Show N ON U S S R co wndy balan le MAY wu E r STORY THUS FAR melody A il i and george fury had ridden into Pi leville melody was mistaken for the outlaw monte jarrad montes girl cherry in trying to save monte and later melody got them involved in the murder of 0 luke packer the insurance cop fury had met up with monte and was shot by monte monte returns to the farm and finds melody cherry returns with the wounded fury some of 0 montes men rode up and in the distance the cottons posse posse bent on taking monte the posse started firing and most of the men ran to the house bouse melody cherry and fury stayed in the barn bales of hay were placed against the walls for protect protection loiL CHAPTER cherry de longpre stared hard at melody for several moments more her face blanked by that baffle at aa he was able to inflict upon tv t now you look here you complete fool she began but he interrupted her he reached out and closed her jaw for her by lifting her chin with his fingers gal he said in a tone she had never heard him use im right sure ive heard a plenty from you so be still before I 1 turn you across that saddle and spank you pink as an apple she went to george now and helped him drink from the gourd dipper once or twice she glanced at melody furtively and when she spoke again her words were quiet and rapid that other rider is virgil browning hes one of montes wild bunch like lee gledhill monte never rode south at all after we left pa and avery came in and lee signalled signal led up virg virg was laying low in the brush somewhere they went down to scout the town and mighty near ran square into the posse but they rode hard and got loose so now what is their theory melody asked her they insist on tangling with the cottons or dont they aim to be discommoded by jest thirty forty men they wanted monte to ride he do it he says he fit to ride a horse rice race hes right he hopes to stand them off until dark then one hard effort will get him clear he can lose them and take it easy after that in the dark most likely you told him he better run and he was too stubborn to bossed J ae lie shot him a glance of surprise melody jones expected to see through anything like that now avery and fever crick delongpre made a dash from the house to the barn no one fired at them they brought with them the rest of the saddled horses so that their rush sounded like a cavalry charge cherry said to avery quitting him now or thrown out no rancor was in that it simply represented the kind of expectations cherry had in regard to her men folks after knowing them all her life avery took no offense lense of we got to hold the barn we can stand em oft off a decent piece if they dont git in the barn immediately the first of the posse ane tr ne into sight just before they eared avery said watch it watch it a kind of a strangled cry such as might come from a man in midair mid air and there was a moment of utter silence among the defenders cherry whispered here it is two riders one of them lester cotton appeared at two hundred yards on the so called road coming up over the break of the slope the horses came over the hump at a walk their stride unhurried but div en a look of power and vigor by the strong climbing thrust of their quarters the long shot which had crippled the gray must have been outside of Lester Cottons plan he was going ahead with his first plan any way taking a chance of riding boldly in for a close quarters arrest but now a rifle banged from the house and lester cottons horse came down heavily dead before it wa was s still apparently it had tossed its head in the nick of the wrong instant intercepting a bullet intended for a center drill on its rider lester cotton pitched himself backwards down the slope out of sight untouched the other pony whirled and plunged back the way it had come with a violent switch of the tail testifying to swift spurring after that there was a strange long pause in the action an interlude while nothing seemed to happen no attempt of any kind was made at parley lester cotton cottan already had his answer and he knew it but presently the people within the layout lay out began to pick up signs of what was happening A vast amount of movement was going on out there ominously quiet and most of it unseen but far up the slope behind the barn a crouching man running on foot with his rifle in his hands ran from one bit of brush cover to another briefly glimpsed two guns from the house spoke almost together and both too late and a little after that the ahe gunfire began tentative and probing from the slopes A howling ricochet making ten times the noise of a straight flying bullet caromed chromed from a rock short of the barn and tore a whole strip of three or four shakes off the rotten roof wood dust and splinters came spinning nj and drifting down into the interior some of the tied horses tensed by the increasing smell of powder tested the stretch of their necks against the tie ropes squalled squal led unhappily and stuttered their feet then in a swiftly rising increase of fire quick feathers of gun smoke began to sprout everywhere north south down mountain and up slope long range middle range and point blank all converging into the flimsy walls of house and barn the shadows within were lively with jumping splinters and the smell of powder filled the whole breeze the attackers had no organization and little plan but each of them out there was effective in his own way full of individual resource the people in the busted nose were suddenly the center of an echoing roaring s wirl swirl of fire attack get down melody ordered cherry get down I 1 said she was trying to get a look at the ear of the hurt pony and she flicked melody a glance so near contempt that go to hell was unnecessary melody reached for her caught her shoulder and spilled her over a hay bale into a slot between two others melody watched hopefully to see if a bullet buzz through the spot where she had stood it though the second time youve done that cherry started to scramble up furiously but bul she caught his eye upon her and was stopped after a moment she settled back and for the time being stayed where she was her eyes bewildered upon his back as he turned away avery and fever crick were sliding at a running crouch from one wall to another trying to keep up a semblance of fire on all sides they desperately feared a rush and know on which side to expect it except that whichever way they were turned they felt the threat was I 1 at their backs between shots they hauled frantically at the hay bales which were their protection against lead the sleazy walls of the barn hid their movements but nothing else they kept trying to shore up the gaps and angles where the bullets were splattering ering through but there quite enough bales to afford a double tier all around and it had them crazy avery trying to haul a bale to plug one gap had his coattails coat tails clipped by a shot that came through the place from which he had taken it and when he frantically mauled hauled it back where it was before a slug of lead from still another direction X here it is says cherry went through the top of his hat from the side the rake of gunfire was lacing in brutally this side that side crossways lengthways all sides with the deadly quartering and spreading of the attack hard to see why they arent shooting each other fever crick whimpered where would be the sense avery snarled at him firing if you think them cagey devils dont know where their shots go stick your damn head up doncet and show bem fem cm a real rico skip a fine way to talk to your fa father therl the iron pail which stood by george fury let out a metallic howl bowl and began to squirt water both sides melody propped it on a sl antto save the rest of the water every minute now new vulnerabilities were badrig discovered covered is by those probing searching all covering guns one cluster of rocks three hundred yards above the barn am seemed alive with gunners pouring in a plunging fire that crackled through the walls and thudded into the hay bales theys about seven fellers in that rock nest alone avery panted one feller melody thought hes restless on account of them ant heaps up there all A ricochet from the downhill side snarled through the wall ripping out a piece of knot wood beside melody he casually put his eye to the new knothole othol and peered back the way the bullet had come it was enough to make a man think to see what i those buzz fly bullets could do to solid wood he put his gun muzzle to a crack belt high and still looking through the bullet rip made three unevenly spaced spouts of earth jump up from the crest of the slope behind him cherry asked in a small voice did you get him get him what for I 1 want to get him I 1 was jest shudyin stud yin to make his aim nervous I 1 aint got nothing against some feller out there without I 1 even know who he be 11 he flattened to the hay bales to look slantwise through the broad door he saw an undersized figure on a mustang horse break from cover far off making a dash for a different rift of brush the rider put the cayuse in a long winging leap across a coulee in all the hellish rattle that was going on you tell which gun got him except it seemed to be from the house the pony went slick slack in mid jump and struck the opposite lip of the coulee in a heap the rider tell fell clear and rolled bouncing down the precipitous drop spread eagled eagleb and grabbing at roots to check himself then he also went slack before he stopped and lay loosely where he came to rest cherry gasped close to Mel odys ear she was leaning on his shoulder but until then he known it she whispered that was homer cotton 11 georges mind was wandering now he said 1 I dont mind rain I 1 love rain like any cowman but in californi Calif Cali forny omy your life aint safe a minute without you got a cockeyed rowboat on your back along about then a strange inhuman cry sounded in the house it trailed offin a quaver and was not repeated they learned afterward that the luckless virgil browning wd was s struck in the jaw shattering half his face by a slug that caromed chromed off a stove lid to find him A feller cant see how they live there in the house melody said without no hay bales like we got maybe they aint hungry yet george said faintly bank the mattresses against the walls cherry said her voice was dull and shaky use pieces of the stove and floor planking and anything that will check a bullet but they cant stop them all melody sat down near george his back against a bale he idly rolled a cigarette it beats me he said 1 I aint got the faintest idee why for were doing this the fellers outside want to get in george said he spoke huskily and faintly but with a slow distinctness as it speaking to a child the fellers inside want to keep ern em out catch on that dont account for what im doing here melody said youre here to git rich the reason you give anyway when you drug us into this remember his voice died away to almost nothing leave me know when you think were rich enough sos we can git the hell out of here 11 A little after that the first extended concentration of fire began to die down the attackers were getting cagey tired of pouring their fire blind into the thin without any apparent lessening of the weaker but still dangerous fire power within they settled down to an intermittent sniping at marks which wishful thinking suggested one determined rush would have laid the outfit flat but the defense had achieved so spirited an effect that the cottons men never believed either then or ever how extremely few were holding the busted nose through those hours no A rush was tried lester cottons wearing a deau tys badge cherry said 1 I saw it on his shirt naturally it aint on the seat ot of his pants avery said irritably lester cottons badge meant something the ring of gun smoke had taken to itself the guise of all the law there was the people here could have held more hope if they had been a thousand times outnumbered in an apache raid avery and fever crick bad time naw now to tally their remaining ammunition and went through the inevitable surprise at how much they had used up still they were doing pretty well it if they were prudent they could make it last a few hours yet perhaps even until dark melody began throwing down and hog tying the horses taking harry henshaw first this involved considerable uproar and thrashing around but when it was done the ponies were pretty safe for the first time by the time he was finished fini sned the posse seemed to have shaken down into a steady siege fit to last a week without taxing anybody except the people inside some smoke columns from cooking fires began to rise from various points they could hear more people arriving out there out of sight some of them in wagons there were distant shouts as newcomers hailed each other it was a wonder where all the people came from as the news spread the hills out of gun range were filling up with no goods and hangers on attending tor for the sake of the excitement and the barbecue probably there thee would be political speeches out there before they were through sometimes a quarter of an hour would pass with no shot fired but the snipers were still alert their few shots were accurate as pencil dots after a while one of them pasted fever crick the bullet caught him slantwise just above the wrist it was almost spent and ran erratically up his arm for eight or nine inches just under the skin no especial damage was accomplished by it later he would tell about his remarkable casualty a thousand times until it became his most used possession but just now he took it that he was much worse than killed he moaned piteously and continuously and from then on demanded the kind of attention deserved by a man who was virtually dying and made of it an excuse to gulp most of their water up there going to be any more water in here when what they had was gone there going to be any food either or anything else until this thing should get itself over with melody sat on the ground near george with his back against a bale and watched cherry fuss over her father 1 I thought I 1 told you to stay down he said she obeyed him without any question this time she came and sat on the ground close beside him looking subdued TO BE CONTINUED |