Howells’ words satisfied the sheriff, and they proceeded to get acquainted all around. Garry asked if that was the pretext of the posse, for he counted only fifteen men, and was relieved when he was told that another truck with the same number of men was following them, but had been obliged to stop for a short time on account of engine trouble.
As they spoke they heard the rumble of an engine and a short time later the second truck hove into view.
“It lacks about an hour and a half of daylight, so I think we ought to be getting on. If possible we can surprise them in the dark, that would win half the battle for us. Not that I expect there will be much of a fight, when they see that the law is after them,” said the sheriff.
“I don’t think I would trust the authority of the law half as much as our rifles,” said Garry. “Those men are desperate, some of them, and if they see prison staring them in the face, they will fight all the harder, figuring that they might as well be taken for sheep as for lambs,” said Garry. “Besides, they have two bad men with them, meaning the two halfbreeds, Jean and Baptiste LeBlanc. Jean is already wanted for a half a dozen serious crimes, including kidnapping and setting fire to forests; also he is an escaped jail bird. With that kind, it means fight to the end before being taken.”
“Come to think of it, I’ve seen a notice in my office offering a reward for his capture. I’d like to get that chap, and I could use the reward,” said the sheriff.
They had ridden as they talked, and soon were on the outskirts of the camp.
But something had gone wrong. A volley of shots whistled at them from cover, and they were forced to beat a short retreat instead of springing a surprise on their quarry as they had intended to do.
“Now, that’s funny; how did they get on to that?” muttered the sheriff.
It later developed that Barrows had posted sentinels in the woods along the road, and as soon as their approach was noted, they had, by a pre-arranged signal, passed the word of the coming to the posse.
This word having been received at the camp, hasty preparations had been made to receive them. The prisoners, about twenty in all, had been marched at the points of guns to the storehouse, and there were forced to enter the storehouse. There was hardly room enough for them, and little air, but they were crowded in like so many sardines in a can, while the enemy fortified themselves in the log bunkhouse.