It was well past dark by the time Dunc made his way back to the cave. Arch Deland was there by himself.
“Where's the marshal?” Dunc asked.
“Went out to look around, like you. Did you find anything?”
Then they heard movement in the brush below, and Dunc and Deland wheeled around, shotgun and rifle at the ready. “Owen?” the deputy called quietly.
“Yes.” After a moment Owen broke out of the thicket, wiping his face on his sleeve. “Looks like the ridge is our place, all right,” he said wearily. “I think I've found the way the gang gets up there, but there's not much chance for us. There must be three outposts up there, and there's a narrow pass near the top.” He sat down near the mouth of the cave and looked at Dunc. “Did you learn anything, son?”
“I was up at the east end,” Dunc said. “We'd never get to the top with horses, but we might be able to make it on foot.”
“Good!” Owen broke open the grub sack and took out some jerked beef. “The closer we can get to the hideout, the better off we'll be. I don't think Ike will be looking for us in his own back yard.”
“Which doesn't say he might notstumble on us,” Arch Deland said mildly.
“That's a chance we'll have to take. We'll eat and get some rest and then try it Dunc's way, at the other end.”
“It won't be easy at night,” Dunc said.
“It would be tougher in the daytime.”
For several moments they said nothing, chewing the tough dried beef as they rested. At last Dunc said, “I saw something kind of funny while I was out. There's an old farmer and his family that used to live over there to the east; his name's Cooper. I came past there and the placer was burned out.”
Owen's head came up with interest. “You mean the Brunners burned him out?”
“It looked that way. Just like my family's place, burned to the ground.”
Arch Deland smiled faintly, but not with humor. “So Ike is having to resort to force.” He looked at Owen. “One thing leads to another when you start that kind of thing. This could be the beginnin' of the end for Ike Brunner.”
“Yes,” Owen said, but all of them knew that the end could be a long time coming. Eventually Ike would go too far, burn out the wrong family, kill the wrong man, and all the hills would turn against him. But that might take months, and in the meantime Ike would be free to loot and kill as he pleased.
“Well,” Owen said at last, standing up, and the others knew what he meant.
“It shouldn't be so tough,” Deland said. “It's getting darker all the time.”
The three men shouldered their packs again, picked up their guns, and Owen said, “You'd better lead the way, Dunc.”
They moved in Indian file away from the cave, climbing up the rocky slope, and soon Owen and Deland were fighting to control their breathing. They stumbled on for perhaps an hour, the clawlike arms of blackjack tearing at them as the trail grew more treacherous. From time to time they stumbled over rocks or roots hidden in the dark shadows and fell. After each fall Arch Deland was slower to get up.
“We'd better rest a minute,” Owen said at last, and the three of them dropped to the ground and did not speak for several minutes.
Then the white underbelly of the moon showed through the curtain of clouds, and they caught a glimpse of Killer Ridge in the distance. “A long piece to travel without a horse,” Arch Deland said with grim humor.
“A horse would never make it, anyway,” Owen said. “Well, we'd better get started if we want to make it before sunup.”
They started again, and this time it was a bit easier, for they began the long downgrade march to the east. Dunc pointed out the direction of the Cooper place, but Owen merely grunted, and Arch Deland was too winded, to speak.
Owen was quick to hear the sound of hoofs. The three men halted and stood like statues on the dark slope, and the horses seemed to be coming right toward them. They could see nothing.
Then suddenly the moon came out again and the hill was bathed in light, and to Owen's eyes the light was brighter than any sun's. The three horsemen, only about twenty yards away, reined lip sharply. One of the men swore harshly and a pistol shot roared among the hills.
Abruptly the night exploded with the thunder of guns, and the horses reared crazily and pranced excitedly along the rocky slope.
Someone shouted a warning, but Owen did not recognize his own voice. He went down on one knee and fired once, twice with his revolver, and almost at the same instant Dunc Lester's shotgun roared. They heard a scream and a horse went racing wildly down the hillside. Still firing, two of the riders jumped from their saddles and raced toward the protection of brush and rocks.
As suddenly as it had appeared, the moon vanished. Darkness covered them like a blanket, and for a moment all was silent.
Owen reached out blindly, crawled through the brush until he felt the cold solidity of stone, and rested briefly against the boulder and tried to think. Then, only a few feet away, he heard Dunc Lester cursing savagely to himself.
“Where's Deland?” Owen called quietly.
Dunc stopped his cursing. “I thought he was with you.”
A chill settled around Owen Toller's heart. “Arch,” he called softly.
There was no answer. He called again, and this time a flash of fire stabbed at the night, but the old deputy made no sound. Calmly Dunc Lester leveled his shotgun and fired at the flash, and then all was quiet again. Owen reached out and touched the boy's arm. “Watch with your ears,” he said.. “Try to keep them where they are and don't let them get us in a cross fire.”
“Where're you goin'?” Dunc asked.
“To find Arch.”
He slipped away from the boulder, feeling out the back-trail with his hands. Then his hand touched a hard leather object and he knew that it was Arch Deland's boot.
“Arch, are you all right?”
He crawled closer and now he felt the stickiness of warm blood just below the buckle of the deputy's cartridge belt. He took a limp hand but felt no pulse. He pressed his ear to Deland's chest and heard the beat. Owen sagged for a moment on his hands and knees while relief washed over him.
“Owen.”
The voice was weak and sounded far away, and it was the most welcome sound Owen had ever heard. “Yes, Arch, it's Owen.”
“Is it all over?”
“Not by a long shot!” And he made himself laugh. “You were born to die in bed!”
“I mean the fight. Is it over yet?”
“Not yet, but I think we got one of them. They must be part of the Brunner gang. We just stumbled onto them.”
The deputy tried to laugh and ended by coughing. “I guess you've got things to do. Don't let me keep you.”
“I'll move you up the hill a bit,” Owen said quietly. “Behind the boulder.”
But a thin, involuntary sound escaped Deland's throat when Owen tried to lift him. Very gently Owen laid the old deputy back down. “On second thought, maybe you'll be better off right where you are. We'll have this thing cleaned up in a minute; then we'll take care of you right.”