msically, as he went inside the hut and closed the door.

The early part of the evening passed in peace, and Hopalong, tired of
watching in vain, wished for action. Midnight came, and it was not until
half an hour before dawn that he was attacked. Then a noise sent him to
a loophole, where he fired two shots at skulking figures some distance
off. A fusillade of bullets replied; one of them ripped through the door
at a weak spot and drilled a hole in a can of the everlasting peaches.
Hopalong set the can in the frying pan and then flitted from loophole to
loophole, shooting quick and straight. Several curses told him that he
had not missed, and he scooped up a finger of peach juice. Shots thudded
into the walls of his fort in an unceasing stream, and, as it grew
lighter, several whizzed through the loopholes. He kept close to the
earth and waited for the rush, and when it came sent it back, minus two
of its members.

As he reloaded his Colts a bullet passed through his shirt sleeve and he
promptly nailed the marksman. He looked out of a crack in the rear wall
and saw the top of an adjoining hill crowned with spectators, all of
whom were armed. Some time later he repulsed another attack and heard a
faint cheer from his friends on the hill. Then he saw a barrel, blazing
from end to end, roll out from the place he had so carefully covered
with mounds. It gathered speed and bounded over the rough ground,
flashed between two rocks and leaped into the trench, where it crackled
and roared in vain.

"Now," said Hopalong, blazing at the mounds as fast as he could fire his
rifle, "we'll just see what yu thinks of yore nice little covers."

Yells of consternation and pain rang out in a swelling chorus, and legs
and arms jerked and flopped, one man, in his astonishment at the shot
that tore open his cheek, sitting up in plain sight of the marksman.
Roars of rage floated up from the main body of the besiegers, and the
discomfited remnant of barrel-rollers broke for real cover.

Then he stopped another rush from the front, made upon the supposition
that he was thinking only of the second detachment. A hearty cheer arose
from Tom Halloway and his friends, ensconced in their rocky position,
and it was taken up by those on the hill, who danced and yelled their
delight at the battle, to them more humorous than otherwise.

This recognition of his prowess from men of the caliber of his audience
made him feel good, and he grinned: "Gee,