Cassidy, Hopalong (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Western stories
At the other end of the line Chick Travers and George Cross did as
well as they could with their Colts, but found their efforts
unavailing. Their positions were marked by the rustlers and they had
several narrow escapes, both being wounded, Cross twice. Ten yards
west of them Frenchy McAllister was crawling forward a foot at a time
from cover to cover and so far he had not been hit. His position also
had been marked and he was now trying to find a new one unobserved,
where he could have a chance to shoot once without instantly being
fired upon. Pete and Johnny had separated, the latter having given up
his attempt to make the rustler pay for his wounded ear. He had
emptied the magazine of the rifle he had found and now only used his
Colt. As he worked along the firing line he saw Frenchy ten yards in
front of him, covered nicely by a steep rise in the ground.
"How are you doing out there, Frenchy?" he asked in a low voice.
"Not very good; wish I had my rifle," came the soft-spoken reply.
"I had one that I found, but I used up all th' cartridges there was in
th' magazine."
"What kind an' caliber?"
".45-70 Winchester. I found it by th' ropes. Pete says he reckoned
some rustler must have left it behind an' got away down th'--"
"Get it for me, Kid, will you?" interrupted Frenchy, eagerly. "I
plumb forgot to leave my belt of rifle cartridges back in th' camp.
Got it on now, an' it's chock full, too. Hurry up, an' I'll work back
to you for it."
"What luck! In a second," Johnny exulted, disappearing. Returning with
the rifle he handed it to his friend and gazed longingly at the
beltful of rifle cartridges. "Say, Frenchy," he began. "You know we'll
all have our rifles to-night, an' you've got more cartridges for that
than you can use before then. It won't be more than three hours before
we send for ours. Suppose you gimme some of them for Pete--he's got
th' mate to that gun, an' can't use it no more because it's empty."
"Shore, Kid," and Frenchy slipped a handful of cartridges out of his
belt and gave them to Johnny. "With my compliments to Pete. What was
that you was saying about rustlers an' th' ropes?"
Johnny told of Pete's deductions regarding the finding of the rifles
and Frenchy agreed with them, and also that Doc had taken care of the
owners of the weapons when they had reached the plain.
"Well, I'm going further away from them thieves now that I've got
something to shoot with," Frenchy asserted. "They won't be looking for
any of us a hundred yards or more farther back. Mebbe I can catch some
of 'em unawares."
"I'll chase off an' give Pete these pills," Johnny replied. "He'll be
tickled plumb to death. He was cussing bad when I left him."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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