Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1933-04-13

SN
Stay back, John! STAY back +"
Clear and shrill, that voice, and sht
caught breath for another warnIns
scream, but Gorbels palm, hard over
her mouth. shut 1t back. He gathered her
In his arms, held her close. ran with
her the length of the room and threw
her, sprawling, into that dark. win.
doWless chamber. He seized the door
arasged Il shut on It's sagglng hinges
ana slipped the heavy iron hook into
its staple.
lie staggered back to where he had
dropped the gun. snatched it up and
aimed through the shattered window.
Out there In the open burning the
SOUND or that shot, the whine of the
WHO bullet, stopped John Belknap In
MS tracks He whipped Mats pistol
from his pocket. a foolish gesture,
ana as he realized the futility OF CIV
Ing battle to a screened adversary he
heard a girls voice lifted. Muffled.
the sound was, but he caught the last
words clearly.
Stay back!" someone had called.
and he thought the words were pre-
coded by his own name!
Stay back, he had been warned But
why stay back? A quarter OF q mile
OF open lay behind him, and before he
could cross the sheltering ridge to the
southwark he would be made a sieve
by even the most inaccurate of Marks
men.
Shelter was In only one direction.
straight on towards that cabin from
which his life had been attempted, and
ne began to run. At any leap now his
flesh might be rent. He could not
hear the muffled sounds OF scuffle with
in the cabin, could not know that he
had seconds OF safety. He took the
only chance open to him and ran until
blood roared In his ears, and as he
dropped forward Into the snow. an
other rifle shot crashed again, the mis-
sile clipping a bare birch twig from
Its branch in line with where his head
had been.
Then. as his pulses slowed, he made
out an odd, indistinguishahle sound
coming from the cabin. 1t rose and
fell. stopped; began again. Then an
other, a mans voice, cursing sharply.
And q shott
On that the girl In the cabin
screamed again. His namel
saTaha ft eh, a1tIoJ - v.a
napl Are You hurt?"
He stiffened, at the muffled sound |
raised bis head In an Intellectual effort
to see through the thick growth be-
fore him. ~
Not hurt" he cried. "Not hurtt.
The rifle crashed. A bullet tore
through the screen Of boughs to his
right. Another snapped above his
head, a third to the left; a fourth
went into the stump before him with
a plunky spatter.
Then silence once more.
A woman, q woman who knew him.
had given warning. . What
woman?
"EIlen?' he shouted.
Her answer came from the close
confines of the fur room: John.
John. are you all right?"
Right" he yelled, raising himself
bit so his voice would carry better.
rs it you. Ellen? Where are your"
Again the rifle. shooting sayagely.
aimlessly now. Six times, shot after
shot, until echoes came ringing back.
1Right" he shouted again. where
ire your"
fur room. AT the east
md Stay safe" she called. He
las a world OF ammunition and is
ihooting at you through the window
Another voice then, a muffled snarl
Il warning.
And on the sound John hunched to-
lis knees, rose to a nearly upright
'~osition, pistol In his hand. He could
ee now, through the upper branches.
e saw a movement within, a shadow.
ndistinct movement, and fired. A
ane Of glass pulverized. the figure In
here shifted quickly; he shot again :
nd his ball tore through the other of +,
be two windows he could see. !,
He dropped for shelter and cried +.
ut.
@Stay back, Gorbell I'll drill Won.
help me-" :
He pressed his body against the ,
but the man inside did not re- +,
", with words or gunfire. That !
lence descended again. :
All manner of impulses, Of hopes. of :
.ars, a vast array of miscellaneous
nd conflicting emotions. snrped !
trough John. Ellen, here. with
Ellen. under the same ronf
it'll a man who had nothing to lose
it his liberty nowI Why had she )
'me? Why had Gorbel borne so 0
for this place? b
4EllenT" he called, suddenly frantic. c
all right2' 5
fright r Her voice was fainter Il
wv, husked with tears.
The rifle spoke again, six barking q
OTIS. and on the last John leaped up. II
small windows fianked the cabin 81
on this, the western exposure. a
He ran for the end of the building. it