing something and catching it in his hand. The single Cheyenne was he who had followed the craven Mexican, and the thing he tossed and played with was the Mexican"s scalp. When he had joined the others, and they had laid their dead in a safe place, the whole party again came riding-open order-down the long slope towards the fatal buffalo wallow.
Mr. Masterson picked up the Winchester and forced cartridges into the magazine until it would hold no more.
"They"re going to charge," said Mr. Masterson, apologising for the Winchester. "It"ll come handy to back up my Sharp"s in a case of quick work. There won"t be time to load, and a Sharp"s is only a single-shot gun, you know."
Ruth Pemberton did not know, and her mind was running on other matters than guns, single-shot or magazine.
"They"re going to charge?" she asked.
"Yes; but don"t lose your nerve. They"ll make a heap of hubbub, but it"s two for one I stand them off."
The a.s.surance came as coolly as though Mr. Masterson considered the possibilities of a shower, and was confident of the integrity of Ruth Pemberton"s umbrella.
"One thing!" said Ruth Pemberton wistfully.
"Yes?" said Mr. Masterson, his eye on the Cheyennes, his ear on Ruth Pemberton.
"Don"t let them take me! Kill me first!"
"I"ve intended to from the beginning," said Mr. Masterson steadily.