Aware that Sarento was studying his reaction Lewis merely nodded, keeping his face blank.

'Can you do this thing?'

'I'll take one of the rifles,' replied Lewis.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

For five days the riders had tried tentative attacks, but now on the sixth their leader went berserk, and the h.e.l.lborn mounted their horses and thundered into the pa.s.s, through the cross-fire which decimated their ranks and on to the trench where Gambion waited with ten men.

Through the cloud of dust sent up by the pounding hooves of their horses the h.e.l.lborn bore down on the waiting men.

'Fire!' screamed Gambion and a ragged volley smashed into the first line of riders, bringing down men and horses. A second volley hammered into the hors.e.m.e.n; then Gambion's men broke and ran for the second trench.

Above them, with three riflemen, Ja.n.u.s cursed. He stood and emptied his rifle into the surging ranks of the enemy. Only Gambion remained in the first trench; his rifle empty, he tugged his pistols clear and shot a man from the saddle. Now the dust swirled above him.

A horse leapt over him, then a second. He fired blindly into the dust. A hoof clipped the top of his skull and he fell as shots hammered into the dirt beside him.

Ja.n.u.s screamed at the running men to take up positions and they responded, dropping down beside the three men in the second trench. Sh.e.l.ls tore once more into the h.e.l.lborn and they broke and ran.

'After them!' shouted Ja.n.u.s, sweeping up a rifle and leaping the earthworks. Some seven men followed him, the rest hunkered down behind the relative safety of the earthworks.

Ja.n.u.s knew the next few moments would be crucial in the battle. If they did not push the h.e.l.lborn outside into the canyon, they would spread up on to the hillside and outflank the defenders. He ran to the first trench and waited for his men to join him.

Together!' he shouted. 'Volley fire. But only at my signal.'

The men settled their rifles to their shoulders. 'Now!' A volley shrieked through the dust clouds.

'Again!' Three times more they fired into the fleeing h.e.l.lborn. Ja.n.u.s led his men further into the pa.s.s, aware that their position was perilous should the h.e.l.lborn turn, but in the billowing dust the enemy had no idea how many men pursued them. At last Ja.n.u.s stood in the mouth of the pa.s.s itself and watched the h.e.l.lborn galloping out of range.

'Take up positions,' he ordered the men around him.

'I'm out of bullets,' a man told him.

'I've only got two rounds left,' said another.

'Strip the dead,' said Ja.n.u.s. 'But be careful - some of them may only be wounded.'

They gathered what ammunition they could from the fallen riders and returned to their positions. Ja.n.u.s sprinted back to the first trench where Gambion was sitting up holding his head.

'You ought to be dead,' Ja.n.u.s told him and Gambion looked up at the blond youngster and grinned broadly.

'It'll take more than a kick from a horse.'

'We are almost out of ammunition - we can't hold much longer, Ephram.'

'We have to.'

'Be reasonable, man. When the bullets are gone, then so are we.'

'We've held this long, and we've made them pay. Just four more days.'

'What do you want us to do? Throw rocks at them?'

'Whatever it takes.'

'There are only twenty-two men left, Ephram.'

'But we've taken over a hundred of them b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.'

Ja.n.u.s gave up and ran back to the pa.s.s, climbing high on to the ridge and shielding his eyes, trying to see the enemy. They had dismounted and were seated in a circle around two officers. Ja.n.u.s wished he had a long-gla.s.s to study the situation more closely. It seemed to him that one of the officers had a pistol in his hand and that the barrel was in his mouth.

The crack of the pistol drifted to him and he watched the officer topple sideways.

Gambion joined him. 'What's happening out there?'

'One of their leaders has just killed himself.'

'Good for him!'

'What kind of people are they, Ephram?'

'They ain't like us, that's for sure. By the way, I done a count and we've roughly fifteen sh.e.l.ls per man. Good enough for a couple more attacks.'

Ja.n.u.s chuckled. 'Your head's bleeding,' he said.

'It'll stop. You think they'll come in again today?'

'Yes. One more charge. I think we should take a chance on stopping it dead.'

'How?'

'Line everyone across the pa.s.s and hit them with ten volleys.'

'If they break through, there'll be nothing to back us.'

'It's up to you, Ephram.'

Gambion swore. 'I'll buy it. d.a.m.n, but I never thought to see the day when a boy would give me orders.'

'And a child shall lead them,' said Ja.n.u.s.

'What?'

'It's from the Bible, Ephram. Don't you ever read it?'

'I don't read - but I'll take your word for it.'

'Do it fast. I think they're coming in again.'

Gambion and Ja.n.u.s slid down the slope, calling the men to them. They came reluctantly for the most part and gathered in a ragged line.

'You'd better stand this time, by G.o.d!' yelled Gambion.

The riders came on at full gallop. The guns of the defenders bellowed, echoing up into the pa.s.s, and the rolling thunder of the volleys drowned the sound of galloping hooves.

The pa.s.s was black with cordite smoke and as it cleared Gambion watched the last of the h.e.l.lborn cantering away out of range. Fewer than fifty men remained of the three hundred who launched the attack on the first day, while seven defenders were dead and two wounded.

'We'd better gather some ammunition,' said Ja.n.u.s. 'Send ten men to strip the bodies.'

Gambion did so, while the other defenders kept a wary eye on the retreating riders.

'We did well today,' said Gambion. 'You believe in G.o.d now?'

Ja.n.u.s cursed. It was the first time Gambion had heard him swear.

'What is it?'

Ja.n.u.s pointed to where, on the far side of the valley, a column of riders could be seen.

's.h.i.t!' hissed Gambion. 'How many?'

'I don't know. Five hundred maybe.'

The scavengers returned with sacks of bullets and some extra pistols. One of them moved alongside Gambion.

They didn't have more than five sh.e.l.ls apiece. Ain't enough to hold that bunch.'

'We'll see.'

'Well I ain't staying,' said the man. 'I done my share.'

'We've all done our share, Isaac. You want to run out on G.o.d?'

'Run out on him? He ain't doing us no favours here, is he? There must be four, five hundred more of them sons of b.i.t.c.hes and we ain't even got enough sh.e.l.ls for them all.'

'He's right, Ephram,' said Ja.n.u.s. 'Send a rider to Cade -tell him he's got less than a day and he'd better speed up.'

'I'll go,' said Isaac, 'and glad to be out of it.'

The two wounded men were carried back into the pa.s.s and Ja.n.u.s touched Gambion's arm.

'We ought to move back, Ephram. We can't do any good here.'

'We can thin them a little.'

'They can afford to lose more than we can.'

'You want to run, then run!' snarled Gambion. 'I'm staying.'

'Here they come!' yelled a defender, pumping a sh.e.l.l into the breech. Gambion wiped sweat from his eyes and peered out into the canyon. Then blinked and squinted into the sunlight.

'Hold your fire!' he shouted. The lead rider came closer and Gambion waved, a broad smile breaking out on his face.

'Jesus,' whispered Isaac. They're Southerners!'

The troop cantered past the bodies of the h.e.l.lborn and the leader drew rein before Gambion. He was a short, stocky man with a red moustache.

'Well, Gambion, I swore to hang you and now I'm going to have to fight alongside you.

There's no justice left in the world!'

'I never thought to be pleased to see you, Simmonds, but I could kiss your boots.'

The man stepped down from the saddle. 'We've had refugees streaming south for a while now, telling tales like a sane man couldn't believe. Do these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds really worship the Devil and drink blood?'

'They do and more,' said Gambion.

'Where are they from?'

'The Plague Lands,' Gambion replied, as if that explained everything.

'Is it true that Cade's become a prophet?'

'As true as I'm standing here. You still carrying muskets?'

'It's all we've got.'

'Not any more. We didn't have a chance to collect all the weapons from them h.e.l.lborn.

You help yourself. They carry repeating rifles - d.a.m.n good weapons. Ten shot some of them. The others is eight.'

Simmonds sent some of his men to search the dead, while the rest rode back into the pa.s.s to make camp. He himself wandered up the ridge with Gambion and Ja.n.u.s.

'This your boy?' he asked.

'No, this is our general. And don't make jokes, Simmonds - he's done us proud the last six days.'

'You shaving yet, son?'

'No, sir, but I'm two inches taller than you so I guess that makes us even.'

Simmonds' eyebrows raised. 'You a Brigand?'