The Pony Express did
not tolerate delays.
Galloping into the yard, Bill dismounted and hurried to the stable. In
the door he saw the stock-tender lying dead, and at the same instant a
woman's screams rang from the cabin near by. Turning about, Bill found
himself face to face with a ruffian who was rushing from the house,
brandishing a six-shooter. He asked no questions, but pulled one of the
two guns he carried and fired. No sooner had the man fallen, however,
than a second, also armed, came out of the house. Hickock disposed of
this fellow also, and then entered the place, where four others opened
a fusillade on him.
Although the room was thick with smoke, and Bill had to use extreme
care to avoid hitting the woman, who was screaming in the corner, he
managed to kill two of his assailants with his revolvers and to ward
off a blow with a rifle a third had leveled at him.
The blow knocked the weapon from his hand, but his knife was still left
him, and with it he put the man with the rifle out of the way. His
troubles were not at an end, however. Another man came climbing in the
window to avenge his fellow gangsters. Bill reached for a rifle which
lay on the floor and shot first.
When he took count a few minutes later he discovered that he had killed
five men and wounded a sixth, who escaped in the thick of the fight.
The woman, who had been knocked unconscious by one of the desperadoes,
was soon revived.
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