Free The World Ends In Hickory Hollow by Ardath Mayhar Page B

unconscious. We don't know ..."
    "Where's the child?" I asked, a chill crawling through my insides.
    "In the house," he answered. "Laura grabbed that pistol as if she had done it every day of her life. She knocked the little wildcat out with the barrel of it. I think she'd have killed her, if we hadn't been there. Now we've got her tied up in the spare bedroom."
    "But didn't they try to get in the house, after they heard the shot?" Zack asked.
    "Huh!" grunted Horace. "They tried to break in the door, But they're a stupid bunch. Didn't even think to cover the front door, just the one on the river side. I eased out and around the corner and scattered them with bird shot, They hightailed it out of sight, screaming and cussing and raising enough sand to raise the devil. Didn't seem to give another thought to the young'un we had inside."
    "Sounds typical," I said, as we entered the arched doorway, into which a heavy and evidently handcrafted oak panel had been swung.
    The house was as warm, down-to-earth, and pleasant on the inside as it had seemed from a distance. Hooked rugs made puddles of color here and there on the hardwood floor that ran in a long expanse from front to back, encompassing the long living-work-dining room and the kitchen, brick-floored and wide- hearthed .
    On a couch that had been pulled up beside the living-room fireplace lay a young woman who looked about fifteen, but, being Grace, must have been nearer to twenty. She was terribly pale, and the skin about her temples was bluish, as were the shadows under her cheekbones. I bent over her as we entered and laid my hand to her forehead. It was clammy.
    "We have had her covered, warm bricks to her feet, the fire going full tilt," her mother said, "but she still seems to be in shock. The wound is clean–went right through the muscle of her right arm, near the shoulder."
    Bill looked down at the unconscious girl. "Have you got any salt water down her?" he asked. "Salt ... water?" Carrie said doubtfully. "No. Does that help in a case of shock?"
    "Can't hurt," he answered, going to the kitchen and peering into a bucket that evidently contained clean water. "This all right to drink?"
    "It's out of the deep well," Horace said. "Here, let me get you the salt. And the water in the kettle is warm.. " He drew an old-fashioned camp kettle from the edge of the coals in the hearth.
    When we had finagled several small draughts of the mixture down Grace's throat, we left her mother to continue the process and went to check on Sim Jackman . He was the most terrible sight I saw during all the time of transition. Bruised purple-to-black over every visible inch of skin, he also sported lumps and welts that testified to the merciless use of a stick. Just as had poor Jess. It was evident that he must simply either heal or die.
    As I bent over him, his eyes opened. Surrounded by discolored flesh as they were, their color was hard to determine, but they were bright and alert, for all of that. He was unable to move even his head, so swollen was he, but his lips moved, and I bent near to hear.
    "Who ye be?" he whispered, and I answered him, pulling Zack forward so that he could see him, too. He tried to nod, and a spasm of pain washed across his face.
    To save him effort, I told him of our enclave upriver, our expedition to free the cattle, of Jess and the Fanchers . When I was done, he waggled an eyebrow to bring me closer.
    "I git well," he breathed, "'m goin ' to flush out them Ungers . Not fit t'live , none of'em . Went down there m'self , young fool, years ago. Bad then. Worse now. Dangerous. Take keer . " He stopped, drained by the effort.
    I stood and looked down at him. He was the thin, wiry, tough sort that you find in the back country. With his kind, size was irrelevant. They made up in grit and vinegar what they lacked in inches. I had no doubt that he would live and give the Ungers the hell they deserved.
    If, that is, we were not forced to clean out that devils' den before