Lifesaver [Engl.]

34. In danger

At that moment, something large broke through the barn door. Everyone was so shocked that even Madog dropped his knife. A peccary had rammed the barn door and was running back and forth like mad. The mongooses had been so unprepared for such an attack that they jumped aside in shock when the peccary tried to pounce on them with an angry grunt. Suddenly the peccary turned and ran out of the barn again.
In the meantime, Madog had recovered and ran to the door, snorting angrily.
"Come on afterwards!" He shouted to his men. "Don't let the cattle escape! I'll tear the fur over its ears!"
Immediately the mongooses stormed out and ran after the peccary.
"Hey!" Frank shouted, furiously swinging his cane. "Come back right away!"
Rango winced when he felt two arms behind him.
"Pssst," somebody hissed.
Rango thought his heart would jump for joy. The person severed his bonds and he was free.
"Beans!" The chameleon gave the desert lizard a stormy hug. "I told you not to follow me."
Beans smiled slightly. "How so? Do you regret it?"
"No."
"You stay put!"
Both turned around. John's brother had long since noticed what had happened behind his back and glared at them.
"Just don't think you can ruin my plans! I will not lose!"
"You will never get the town!" Rango shouted in a firm voice. "Never!"
"Who should stop me? Someone like you? I laugh out loud!"
Beans got her rifle and pointed it at the turtle. "You'd better shut up and move to the side."
Frank raised his hands. "That will have bad consequences for you."
With these words the turtle turned and ran out of the barn.
"Stop! Freeze!" Beans shouted.
"Leave him, Beans!", She heard Rango saying, who was just trying to loosen Jake's chains. "We'd better get out of here as soon as possible."
Beans put her rifle aside and helped Rango to free the rattlesnake. Jake, whose mouth was still open because of the metal bars, turned impatiently on the ropes while the two lizards struggled to remove the metal bars from his mouth.
"Jake, you mustn't move that much," Rango said as he grabbed the next metal rod. "Otherwise you'll hurt yourself."
Jake mumbled something unintelligible. He finally wanted to be free again. The rattlesnake was charged as furiously as a wild bull.
Finally, the last metal bar was outside. Jake spat in disgust.
"I'm going to kill this guy!" He swore.
"Ho, ho," Rango cried and raised his hands. "Calm down."
"I should calm down!?" Jake snapped at him. "The guy wanted to kill me! Now I'm going to do the same to him!"
"And how are you going to do that?" Rango asked, while he cut the ropes with a knife, which Jake had been tied.
Jake didn't know the answer to this question and lay on the ground growling until the last ropes were loosened.
As soon as the last rope was through, Jake raced away and stopped in front of the broken barn door. He was breathing so hard, as if he was struggling not to lose control of himself. He stared out with anger.
Rango and Beans ran after him quickly. "Jake, don't do anything rash. We have to stay calm now and get out of here unscathed. We can't do anything now anyway."
"That may be true," Jake replied as calmly as possible. "But how are you going to prevent him from destroying your town?"
"Uh ... I ... I don't know yet."
"Come on, boys," Beans hissed at them. "As long as there's still an opportunity to escape."
"Where did your peccary run to?" Rango asked.
"He's going to run home to the stable now," she replied. "But I don't think they'll be after him all the time. At some point they'll get tired of the hunt and will come back."
Beans looked outside. Rango and Jake also looked around carefully.
But everything seemed calm on the square. Maybe even too calm.
"Jake?" Rango asked. "Is your cannon loaded?"
Jake snorted. "Do you think the mongooses are stupid? They took all the ammunition out of me a long time ago."
"Very well." With that, Rango took out his revolver. "Then stay close to us."
Jake growled angrily. He wasn't a little kid.
Beans was the first one who left the barn, pointing her rifle in all directions. But there was no one to be seen. Neither the turtle nor the mongooses.
Rango got a queasy feeling in his stomach. The silence was eerie to him. But they had to go.
After one minute, Beans waved them over to her. "Okay. Come out."
Hesitantly, Rango and Jake left the barn and stepped outside. Jake licked his tongue tightly. He didn't like the silence.
Rango cleared his throat. "Alright. Let's go."
With careful steps they hurried past the farmer's house.
Suddenly Jake stopped. His instincts warned him of danger.
Stop! Don't go any further!
But why?
Rango stopped when he realized that Jake had stopped following them.
"Jake!? What are you doing there? Come on."
But Jake paid no attention to him, but looked around searchingly. His tongue kept looking for danger.
Jake was suddenly shocked. "Take cover!"
With one leap the rattlesnake jumped out onto the terrace of the farmer's house. Rango ran after him immediately. Followed closely by Beans. "Jake! What should that be?"
PENG!
Rango turned around in shock.
His breath caught. Beans lay on the ground a few yards behind him.
With horror, the chameleon stared at the desert lizard. Blood ran down her head.
"BEANS!"