With the fingers of his right hand, he flung the trigger guard forward; the loading mechanism clicked and pulled a cartridge from the magazine into the chamber. He then sat on the gazebo bench and watched dust fill the eastern horizon. The edge of the wave was now four hundred yards from the gazebo. The noises of hooves and neighing and metal clanking against stones sounded within the opaque mass.
Dicky picked up his binoculars and glanced back at Oswell and Godfrey, both of whom were standing outside of the church and watching the column advance. The plump Danford’s mouth was agape like that of a surprised child.
The gambler knelt behind the waist-high wall of the gazebo (which would not withstand the rounds of a high-caliber rifle at close range, but was thick enough to stop weaker mun
