The Coolidge examiner., 1930-12-26
CHAPTER V-Continued

A shout came down to them.
Hes give up"
Men emerged from the timber.
The one who moved in the center
of the little group. the prisoner.
walked with limp Evidently he
had been wounded.
SandersOn chose that moment,
before his companions above could
reach him TO object, for his re-
venge. He fired from the hip
O'Hara felt the shock of the bullet
Ii had struck his cartridge belt at
the buckle and glanced off. though
he did not know until LATER that he
was not severely wounded.
What followed came SO rapidly
that there was no orderly sequence
to ii in O'Hara's mind. He could
hear the roar of the guns. his own
among them A flash of flame
scared his shoulder. His compan-
ion staggered. leaned against the
door jamb. and cried. I'm hit" He
moved through lanes of fire. Fig
ures lOOmed up in the smoke and
vanished. Some one pushed close
against him. striking with a knife.
de pressed the revolver against
yielding flesh and pulled the trig
ger The man gave way with u
groan that vas half a scream.
O'Hara's revolver was empty. lie
was in the doorway now, astride
the PROSTATE body of his partner
though how he got there he did
not know. Out of the fog of smoke
face loomed He flung the empty
weapon at it, stopped and snatched
up the six-shOOter of his friend
There was no conscious volition on
his part. The .45 began to roar
One moment the day was filled
with the fury of battle. The next
the sound of il had died away.
O'Hara's enemies were falling back.
driven into retreat by the steadi-
ness of his fire.
Once more his revolver hammer
clicked on an empty chamber. Gar
rett dropped the weapon, stopped
and picked up his partner He car
ried him into the house and laid
him on a bed. then swiftly set about
putting the cabin into a state of de-
Tense. BOlting the back door. he
barricaded il with trunk. He drew
the window curtains. Another trunk
he pushed into the front doorway,
then dragged mattress there and
prOpped il up in front of the trunk
as a protection against bullets.
All this had taken him scarcely
a score of seconds. From a rack
he drew rifles, a repeating Winches-
ter for one. and two of Smith-BereS-
,ford's hunting guns brought with
him from England.
: From behind the trunk and mat
treSS OHara took in the situation.
Two men were wounded seriously.
He could see them lying on the
. ground where their companions had
= dragged them Most of the others
were gathered in a group near the
horses. Sanderson, waving a ban
dana meant for flag of truce, had
stepped a few yards forward from
the rest.
Garrett felt, as he had more THAI
once in the past weeks. that odd
lift of the "pirit that came with
danger. He was wounded In two
places. His companion lay helpless
on the bed. a dozen desperate men.
,au heavily armed. were ready tn
swOOp down on him. But he had
proved his mettle. He had fought
them, one against four, and driven
them into retreat These killers
could and they probably would de-
StrOy him and his friend. But he
with an exultant thrill of rae
ing blood, that he was not afraid
of them; and he knew, too. that
there would be no safety in surren-
der. Two of them had been wound,
ed by him. perhaps mortaIly. The
others would have their revenge,
SSanderson would see to that.
From the bed came a faint mur-
mur
9Hold the fort. Old Top"
"No use to give up. Sanderson
would never let US get away alive.
Z. Badly hurt. Lyulph?"
About all | can carry, old chap.
In the chest"
Sorry. I'm hit in the shoulder
and the stomach. but | feel pretty