MY LADY OF THE SOUTH
faces of those nearer. For the moment our concentrated fire staggered them, but there were too many out there to be held back long by so small a force. As we exhausted our loads, they sprang confidently forward, a dozen flinging aside their guns to grasp anew the fallen timber. Then, with a yell, they rushed us. Only half ready we fired blindly, scarcely able to see through the smoke. With a crash the end of the timber struck, splintering the boards and tearing the lower half of the door from its fastenings.
The woman was flung backward, her rifle discharging as she fell, and I sprang aside, tripping over the boy, and striking against something which rendered me for the instant helpless. Yet I managed to reach my knees, and fired twice at the dim figures leaping toward me through the smoke: then I went down, grappled by a dozen hands, but struggling desperately until pinned to the floor.
The hubbub ceased, the roar and shouting, the rattle of guns: the smoke blew out of the door in a cloud, and, although my eyes smarted painfully, I could yet perceive my surroundings. The elder Daniels boy was backed into a corner, the black muzzle of a gun at his breast; the younger lay on the floor apparently unconscious; O'Brien was just getting up, his clothes in rags from the fierce struggle, while Maria sat on the bed, gun still in hand, glaring about her, but without a shot left. A fellow struck my arm a numbing blow causing the revolver to drop to the floor. I had seen nothing of Dunn during that fierce rush, but now he stood
[ 336 ]
