The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-01-29

in shadowy. almost impalpabIe shapes.
and as the first dropped inside and
started on at a crouching trot she
aimed quickly but steadily and fired
A little cry Of primitive and savage
Joy sprang from her lips as she saw
the man plunge forward in the half
light and lie there rolling on the
ground
But at that warning the others
leaped down and came on at a run.
The tempo Quickened and became con-
fusing. They were firing as they ran
and their answering bullets peIted
against her barrier and over her head
on the walls. She heard window panes
shivering and glass falling. and yet
her citation grew-two more advancing
figures had crumpled into inert
masses. Unless there were REINFORCE
ments she would stem their oncoming
tide. Even a mountain marksman can
not target his shots well while he is
running and under fire. 1t takes
championship sprinting to do fifty
yards in five seconds-on the smooth
ness of cinder path.
Uphill in a constant spit of fire
and lead it requires little longer.
There were only two left now. and
one of them suddenly veered and
made for the cover of a hickory trunk
of to one side-he was in full flight
But the other came on, throwing the
rife away and shifting his heavy mag
azine pistol to his right hand.
1t was easy now, thought the girl
she could take her time and be very
sure.
Yet she shot and missed, and the
man came on with the confidence Of
one who wears a talisman and fears
no harm. Now he was almost at the
steps and his pistol was barking vi
ciously-then suddenly something in
the mechanism OF Juanita's rife
damned and it lay useless and dead
in her hands. She struggled with it,
frantically jerking the lever. but be-
fore she had conquered its baking
obstinacy she saw the oncoming figure
leap up the steps at one stride and
thrust his weapon forward over the
table. She even caught the glitter of
his teeth as a snarling smile parted
his lips
Then a rifle spoke behind her-a
rifle in the hands of the man who had
dragged himself to the firing line, and
with his foot on the threshold Jim
Fletcher reeled backward and rolled
lumberingly down the steps to the
ground
You got him!" she screamed You
got him, AnseI"
1t had been perhaps five minutes
since she had called out to the men
in the road, but it seemed to her that
she had sustained a long siege. She
saw the man who had fed crossing
the fence and disappearing. Then
very slowly she rose and turned to
the room again.
Anse Havey was lying on his face
and the gun with which he had killed
Jim Fletcher lay by his side, but his
posture was so rigid and his limbs
so motionless that the girl caught at
her breast and reeled backward She
would have fallen had she not been
supported by the table. Had the fight
been lost. after all?
Slowly, and in a daze of reaction
and fright, she moved forward and
turned his body over and laid her ear
to his heart.
It was still beating The rife had
only jOlted his weak and pain-racked
body into unconsclousness and as she
held his head to her breast her eyes
went about the room, where the pal
lid light was stealing now, and by the
mantel she saw hanging the horn that
Jerry Everson had given her.
Why had she not thought Of that be-
fore? she asked herself accusingly-
Why had she not sent its call for
help out across the hills long ago?
words of the mountain man when he
had brought it over and had initiated
the Havey battle-caH-
Don't never blow tibet unIessen We
wants ter start hell. When them calls
goes out aerOst the mountains every
Havey thet kin tote a guns got ter
git up an come"
If ever there had been a time when.
every Havey should come it was this
time. She laid Anse's head once more
on the cushions and went to the man
tel Then. standing in the door, she
drew long breath.
She set the horn to her lips and
blew. Out across the melting vague
ness of the dim world hoated the three
long blasts and the three short ones.
She waited; a little while and blew
again. That signal could not reach
Anse Havey's own house, because the
ridge would send it echoing back in a
shattered wave of sound. It would be
better heard TO the east. and after a
time there came back to her waiting
ears, very low and distant, yet very
clear, an answer.
tt came from the house of Milt Nc
Briar. and Juanita's heart. torn and
anxious as It was, ieaped, for she
knew that for the first time in the
memory OF man the HaVey call to
arms had been heard and was being
answered. by a chief of the McBriars.
and that as fast as horses could. carry
them he and his men would bring sue
cor.
An hour later. when the mountata