CHAPTER XVIII
HARLAN STRIKES
Joe Barr laughingly replied to Johnny Nelson's growled remarks about thecondition of things in general and tried to soothe him, but Johnny wasunsoothable.
"An' I've been telling him right along that he's got the best of it,"complained Jackson in a weary voice. "Got a measly hole through hisshoulder--good Lord! if it had gone a little lower!" he finished with ashow of exasperation.
"An' ain't I been telling you all along that it ain't the measly holein my shoulder that's got me on the prod?" retorted Johnny, with moreearnestness than politeness. "But why couldn't I go with my friendsafter Jerry an' get shot later if I had to get it at all? Look what I'mmissing, roped an' throwed in this cussed ten-by-ten shack while they'rehaving a little excitement."
"Yo're missing some blamed nasty weather, Kid," replied the marshal."You ain't got no kick coming at all. Why, I got soaked clean throughjust going down to the Oasis."
"Well, I'm kicking, just the same," snapped Johnny. "An' furthermore, Idon't see nobody big enough to stop me, neither--did you all get that?"
The rear door opened and Fred Neal looked in. "Hey, Barr; come out an'gimme a hand in the corral. Busted my cinch all to pieces half a mileout--an' how the devil it ever busted like that is--" the door slammedshut and softened his monologue.
"Would you listen to that!" snorted Barr in an injured tone. "Didn't Igo an' tell him near a month ago that his cussed cinch wouldn't hold nobetter'n a piece of wet paper?" His complaint added materially to theatmosphere of sullen discontent pervading the room. "An' now I gottergo out in this rain an'--" the slam of the door surpassed anything yetattempted in that line of endeavor. Jackson grabbed a can of corn as itjarred off the shelf behind him and directed a pleasing phrase after thepeevish Barr.
"Say, won't somebody please smile?" gravely asked Edwards. "I never sawsuch a happy, cheerful bunch before."
"I might smile if I wasn't so blamed hungry," retorted Johnny. "Doesn'tanybody ever eat in this town?" he asked in great sarcasm. "Mebby a goodfeed won't do me no good, but I'm going to fill myself regardless. An'after that, if the grub don't shock me to death, I'm shore going to trimsomebody at Ol' Sledge--for two bits a hand."
"If I could play you enough hands at that price I could sell out an'live high without working," grinned Jackson, preparing to give thereckless invalid all he could eat. "That's purty high, Kid; but I justfeel real devilish, an' I'm coming in."
"An' I'll go over to my shack, get some money, an' bust the pair ofyou," laughed Edwards, again buttoning his coat and going towardsthe door. "Holy Cats! A log must 'a' got jammed in the sluice-gateup there," he muttered, scowling at the black sky. "It's coming downharder'n ever, but here goes," and he stepped quickly into the storm.
Jackson paused with a frying pan in his hands and looked throughthe window after the departing marshal, and saw him stagger, stumbleforward, then jerk out his guns and begin firing. Hard firing now burstout in front and Jackson, cursing angrily, dropped the pan and reachedfor his rifle--to drop it also and sink down, struck by the bullet whichdrilled through the window. Johnny let out a yell of rage, grabbed hisColt, and ran to the door in time to see Edwards slowly raise up on oneelbow, fire his last shot, and fall back riddled by bullets.
Jackson crawled to his rifle and then to the side window, where hepropped his back against a box and prepared to do his best. "It wasshore a surprise," he swore. "An' they went an' got Edwards before hecould do anything."
"They did not!" retorted Johnny. "He--" the glass in the door vibratedsharply and the speaker, stepping to one side out of sight, with a newand superficial wound, opened fire on the building down the street.Two men were lying on the ground across the street--these Edwardshad shot--and another was trying to drag himself to the shelter of abuilding. A man sprinted from an old corral close by in a brave andfoolhardy attempt to save his friend, and Johnny swore because he had tofire twice at the same mark.
The rear door crashed open and shut as Barr, closely followed by Neal,ran in. They had been caught in the corral but, thanks to Harlan'swhiskey, had managed to hold their own until they had a chance to make arush for the store.
"Where's the marshal?" cried Barr, catching sight of Jackson. "Are youplugged bad?" he asked, anxiously.
"Well, I ain't plugged a whole lot _good_!" snapped Jackson. "An'Edwards is dead. They shot him down without warning. We're going to getours, too--these walls don't stop them bullets. How many out there?"
"Must be a dozen," hastily replied Neal, who had not remained idle. Bothhe and Barr were working like mad men moving boxes and barrels againstthe walls to make a breastwork capable of stopping the bullets whichcame through the boards.
"I reckon--I'm bleeding inside," Jackson muttered, wearily and withouthope. "Wonder how--long we--can hold out?"
"We'll hold out till we're good an' dead!" replied Johnny, hotly. "Theyain't got us yet an' they'll pay for it before they do. If we can hold'em off till Buck an' the rest come back we'll have the pleasure ofseeing 'em buried."
"Oh, I'll get you next time!" assured Barr to an enemy, slipping a freshcartridge into the Sharps and peering intently at a slight rise on themuddy plain. "You shoot like yo're drunk," he mumbled.
"But what is it all about, anyhow?" asked Neal, finding time for animmaterial question. "Who are they?--can't see nothing but blurs throughthis rain!"
"Yes; what's the game?" asked Barr, mildly surprised that he had notthought of it before.
"It's that Oasis gang," Johnny responded. He fired, and growled withdisappointment. "Harlan's at the head of it," he added.
"Edwards--told Harlan to--get out of--town," Jackson began.
"An' to take his gang with him," Johnny interposed quickly to saveJackson from the strain. "They had till dark. Guess the rest. Oh, you_coyote_!" he shouted, staggering back. There was a report farther downthe barricade and Neal called out, "I got him, Nelson; he's done. Howare you?"
"Mad! Mad!" yelled Johnny, touching his twice-wounded shoulder anddancing with rage and pain. "Right in the same place! Oh, wait! _Wait!_Hey, gimme a rifle--I can't do nothing with a Colt at this range; myname ain't Hopalong," and he went slamming around the room in hot searchof what he wanted.
"There ain't--no more--Johnny," feebly called Jackson, raising slightlyto ease himself. "You can have--my gun purty--soon. I won't be able--touse it--much longer."
"Why don't Buck an' Hoppy hurry up!" snarled Johnny.
"Be a long time--mebby," mumbled Jackson, his trembling hands tryingto steady the rifle. "They're all--around us. _Ah_, missed!" he intonedhoarsely, trying to pump the lever with unobeying hands. "I can'tlast--much--" the words ceased abruptly and the clatter of the rifle onthe floor told the story.
Johnny stumbled over to him and dragged him aside, covering the upturnedface with his own sombrero, and picked up the rifle. Rolling a barrel offlour against the wall below the window he fixed himself as comfortablyas possible and threw a shell into the chamber.
"Now, you coyotes; you pay _me_ for _that_!" he gritted, resting the gunon the window sill and holding it so he could work it with one hand andshoulder.
"Wonder how them pups ever pumped up enough courage to cut loose likethis?" queried Neal from behind his flour barrel.
"Whiskey," hazarded Barr. "Harlan must 'a' got 'em drunk. An' that'sthree times I've missed that snake. Wish it would stop raining so Icould see better."
"Why don't you wish they'd all drop dead? Wish good when you wishat all: got as much chance of having it come true," responded Neal,sarcastically. He smothered a curse and looked curiously at his leftarm, and from it to the new, yellow-splintered hole in the wall, whichwas already turning dark from the water soaking into it. "Hey, Joe; weneed some more boxes!" he exclaimed, again looking at his arm.
"Yes," came Johnny's voice. "Three of 'em--five of 'em, an' about sixfeet long an' a foot deep. But if my outfit gets here in time we'll wantmore'n a dozen."
"Say! Lacey's firing now!"
suddenly cried Barr. "He's shooting outof his windy. That'll stop 'em from rushing us! Good boy, Lacey!" heshouted, but Lacey did not hear him in the uproar.
"An' he's worse off than we are, being alone," commented Neal. "Hey! Oneof us better make a break for help--my ranch's the nearest. What d'yesay?"
"It's suicide; they'll get you before you get ten feet," Barr repliedwith conviction.
"No; they won't--the corral hides the back door, an' all the firingis on this side. I can sneak along the back wall an' by keeping thebuildings atween me an' them, get a long ways off before they knowanything about it. Then it's a dash--an' they can't catch me. But canyou fellers hold out if I do?"
"Two can hold out as good as three--go ahead," Johnny replied. "Leave mesome of yore Colt cartridges, though. You can't use 'em all before youget home."
"Don't stop fer that; there's a shelfful of all kinds behind thecounter," Barr interposed.
"Well, so long an' good luck," and the rear door closed, and softly thistime.
"Two hours is some wait under the present circumstances," Barr muttered,shifting his position behind his barricade. "He can't do it in less,nohow."
Johnny ducked and looked foolish. "Missed me by a foot," he explained."He can't do it in two--not there an' back," he replied. "The trail ismud over the fetlocks. Give him three at the least."
"They ain't shooting as much as they was before."
"Waiting till they gets sober, I reckon," Johnny replied.
"If we don't hear no ruction in a few minutes we'll know he got away allright," Barr soliloquized. "An' he's got a fine cayuse for mud, too."
"Hey, why can't you do the same thing if he makes it?" Johnny suddenlyasked. "I can hold her alone, all right."
"Yo're a cheerful liar, you are," laughed Barr. "But can _you_ ride?"
"Reckon so, but I ain't a-going to."
"Why, we _both_ can go--it's a cinch!" Barr cried. "Come on!"
"Lord!--an' I never even thought of that! Reckon I was too mad," Johnnyreplied. "But I sort of hates to leave Jackson an' Edwards," he added,sullenly.
"But they're gone! You can't do them no good by staying."
"Yes; I know. An' how about Lacey chipping in on our fight?" demandedJohnny. "I ain't a-going to leave him to take it all. You go, Barr; itwasn't yore fight, nohow. You didn't even know what you was fightingfor!"
"Huh! When anybody shoots at me it's my fight, all right," replied Barr,seating himself on the floor behind the breastwork. "I forgot all aboutLacey," he apologized. At that instant a tomato can went _spang!_ andfell off the shelf. "An' it's too late, anyhow; they ain't a-going tolet nobody else get away on that side."
"An' they're tuning up again, too," Johnny replied, preparing fortrouble. "Look out for a rush, Barr."