all sides the ground had been cleared so as to render the storming of the building a perilous undertaking. So the garrison might well await the issue with confidence. But Tarman, though he showed a bold front to his men, was perplexed. That the ranch he was purposing to raid should suddenly turn the tables was something he could not understand. Poker Pete too was ill at ease.
`Beats me how Leeming got wise to this place,' he said.
`I figure Green warn't alone last night,' Tarman replied. `He musta left the other feller waitin' in the brush with orders to ride for help if he didn't come back with the girl in a certain time. We oughtta thought o' that. We gotna wipe 'em out, Pete, every damn one of 'em.'
The gambler nodded gloomily, not that the prospect of slaying a dozen or so of his fellow-creatures disturbed him, but because he realised that the task was not going to be an easy one. A hail from outside interrupted the conversation, and peering through the loop-hole, they saw a solitary horseman sitting easily in the open, his rifle across his knees. It was the Frying Pan owner himself. At a word from Tarman, the foreman flung open the front door and leaning carelessly against the jamb, asked: `An' what might yu be wantin'?'
`First off, none o' yore damn lip,' retorted the irascible rancher. `I'm tellin' yu we got the place surrounded, an' I'm givin' yu one chance; hand over the girl an' Green unharmed an' we'll go away--this time.'
`Yu can go plumb to hell, an' if yo're in sight in five seconds yu'll git a free pass there,' snapped Jeffs jerking up his rifle as he spoke.
The envoy whirled his mount and disappeared in the chaparral, while the foreman slammed and bolted the door; negotiations were at an end.
The attacking party, having placed their mounts in safety, had split up into couples and selected points which commanded every side of the building. The four Y Z boys had worked round to the back, from whence they could keep an eye on the corral. As Larry put it, `Some o' these birds may be wantin' no fly the coop, an' it's shore up to us to provide the wings.'
Ginger, with whom he had paired, grunted as he settled himself at full length in a slight hollow, well screened by the intervening foliage.
`Don't yu gamble too high on this brush bein' bullet-proof,' he warned. `Cuss it, they got all the best of it. Don't see how we're goin' to get 'em 'less we starve 'em out, an' they're better fixed for grub than we are, I betcha.'
`We'll get 'em all right,' responded Larry cheerfully. `Old Impatience'll find a way--can't see him a-settin' down to wait. Bet that's him, opening the ball.'
A shot rang out and they heard the thud of the striking bullet. Three of the defenders promptly replied, one of them firing from a loop-hole in the back door which immediately became a target for four of the attackers.
`Reckon we've sorter discouraged that jasper some,' remarked Ginger, the hail of bullets having evoked no response. `Wonder if he's cashed or shifted?'
He raised himself slightly to get a better view and instantly his hat was snatched from his head, and a second bullet screamed through the twigs past his cheek, both coming from the loop-hole of a window near the door. Larry sent two rapid shots at the unseen marksman and promptly rolled sideways to a position several yards away.
`Yu darn fool,' he said. `Why don't yu stand up an' tell him where we are?'
Ginger did not reply, but having found a ridge of ground which afforded a little protection, he began methodically to hurl lead in a way which aroused the curiosity of his chum.
`What yu firin' at?' Larry inquired.
`The sky, yu blamed jackass,' came the polite retort, and then, `I'm cuttin' them hinges; take the left-hand one if yu think yu can hit it.'
Larry peeped out and saw that the shutter to the window was held in place by two rawhide hinges fixed at the top, and that the one on the right already bore testimony to the accuracy of Ginger's marksmanship. With a whoop of delight Larry got to work on the other, and had already cut it through when a voice behind said :
`How yu boys makin' it?'
It was Snap Lunt, sent oy Leeming on a tour of inspection to see how his men were faring.
'Lo, Snap; yu fellers got any of 'em?'
`Dunn; that blamed house is a nut that wants crackin'. What yu shootin' at?'
In a few words Larry explained the idea and the little gunman was filled with admiration.
`She's a great scheme,' he said. `Yu hit on that all oy yoreself, Larry?'
`Nope, got Ginger to help me think of it,' replied Larry, modestly.
Snap laughed. `I'm agoin' to pass the word all around,' he promised. `That shack won't be safe for a flea if we put them shutters out of action. Got any baccy?'
`Yeah, an' papers, an' matches, an' a lip to hang the pill on; want 'em all?' asked Larry sarcastically.
`All 'cept the lip,' returned Snap, helping himself generously from the bag the other threw to him.
When he had crawled away, for the vicinity of the two Y Z punchers was no place to stand upright or linger in, Larry resumed his task of destroying his particular hinge. Though the short range rendered this a not too difficult mark, the necessity of moving after each shot complicated the business, for the besieged fired upon the slightest provocation. Twice Larry had been burned by a passing bullet and presently a hearty string of expletives from his companion indicated that he too was finding the work warm.
`Where'd he get yu?' queried Barton.
`Right through the brain, yu chump,' came the petulant reply. `Come an' tie this blasted arm up; I'm bleedin' like a stuck hog.'
`An' squealin' like one too,' retorted Larry. `Brain, huh? Why, they couldn't hit your'n with the gun close to yore head.'
He wormed his way over to where Ginger was lying and bound the ripped forearm. The firing was now increasing in intensity and there was a regularity about it which pointed at a definite plan.
`Snap's passed on our idea, shore enough,' Larry said, complacently.
`Our idea,' cried Ginger. `Well, yu shore wasn't out o' sight when the gall was distributed; yu'll be claimin' it was yores soon. I--'
`Aw right, I ain't deaf,' Larry said. `Trouble with yu is yu talk too much. That blamed shutter's nearly cashed. I'll finish her off an' yu be ready to shoot when she drops.'
Two accurately placed shots severed the right hinge and thesagging shutter, tearing away the other support, fell to the ground. Ginger fired instantly and they saw a man lurch forward and subside. Larry's shot followed and another indistinct form seemed to fade away. No return shot came from the window.
'Pears like we got 'em both,' remarked Ginger, and then, `There's another shutter goin'--see--the other side o' the door. That'll be Simple an' Dirty. Reckon we got these coyotes where the hair's short now.'
The whine of a bullet which missed him by an inch cut out his jubilation and sent him burrowing, while Larry plugged a couple of shots into the window. A reply came instantly and it was Larry's turn to curse, for the lead ploughed through his hair.
`Sufferin' snakes!' he ejaculated. `I feel like I've been scalped.' Ginger crawfished over and examined the wound. `On'y a graze,' he said. `If I had yore luck I wouldn't work for a livin'.' `Yu don't anyways,' snorted the injured one.
The discovery of the weak spot in the defence, while it proved an expensive surprise for the rustlers, by no means justified Ginger's optimistic views. The exposed windows were quickly barricaded with mattresses, planks, and other articles calculated to impede the progress of a bullet, and the fight went on as fiercely as ever. That the defenders had suffered was evident since fewer shots came from the building, but they were still strong enough to make a rush across the open too costly. So that Dirk, on his way to the horses for a further supply of cartridges, was not unduly hopeful.
`They've got two of us, an' some others is more or less chipped,' he said, in reply to Ginger's query. `I reckon we've wiped out a few o' them too but 'less we get the house afore dark they'll have a chance. Yu boys all right?'
`I'm scratched an' Larry's got a permanent part in his hair, but he- won't look any uglier,' replied the redhead. `We're claimin' to have downed a couple, anyways.'
`Good for yu,' said the foreman, and went on his way.
The situation inside the ranch-house was more critical than the attackers suspected, for the unmasking of the windows had cost seven of the rustlers their lives, and several others were wounded. Nevertheless, like cornered
