Crowe looked toward the northern forest.
“We'll see.”
His men turned away.
They made camp outside the valley.
Nathan watched fires appear along the ridge as darkness settled.
Behind him, Tall Willow stepped from the trees.
“He knows too much.”
Nathan nodded.
“He knows enough.”
Red Fern appeared beside her.
“He will attack before morning.”
Nathan looked toward Crowe's fires.
“No.”
Tall Willow turned.
“You disagree?”
“He wants me tired first.”
Nathan watched the camp.
“He'll let us stare at those fires all night. Then he'll come when he thinks we're slow.”
Morning Star walked from the barn carrying a saddle.
Nathan looked at her.
“Where are you going?”
“To town.”
“Town is two days.”
“Not on my horse.”
Nathan looked at the massive gray animal waiting near the corral.
“You expect the sheriff to believe this?”
Morning Star held up a leather packet.
“We have proof Crowe burned the McKenna place last spring.”
Nathan stared.
“You had that this whole time?”
“We needed someone willing to carry it.”
“Why didn't you?”
She looked at him.
“People who see me often forget what I say.”
Nathan could understand that too.
He helped tighten the saddle.
“You ride hard.”
Morning Star smiled.
“I always do.”
She disappeared into the western pass after dark.
Nathan spent the night preparing.
He moved ammunition into the cabin.
Red Fern showed him three narrow trails through the cliffs that Crowe's men would likely use.
Tall Willow explained where old deadfalls could be released across two approaches.
Nobody talked about surviving.
They talked about what needed doing.
Just before dawn, Nathan heard horses.
Then gunfire.
Crowe attacked from three directions.
Six riders came down the western trail.
Nine rushed the ranch road.
The others entered through the creek bed.
Nathan fired from behind the corral fence, putting his first bullet into the ground beneath the lead horse.
The animal reared.
The riders broke formation.
Nathan fired again.
This time he hit a man's shoulder.
The attacker fell.
Nathan hated shooting men.
He hated being shot at more.
Bullets tore splinters from the barn wall.
Red Fern appeared near the western trail and cut a rope stretched around a pine trunk.
A dead tree crashed across the path.
Three horses skidded sideways.
One rider disappeared into the brush.
Tall Willow pushed a heavy wagon sideways across the creek crossing, using strength Nathan still had difficulty believing when he saw it.
Two riders became trapped behind it.
She did not attack them.
She simply removed their path.
Crowe's men had numbers.
The wardens had the valley.
Every shortcut became a trap.
Every narrow trail became a bottleneck.
Every time Crowe's men thought they had found an opening, Red Fern or Tall Willow appeared somewhere they should not have been able to reach so quickly.
By midmorning, half the attackers had withdrawn toward the ridge.
Then dynamite exploded near the northern cliffs.
Nathan turned.
Smoke rolled from the direction of the stone arch.
“Damn it.”