The Gold Seekers by E. C. Tubb

Author:E. C. Tubb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spencer Ltd
Published: 1955-05-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

For a moment no one moved., then, as a woman shrieked in agony as a steel barb tore into her flesh, the camp dissolved in action.

"Kill those lights!" yelled Mark. "Throw water on the fire. Attack stations!"

He spun, the long-barreled Colt leaping to his hand, and as arrows hummed through the air he dived beneath one of the wagons. He crouched, his gray eyes narrowed as he stared into the darkness, while behind him the fire hissed and smoked as someone threw buckets of water on the leaping flames.

With the dying of the fire, darkness closed around them and, protected from the tell-tale glare silhouetting them and making them easy targets, the people of the wagon train moved into their defensive positions. Children were put between the crates and sacks of supplies. The older ones stationed with water buckets in case of fire. The men crouched beneath the wagon, rifles at the ready, and the women, as dangerous as the men when it came to defending their homes, stood by to both shoot or help the wounded.

For a while there was silence, a heavy silence, broken only by the cries of the wounded and the sobbing of those who mourned their dead. A shadow moved towards Mark and he turned as Walt approached.

"Many hurt?"

"Five wounded, one seriously, two dead." The wagon boss was curt. "I thought you said they wouldn't attack at night?"

"They aren't. That shower of arrows was just the preliminary. We can expect more fire-arrows too, maybe, but they won't charge until the dawn." He stared at the young man, his face bleak in the dim starlight. "Look, Walt, you and me have something to settle. We can do it with guns or we can do it now with words. I can make allowances for a man in love with a girl, but that don't give him no excuse to throw around insults. Well?"

"I've known Shelia most of my life," said Walt slowly. "I took it hard when she seemed to favor you and I guess my tongue ran away with me. If I miscalled you I'd take it kindly if you'd forget it."

It was an apology, the best Mark could hope for, and he knew that the young man would rather be roasted over a slow fire than humble himself further. But there was something more.

"I can forget what you said," he said slowly. "But you spoke in public and I figure that you should take it back in the same way. I like Shelia, she's a nice girl, and I reckon that she's got the right to make up her own mind. Us fighting and maybe killing one another isn't going to do either she or us any good. Fighting over a woman is the stupidest sort of fighting there is, unless she's your wife." He paused, looking at the young man. Walt swallowed, nodded, then held out his hand.

"I'll take it back."

"Now you're talking sense," said Mark. He shook the proffered hand. "We've got too much to do and too far to go to carry a grudge.

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