Lifesaver [Engl.]

40. Maneuver

Madog pushed the lever. For a moment the world seemed to hold its breath. Everyone stared forward in anticipation of hearing the redeeming bang. Seconds passed. But nothing happened.
"What's broken now?", Madog swore loudly. "Is everything going wrong today!?"
"You are so useless!" Frank scolded. "You can't even detonate a normal charge of explosives. Any small child could do that."
"Shut up!" Madog shouted. "No one has ever escaped me alive yet."
Still angry, Madog grabbed one of his men by the collar. "Look what's going on!"
His colleague went pale with shock. "Why me?"
"Because I say so!" Madog yelled at him.
"But what if the dynamite explodes..."
"IMMEDIATELY!"
The mongoose ran quickly, but stopped again after a few meters. But when he turned around, Madog had his revolver pointed at him and motioned for him to move on. The mongoose walked across the construction site with soft knees, always along the fuse.

The ditch was still waiting anxiously for the dynamite to explode.
Rango had taken Priscilla in his arms again and caressed her soothingly. The other townspeople paced restlessly up and down. Delilah read her Bible nonstop, quietly saying one prayer after another.
Elgin, Spoons, Buford and Sergeant Truley stood against the excavation wall and stared up at it.
"In theory, we could climb up," Sergeant Truley said.
"You can't!" Elgin warned him again and again. "Otherwise everything will explode here."
"It will happen anyway!" Spoons said, whose courage to live had long since been in the cellar. "We will all die here!"
Delilah said her prayer louder and crossed herself several times, obviously to calm her nerves. Miss Daisy did the same. These gestures only scared the other townspeople even more.
Rango, who had been silent up to this point, noticed how Priscilla was getting restless again. The nervousness of the others jumped over her like sparks.
Eventually Rango couldn't take it any longer. "Be quiet!"
The townspeople looked at him in amazement.
"Do you really think it's right to go nuts in our last minutes of our lives? That doesn't get us any further either."
"You said something wiser words in the past," Miss Oats said reproachfully.
Rango lowered his gaze. "I can't think of anything better at the moment."
There was a silence. Finally, the chameleon rose and looked over the townspeople. Everyone seemed to expect a miracle from him. But in this case, he was completely at a loss.
"Five minutes have been up a long time."
Everyone turned to Wounded Bird, who was standing in the farthest corner of the excavation and kept his gaze straight ahead without changing a face.
"How do you know that?" Rango asked. "Have you orientated yourself by the sun?"
The old Indian took a small watch from his coat. "Made in 2000. Waterproof."
Without a word, Rango took the watch from his hand and stared in amazement at the hands. "But if five minutes are up, why isn't anything exploding?"

With a bad feeling, the mongoose continued walking along the fuse. When he turned the corner around the scaffolding, he stopped dead in place. "What's that?"
He leaned down, frowning, and picked up the cord for the dynamite. Somebody cut the cable. Neatly separated like with a knife. The mongoose scratched his head, perplexed. When they laid out the cord, the cord was still whole. He knew that very well. And the line couldn't possibly have broken on its own. But who had it done?
At that moment, something heavy rushed on his head. The mongoose staggered and fell unconscious to the ground.
"Well done, Jedidiah," the old mole praised his son.
"Thanks, Pappy."
Balthazar had sneaked up with his two sons and dug their way underground to the old construction site. Because after they disappeared with the bats, they quickly dismounted and came up with a new plan.
"Why are you so keen on helping the sheriff?" Ezekiel asked.
Balthazar replied with annoyance. "Otherwise, I won't have an audience to listen to me sing."
"So what do we do now, Pappy?" Jedidiah asked.
"You go to the pit with Ezekiel while I give the signal to the others. These fur bags should already notice that we are not stupid. You don't mess with prairie dogs."

Madog stepped impatiently from one leg to the other.
"Where does that idiot stay for so long?" He scolded.
Suddenly he stopped. "What's this?"
"Listen, fair maiden," a voice sang from the construction site. "At the gate! There the royal guards are waiting."
Madog covered his ears while the falsely singing voice continued with its monologue.
"That sounds terrible," Madog moaned angrily. "Somebody has to silent this whining."
"Hands up!"
At that moment the earth trembled around them.

"What is that for an awful chant?" Elgin asked.
"Heaven is getting us now," Miss Daisy cried.
"If they sing the same way up there, I'd rather go somewhere else," Sergent Truly said.
"Sheriff! Sheriff! "A voice called from above.
"Even God wants to take the sheriff first," Miss Daisy said. "Oh Lord, forgive us our sins!"
"Uh ... you have to look up," the voice continued.
All eyes wandered up to where Ezekiel was standing at the edge of the construction pit and was looking down at them.
"Ezekiel," Rango called out in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, we want to get you out. Or did you think we'd just run away like that?"
"Didn't you mean to say "fly"?" Jedidiah asked.
"It doesn't matter," Ezekiel replied and slid a long rope down into the pit.
Immediately Rango grabbed it and climbed up. The other townspeople followed him and together they helped themselves up from the ditch.

Madog's eyes almost fell out of his head when he saw himself and his people surrounded by prairie dogs, more and more of which were coming out of the earth and pointing their guns threateningly at them. Everyone automatically raised their hands.
Meanwhile, Rango had also arrived at the place. A moment later, Balthazar appeared next to him, grinning at him triumphantly.
"Well, sheriff. Not bad for a couple of air roadies like us, right?"
Rango was still a little confused. "Uh ... yes. Not bad."
Balthazar laughed. "We're not just masters in the air. This is called a tactical retreat. We're not as stupid as you think."
"I never said that," Rango said hastily.
It was a big mistake that no one paid any attention to Madog at that moment. He had very slowly let his hand wander into his jacket pocket and pulled a match. At the same time, he got a stick of dynamite which he had kept in his pocket as a precaution. In no time at all, he lit the fuse, as if he had never done anything else in life, and hurled the explosives through the air.
"Cover!" The prairie dogs shouted and scattered.
The dynamite exploded with a loud bang of dust and dirt. The shock wave made everyone startle. Everyone covered their ears.
When the smoke finally cleared, Rango looked around hastily.
Madog was gone.
"He escaped," Jedidiah shouted.
"I know that myself, that he ran away," cried Balthazar and hit him with his cane.
"They want to run away!" Spoons shouted and pointed to the other mongooses. These had also fallen to the ground because of the pressure wave. When they realized that their leader had run away, of course they wanted to leave as well. But the prairie dogs would not allow that. Immediately they threw a huge net over the mongoose. The mongooses fell trapped to the ground.
"I should have stayed a Buddhist," one of them complained.
"The leader won't get far," Rango said with a gloomy look and pulled his hat lower over his eyes. "I think now comes my part. The hero chases after the gangsters and drives him to flight. Get me a roadrunner!"
"Sheriff, you don't really want to take on that gangster, do you?" Ambrose asked.
"Oh yes. I will carry out his just punishment on him. Just like John's brother."
Rango paused. "Where is he anyway?"
"The turtle is gone, too," Jedidiah said.
"Tell me something what we don't know," Balthazar said and hit him again.
"No surprise," Elgin said. "He took advantage of the chaos and just ran away."
"But where did he go?" Ambrose asked.
Meanwhile, a roadrunner had been found for Rango. The chameleon swung up quickly. "I'll catch up with them. I swear to you."
With these words he rode away. The others watched him in silence.
Balthazar turned to Ezekiel. "Keep an eye on him."
"All right, Pappy!" Ezekiel said and ran off.

Rango rode as fast as he could. Fortunately, the roadrunner tracks from the two crooks were clearly visible in the sand. In addition, shortly after he had set off, Rango had seen a small figure riding towards the Rocky Mountains.
The chameleon gave his roadrunner the reins again. He had to catch up with him and if it was the last thing he did.

Jake hissed menacingly when he saw Frank and shortly afterwards Madog riding through the mountains.
The killer had watched everything from afar after reaching the urban area. Every detail. He didn't have to worry about the townspeople when he saw the prairie dogs running back to town after they had left their bats. They would be fine on their own. The city was none of his business. And even if he did, he wouldn't have cared what happened to the townspeople anyway. He only had his vengeance in his sights.
When he saw Madog ride past, Jake could barely hold back from rushing at him. He couldn't act too hastily. The mongoose was far too cunning for him. The mongoose would not be able to defeat him again. Not this time. He couldn't let this chance pass him. Jake knew that he only had one chance against him if the leader didn't expect an attack.
Grimly, Jake watched after Madog, who was disappearing between the mountains.
"You won't escape me that easily," he growled.
This time he would be very careful. Again he couldn't let himself be caught so carelessly by this mongoose. Not this time. He'll kill him when it's the last thing he'll do.
Jake let his gaze wander. He knew these mountains like his own skin. He knew where to cut them off. So he turned around and no longer he saw how Rango enter the mountains.

Fortunately, Rango quickly found the traces of those who had fled. Inwardly he triumphed, but felt a little queasy when he passed the first rocks. He stopped. Here he had to be careful. The gangsters could easily hide behind the rocks and ambush him. That would be a deadly trap. For a moment Rango was undecided whether he should continue riding or not. He would have preferred to turn back, but now he had to face the danger. As sheriff, it was his duty to do everything for his city to prevent the bad guys from threatening his city again.
He rode slowly on, always looking around carefully. But nobody was to be seen. Everything was quiet. Rango's gaze wandered back to the floor. The trail was very clear.
Startled, he stopped his roadrunner. Something had moved behind a rock.
He hastily drew his revolver. Then he slowly dismounted. The roadrunner cackled restless.
Reassuringly, the chameleon patted the roadrunner's neck, then he walked slowly towards the rocks, always walking in the shadow of the mountains to seek cover at all times. But since he didn't have as good a sense of vibration as Jake, he didn't notice the figure that lurked behind a stone and arched an arch.
Rango's heart beat faster. Now he was only a few meters away from the rock.
Suddenly something rushed through the air. Rango screamed. A terrible pain ran through his leg, which numbed his senses for a moment. The chameleon sank to the ground in pain and stared at the object which stuck in its leg.
An arrow.