Gunnison news-champion., 1922-03-24

..es'aTs. even II we could have seen
them "h.rl We couldn't
Erur-"n hai esIdvutly given hls
u.rn n-'a-s Co. aim at The rot. ln- %
Fss nrn stray bullet now and 'Hs1
That ram. through the walls. After O.
time rn" pg-p,r>- ", the irtubarlm"n'
lr-umr "HE.s.s. Fullerton s--mel 70
hny" Hasurh.-f THE Idea that he could
hr.ah our u.rYs-n. ear Us out After
no" rrsr fg-l.raHr the shots rara@ ~
Intervals ~ maybe i've minutes just
often enough 90 keep Us uu the strain.
and dnu'y mimi gImlrrlns TINT the
,n..sr va. handsomely gained can't
-H,.as rwr DADDY Hiram "r tho dog.
but ai 'rc end 0s the Dr., hour was
IWt" better than bunch y raW
Lrrt"s
A. all 'aFE must. f'Is wearl=utup
FIRST ,ag r4ur 10 aH c.I al last and
uIrh rnr r.r. n. ~ dusk the lombard.
mral stops .l-v.th our rDug looking
Ike s."s"
Eui after darkness had settled down
We We're made. tn 'r.l ln another way
H.w a,.'.ry helpless wr were. We
could -.- uurLluc hear nothing
Though sr lnr1y w. were surrounded
thr silence aud -olirud" vvrc uubruEeu.
aud IUr strain MAS srrntrr than that
"g piirhrI battle II a" were 10 s-,
Huy sleep az all. night watch could
Do" mu,nta.uct hy only our NJ US at a
time. and with our a'must vigilance
HH
Thing Ia the world for Fullerton 20 pun
m
There nre no night noises 10 the high
attitudes, unless the wind haUu-ns to
ho hIutiH-, u" frnEs oF troe-touds. no
insects. and the silence was fairly
IrafrmlU- and maddrninE
No, wishing 90 strike match 10 de-
'pIulue IAr vAHrt end Of my watch
period, stuck IL out. meauius 10 give
Daddy TuuI measure. So I thlHk II
most have b.yn somewhere around ten
o'clock when iAe collie woke with a
start. jumped up took ,br kinks out Of
BIS back with o. li'rlr shining yawn.
and irufteI ,0 the door the one open
.ns toward the cabin H,rm-, the dump
head. Srr"wiHE aU eye iu "Wr 81 Dad
dy's uuEcT- bored luuphu'-s tried tr
faIhum th" outer darkness, which was
"uly degree or so less Egyptian than
thRt of the hEtt-hous" Interior.
Though could aer nothing suspl-
ciuus II was very evident Ihut the dog
could hear something He had his nose
TO the crack under the door and was
growing | qulei"l him aud listened
Something was going on. either inside
Of the cabin or back u II; 10 tue dead
silence / could distinguish low mur-
mur 81 voices and, moment later. a
sound Ike that which would be made
by the cautious opening Oi one Of the
sliding windows. While ! sim had my
eye Ia the perp-h0le Jet OF flame
spurted from the dark huIk 81 the cab
In. and slulultsneouyy bullet tore
through the shnrt-honSe roof. The
raiders had captured our outworks.
The report and the bullet clatter
aroused Daddy Hiram. and when
turned he was at my elbow
Done crope up on us, have they,
SOM he said In his usual unrufled
manner. Then: Maybe this Is Just
sort o false notion over here S'pose
you try and get squlnt at things over
on the blacksmlth-shop side. Stannie."
stumbled across to the other door,
taking the collie with me. / could see
nothing In that direction: less than
nothing, since the lean-to shop build
Ing cut OF 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 10 the real
battle front was 4 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-
tiers and semed to be trying to fit a
ramrod to the barrel. When / finally
made out what he was doing / found
that he had thrust piece of heavy
wire into the gun-barrel and was i'm
palins one of the dynamite cartridges
on its projecting end.
LIT skyrocket,' he chuckled then,
with quaint humor: You stand by
with match, Stannie, and let's see
what-all's goin' to happen When /
say the word, you stick your match to
the fuse"
Heavens! maybe didu't enjoy a de-
Hghtfui little spasm as / got a fash
light mental picture of that old man
fumbllng around with lighted cart
ridge at the muzzle of his gun. trying
to poke cartridge and gun-barrei
through hole In the door that couldn't
possibly have been over two and a
half inches in diameter-and in the
dark, at thatl What If he shouldn't be
able to find the hole In time? Or IL he
should succeed in finding II and the
rifle bullet should jam on the wire?
Or any one of dozen ifs that might
fail to rid US of the deadly thing be
fore 1t should go OF and blow US to