As I turned down the wick of the storm lantern more shots rang out, much closer now, and I hastily lifted the lantern from its hook and blew out the flickering flame.
‘It’s Joe and Mac!’ Mary said, and threw open the door.
The flash of gunfire lit up the darkness outside. Away in the valley came answering flashes and bullets smacked into the wooden roof.
Joe and Mac, breathing heavily, charged into the room, and slammed the door.
III
For a moment or so neither of them could say anything. They leaned against the wall, panting for breath, while slugs slapped into the solid walls of the cabin and gunfire rolled in the valley.
‘Get the rifles,’ Joe gasped. It’s Barrett!’
Mary stumbled across the room. I heard her open a cup-board. She came back with two rifles and gave them to Joe and Mac.
‘Are you in this?’ she asked, as calm as if she was sitting down to a cup of tea.
‘Yeah; if it’s Barratt, I am,’ I said.
She went back to the cupboard and produced two more rifles and a sack of ammunition.
‘What happened, Joe?’ she asked as we loaded the clips.
‘Jeepers! The boys walked right into them. There are about ten of them and Barratt. I guess he’d come to shift the stuff. They must have spotted our trucks and came down on us.’
Where do you get this us stuff from?’ Mac growled. You weren’t even there.’ He was kneeling in front of the window, and turned his head to look at Mary. ‘They were at the top of the quarry. We were at the bottom. It was like shooting rabbits. They got Harry, Lu and George with their first volley. The rest of us got behind the trucks. They kept crawling around the edge of the quarry, picking us off, until I was the only one left. I just lay there and waited. Finally, they decided they’d picked us all off and came down to investigate. Harry and George were still alive. They were badly hurt, but they were still breathing. Barratt shot them both through the head. I managed to sneak away while they were checking up on the others. I got to the top of the quarry, when Joe turned up. They spotted Joe. The chump was smoking. You could see him a mile away, and they came after us. I told Joe not to shoot, but he kept letting his rod off, and of course, they just kept coming. I was hoping to get away in the dark, but not with Joe lighting up the countryside for miles. So here we are, and right out there, they are, and it’s going to be some picnic.’
Joe said, ‘I got two of them. You don’t think I was going to let that mob shoot at me without shooting back?’
While they were talking, I was examining the-valley below the cabin. There wasn’t much cover until you started to climb the hill. Once they got a foothold on the hill, they could get up to the door of the cabin without being seen.
I edged the rifle over the window sill, sighted into the darkness and pressed the trigger. Almost immediately flashes lit up the shrubs on the far side of the valley and slugs whammed against the walls of the cabin.
‘They’re over on the far side,’ I said. ‘If they can get across the floor of the valley, we’ll be cooked.’
‘The moon will be up in a few minutes,’ Mac said. ‘It’s just below the peak of the hill as we came along. Then we’ll have plenty of light.’
I thought I saw some movement below, shifted the sights of the rifle and fired.
A tiny, shadowy form darted back under cover again. Both Joe and Mac fired at the same time. A faint yell followed the crash of gunfire. These two might not be very strong in the brain department, but they could shoot.
‘That’s another of the punks,’ Joe said with satisfaction.
I put my hand on Mary’s arm and pulled her close to me.
‘Is there any way out of here besides the door?’ I asked in a whisper.
She shook her head.
‘How about the roof?’
‘There’s a ladder that takes you up to the roof, but once up there, there’s no way to escape.’
‘Sure?’
‘You might with a rope, but it wouldn’t be easy.’
‘I guess I’ll take a look,’ I said. ‘Got a rope?’
‘There’s one in the kitchen.’
Joe suddenly fired again.
‘Look out!’ he bawled. They’re coming.’
We could make out six or seven moving figures, running across the floor of the valley. We all fired as fast as we could pull our bolts. Two of the figures fell. The others drifted back again under cover of the opposite bank.
‘Get the rope,’ I said to Mary. ‘And get that trap open. We may have to leave in a hurry.’
‘What are you two whispering about?’ Joe demanded suspiciously.
‘We’re preparing a get-away,’ I told him. ‘By way of the roof.’
‘Fat chance you have,’ he snorted. They’d pick you off like a sitting rabbit when the moon’s up.’
‘We may have to,’ I said, seeing the first rays of the moon appearing over the hill top. ‘Here it comes.’
Two or three minutes later the floor of the valley was flooded with white light.
‘Well, at least, it’s as bad for them,’ Mac said, sitting back on his heels. ‘We can’t miss them from here.’
‘What do you think they’re playing at?’ Joe said, uneasily. ‘They haven’t let off a heater for the past five minutes.’
‘Why should they?’ I said. ‘They’re waiting for the moon to pick this joint out, and it will. They’ll be able to see in through the windows.’
‘I have the rope,’ Mary called from an adjoining room. I’m going up on the roof,’ I said. ‘Keep an eye on them.’
‘You better keep an eye on yourself,’ Joe said sarcastically. ‘Don’t expect flowers for your funeral.’
I went into the inner room.
Mary held a flashlight in her hand, and as I came in she swung the beam to a short ladder that led to a trap door in the roof.
‘You’d better not go up there,’ she said. ‘They’re certain to see you.’
‘Hey, you two; give me some covering fire,’ I called into the outer room. ‘I’m going up on the roof.’
‘Hope it keeps fine for you,’ Mac said and laughed.
They began firing down into the valley. I waited, listening, but there was no answering fire.
‘I wonder what they’re playing at,’ I muttered. ‘Well, here goes. Let’s see what’s up there.’
I mounted the ladder and very cautiously lifted the trap-door. I slid it to one side and peered around the flat roof that spread out before me.
Moonlight fell directly on it, and it was nearly as light as day up there.
Above me the hill went up steeply, offering little foothold and not much cover. To try and scale the hill from the roof in this light would be asking for trouble. The only chance would be to wait until the moon moved round and the hill face was in the shadow. I didn’t know if we had the time wait.
I slid down the ladder again.
‘Not much good. A rope won’t help. It’s too light. In another hour it might be done, but not now.’
‘In another hour we’ll be pushing up the daisies,’ Joe said cheerfully from the other room.
‘How about some coffee?’ I suggested to Mary. ‘We might be stuck here for some time. I’ll go back and keep watch while you get it’
I returned to the outer room.
Mac was chewing an unlit cigarette, staring down into the valley. Joe sat on the edge of a chair, and peered around the window-frame.
‘You didn’t see a girl in the quarry, did you?’ I asked Mac.
‘No-why?’
‘I had a girl with me when you spotted me. I sent her for the cops.’
‘That’s not going to help us. You’d never hear gunfire out of the valley. I don’t know how it is, but it’s a fact. Unless they come here to look for us, they won’t know a battle’s going on,’ Joe said. ‘Besides, it would hurt my pride to be rescued by a cop.’