"They rushed us, Lawler. There was more of 'em than there was of us, an'
they circled around us, howlin' an' shootin' like Indians. They got us
between 'em. But we fought 'em--Lawler, we fought 'em till there wasn't
a man left standing. But there was too many of 'em. We planted
twenty--afterward. But about that number got away. I was hit sort of
hard, but I watched 'em scutterin' towards Kinney's canon. They'd been
gone some time when Caldwell's outfit--an' Shorty--come up. Caldwell's
outfit lit out after 'em; but Caldwell's men had rode pretty hard
gettin' to us, an' it wasn't no go. Sigmund's men, though; an' Lester's
an' the rest of 'em, had took a gorge trail that cuts into the big basin
from the south, away the other side of Kinney's canon; an' they run
plumb into the rustlers over at the edge of the basin on Sigmund's side.
"An' they brought back your cattle; though Slade an' twenty or thirty of
his men got away, clean. I reckon you've heard about enough, an'--Well,
Lawler, that's about all--exceptin' to tell you how the boys--an' I
don't seem to want to go over that when I'm awake; I keep seein' it
enough of nights."
But something of the deep emotion Blackburn felt was reflected in
Lawler's eyes from the time he heard the story.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313