Page:For the Liberty of Texas.djvu/62

54 was Ralph who hit his man, a slight wound in the leg. Hardly had the pistols belched forth than the Indians opened fire, and four bullets buried themselves close to the firing-holes in the loft openings.

"They mean to overpower us if they can," cried Dan. "We must load up as fast as we can!"

The Indians, or at least the three that were not wounded, had now gained the door, and were trying to force it open. But their hatchets and the axe they had brought along failed to make much of an impression on it, and all they could do was to shout in their rage and demand that the boys open the door at once.

"Open! Open!" came in Wolf Ear's voice. "Open, or we will scalp you!"

"Go away, or we'll shoot you all down!" answered Dan, who had now reloaded his gun.

"We will not go away. What is in the house belongs to the red man, and he must have it."

"It belongs to our father, and you shall not have one thing," retorted Dan.

He had unbarred the shutter of one of the upper windows, and now, leaning out swiftly, he took aim at the forms grouped below, and fired.

A howl went up, for the bullet had nipped one red man in the ear and glanced along the shoulder of a second. Then came a quick fire in return,