The valley around the fort was empty. Nothing stirred, nor was there any suggestion of movement.
Now was a time when I could use the help of the Nunnehi, the immortals that dwell beneath the mountains and rivers of this strange, wild land. The Cherokees spoke of them, whispered of them rather, with many a glance over the shoulder and into the shadows, for none knew when they might be about.
Suppose the fort had been deserted? That Yance had led the others into the forest? Yet that made no sense, as we had too much at stake in that small fort, all our families; our stored grain, jerked meat, whatever we had gained by our hard years on the frontier, were there or in the scattered cabins.
Yance was a shrewd one. Deliberately he might be playing possum, watching for a chance to make a strike that would destroy Bauer and all that he stood for.
Aware that I had been in one place too long, I moved, easing my way through the tangle of brush and trees near the clearing. A faint whisper of movement alerted me. Knife in hand, I looked all about. Something was moving nearby. Some crawling sound. Drawing back, I put my back against the trunk of a huge old maple and waited.
Waited, knife in hand.
CHAPTER XXIV
My body was flattened against the maple, a big old tree at least three feet through, so my back was well covered. I gripped the staff in my left hand, but the knife I carried low, cutting edge up.
Whoever was coming was a woodsman. I knew that by the way he moved. Something stirred in the leaves not three feet away. A sudden lunge and I could have the blade into him, but I was never one to start shooting or cutting on something I didn’t see. There are would-be hunters who will blaze away at anything that moves, but I must see and identify.
He was rising from the ground, and I knew he sensed my presence. He knew something or someone was close by; it is a feeling one gets.
I took a careful step forward with my left foot, putting the end of the staff firmly on the ground, ready to cut upward with the knife.
A hand, then the rough outline of a head. Starting forward, I suddenly froze in place. I knew that-!
“Yance?” I breathed the word.
He came through the leaves as though materializing from them. He was grinning widely. I could not see his eyes, but his white teeth showed his smile.
“Worried about you, lad. Where’ve you been?”
“Waiting for you,” I replied softly. “What’s happened?”
“Jeremy’s holding the fort. We’re hoping to get them out in the open. Get them to thinkin’ maybe we’ve slipped away. No fires, no lights, everything quiet and ready.
“Me an’ the Catawbas, we didn’t take to bein’ cooped up, so we slipped out. We’re all here, holdin’ fast. If they rush the fort, we’ll take them from behind, and I think they’re fixin’ to.”
He moved closer. “You all right?”
“I took a fall.”
We waited together, listening. It was good to have Yance there beside me, for we had been a team since we’d been old enough to travel together.
“How’s Diana?”
“Worried about you. She’s got herself a couple of pistols hard by, an’ she’s ready.” He turned to look at me. “You picked a good one, Kin. She’ll do.”
It was dark now, but the clouds were broken, and here and there we could see a scattering of stars. The air had grown suddenly cool. I sheathed my knife for the moment, drying my hands on the front of my buckskin shirt. The night was very still, and we waited, listening, our ears seeking out the unnatural, unexpected sounds, but there were none. It reassured me that the Catawbas were out and around, for they were good men and great warriors.
We could but dimly see the stark black line of the fort against the sky and the huge old trees that lay just beyond it. From where we now lay the fort was only slightly more than a hundred yards away, the ground open. Only on the north side had we allowed the trees to grow close to the fort, as the half-dozen trees left standing there provided shade during the hotter months.
It was quiet. Yance put his lips close to my ear. “Kin? I’m scared. Something’s wrong!”
My eyes were on the line of the wall against the sky. A breeze stirred the branches in the chestnut trees beyond the wall. I could see the branches move slightly against the sky.
Suddenly I swore bitterly. The branches moved! But there was no breeze!
“Yance! They’re coming over the wall!”
And then I was running. My injured leg forgotten, I lunged from the ground and ran for the fort, Yance only a step behind me.
As we ran, we saw several men round the corner of the fort just as the gate swung wide. “In here!”
There was a shot from inside the fort, then a scream and another shot. Men were crowding at the gate, and Yance and I reached it on the run.
A burly bearded man, pistol in hand, turned to shout. At that moment there was a flash of light from inside, a pistol that missed fire, and I caught a fleeting glimpse of his shocked expression as he recognized me, and at that same instant I ripped him, low and upward. He let out a gasping cry, and I shoved him back, grabbing for his pistol with my left hand. He let go of it, falling back, and then I was past him and in the gate.
Yance was at my shoulder. “Sackett here!” I yelled not wanting them to shoot into us, and I heard Jeremy’s answering shout.
How many there were of them I never knew. It was cut and shoot. I fired my pistol, then threw it at a head that loomed before me and had the satisfaction of seeing it bounce off a skull. Yance was down, then up. A wicked blow, a glancing one, opened a gash in my skull. My head rang with the blow, but I kept my feet.
Pulling back, I looked wildly around, seeking Bauer, but he was nowhere in sight. The door to my house stood open, and I sprang past the fighting and ran to it.
“I wish he was here,” Bauer was saying, “to see you die.”
He held a pistol in his hand, and he was facing Diana. “I am here, Max,” I said, and he turned sharply.
He was not one to dally but was ready for instant action. His eyes caught me as his ears registered my voice, and as he turned, he fired.
Yet his shot was too quick; anticipating it, I had lunged to his right. I felt the heat of the blast and the fiery sting of powder grains on my cheek.
He turned sharply as I lunged at him and struck down with the pistol barrel. Missing my skull, the blow came down across the top of my shoulder, and only the thick muscles there kept me from a broken bone. As it was, my right arm was stricken numb for the moment, and the knife dropped from my hand.
He came at me then, a small smile on his lips, for he was sure he had me. The look in his eyes was almost amused. He had his knife low and ready, the pistol in the other hand now. Warily I backed away, watching my chance.
The room was large for the time and place, but the fireplace, where lay fire tongs and poker, was across the big table from me and hopelessly out of reach. There was no nonsense about him now. He was coming in for the kill, and I had only my bare hands with which to face him. He worked me into a corner, and there was no chance to elude him, although I had brought him away from Diana.
One thing I knew. Somehow I had to kill him, for if he killed me, Diana would die in the next moment. From outside there was a confused sound of fighting, shouts, and the clash of arms. There were several shots. They needed me out there, too.
Bauer took a wicked slash at my stomach, which I evaded by a leap backward that brought me up hard against the wall. He lunged with the knife, but I sidestepped away along the wall and got into the open again. I feinted a rush, but he merely smiled. He moved quickly, cutting left and right. He ripped a gash in my hunting jacket and scratched my arm. The numbness was almost gone now. I backed away again, and he came on and thrust hard.
Slapping his knife hand aside with my left hand, I grasped his wrist with my right and threw my left leg across in front of him and spilled him over that leg to the floor. Desperately I tried to wrench the knife from him, but his grip was strong. We rolled over on the floor, and I was up first. He was too strong and too heavy on the floor. To fight him, I had to be on my feet.