A DOG DIES GAME
Clambering out of the hold, the three detectives and Cleggett briefly
made their followers acquainted with the extraordinary turn of events.
The Rev. Mr. Calthrop, Miss Pringle's Jefferson, and Washington
Artillery Lamb were detailed to guard the Jasper B. end of the tunnel.
The others, seizing their rifles, raced across the sands towards
Morris's.
In a few moments the place was invested, with riflemen on every side
except the south, which fronted on the bay. The steel-jacketed bullets
from the high-power guns tore through and through the flimsy walls.
Nevertheless the defenders replied pluckily, and the siege might have
dragged on for hours had it not been for the courage and resource of
Kuroki. Gaining the stable, Kuroki found an old pushcart there. He
piled three bales of hay upon it, and then set fire to the hay.
Pushing the cart before him, and crouching behind the bales to protect
himself from revolver shots, he worked his way to the east verandah of
the building and left the hay blazing against the planks. Then he ran
as if the devil were after him, and was almost out of pistol shot
before he got a bullet in the calf of his leg.
The blaze caught the wood and spread. In two minutes the east verandah
was in flames. Loge and his men attempted to pour water on the blaze
from above. But Cleggett's party directed so hot a fire upon the
windows that the defenders were forced to retire.
The main building caught. The road house was old, and was of very
light construction; the fire spread with rapidity. Loge was in a trap.
But that evil and indomitable spirit refused to yield. Even when his
remaining ruffians came out and gave themselves up Loge still fought on
alone in a sullen fury of despair.
Reckless of bullets, he leaned from an open window, a figure not
without its grandeur against the background of smoke and flame, and
shouted a savage and obscene insult at Cleggett.
"Give yourself up," cried Wilton Barnstable.
"Damn it, man, anything's better than roasting to death!"
Loge raised his hand and sped a last bullet at the detective, grazing
Barnstable's temple.
"Come in and get me!" he shouted.
Barnstable fired, just as a whirl of smoke blew in front of Loge.
Cleggett thought the outlaw staggered, but he was not certain.
A moment later a portion of the roof fell; then the east wall crashed
in. Morris's was a blazing ruin.
"He has perished in the flames," said Wilton Barnstable. "So ends
Logan Black!"
"More like he's blowed his head off," said Cap'n Abernethy. "If you
was to ask me, that's what I'd do."
"He has done neither!" cried Cleggett. "He has taken to the tunnel.
That man will fight to the last breath."
And without waiting to see whether the others followed him or not
Cleggett set off at top speed for the Jasper B.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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