Track's End

  CHAPTER XVII

  The Fight, and not much else: except a little Happening at the Endwhich startles me greatly.

  It seems a good deal to believe, but I actually half think that Kaiserhad begun to get hold of the fine points of a flag of truce, and thathe understood it was ended. What makes me have this idea is that Ithink he must have taken after Pike at first, though I wasn't doingmuch looking back just then, being busy at something more important;but anyhow he wasn't with me till I was halfway to the store, when hepassed me with a great bark and went on tearing up the snow a fewsteps ahead. I wish he had got ahead sooner, as I think I ran fastertrying to keep up with him; but as it was I don't know but he saved mylife.

  Either Pike got back before I did, or one of his cutthroats fired forhim; I know not, probably the latter, but the shot was for me andwell aimed, so well that I guess the bullet went where I was when itstarted. Thus it was: Kaiser was ahead, and reared up and threwhimself at the store door, which, being unlatched, flew open; itstopped him a little, and I, being close behind, went down over himand into the store head first, as if I had been fired out of a cannon;and at that instant the bullet I spoke of struck the open door halfwayup. I slammed the door shut, grabbed my rifle, stuck the muzzlethrough the port-hole, and pumped three shots out of it without oncetrying to aim.

  Then, without taking breath, I ran out the front by way of the tunnelto the bank, and so up-stairs, where with another rifle I pumped outtwo more shots, and then looked. The men had left the grade and werecoming full tilt out around the water-tank and graders' carts, theirhorses rearing and floundering through the drifts. I fired twice,aiming carefully each time, but I don't think I hit. I saw they wouldsoon be out of range. Again I dropped my gun, ran down-stairs andthrough tunnel No. 1 to the hotel and up-stairs to a corner window,double planked up, and giving me the range on the square and the footof the street. I was there first, with the hammer of my Winchesterback, and with Kaiser behind me wishing, I know, that dogs couldshoot.

  The next second they came in sight and charged for the street. I aimedand fired; I hit this time; one of the horses went down and the manover his head. The other six came straight for the end of the street.I fired again, but saw no results. I counted on the drift stoppingthem. It did so less than I expected. Two went down in the snow; fourcame on. I fired and one man dropped off his horse. The hard crust washolding the other three. I fired again, but it did no good. Then thehead one, on a pinto pony, went down like a flash out of sight, horseand man. He had gone into tunnel No. 3, leading to Townsend's store.

  I fired three shots as fast as I could work the lever, withoutstopping to aim. Then I looked out. The other two riders had turnedtail. The horse of one had gone down in the snow and he was runningaway on foot; the other had got off the drifts without going down. Ithought it was Pike. It seemed a good time to shoot at him, and I didso, but without so much as touching him, as I think. The man in thetunnel got out and dodged around the corner of Townsend's store beforeI could do my duty by him. They were all the next minute at the depot,either in it or behind it.

  This thing of their taking the depot was something which I had notthought of. They were now as well covered and protected as I; and itwas still seven against one, because the man that I shot off of hishorse got over with the others by the help of one whose horse wentdown in the drift. But their building was more exposed than mine, andthey could do nothing about their robbery so long as they stayedthere.

  They now began to fire their first shots since the one which followedme into Townsend's store. They were well-aimed shots, too, and thebullets came through my window as if the planks were gingerbread. Asplinter of wood struck my left eye and closed it up; but I had itshut most of the time anyhow, aiming with the other, so it didn'tmatter. However, I didn't like the place, and went back into the roomin the northwest corner and got a range on them from one of the frontwindows. I thought their bullets would glance off of the planks here,and they did; however, the ones which struck the side came right onthrough, lath partitions and all; but I kept close to the floor. Allthe time Kaiser stayed close behind me, barking so that I thought hewould tear himself to pieces, and with the hair on his back standingstraight up.

  I had two rifles and a hundred or more cartridges, and I began to givethe depot a pretty stiff bombarding. I don't think I missed thebuilding once, and I knew every ball went through the side; but whatthey did after that I couldn't tell. There were three windows in thedepot on the side toward me, all close together near the east end, butnone at all to the right of them. None of them were boarded up, andthe robbers were pretty careful about showing themselves much at them.They gradually dropped off the platform on the other side and crawledunder to the front from where I had watched the Indians that day. Theywere well protected here, but the wind swept across the west end ofthe square and blew such a spray of snow in their faces that theycould not see to aim well. On the other hand the sun had now got upand the reflection came in my eyes and hurt my shooting. I wished thatthe horse was out of the way so I could get through tunnel No. 3 intoTownsend's, where a side window, well planked, looked right down onthe depot; but it was just as well that I couldn't, as I found outafterward.

  They were still thinking that there was a large population in Track'sEnd, and I could see splinters flying all over town where they wereplugging away at windows and doors.

  I soon noticed that they were not shooting quite so much, and thoughtsome of them might be sneaking around and thinking of coming up fromthe west, so I went through to the bank once in a while, firing a fewshots from its front window at the depot so as to keep up theirlarge-population idea. At the third visit I looked out back and saw aman run from the coal-shed to behind the water-tank. I got ready andwaited. Another ran across. I gave him a shot which made him jump.Then I fired half a dozen shots through the inclosed part below thetank, and if any of the balls missed the big timbers they must havegone through. I thought those fellows would keep awhile, and ran backto the hotel and began to pepper away at the depot again. This I keptup for an hour, I think, when I caught a glimpse of one of the menfrom the tank going back, and thought likely they had both gone.

  The outlaws made just one more rally, and it was very well planned,and if I had not been expecting it it might, after all, have gone hardwith the town of Track's End. All at once they began an uncommonlylively firing from under the depot platform. I thought this might meana charge from the other side, so I started to see. Joyce's store ranback farther than any of the others on that side of the street, andhad a side window near the back corner; so I went there instead of tothe bank.

  It was slow work crawling under the sidewalk and getting up throughthe trap-door, but I made it at last and ran to the window. Two of themen were charging straight across the square for the rear ofTownsend's, carrying a big torch of sticks and twisted hay. Thewindow was not boarded up, but I stuck my rifle barrel through theglass and fired at them. The bullet, I think, struck the torch,because I saw the fire fly in all directions. They dropped it andretreated in a great panic, while I shot again.

  I ran back to the hotel and began shooting once more at the depot.They never fired another shot. I went over to the bank and from theback window I could see them going away to the southwest, keepingunder cover of the tank and coal-shed. They came around up on to thegrade a half-mile to the west. I had a look at them through the glass.Some were walking and some riding. There seemed to be two men on onehorse. I think that more than one of them was wounded, but thedrifting snow now made it hard to see. I went back through the hoteland down the street to watch them from the tower above the snow. Thepony which had fallen into the tunnel was still there. I noticed itwore an expensive Mexican saddle, all heavy embossed leather, with ahigh cantle, silver ornaments, big tapaderos on the stirrups, and ahorsehair bridle with silver bit. There was a red blanket rolled upand tied on behind the saddle.

  As I went by Townsend's I saw that the window I wanted to get to wasas full of holes as a skim
mer, and I was glad the horse had blocked upmy way. I noticed that the depot wasn't much better off, however, forholes. I went up the tower and watched the outlaws for half an hour.They stopped a few minutes at Mountain's to get their extra horses andthen went on.

  The wind was coming fresher all the time and I was pretty well chilledwhen I got down. I was hurrying along across the drifts to the hotelwhen I noticed the horse in the tunnel again. But his fine saddle andbridle were gone. I knew instantly that it must be the work of myunknown night visitor, who had not stolen anything for some time. Thiswas the first thing that had been disturbed by daylight; it wasgrowing bolder. My heart had behaved itself so well during the fightthat I had forgotten that I had such a thing; now it started tothumping so hard that I thought it was all there was to me.