The Aberdeen weekly., 1922-04-21

| became obvious. Bullerton seemed TO
have absorbed the idea that he could
| break our nerve-wear US out. After
the first fusillade the shots came at
intervals of maybe five minutes just
often enough TO keep Us on the strain !;
and I don't mind admitting that. the
object was handsomely gained l can't
speak for Daddy Hiram or the dog,
but at the end of the first hour was
little better than a bunch Of raw
nerves.
As all days must, this wearisome
| first day came to an end at last, and
with the coming of dusk the lombard
ment stopped-with our roof looking
like a sieve.
But after darkness had settled down
we were made TO feel in another way
how acutely helpless we were. We
could see nothing, hear nothing.
Though we knew we were surrounded.
the silence and solitude were unbroken,
and the strain was greater than that
of pitched battle. If we were to get
any sleep at all, a night watch could
be maintained by only one of US at a
time; and with our utmost vigilance
a surprise attack would be the easiest
thing in the world for Fullerton TO pull
off.
There are no night noises in the high
attitudes, unless the wind happens to
be blowing; no frogs or tree-toads, no
insects; and the silence was fairly
deafening-and maddening.
Not wishing to strike a match TO de-
| termine the exact end of my watch
period, stuck ii out, meaning to give
Daddy good measure. SO 1 think it
must have been somewhere around ten
o'clock when the collie woke with a
start, jumped up, took the kinks out of
his back with little whining yawn.
and trotted TO the door-the one open
ing toward the cabin across the dump
head. Screwing an eye to one of Dad
dy's auger-bOred loopholes, I tried to
fathom the outer darkness, which was
only a degree or so less Egyptian than
that of the shaft-house interior.
Though I could see nothing suspi-
ciOus it was very evident that the dog
could hear something. He had his nose
to the crack under the door and was
growing. l quieted him and listened
Something was going on, either inside
of the cabin or back of it; in the dead
silence l could distinguish a low mur-
muir of voices and, a moment later a
sound like that which would be made
by the cautious opening of one of the
sliding windows. While I still had my
eye to the peep-hole a jet of flame
spurted from the dark bulk of the cab
in, and simultaneously a bullet tore
through the shaft-house roof. The
raiders had captured our outworks.
The report and the bullet clatter
aroused Daddy Hiram, and when 1
turned he was at my elbow.
Done crOpe up on US, have they,
sOn?" he said in his usual unruffled
manner Then: Maybe this is just
sort o false notion over here. S'pose
you try and get a squint at things over
on the blacksmith-shop side. Stannie."
stumbled across to the other door,
taking the collie with me. 1 could see
nothing in that direction; less than
nothing, since the lean-tO shop build
ing cut off what little light the stars
gave But the black darkness didn't
hamper Barney's ears or his nose, and
his eagerness to get back to the real
battle front was a good proof that
there was as yet nothing stirring on
our side of things.
Cropping my way back to Daddy
found that he had one of the WincheS-
ters and semed to be trying to fit
ramrod to the barrel When 1 finally
made out what he was doing I found
that he had thrust a piece of heavy
wire into the gun-barrel and was i'm
paling one of the dynamite cartridges
on its projecting end.
LII skyrocket," he chuckled; then,
with quaint humor: You stand by
with a match, Stannie, and let's see
what-alrs goin' to happen. When I
say the word, you stick your match to
the fuse"
Heavens maybe didn't enjoy a de-
lightful little spasm as L got a flash
light mental picture of that old man
fumb1ing around with a lighted cart
ridge at the muzzle of his gun, trying
to poke cartridge and gun-barrel
through a hole in the door that couldn't
possibly have been over two and a
half inches in diameter-and in the
dark, at that What if he shouldn't be
able to find the hole in time? OR if he
should succeed in finding it and the
rifle bullet should jam on the wire?
Or any one OF a dozen ''ifs" that might
fail to rid us of the deadly thing be-
fore it should go off and blow Us to
kingdom come?
But there was no time to haggle
about it, and the whang of another