The beast fell, and
we got off to skin him. Dash barked furiously, and we saw a couple
of dozen Indians coming up close to us. We stopped a moment to give
them our barrels with duck-shot, and then jumped into our saddles
and rode for it. Unfortunately, we had been foolish enough to go
out without our revolvers. They pressed us hard, but I was never in
fear of their actually catching us; my only alarm was that one of
us might repeat my disaster of the armadillo hole. So I only tried
to hold my own thirty or forty yards ahead. I made sure that one or
other of you would see us coming, and I should have shouted loudly
enough, I can tell you, to warn you as I came up. Besides, I knew
that at the worst the arms were hanging above the fireplace, and
that we only wanted time to run in, catch them up, and get to the
door, to be able to defend the house till you could help us. And
now, what is your story, Charley?"
"I have even less than you, papa. I was down at the dam, and then I
went into the henhouse, and I was just thinking that I could make a
better arrangement for the nests, when I heard an Indian war-yell
between me and the house. It was followed almost directly by two
cracks which I knew were the girls' rifles. I rushed to the door
and looked out, and I saw two Indians coming along at full gallop.
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