Last Stand on Eagle Heights by Harlan Finchley

Last Stand on Eagle Heights by Harlan Finchley

Author:Harlan Finchley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Culbin Press
Published: 2023-05-29T00:00:00+00:00


Chapter Nine

“Is there any sign of anyone?” Kelsey asked when he and Gideon joined Whitman at the entrance to the pass.

“I haven’t seen anything, but that’s not good news,” Whitman said with a heavy tone. “I reckon the shooting came from over there, and that’s where Dusty went.”

Without further comment the three men edged out through the entrance. Nobody was visible in the direction Whitman had indicated and the ground was flat with little cover.

“I’ll check it out,” Kelsey said.

“Don’t,” Gideon said. “We haven’t heard any shooting for a while so I reckon that means either Dusty prevailed and he’s on his way to the railroad, or he was in trouble and now it’s too late to help him.”

Kelsey turned to Whitman for his opinion, and Whitman gave a sorry expression.

“Dusty has been gone for over fifteen minutes. It could take us longer than that to find him and if we’re wrong and the shooting had nothing to do with him, we’ll have risked being seen for nothing.”

Kelsey still rubbed his jaw as he thought about his options, but then he narrowed his eyes and backed away.

“It’s too late,” he said. “We have trouble now.”

Gideon turned in the direction that had concerned Kelsey. A man was moving some distance away, but then a second and a third man appeared. They were all heading toward the pass, their cautious movements suggesting they were following tracks.

Moving slowly in the hope of avoiding detection, Gideon and the others crept back into the pass. Then Whitman returned to his previous position while Kelsey and Gideon moved on.

“We’re trapped in here,” Gideon said. “On the other hand it’s a defendable position.”

“It’s three men against twice that number, and Vernon can get as many reinforcements as he needs while we won’t have any help coming.”

“We don’t know for sure that they got Dusty and besides, if they try to force us out of here, we’ll blast off enough gunfire for someone at the railroad to hear us.”

Kelsey smiled at this positive outlook and then pointed at the balloon.

“We planned to use that if this double eagle in the sky ever appeared,” he said. “But we could just use it to escape.”

“Only Dusty had any idea how we were supposed to use it.” Gideon shrugged. “I guess as a last resort we could try it.”

Kelsey turned to the entrance where Whitman nervously bobbed up before ducking back down again suggesting that the approaching men would reach the pass shortly.

“Only as a last resort,” Kelsey said. He met Gideon’s eye before he hurried off to join Whitman.

Gideon sighed and then thought about what Dusty had told him about the balloon flight he’d seen. He hadn’t provided many details, but he figured there was one thing he did know how to do and that was to set a fire.

He gathered the firewood Whitman and Kelsey had brought into a pile in front of the basket. Then he moved around the edges of the balloon and draped it into a position that he reckoned would let it collect the hot air when the fire was lit.



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