Jim and Juarez, aided by Jo, went to work cutting down trees. They were old hands at this business, and it was a caution the way the trees crashed and fell. Tom and Jeems were kept busy dragging fallen logs from the slopes of the hill, and turning them up. In two hours’ time the square, rude fort was well under way.
Tom and Juarez were then sent to take the horses to the stream to water them, and after that, to fill up every available pot, pan and dish with water in case they should be besieged for any length of time. This being done all hands turned in again to work on the fort, until it grew too dark to see. Then a fire was built near the center of the hill, and by the glare of its light they were able to continue their work.
Jim sent Juarez, now that the enemy might come at any time, to keep a lookout for them. He was the best of the boys for that work, being a natural scout, and of unusually keen vision, especially at night. There was a deep gully running from the foot of the hill to the slope of the mountain, and Juarez followed along that toward the mountain slope. Every once in a while he would climb up and look to see if there was any sign of the approaching gang.
Juarez was confident that there would be no direct attack even under cover of the darkness of the night. For that was not the method of Gus Gols and his gang of outlaws. They would take the most secret way of approach. In fact, Juarez was positive that they would come by this same gully that he was in. Gus Gols had spoken of the gully in his pow-wow with his clan, but he had said nothing about his plan of attack. He kept all such things to himself. Juarez could hear clearly the sound of axes as the boys worked upon their fort on the hill.
CHAPTER XXVI
A NIGHT ATTACK
The sound of the work on the hill carried far through the clear, quiet air, so that the outlaws, if they were anywhere near, would have had warning that preparations were being made to receive them. At last Juarez’s vigilance was rewarded. He crouched, looking over the edge of the gully in the direction of the mountain with its heavily-wooded slope.
He was positive that he saw a line of horsemen moving along the edge of the trees. Then he heard a horse’s shoe strike a stone, and the low voices of men. A thrill went through him at the nearness of the encounter. Lucky that he and Jim had been on hand to hear the plans laid at the pow-wow, for they would in all probability have been captured or killed, since the outlaws could have rushed the camp easily. With only one of the boys on guard, there would have been no chance against the ten of them.