Ronicky Doone's Treasure (1922) (21 page)

The attack had at least placed the outlaws in a superior position to that which they had held before. One wounded man and one man sound in body and limb were now under the rear wall of the shack, sheltered by their nearness to it against gunfire from Ronicky or Dawn. Moreover
an incalculable advantage
they could attack suddenly, and they could overhear any but the most secretly whispered communications of Ronicky and Dawn.

That very nearness, however, suggested to Ronicky the next maneuver.

"Watch that rear wall, Hugh!" he called loudly.

"Two of the skunks are behind it and may fire through the logs. Watch it close!"

He added in a sudden whisper at the very ear of his companion: "We've got to get out now, Hugh, or wait here and be stuck like rats in the morning. We got to get out! The only way is to make a break across the clearing. You see? They've got two men right under the rear wall now, and that makes it so's we can't shoot out from the back door. The rest of 'em will come up on that side, and then they'll have us six to two, and we're goners at close range!"

Hugh Dawn nodded.

"Straight across the clearing when I give the word," said Ronicky swiftly, taking command as though it had been agreed to put matters into his hands in the crisis. The older man nodded without a word and set his jaw grimly at the thought of that desperate venture.

Ronicky, meantime, was calmly reloading his revolver, keeping the weapon which he had taken from the holster of Bud Kent as a reserve of ammunition. Hugh Dawn imitated the good example.

The fire from the flaming waste was gradually decreasing. The oil which had made the flare so great had now been well nigh exhausted, and the hard light decreased in proportion; but it was still far too bright to admit of a rush for the safe darkness of the trees. A new and more dangerous expedient came to Ronicky Doone.

"Watch well and keep your nerve," he cautioned Dawn, still in the most guarded whisper. "I'm going to explore!"

So saying, he dropped to his knees and boldly slid out from the front door of the little building and toward its left side. In that direction, as he had noted with a glance, the quantity of ignited waste which Hugh Dawn had thrown through the rear door had been far less than that which he himself had flung out. Accordingly, while that which he himself had tossed out was still blazing, the waste of Hugh Dawn was now a darkening mass of cinders casting hardly any light. In that direction, therefore, he hoped to escape observation.

He stayed close to the wall, wriggling forward slowly and constantly scanning the trees before him in search of the glint of a rifle or revolver raised to shoot. But he caught no such deadly glimmer, and for sound there came only the stifled groaning of the wounded men.

So he came, pushing his revolver before him in extended right hand, to the rear of the house and glanced around the corner. As he had expected, he found two men there. But their condition was not at all what he had anticipated. The one lay on his back with his arms cast out crosswise. Above him knelt the huge body of Silas Treat who was making gestures toward the forest as though silently to encourage his backward comrades to come to his aid in this advanced position.

Perhaps they could not see him; perhaps their nerve was not up to undertaking. At any rate, no one had as yet ventured forth. As for the wounded man, it must be he who had stumbled when Ronicky fired the second time at the group of three; and he was far gone, if not fatally hurt. Not an arm's length away was the immense back of Si Treat, seemingly confident that his closeness to the wall made attack from the house impossible.

Ronicky shoved his revolver against the back of the giant's neck. There was a quiver and then a stiffening in that immense body. Then Silas Treat turned his head slowly and without a sound stared into the face of Ronicky.

Why they were not observed, Ronicky could not tell, unless the rest of the band had now shifted around to the shack from which the first of the assault had been launched.

"Drop your gun!" commanded Ronicky, noting from the corner of his eye that the wounded man made no effort to interfere
perhaps he was swooning, as a matter of fact.

Si Treat obeyed without a word, tossing the gun into the shadows.

"Crawl past me," whispered Ronicky to his captive, "and mind that you go slow so's nobody can see you from the forest. With the first shot that's fired, I sink a chunk of lead into your heart, Si! Now move!"

Without answer Silas Treat began obediently to work his way around Ronicky, past the corner of the shack, and down its side until at Ronicky's order he turned into the interior of the little house.

"Now get back against that wall," commanded Ronicky, "and keep your hands over your head. That's right. Hugh, get that rope and tie him, and tie him hard. I ought to stick a knife into the skunk, and I will if he don't talk out!"

Hugh Dawn, muttering in his astonishment, obeyed and bound their formidable captive tightly. Si Treat, in the meantime, retained an immobile expression, as they could see by the last glimmer of the burning waste.

"Now," said Ronicky, "talk fast and talk straight. Part of what I'm going to ask you I already know. If I catch you in a lie, it's the last word you speak. Understand?"

Treat nodded.

"First: Where's the rest of 'em?"

"Gone blind," said the big man savagely, "or else you'd be dead sure, Doone! But they're gone blind. Most like they've sneaked back in the trees to tie up some little cut places where they got nicked. They ain't got the nerve of Baldy McNair. He kept coming after he was drilled for fair."

"That's Baldy lying behind the house?"

"That's him."

"Are any of 'em in the shack next to us here?"

"Nope. Not a soul, unless they sneaked there, and I didn't see 'em. But they won't come that close. They're licked! The yaller dogs! They're licked, or they'd of follered me, and then we'd of had you!"

"Maybe," said Ronicky, stumbling in his haste to get at the desired information, "but Where's Jack Moon? Did he go down?"

"Moon? I dunno where he is. Maybe he's deserted. I left him in that little clearing up the hill with the girl. Maybe he's run off with her. He ain't showed up since we started the party."

Ronicky Doone groaned.

"Gone off with Jerry?"

Hugh Dawn inhaled audibly. "It's a lie!" he cried.

"Look here," said Silas Treat, in the same singular calm. "I ain't got any call for lying or playing in with the rest of them swine outside. I done my part. They didn't do theirs. I'm through with 'em. All the good ones are done for, anyway, and Moon's band is busted up. Kent and Bush are dead. Corrigan's dead. Craig is dead and others along with him, and Baldy McNair is lying on his back nearer death than living. Moon's band is busted up, and Moon himself has beat it off with a piece of calico. I'll never trust or foller another man so long's I live!"

"Gag him!" commanded Ronicky. "Gag him so's he can't yell. Hugh, we got to make our break, and we got to make it now. First: Where's the hosses?"

"Over in the woods behind the third shack."

"Any of 'em saddled?"

"Three or four, I guess."

"That's all!"

Chapter
Twenty-six. Escape
.

At the word Dawn clapped the gag, which he had meantime improvised, between the teeth of the captive and secured it firmly.

"Now," said Ronicky, "run for it!"

And he darted through the door, followed at his heels by the older man. Half the distance to the trees they had covered with flying haste when there was a yell behind them
a yell from Silas Treat, who had so quickly worked out the gag that silenced him. Then
he must have burst the cords that held him by an exertion of his tremendous strength and scooped up a fallen revolver
a storm of bullets was driven after the fugitives.

But the distance was great, and Ronicky set the example of dodging from side to side as he ran. In a moment, though, the bullets still whistling and crashing through the boughs around them, Ronicky had reached the safety of the forest and turned panting to Dawn.

"Safe?" he asked.

"Thank Heaven! And you, Ronicky?"

"Make for the hosses. Get two and come back. I'll keep 'em dancing to our music while you get 'em!"

Dawn disappeared, and Ronicky faced the enemy. There was a new confusion of shouts. The enormous voice of Silas Treat was giving directions. The rest of Moon's shattered crew was coming to the firing line, and a scattering of shots was pumped toward the place where Ronicky had disappeared. He must give them the opinion that he and Dawn were preparing to make at least a short stand in this direction. Accordingly, he began to run from tree to tree, firing two shots in quick succession and then two more from another place, so as to give the effect of a pair of fighters working along the edge of the forest. He was aiming at the flashes on the far side of the clearing, but he had no hope of striking a target, and he was not surprised when no cries of pain greeted his attack. In a moment they would send a couple of men sifting around the edge of the clearing to make a flank attack, but now came Hugh Dawn leading one horse and riding another. One bound carried Ronicky into the saddle, and he and Dawn spurred recklessly into the heart of the woods.

Behind them rose fresh yells of dismay, and the firing ceased. Of course they would pursue, but unless Ronicky were hugely mistaken, they would not pursue far through the darkness of the woods. Dawn was indeed beginning in the east, but the pines were thick enough to shut out the scattered rays of light and leave deep night beneath the lower branches.

And to follow an armed enemy who had proved the sharpness of his teeth through such a thicket as this would probably overtask the worn nerves of the outlaws. Besides, he shrewdly guessed that they had had enough of fighting to last them for many days.

Another interest was larger in the mind of Ronicky. He plunged with Hugh Dawn straight up the slope until he came to the clearing where Treat had said Jack Moon had last gone with the girl.

It was quite empty, as he broke into the open space with his revolver poised. Drawing up his horse with a groan, he cried to Dawn: "Treat was right. The devil has taken Jerry."

"Ay," said the despairing father, "devil he is and doubly a devil, but well never get him tonight, Ronicky. He's taken the grays. I seen that they weren't among the rest of the hosses, though I looked for 'em. On the grays he'll shake his heels in our faces, lad, or the faces of any hosses in these parts. They've got the foot. We can't catch 'em!"

For answer Ronicky looked a moment in silence at his companion and then whistled a peculiarly high and piercing note, long held. Then he sat with his head canted a little to one side, listening intently.

"How come?" growled Hugh Dawn uneasily. "Calling up Moon's gang of cutthroats?"

But far away, faint as a small echo, the answer came in the form of a neigh. Ronicky smiled and shook his head at his companion.

"You hear?"

"It's Lou," said the other, a little awed. "She's like a man for sense, Ronicky."

"Better'n most men," answered Ronicky tersely and whistled again.

The answer this time was much closer. Then they heard a crashing in the underbrush, and the beautiful mare came like a bullet out of the trees and glinted in the dawnlight of the clearing. Beside Ronicky she drew up, snorting her pleasure at the reunion.

A change of saddles was quickly made, and now, on the back of the mare, Ronicky laughed with joy.

"Now let Jack Moon ride hard," he said, "because, no matter how much foot the grays have, I'm going to run 'em into the ground
if I can ever pick up the trail. But Lord knows where they've gone. Can you guess, Hugh?"

"Can't make a good guess," the older man returned, watching with an appreciative eye while the bay mare danced in her eagerness to be off. "But how'm I to keep up with that little streak of lightning you're on now?"

"You won't keep up," answered Ronicky. "Never come across a hoss in the mountains that could keep up, partner."

Now the gray morning was brightening each moment, and already the light was so clear that they could look back into the heart of the hollow and see the clearing and the shacks. There was no pursuit apparently. Small figures of men moved here and there hurriedly. There was a knot of horses, looking as small as ants in the distance, in the central space.

"I knew," muttered Ronicky Doone, "that there was a curse on that treasure of Cosslett's. We ain't the men that dug the stuff out of the ground in the first place, and neither did they give it to us. Hugh, they's going to be a curse wherever that gold travels!"

"I got none of it," said Hugh Dawn almost cheerfully. "Left it all behind in the shack. And I think you're right, Ronicky. But now where do we head?"

"We can only guess. Where would a smart gent like Jack Moon go if he wanted to throw folks off the trail?"

"North was where he and the band expected to head."

"That's why he won't head there. And over to the east the ground slopes too easy and smooth. That's where folks would naturally think that Moon had gone trying to get away. But most like, just to throw us off, Moon has taken the west road, through those hills. The harder the road, the less chance we'd have to foller him on it. Ain't that the way he'd think?"