CHAPTER XIX
OPEN WARFARE
"Zip!" a stone from Nort's sling cut the air with a vicious ping, andnot only that, but it caught one of the Greasers on the side of hishead. He uttered a cry, dropped his reins and clapped a hand to thesmarting place.
Another instant and he had lost control of his horse, which first swamdown stream and then turned to go back to the shore he had left. Onereason for this was that Nort had let fly a stone that took the horseon the flank. And Nort was careful not to shoot as hard at the horseas he had at the rider. In fact the horse was not hurt at all--merelyfrightened, for the stone was like a fly-bite.
But it was enough.
Meanwhile the other defenders of Spur Creek had been using their slingsto advantage, first stinging the Greaser riders with vicious stones andthen, more lightly, tapping the horses to demoralize them rather thanto hurt them.
This sort of warfare proved most effective, for by turning the horsesand sending them back, in spite of all the efforts of their riders, theforces of the sheep herders were thrown into confusion.
And this, really, was the object of Bud and his companions. They didnot want to kill so much as a single sheep. All they desired was tokeep inviolate the land rightfully owned by Mr. Merkel. And he feltthat he still owned it, in spite of the action of the United StatesCongress, and even though his papers had been stolen.
In this initial skirmish, which soon developed into a fight, theadvantage, at first, was all on the side of the Diamond X force as theGreasers did not fight back. Some of them carried guns, but did notdraw them.
It might be reasoned that they wanted to go into court with "cleanhands," as the legal term is. That is, they could claim they werefired upon when attempting to make a peaceable crossing of the creek inorder to pasture their sheep on the new government open range land.One part of their contention might be true, but the one implying thatMr. Merkel's land could be taken by any chance comer, was not true.
At any rate, first along, the Mexicans did not fire back. MeanwhileBud and his comrades were fairly peppering the Greasers with stonesfrom the rubber slings. No one was badly hurt--indeed, bruised facesand hands were about the only injuries, but if you have ever faced afusilade from a battery of putty blowers or bean shooters you know howdisconcerting it is.
Then, too, the horses proved allies of our friends. For the light"peppering" the animals received from the slings made the animalsnervous and disinclined to face the shower of stones.
Some few sheep were driven into the stream, and it was evident that,for the present at least, this was a good crossing--shallow enough andwith no quicksands. But once the sheep began to hear and see thestones "zipping" in the water around them, some of the woollies feelingthe pebbles--though only slightly--a new problem was presented to theMexicans. Their sheep, like the horses, turned about and made for thesouthern shore.
So that, in less than five minutes after the attempt to make thecrossing was started, it had failed, and the hostile forces withdrew.
"Guess we made it too hot for them," chuckled Bud.
"For a while, yes," agreed Nort. "But it isn't over yet."
"No," added his brother. "If they give up now I miss my guess.They'll try again."
And so the Greasers did.
Withdrawing to a safe distance from the slings--which could only justabout carry across Spur Creek, a conference was held among the sheepherders. Then they came on again, trying in the same place.
But Bud and his friends were ready, with an unlimited supply ofammunition. Stones were plentiful along the creek, and each cowboy hadhis pockets full.
One advantage of the sling shots was that they could be "loaded andfired" much more rapidly than the guns--by which I mean the .45revolvers. And of course on humanitarian grounds there was nocomparison--no one was killed or even severely wounded by the stones.They were only painfully hurt.
But this was part of the game. It was open warfare and had to beendured. Besides, from the standpoint of Bud and his comrades, theywere in the right and the sheep herders were in the wrong.
I have no doubt but that the herders of the sheep reasoned just theother way--holding that they had a right to cross the creek and pasturetheir charges on the rich grass beyond, and arguing that the Diamond Xoutfit was in the wrong.
And in this conflict lies my story, such as it is.
After the third attempt to cross the creek with their sheep, beingdriven back each time, the Mexicans seemed to lose patience. Therewere angry voices as most of the Greasers gathered about one man whoseemed to be their leader, and who had, it was evident, counseledpacific measures. Now these came to an end.
For on the "fourth down," as Dick laughingly referred to it, theGreasers began shooting bullets as they rode their horses into thestream.
"Now it's a fight in earnest!" cried Bud.
"Draw your guns!" ordered Billee sternly.
The real battle was about to open.