The siege continued until it was almost dark, with sporadic shots from the three in the pines, borne mostly out of frustration. “It's gonna be dark before long,” Dorsey said, his eyes studying the tiny cabin. “One of us can get around behind that cabin while the other two keep that bastard pinned down.”
“There might not be a window in the back,” Gentry said.
“We could smoke him out,” Cobb suggested. “When it gets dark, I could climb up on the roof and stop that chimney up with somethin'âsmoke 'em out.”
Dorsey didn't bother to comment. Gentry did. “You ain't got brains God give a tumble-turd,” he said. “Do you see any smoke comin' outta that chimney? Whaddaya think they built a fire outside for?”
Cobb had to think about it for a moment before coming up with an angry retort. “Well, if you're so smart, why don't you think of somethin'?”
“How 'bout you walk up to the door and knock, and when he opens it to see who it is, I'll shoot the son of a bitch.”
“Shut up, both of you.” Dorsey had tired of the senseless drivel between the two. His frustration with the situation was wearing upon his nerves. Over two years in tracking down the man who shot his brother, and it had come down to a standoff. “We're gonna rush that son of a bitch as soon as it gets a little darker. Gentry, you go ahead and work your way on up the slope, and get around behind that shack. See if there's a window in back. Then get back here and let me know.” Gentry nodded and backed away from the edge of the trees.
Smiling to himself, Gentry Braxton made his way up through the thick forest of pines, climbing for several dozen yards before sidling along the slope to descend toward the cabin again. If there was a window in the back of the cabin, and he could get a clear shot, he didn't plan to wait for Dorsey and Cobb. The death of his brother, Franklin, didn't sorrow him as much as it did Dorsey. He was more interested in the Blackfoot woman. She was a right handsome woman, and from the glimpse he got of her a couple of hours ago, it looked like she hadn't changed.
Darkness had already found the thick forest by the time Gentry slid down a steep mound that landed him in a little patch of fir trees. From there he could see the rear of Levi's cabin and a single window in the back. The shutters had been closed, but he figured he might be able to squeeze a gun barrel through the strap hinges on the side.
It's gonna be you and me, little missy,
he thought as he made his way carefully up to the rear log wall.
As he had figured, the shutters, though drawn and latched from the inside, were hung using leather straps as hinges. Working as quietly as he could, he took his knife and cut enough of the leather away on one side until he had a hole big enough to see into the cabin. There she was! Huddled over next to the fireplace, a gentle creature, small and timid, like a rabbit cornered by a coyote. Gentry felt the lust filling his veins, even stronger than his excitement over killing the man who had stolen her. Moving slightly, he could see most of that man crouched by the front window. The hole he had cut in the strap was big enough to stick a gun barrel through, but would not allow him to aim his rifle at Levi. Stumped for a second, he then realized he could cut through both leather hinges and jerk the whole shutter away. With a wide grin upon his face, he immediately set to work with his knife.
Back in the pine trees facing the front of the cabin, Dorsey began to wonder why Gentry was taking so long to report back. “Maybe you oughta get around behind that cabin and see what the hell he's doin' back there. Dammit, I told him to come back here as soon as he found out if there's a window or not.” With a quick nod, Cobb backed away from the tree that hid him, and followed the route his brother had taken up the slope.
Having already cut through the bottom strap, Gentry was working furiously away at the top. Timing was going to be important he told himself, so he propped his rifle against the wall next to his leg. He had heard no shots for perhaps ten minutes or so, telling him that Dorsey and Cobb had tired of plinking away at the solid log wall.
They'll shit
, he thought.
By the time they figure out what happened, I'll already have that little squaw bedded down.
He pictured Cobb's look of jealous anger, and smiled.
The top hinge was hanging by a thread now and Gentry prepared for the sudden move. Finally, his knife cut through. The wooden shutter was held in place by nothing more than the tightness of the fit and a latch on the inside. Easing his rifle up with one hand, he placed the other on the edge of the shutter between the severed straps. When he thought he was ready, he suddenly gave the shutter a hard jerk and flung it aside. With a triumphant roar, he quickly brought his rifle up to sight on the startled man at the front window. Before he could pull the trigger, he was staggered by the impact of the arrow that slammed into his throat. His eyes, blown wide-open by the shock, stared in horror at the Indian woman who had just released the bowstring. Too stunned to do anything but drop his rifle and clutch his throat with both hands, he stumbled backward and fell on his back.
Startled as Gentry had been, Levi reacted quickly. Scrambling to his feet, he ran to the back window to discover his would-be assailant struggling to get up from the ground, the arrow protruding all the way through his neck. Gurgling with each panic-stricken breath he attempted, he managed to get to his knees before Levi sent him on his way to hell with one rifle slug through his brain.
Levi looked at Willow, his face reflecting the devastation of his life if he had lost her. She tried to give him a brave look in return as she drew another arrow from the quiver by the fireplace. Thanks to her quickness, there was one less assailant to deal with, but Levi now had to be concerned with an open window behind him while he watched the front. Guessing his concern, Willow notched her arrow, and giving him a reassuring nod, moved closer to the open window.
Halfway down the hill, Cobb Braxton was stopped in his tracks by the sound of the rifle shot from the back of the cabin. Pausing to listen, he wasn't sure whether it sounded like Gentry's rifle or not. He heard no additional shots, so he clamored on down the slope, stopping again about twenty yards from the back corner of the cabin. Although darkness had set in, he could clearly make out the form slumped under the back window. It could be no one but Gentry. The first reaction in Cobb's simple brain was disbelief. It had never entered his mind that anyone but the man in the cabin, and eventually the woman, would die. The sight of Gentry lying dead upon the ground brought confusion and then anger. “You're a dead man, Mister!” he suddenly roared out. “I'm gonna cut you up in little pieces.” Unaccustomed to making decisions on his own, however, he knew that first he had to get back to tell Dorsey. He turned then to confront a shadowy figure standing in the trees above him. Surprised, he stopped and called out. “Dorsey?”
“Yeah, Dorsey,” Cade Hunter uttered through clenched teeth and pumped two rounds into Cobb's belly. Cade remained where he stood for a minute or two, making sure Cobb was dead before moving off through the forest to take care of the last of the stalkers.
What the hell's goin' on?
Dorsey Braxton wondered. Cobb seemed to have been gone for a long time when Dorsey heard the shots on the other side of the cabin. The gunfire worried him. Something was wrong. What had his brothers run into? As a precaution, he decided to change his position and drop back closer to the horses. He suddenly felt a clammy uncertainty about the new quiet that settled around the small cabin after the last two shots. After a few minutes more, he called out. “Cobb? Gentry?” He waited, but there was no answer. With a strong certainty now that something had gone wrong, he decided he'd better move again, this time even closer to the horses.
Inside the darkened cabin, there was an equal amount of uncertainty. Mystified by the last two shots that came from off the back corner of the house, Levi decided to back away from the front window. He motioned for Willow to follow him, and then crawled over to station himself in the middle of the side wall. With his wife behind him, he sat next to the wall where he could watch both front and back windows. There was nothing to do then but wait.
Dorsey shifted his body slowly, making a concerted effort not to cause a sound. Something had happened to his brothers. He was certain of that now. It had been too long without hearing from at least one of them. The leaden quiet of the mountain weighed heavily upon his senses. It was as if all life had ceased, and the longer he knelt there in the dark, the more uneasy he became. He called out to his brothers again and waited for their response. As before, there was only silence, and his mind started working on the possibility that he was alone. The man by the fire with Willowâhe had shot himâhe was certain of that. There had to be someone else or something prowling these dark woods.
Finally, his sense of self-preservation caused him to wonder whether it was wise to hang around to find out. Maybe he'd better get while the getting was good. Something unnatural was at work here. Once that thought took hold of him, he decided not to linger. He wasn't sure what had happened to Cobb and Gentry, but he told himself he wasn't fool enough to wait to find out. His decision made, he gave no more thought to the fate of his two brothers, but sprang up from the thicket he had chosen to hide in, and ran for his horse. The animal sensed his panic and sidestepped away from him, causing Dorsey to have to grab for the reins and lunge for the saddle. Getting one foot in the stirrup, he swung his other leg over, but instead of finding the other stirrup, he felt two powerful hands around his ankle. In one continuous move, Cade grabbed Dorsey's leg and pulled the hapless man off the horse. Dorsey grunted with the pain that knocked the wind from his lungs when he collided with the ground. Terrified as if attacked by a demon, he managed to pull his pistol from his belt. Gasping for breath, he fired blindly around him, his assailant unseen in the dark. His shots scattered harmlessly through the trees, except for one. His horse screamed in pain when the bullet struck it, and it bolted, revealing the man who had been standing behind it. Seeing his target at last, Dorsey pulled the trigger, only to hear the damning click of an empty chamber. Cade unhurriedly raised his Winchester and dispatched the last of the Braxtons to join his brothers and whatever awaited them on the other side.
Left in a state of total confusion, Levi automatically shifted his attention from the rear window back to the front when he heard the burst of gunshots from that direction. Clueless about what was going on outside the darkened cabin, he was at a loss as to what actions he could take to protect Willow and himself. The shots he had heard were not directed at them. None had hit the cabin walls. With no options available to him but one, he sat against the wall with Willow pressed close to him, waiting, his rifle aimed at the door. There was no more shooting, and in a few minutes he heard the call.
“Levi, are you all right in there?”
Levi sat up straight. “Cade? Is that you?” He could not mistake the familiar voice.
“Yeah,” Cade called back. “It's me. I'm comin' in.”
Still mystified over what had just happened, Levi went to the door and lifted the bar. Even though he recognized Cade's voice, he stood to one side of the door with his rifle ready to fire. “Come on in, then,” he said. In a few moments he released a sigh of relief when the door swung open and it was indeed Cade Hunter. “Boy, am I glad to see you,” he exclaimed. “Have they gone?”
“Well, yeah, they're gone, and they ain't comin' back from where they've gone,” Cade replied. Then noticing the bloody shoulder, he said, “Damn, looks like you stopped a bullet. You better get that fixed up.”
Willow hurried to light a lantern. “I fix that now,” she said, and pulled Levi toward a chair at the table.
Impatient to hear what had gone on outside the cabin, Levi pressed Cade for details. He sat quietly and submitted to Willow's doctoring while Cade related the events that led up to the elimination of the other two Braxton brothers. “I don't know how long we coulda held 'em off,” Levi admitted. “I didn't have many cartridges left.” He paused to think about it. “But where'd you come from? You were long gone.”
“I took the short trail down, and they musta come up the way you hauled me up on the travois. I was already down the mountain when I heard the shootin'. I wish I coulda got here sooner, but that's a steep climb back up, and I had to walk and lead my horse most of the way.”
“Well, friend,” Levi exclaimed. “I'm mighty grateful you showed up when you did. You sure as hell saved our bacon, didn't he, Willow?”
The Blackfoot woman looked up from Levi's wound and smiled at Cade. “We owe you much,” she said.
Cade nodded and said, “I just lost one friend. I couldn't afford to lose two more.”
There was not much they could do about cleaning up after the attack until daylight. Levi went out with Cade while he brought his and two of the Braxtons' horses in. One of the horses was missing, the one that Dorsey shot. “I'll try to find him in the mornin',” Cade said as they stood over Dorsey's body with a lantern. “Reckon I'll take care of him and the others in the mornin', too.”
“He don't look like he's goin' anywhere,” Levi said.
“Are these the men you and Willow were runnin' from?” Cade asked.
“Yep,” Levi replied. “They're the ones.”
“Well, I reckon you and Willow don't have to run anymore.”
“Reckon not.” The thought just then struck him that this was a fact. There was no longer a need for him and his wife to hide out in the mountains, fearful that someone might find them. “I reckon not,” he repeated, now with a different tone. A sudden feeling of freedom came upon him as he realized the significance of the night's conflict. “Hell, let's leave the bastards where they lay tonight. Maybe the wolves'll eat 'em. Let's go build up the fire and fix us somethin' to eat. Me and Willow was about to cook some supper when they hit us.”