Prev | Current Page 30 | Next

Mulford, Clarence Edward, 1883-1956

"Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up"


"Hey, yu, Johnny!" called out Hopalong, "don't yu go an' tell
anybody I got any pills left. I ain't no ars'nal."
Johnny replied by elevating one foot and waving it. Then he
disappeared.
Behind the store, the most precarious position among the besiegers,
Red Connors and Lanky Smith were ensconced and commanded a view of the
entire length of the barroom. They could see the dark mass they knew
to be the rear door and derived a great amount of amusement from the
spots of light which were appearing in it.
They watched the "C" (reversed to them) appear and be completed.
When the wobbly "H" grew to completion they laughed heartily. Then the
hardwood bar had been dragged across the field of vision and up to the
front windows, and they could only see the indiscriminate holes which
appeared in the upper panels at frequent intervals.
Every time they fired they had to expose a part of themselves to a
return shot, with the result that Lanky's forearm was seared its
entire length. Red had been more fortunate and only had a bruised ear.
They laboriously rolled several large rocks out in the open, pushing
them beyond the shelter of the store with their rifles. When they had
crawled behind them they each had another wound. From their new
position they could see Hopalong sitting in his window. He promptly
waved his sombrero and grinned.


Pages:
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42