‘They’ll get you the moment you show on the roof.’
‘I’ll chance it.’
A voice bawled from out of the darkness, ‘Come on out, or we’ll come and get you.’ I crawled across the floor into the inner room. Mary was waiting for me. ‘I’m going up,’ I said. They’re right outside, and we might surprise them. Stick around down here and keep your eyes open. There may be trouble.’
And as I climbed up the ladder, I thought that last utterance was a nice example of the understatement.
Gently I pushed back the trap, waited, listening. Then slowly I raised myself so that my bead and shoulders appeared above the opening of the trap. Nothing happened. I wondered if those left on the far side of the valley were watching the roof. I hoped they weren’t. Moving out into the brilliant moonlight gave me a sinking feeling, but I moved out.
Lying flat, I edged across the roof, taking my time, careful not to make a sound, expecting any moment to be shot at from the other side of the valley.
It seemed a long way across the roof. As I drew near the edge, I moved more slowly, edging forward inch by inch.
More shots crashed out, startling me, but they were shooting at the door and not at me. Under cover of the noise, I pulled myself forward until I could see over the edge of the roof. I looked down on the shrubs and bushes that sloped away steeply into the valley. For a moment or so I couldn’t see any movement. Then I spotted a man, crouched behind a rock, about twenty yards from the cabin. Keep as still as death, I searched the ground before me. I spotted the others, spread out in a half-circle before the cabin. None of them were taking any chances. All of them were partly protected by rocks or shrubs. I reckoned I would pick of two, but the other three would get me unless Mac got them first. I decided it would be safer and wiser to tell Mac where they were hiding before trying to pick them off.
As I began to edge backwards, one of the men glanced up and saw me. He gave a y ell and fired at the same time. The slug fanned past my face. I took a snap-shot at him, saw him fall, swung around and fired at the second man in the half-circle, saw him start to his feet, and then I wriggled back as crash of gunfire broke out below me and bullets struck splinters from the guttering where my head had been.
Bent double, I made a bolt for the trap-door, as gunfire broke out from the other side of the valley. I heard slugs zip past me as I half fell, half scrambled down the ladder.