The crush of rock buried them in an instant and continued on in a mighty slide that sloped the cliff and washed halfway across the paved road. Huge rocks plunged downward and bounded across the road to slash like cannon balls through the flaming brush and trees.
A moment later other weights of stone that the explosion had driven outward came crashing down on top of the already complete devastation. A dust cloud so dense that it obscured everything enveloped the area and laid a thick layer over all as it slowly settled in a nearly windless drift.
Then it was still.
The silence itself was utterly deafening. No agonized screams rose to rake shattered nerves, and any wounded who lay in the firey brush found their pain and fear lost in the immensity of the blast.
Chop scrambled down the bank struggling to see through the dust pall and spitting to clear grit from his teeth.
He fumbled his way through the roadblock and crawled on hands and knees to find Toby's hollow. The hole was so completely filled with debris that he almost missed it.
He clawed the stones and unidentifiable junk aside and got a good grip on Toby's lax form. He hauled it free with a mighty heave and did his best to shout his name.
"Toby, Toby, are you alright?" He choked on the dust and quit trying. Dragging his friend away from the scene he knew the question was dumb anyway. How could he be all right? He'd been shot, blown up, and damned near buried, but if he could just get clear of the dust maybe he could do something.
Chop heaved Toby's body over a shoulder and began to climb.
He had picked a slope behind the roadblock where the cliffs broke away but he had to climb a long way before the dust cleared.
He lowered Toby as gently as he could with his own tortured lungs sucking hungrily at the cleaner air. Then he tried to unbutton the shirt covering Toby's chest. He had to turn aside for a moment to get more air when he heard Toby cough. He swung back seeing Toby's eyes blinking and almost focusing. He heard himself almost hysterically repeating, "It's Ok, Toby. It's Ok!"
Toby coughed again, long and wrackingly, and clutched at his chest, his face twisted in pain.
Chop tore the shirt away and hoisted Toby's limp arm to get at the vest zippers. Then he looked closely at the chest wound. Almost unbelieving he whispered, "Holy hell, Toby."
Toby didn't answer, and Chop reached in with a big blunt finger and tried to wiggle the rifle bullet he could see partly burled dead center in Toby's sternum,
The bullet moved a little and Toby grunted, getting his eyes in focus and trying to speak. Finally he got it out.
"My God, Chop, what happened? My chest hurts. I got shot didn't I?"
Almost tearfully Chop tried to explain, "Somebody way in back shot you, Toby. You made the hole and I blew the car to pieces.
"Then it went just like you said it would. You can't see it because of the dust, but they're gone, Tob. Believe me, they're gone.
"Man, they're buried so deep no one'll ever dig 'em out." He paused to wipe Toby's face with a piece of the shirt.
"We did it, Toby! By God, we really did it!"
"I'm glad, Chop, real glad, but damn, my chest's on fire. How bad you figure I'm hit? Hell, it can't be too bad or I'd already be dead."
"It ain't bad, Toby. The vest damn near stopped the bullet. Still, it hit you a hell of a wallop. It looks all flattened out and looks to be stuck in your chest bones."
He hesitated, "I think I can pull it right out, Toby, but I don't know if I ought. Might start bleeding or something."
Fumble fingered, Toby felt around the bullet and tried to focus his eyes on it. Then he slid to a more comfortable position. "Hell, Chop, pull it out. The damned thing is like a sore tooth. I don't think it got through anyway."
Chop looked dubious and hesitated as firing broke out further south, "Well, are you sure, Toby? Dang it, I wish Doc Ginsberg was up here!"
"Well, he isn't so just yank it out. But Chop, you'd do me a big favor if you got it in one try. I don't think it's going to feel so awful good coming out."
Chop got a good grip with finger and thumb. He started a steady pull and Toby groaned in bone-deep anguish, but the bullet came free with a small grating sound as though it had spread roots through the gristle of Toby's chest.
"Oh man, that's better, Chop. Whew, I owe you one for that." He breathed deeply, "Oh yes, that's a lot better. Put the fire right out. It isn't bleeding much either."
Chop tossed the nicely expanded bullet in his hand. "30-06 I'd say, Tob. Might be an 8mm though. Hard to tell 'em apart."
"You can have it for a souvenir, Chop. Help me up so I can look around. It sounds like Johnnie has some trouble down there."
Both spitting grit and wiping dust-caked eyes, they stared down into the slowly thinning dust.
"You're sure we got enough of them, Chop?"
"Toby, if we've got to measure it, we scored a better percentage than we did at Kin Kora, and that's for sure."
He saw the next question coming and answered it ahead of time. "Seein' you're alive, I doubt we lost anybody.
"Toby, it went like they tried to cooperate. Every charge fired and everybody went just like we wanted them to go. Believe me, there won't be much mopping up to do."
They sat on convenient rocks waiting for the dust to clear and as it did, each would occasionally say, "My God, look at that!" Or quietly, "I can hardly believe it!" Otherwise they were silent.
+++
Praying Mantis lay clear of the great blast and the ensuing dust cloud which drifted slowly eastward.
He knew they had run into a tremendous ambush, but he didn't care. He had killed Toby Shatto, and when the air cleared he could probably get shots at some more.
He lay comfortably dreaming of what he would do in Pfoutz Valley and never heard the man's careful approach.
The close sound of a safety being released jerked Mantis up sitting and he saw with horror a face he thought he recognized from the old days staring coldly at him over some kind of a strange gun with a large cylinder near the muzzle.
In a desperate last chance to live he smiled his gap toothed smile with his strange eyes constantly shifting expression and said, "How'd you do. I'm the Reverend Kermit Mantis."
John Freet did not know whether Toby Shatto was dead or not but he knew where the shot had originated. He had been too busy directing his men to check the spot. When he could, he moved cautiously up the sloping bank until he found the man curled up in the hole.
Without hesitation Johnnie Freet squeezed the trigger on Toby's American 180 in a long, silent burst that swept across Mantis' body in a series of short arcs. The body leaped and jerked under the impact of more than one hundred and fifty long rifle bullets, but Freet held the trigger until the action clicked empty.
Emotionless as stone, he jerked the ammunition belt free with a heave that tumbled the bloody corpse down the shale bank. He slung the 180, picked up the good hunting rifle, and turned away.
The End
About Roy Chandler
Roy F. Chandler retired following a twenty year U.S. Army career. Mr. Chandler then taught secondary school for seven years before becoming a full-time author of more than sixty books and countless magazine articles. Since 1969, he has written thirty-one published novels and as many nonfiction books on topics such as hunting, architecture, and antiques.
Now 87 years of age, Rocky Chandler remains active and still rides his Harley-Davidson across the continental United States.
He divides his time among Nokomis, FL, St Mary's City, MD, and Perry County, PA,
Rocky Chandler: Author, Educator, Soldier, Patriot
in 2012
Books by Roy Chandler
Reading order of fiction books in the Perry County Series
Friend Seeker
The Warrior
Arrowmaker
The Black Rifle
Fort Robinson
Ironhawk
Song of Blue Moccasin
Tim Murphy, Rifleman
Shatto
Chip Shatto
Ted's Story
The Boss's Boy
Tiff's Game
Cronies
The Didactor
The Perry Countian
The Sweet Taste
Old Dog
Gray's Talent
Ramsey
Shooter Galloway
Shatto's Way
All Books By Publication Date
All About a Foot Soldier, 1965 (A colorful book for children)
History of Early Perry County Guns and Gunsmiths (With Donald L. Mitchell), 1969
A History of Perry County Railroads, 1970
Alaskan Hunter: a book about big game hunting, 1972
Kentucky Rifle Patchboxes and Barrel Marks, 1972
Tales of Perry County, 1973
Arrowmaker, 1974
Hunting in Perry County, 1974
Antiques of Perry County, 1976
The Black Rifle, 1976
Homes, Barns and Outbuildings of Perry County, 1978
Shatto, 1979
The Perry County Flavor, 1980
Arms Makers of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1981
The Didactor, 1981
Fort Robinson: A novel of Perry County Pennsylvania, the years 1750-63, 1981
Friend Seeker: A novel of Perry County PA, 1982
Gunsmiths of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1982
Perry County in Pen & Ink, 1983
Shatto's Way: A novel of Perry County, Pa, 1984
Chip Shatto: A novel of Perry County Pennsylvania, the years 1863-6, 1984
Pennsylvania Gunmakers (a collection), 1984
Firefighters of Perry County, 1985
The Warrior, A novel of the frontier, 1721-1764, 1985
Perry County Sketchbook (And Katherine R. Chandler), 1986
A 30-foot, $6,000 Cruising Catamaran, 1987
The Gun of Joseph Smith (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1987
The Perry Countian, 1987
Hawk's Feather - An Adventure Story, 1988
Ted's Story, 1988
Alcatraz: The Hardest Years 1934-1938 (With Erville F. Chandler), 1989
Cronies, 1989
Song of Blue Moccasin, 1989
Chugger's Hunt, 1990
The Sweet Taste, 1990
Tiff's Game: A work of fiction, 1991
Tuck Morgan, Plainsman (Vol. 2) (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1991
Death From Afar I (And Norman A. Chandler), 1992
Kentucky Rifle Patchboxes All New Volume 2, 1992
Behold the Long Rifle, 1993
Death From Afar II: Marine Corps Sniping (And Norman A. Chandler), 1993
Old Dog, 1993
Tim Murphy, Rifleman: A novel of Perry County, Pa. 1754-1840, 1993
Choose the Right Gun, 1994
Death From Afar Vol. III: The Black Book (And Norman A. Chandler), 1994
The Kentucky Pistol, 1994
Ramsey: A novel of Perry County Pennsylvania, 1994
Gray's Talent, 1995
Hunting Alaska, 1995
Last Black Book, 1995
Dark Shadow (The Red book series), 1996
Death From Afar IV (And Norman A. Chandler, 1996
Morgan's Park (Vol. 3) (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1997
White Feather: Carlos Hathcock USMC scout sniper (And Norman A. Chandler), 1997
Death From Afar V (And Norman A. Chandler), 1998
Ironhawk: A frontier novel of Perry County Pennsylvania 1759-1765, 1999
Sniper One, 2000
One Shot Brotherhood (And Norman A. Chandler), 2001
Shooter Galloway, 2004
The Hunter's Alaska, 2005
The Boss's Boy, 2007
Pardners, 2009
Hawk's Revenge, 2010
Antique Guns (included above)
History of Early Perry County Guns and Gunsmiths (With Donald L. Mitchell), 1969
Kentucky Rifle Patchboxes and Barrel Marks, 1972
Arms Makers of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1981
Gunsmiths of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1982
Pennsylvania Gunmakers (a collection), 1984
Kentucky Rifle Patchboxes All New Volume 2, 1992
Behold the Long Rifle, 1993
The Kentucky Pistol, 1994
Hunting
Alaskan Hunter: a book about big game hunting, 1972
Choose the Right Gun, 1994
Hunting Alaska, 1995
The Hunter's Alaska, 2005
Sniper Series
Death From Afar I (And Norman A. Chandler), 1992
Death From Afar II: Marine Corps Sniping (And Norman A. Chandler), 1993
Death From Afar Vol. III: The Black Book (And Norman A. Chandler), 1994
Death From Afar IV (And Norman A. Chandler), 1996
White Feather: Carlos Hathcock USMC Scout Sniper (And Norman A. Chandler), 1997
Death From Afar V (And Norman A. Chandler), 1998
Sniper One, 2000
One Shot Brotherhood (And Norman A. Chandler)
Gun of Joseph Smith Trilogy (Young Adult)
Gun of Joseph Smith, The (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1987
Tuck Morgan, Plainsman (Vol. 2) (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1991
Morgan's Park (Vol. 3) (With Katherine R. Chandler), 1997
Children's Books
All About a Foot Soldier, 1965
Shatto's Way Page 26