into the darkness like General Custer in his last stand.
As I joined him, he stopped firing and stepped back into the shelter of the doorway. ‘We got ’em pal!’ he exclaimed. ‘The whole damn five of them. How about a quick rush into the bushes before the rest of them get over here?’
Mary joined us.
‘Come on,’ I said.
‘Ready?’
She nodded.
‘Go ahead.’
Mac took a flying leap through the doorway into the thick undergrowth below.
IV
We lay in the darkness and thick scrub, well away from the cabin and stared across the floor of the valley. There was no movement on the opposite hillside, no gunfire, no voices. Mac rubbed his face with his hand and hunched his shoulders. The desert was cold now, and the wind, coming of the hills, had a nip in it.
‘They’re keeping quiet, aren’t they?’ he said in an under tone.
‘Yeah.’ I took the half-empty flask of rum from him end offered it to Mary. ‘Have some before this guy drinks the lot.’
She shook her head.
‘I’m all right’
I tilted the flask and let some of the raw spirit trickle down my throat. It wasn’t my idea of a drink, but it was the right stuff to keep out the cold.
‘I think we can go on,’ I said. ‘No point in lying here if they’re not coming over.’ ‘Do you think they’ve gone back to the mine?’ she asked.
‘Maybe. Let’s go and see. He may have decided to go back there and shift the reefers rather than lose any more men. With any luck, the cops will be there to meet him.’
‘Unless he spotted your girl,’ Mac said, getting to his feet.
‘Come on. Let’s get over there.’
I led the way, moving fast, but keeping under cover, taking no risks. The way was downhill. Ahead of us the bushes and shrubs began to thin out, and the face of the bill gradated slowly to the floor of the valley. We had only another fifty yards ahead of us before we reached the flat, open plain of the desert.
We paused and examined the ground before us. The moonlight reflected on the sand. You could have seen any movement a half a mile away.
‘If they’re still in the hills, this is where we get shot in the back,’ Mac muttered. ‘Going to chance it?’
‘Yeah. You two stay here. If nothing happens to me, come on after me.’
‘You’re a sucker for trouble, aren’t you?’ Mac said and gave me a slap on the back.
Mary said in her calm, matter-of-fact voice, ‘I don’t think they’re up there. I think they’ve gone on to the mine.’
I hoped she was right as I slid down the little slope on to the sand. I began to run, zigzagging a little my shoulders hunched, and covering the ground rapidly. Nothing happened. I ran on for a couple of hundred yards, then stopped and turned. Mac and Mary were running after me. I waited for them to catch me up.
‘They’re at the mine,’ I said. ‘Spread out and keep moving. Drop fiat if there’s any shooting.’ We began to run over the undulating sand towards the mine. Every now and then we paused to get our breath, but I kept them at it. I was worried, thinking of Paula, wondering if she had got through. The silence worried me. If Mifflin had arrived, there should have been shooting. After a while, the sloping edge of the quarry came into sight.
I signaled to the other two to stop, waved them to me.
‘We crawl the rest of the way,’ I said. ‘Barrett may have left a look-out and we don’t want to run into him. You keep in the rear,’ I went on to Mary. ‘Leave this to Mac and me.’
We set off again, moving slowly now, using every scrap of cover, making no noise. Mac suddenly pointed, and I followed the direction of his finger. I could just make out a man’s head, outlined against the horizon, as he knelt in the scrub, looking our way.
Mac put his mouth close to my ear. ‘I’ll take him’ he said. ‘I was a Ranger once. This is right up my alley.’
I nodded and watched him crawl in a circling movement towards the watcher.
Mary slid over the sand and lay by me. She too had seen the head against the horizon.
We waited. Nothing happened, and I began to wonder what Mac was playing at. The watcher suddenly half stood up, looking our way. He made a beautiful target against the sand and the moonlight. Then he gave a sharp cough and dropped face downwards in the sand. Mac waved and disappeared once more behind the sand ridge. I crawled, on, motioning Mary to keep in the rear.
‘He didn’t know anything about it,’ Mac whispered when I joined him. ‘I’m beginning to enjoy this.’ We crawled to the edge of the quarry and looked down. The blazing headlights of the two trucks lit up a scene of tremendous activity. Men were loading the wooden boxes on to the trucks, while others came staggering down the steep path from the tunnel, carrying more boxes. One of the trucks was already loaded and the other was half filled.
Standing in the entrance of the tunnel, waving his men on, and shouting at them to hurry was Barratt.
Mac’s hand lifted and the sight of the .38 grew steady on Barrett’s chest, but I grabbed his wrist.
‘No! My girl must be down there. She couldn’t have got through. I’m going to look for her. If they spot me, start shooting, and get Barratt first.’
He nodded, and I began the slow, dangerous climb down into the quarry. Every now and then I dislodged a shower of stones, and I ducked behind a bush, holding my breath. But the men working below me were far too busy getting the boxes into the truck to be on their guard.
Keeping in the shadow, I reached the bottom of the quarry. There was plenty of cover, and I worked my way silently over the ground towards the trucks.
I could hear Barrett’s voice as be cursed the sweating men, telling them to hurry. I kept on until I reached the loaded truck. On its blind side, I stood up and looked inside the cabin.
Paula was in there, tied hand and foot and gagged. She turned her head and we looked at each other. I opened the cabin door and swung myself up inside.
She looked pale and a little scared, but as soon as I got the gag off she smiled at me.
‘Am I glad to see you,’ she said huskily.
‘That makes two of us,’ I said, cutting the cord that tied her wrists. What happened? Did you walk right into them?’
She nodded, rubbing her wrists while I freed her ankles.
‘He still thinks you’re in the mine,’ she told me. ‘He hasn’t an idea that I’ve been in there. He thought I was trying to find a way in. As soon as they have finished loading, he intends to take me in there and leave me there.’
‘That’s what he thinks. Come on; let’s get up to the top of the quarry. We have friends up there.’
Keeping on the blind side of the truck, we began to edge silently back the way I had come. When we were half-way up the side of the quarry there came a sudden yell behind us that froze us to a standstill. We looked back. Barrett was staring into the tunnel. The three men working by the truck also stared towards the tunnel. The frantic, blood-curdling yell came again. Barrett suddenly fired into the tunnel, shouted and began to run frantically down the path towards the trucks.
‘The rats!’ I said and grabbed Paula’s arm. ‘Up as fast as you can.’
Both Mary and Mac began firing into the quarry as we scrambled up the steep slope. We heard shots and yells below us, but we didn’t look back nor pause until we flung ourselves, sobbing for breath, into the scrub
