W. C. Tuttle's Ghost Guns.



This brief snippet features the Arizona Tonto County Sheriff Henry & Swedish - born Deputy Oscar, on a hairy midnight rescue mission... :)

"Chapter Thirty - Five.

"It was about an hour before midnight that night.

"A huge, full moon seemed to hang over the top of Mummy Cañon, flooding the great gash in the earth with silver.

"Rays of the moon, like sunbeams , flashed across the cañon, picking out details of the old dwellings of a forgotten people.

"A huge owl, flapping silently along, swung into full relief against the moon, dropping quietly into the top of an old piñon pine on the rim.

"A rabbit, crouching against a rock as the shadow of the owl passed, suddenly darted for a deep shadow, like a streak of silver.

"From far across the cañon came the mournful yipping of a coyote, and it was answered by several more of the same, scattered along both rims.

"Somewhere, down among the tangle of rocks, a bob - cat snarled angrily, a she missed his prey.

"Then he came up the old trail, crouching on a rock, full in the moonlight.

"Suddenly he lifted his head, seemed to flow around and disappeared, as a strangely silent file of five people came along the rim above the old dwelling, where Don Black had been shot.

"They were going slowly, making very little noise.

"At the top of the trail they stopped, and a voice said warningly: The trail starts here. Watch your step -- it ain't very wide.

"Then they filed slowly down the trail and disappeared, like shadows against a screen.

"In less then a minute the coyote chorus started again.

"The bob - cat was suddenly back again, only a gray splotch against the rocks.

"He, too, faded out quickly.

"The owl had gone, frightened away by the five people, but now he was back, silhouetted against the moon, as he went on soundless wings down into depth of the cañon.

"In about fifteen minutes two of the human figures came back up to the rim, and halted for a moment or two to catch their breath.

"From what seemed nowhere in particular a voice snapped: Don't move -- and put up your hands!

"The two men jerked around, ignoring the order, their guns blazing towards the source of the order.

"Bullets splattered and spinged off the rocks.

"Then came two blasts of roaring shotgun fire, the echoes thundering back from the cliffs.

"The two figures were gone from the narrow trail, and the cañon was at least two hundred feet deep at that point.

"There was complete silence for several moments, and then Oscar's voice: 'Ay alvays said a shotgun vars a vonderful invention.

"[A]greed Henry, It has its advantages, especially in the dark..." :)