Hilma screamed, and her nails drove at Original's face. He quickly buried his unprotected eyes against her shoulder so that she could not reach them. Once more the girl heard a low laugh.
Then she vented a tremulous sob and pitched forward in weakness. A cloud rushed down and enveloped her. She felt herself dropping into nothingness.
Original let the girl's body slide to the floor. Then with strips from a dish towel he securely bound her hands behind her and tied her feet together. He carried her to one of the bunk beds, laid her therein, then swiftly made a barricade before her of the table set on edge, the trunk and a bundle of blankets. A bullet zipping through the walls or windows would be stopped by these obstructions.
Original's combat with the girl had occupied hardly a minute and had been observed only by the helpless Zang, lying with his back propped against the fireplace. At its swift conclusion Original seized his own rifle and took his place at a window covering the corral and wagon shed some thirty yards from the house and in the direction of the creek. Timberline, at his post, had been steadily firing whenever a mark pre-
