Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1909-02-03

walls. the fireplace and the red cross |
he reflected. 81 am not the first man. |
or even the first white man. that has |
withstocd an attack in this place"
In Imagination he constructed the his
tory of the fort. Here. in ages re-
mote. a tribe of Indians. defeated and
driven to the mountains. had con
structed an outpost against their enc
mics of the plain, but these had cap
tured the stronghold and fortified it
against it's former occupants. Later a
made stand here against natives
whom they had reused against them
by oppression. Or, perhaps. as indi
Gated 10y the cross, it had afforded ref
uge to the mission fathers, those he
role souls who had faced the horrors
of the infernO-like desert in their
sanity efforts to convert it's fiendish
tnha bitantS.
With his mind occupied by appre-
tensions Lane looked at the rattle
snake upon the sahuaro. whose strug-
giles by this time had diminished to a
feeble movement of the tail
Poor old rattler!' he thought. 81
wish | could spare cartridge to put
you out Of your misery
AT length as Lane peered up the
mountain side he saw a brush on Il
ledge a little to the left of the trail
CULVER as Ii stirred by passing
breath of wind. He aimed his Win
chester through crack in the wall
at the spot. and when a moment later
an Apache rose up from the ground
and leaped toward the shelter of u
rock below Lane fired. and the savage
fell crumpling. Like an echo of the
explosion a rifle on the right spoke.
and q bullet struck the rock by Lanes
head. Ee marked the spot whence
the shot came and quickly ran to an
other part Of the wall. From here he
saw the edge Of an indians thigh ex
posed by the side of the bowlder he
had noted Crack went Lanes Win
chester. The leg was suddenly with
drawn. and at the same moment a
head appeared On the other side Of the
rock. as if the Indian had stretched
himself out Involuntary. Crack again.
and Lane had got his man.
1.-TWO shots to an Indian is expen-
sive" thought the prospector; other
wise this game of tip-jack would he
very interesting
There was cry in the Apache
bodies arose from behind rocks and
bushes extending il an irregular cres
cent above the fort and rushed for.
ward ten, fifteen and even twenty
yards &c the next cover Lane dii not
count number or distance at the time
but he figured these out in his next
period OF waiting from the photograp
flashed Oh his SubconScioas mind al
the time OF the rush he was otherwise
occupied. Crack. crack. and TWO OF
the Indians fell dead in midcareer
Crack, and q third era wled, wounded
TO the cover he had almost safely at
tanned. Crack. and an eagle feather
in the head of the fourth Indian sho
at was cut off 1t tho stem and fell for
ward on the rock behind which it
wearer had dropped just in time t.
save his life There was an answering
voliey from the rifles of the remainin,
ApacheS. which was directed agains
the lookout Of loose stones from which
the pr0spector's fire had come One G
the bullets penetrated the opening ant
ptowed furrow through Lanes scalp
toppling him to his knees lie scram
bled quickly to his feet and. hastily
pressing bis long hair back from his
| forehead to stanch the bleeding wound
sought the protection Of the middle
lookout. He congratulated himself.
Lucky for me they didn't follow the
first rush Immediately with second
Now | know to wait for their signal
| Six and possibly seven Of them are
left, and they will storm my works il
two more attempts. Here they GOMEZ!
The call again sounded. Six Apache:
leaped forward. and from the rock tina
concealed the wounded warrior a sho
rang out in advance Of the first dis
charge from Lanes Winchester. TIL,
Indians bullet scored the top of tn,
turret and filed the eyes of the maj
behind 1t with powdered stone. Tn,
prospector. already dazed by his wound
fired wildly and missed his mark
Quickly recovering himself. he fire,
again and again. severely woundin;
two Apaches. These lay clawing tn
ground within twenty yards of tn
wall. The four remaining Indian
were safely concealed at the same dis
lance. protected no less by the fortif
cation than by the loose powders be
hind which they crouched for the fina
spring. Lane realized the fact that hi
next shots to be effective must be a
a downward angle and to fire them b
must expose himself
''This is my fnish." he thought t.
himself Better be killed instantl
than tortured. hope all four vii
hit me- Goodby. Jinny"-crack wen
his rifle. ''Goodby, Nance" - cracl
again.
At the two shots. surmising that tn
bod cb1