Page:J Allan Dunn--The Girl of Ghost Mountain.djvu/273

Rh thought, for the barrier was down. She would not have come had she not meant to stay.

There were two dead Chinamen in the opening, three more on the ground. Close by was the twisted ruin of a motor car, its engine a muddle of scrap. Two other cars, their engines still running, their headlights biting into the darkness, illuminating the cave mouth, stood as they had raced in from the direction of Metzal, of the Circle S. One tall cowboy stood off to the side of the rays, by a still body. He came forward as they emerged and joined them.

"Me, I got my man," he said with an odd note of boyishness. It was Jim Lund.

"It was Pedro. Me an' him shot it out. I came after him—an' I got him."

Stoney and the sheriff moved towards the two cars to shut off the engines. The rest hurried to Bonanza Canyon. Sheridan stumbled as he went and Mary threw a slim, vigorous arm about him to steady him.

"You are badly hurt?" she asked, the keen anxiety in her voice music to his ears. "Your arm?"

"Nothing but a bruise," he said thickly. "No bones broken. But I am literally perishing for water. With the rest of us."