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.“If that’s the best you can do then don’t bother.You’re little men with little ambitions.Keep off my land or I’ll treat you as trespassers, and trespassers will be shot.Understand?”The three glared at him and said nothing.Case walked off and left them fuming in the street.He didn’t care much for their attitudes, but he felt much happier now he’d sorted out the immediate problem.But he knew that where one was dealt with, another would spring up in its place.And he still didn’t know if the Brotherhood would come that night or not.He would have to be alert that night, he knew.* * *They came at two o’clock.Case had stayed up watching the house from the barn where the horse had been stabled.Mary had protested at the new purchase but Case had reasoned with her, saying the animal would make traveling round the farm much easier and trips into town would be more frequent as a result.Mary had grudgingly allowed the horse, which Case had named Napoleon, to stay in the barn.He’d then assured Mary that the legal matter was settled, it being a hoax and there was no lawyer in Virginia called C.J.M.Stavely.It had settled the fears of the woman to hear that.Case slowly puffed on a pipe, waiting.He’d found tobacco that much easier to get here and cheaper than he normally found.He supposed Virginia was the prime place to grow tobacco which made it much more available.He suddenly cocked an ear and tapped out the pipe and stamped out the glowing embers on the ground.He took his colt and softly made his way to the extreme end of the fence that ran round the animal compound, separating it from the farmhouse yard.From here he could see the drive.Four dark shadows came furtively along it, visible in the faint light from the stars, glowing torches in hands.That they intended burning everything down was not in doubt.Case slid forward onto the grass and wriggled up to the base of a tree and watched as the group spread out, two going for the front door, one vanished round the far side and the other came round the near side of the building towards the rear entrance.Case got up and holstered the pistol, pulling out his knife instead.The man round the back was joined by the other who’d made the circuit.Obviously they were going to bar the doors and then set fire to the ground floors and watch their handiwork from afar.He had little time to act.He scuttled along the boundary of the fence and into the yard, knife held in front of his body.The two men were busy manhandling a water butt round to the doorway, thus blocking it.Case didn’t hesitate but ran right up to the back of the first and slammed the blade deep into him.The man jerked upright and cried out in pain, shock and terror.He fell forward across the barrel, surprising the second man.“Longinus!” he managed to gasp before jumping back and, throwing down his torch, running back the way he’d come.The knife was stuck in the back of the first man.The blade was lodged in between two ribs.Cursing, Case left the body there, jerked out his colt and ran after the man round the house.“He’s alive! He’s here!” the man yelled, running round the front of the house.The other two were completing blocking the front door with planks they’d ripped from a fence, and they turned to see what the noise was all about.Case followed a short way behind and the two by the front door spotted him.“Longinus?” one exclaimed in amazement.“Yes! He’s killed Russ!”“Holy fuck!” one of the others said and took three steps to the side and pulled out a pistol.Case stopped running and went down on one knee, aiming carefully.The thing with pistols was that they were fine very close up but over distances of ten yards or more it was a case of luck or taking your time.He fired at the pistol wielder, the shot shattering the night.He missed.The gunman also missed, his shot passing to Case’s left and too high.“Christ!” one of the others shouted, “that’ll bring the whole damned lot down! Let’s get out of here!”Case reasoned now wasn’t the time to be fancy.He blasted away, the four shots following in quick succession.The pistol man folded over with a scream, clutching his stomach and one of the others span round a few times before collapsing, arms out-flung, onto the driveway.The third man ran off, legs pumping wildly.Case slammed the pistol into his holster and ran after him, angling along the grass towards the road, trying to cut off the flight of the last surviving member of the arson party.Behind him lights were coming on and voices demanding to know what was going on.The Brotherhood man reached the road and ran to the left, but Case was nearly there too, and leapt the fence onto the road, just behind him.The man turned in fright and saw his pursuer right behind him.He screamed in terror and was brought crashing to the ground by a flying leap from Case.The force of the jump plus the weight pressing on the man’s back brought him down very hard and he struck his head on a stone, which made a sickening sound.Case got off him, breathing hard and rolled the inert man over.The head wound was bad and his eyes stared up into the sky unseeing.Case put a finger to his neck, trying to find the carotid artery.There was no pulse.“Shit,” he muttered.Dragging the body back to the driveway, he saw a group of people standing by the front door, standing round the two men lying there.He dropped the corpse at the entrance to the drive and trudged back towards the family, huddled together in shock.“Mr.Lonnergan!” Mary said, her voice strained, “what has been going on! Why are these men here shot?”“These men tried to burn down the house,” Case said grimly [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]