The pinto filly had rushed to her mother when the first two shots rang out. Together they were leading the flight. Suddenly the mother swerved and staggered, plunged down into the grass. The pinto planted her feet and halted. Her sudden checking of speed saved her from a bullet which had been aimed to break her neck. The lead burned across her forehead raising a red welt. The little mare whirled and plunged back into the mass of plunging horses. She found Midnight savagely working to force the pace, and crowded close to him.
The charging rush of the mares was checked and they swerved in bewildered fashion as a new burst of flame and death leaped at them from a scrub-oak clump on the edge of the rim well down toward the aspen grove. Mares collapsed and colts leaped and ran about wildly. Midnight had only one thought, to drive the mares out through the aspen grove and into the open country. This was his first meeting with the deadly guns of man and, like all wild things, the death which struck from far off filled him with terror. But he did not desert the mares. A great rage possessed him and almost crowded out the terror. Screaming and biting he worried the flanks of the rapidly thinning band.
Death held the little meadow in its bloody grip. The grass was marked by twisted bodies. But Midnight knew there was one avenue of escape. When the mares hesitated before the guns of Shorty and Cal he attacked their flanks with fury and drove them on. This was not just the way Tex had planned it. He had figured that the fire from the oaks would make the band circle back around the meadow, giving his men at the lower end a second chance to kill. He had been sure the band would mill around and around the mesa until all were shot down. Now he sat in his saddle waiting grimly. It looked as though he would have to turn them.
Midnight had driven the mares into full gallop again. Many went down as they swept close to the oak clump where the two men were hidden, but they charged straight past. Suddenly the vicious crack of a rifle broke from the edge of the aspens. Tex had opened fire, his carbine working with speed and murderous accuracy. In the hail of lead mares went down, bucking and twisting. The attack was too much for the remnant of the band. They dodged and tried to double back. Midnight reared and plunged at them, screaming madly. The bewildered and panic-stricken animals turned toward the rim and the black stallion sent them plunging toward it. When they would have halted at the dizzy drop, with its matted and ragged rocks, he lashed them on over the edge. They tumbled downward, plunging, rolling, sliding, and twisting. One mare went down with a broken leg, another struck a jagged pinnacle of rock and rolled over. Behind them Midnight and the pinto took the leap as they came to it.
Tex lowered his rifle. His eyes were on the black stallion and there was an excited gleam in them. He had never seen such a magnificent beast or such a feat of reckless daring. But all these feelings were over-shadowed by something else. He was looking at the long legs, the powerful chest, and the slender body of the stallion. He was sure he knew the sire and the dam who had brought him into the world. Here was the son of the chestnut stallion and Lady Ebony! He wet his lips and then grinned eagerly. He did not give the escape of a small part of the herd any thought. His mind was making plans, leaping ahead to what he would tell Major Howard. He was remembering the voice of Sam saying that Lady Ebony would come back to the high country. He was roused by Shorty’s amused voice.
“What’s eatin’ you? You look like you was seein’ angels or somethin’. Me, I’m plumb sick to my stummick.” Shorty moved over to where he could see the trail the band had made in escaping. He bent forward and stared at it. “You don’t mean to say some of ’em went over the side here?”
Tex nodded, reloaded his carbine, and made ready to end the misery of the mare who had broken her leg.
“How many got away?” Shorty asked. He had a sudden suspicion that Tex had not taken full advantage of his chance to clean out the band. Certainly the slope where the wild ones had plunged down to safety was open and within easy range of the spot where Tex was planted.
“Ten head and a stud,” Tex said and spoke as though to himself.
“Must have been a fire-eater of a stud to force them mares down over a cliff like that,” Shorty said with a quick grin.