by Jake Logan
“How you like that, Slocum?” Cale shouted from a distance. “I got the horse I wanted after all!”
“You’ll get more than that!” Slocum bellowed as he tried to pull his rifle from the saddle’s boot. Unfortunately, that was the side the horse had landed and he had to pull with all of his strength before the rifle would even budge.
“We’ll be along shortly for the rest of what you owe,” Cale yelled. “I’ll let you stew about the where and when.”
“Stew nothin’ !” Slocum hollered. “We’ll settle this now!”
Cale laughed loudly, not seeming to mind the gunshots that blazed around him. Even though his men were trading shots with Adam and Triedle, nobody was able to line anything up that drew much blood. They were just a bunch of men pulling their triggers too quickly instead of keeping calm and sighting properly.
By the time Slocum managed to pull the rifle out from under his horse, the rifleman he’d knocked from his saddle was being helped back up again by another of Cale’s men. “That’s right!” Slocum shouted as he took aim. “I ain’t through with you yet!”
Slocum’s shot was hasty and resulted in a large section of bark getting ripped from a tree. The gunman coming to the rifleman’s aid fired once to cover himself until his partner was on his feet. Holding the rifle against his shoulder, Slocum walked toward them and lined up his shot properly.
“John, look out!”
Not paying any mind to the warning, Slocum shouted an obscenity at the two gunmen in his sights and squeezed his trigger. Just as his rifle’s hammer dropped, something pounded into his side. Everything toppled around him before he hit the ground with an impact that drove the breath from his lungs. He demanded an explanation from whoever had knocked him down, but his words were drowned out by the crackle of gunshots that came in from farther down the trail.
“I told you to look out,” Triedle said as he rushed over to help him up. “Now keep your head down, for Christ’s sake!”
“Get off’ a me!”
The gambler wasn’t about to fight with him, so he rolled away. In the trees, both of Cale’s men were trying to make good on their escape but Slocum dropped one of them with another carefully aimed shot.
Adam remained in his saddle, screaming Cale’s name at the trees or anything else in front of him as he fired until his old .44 ran dry. After a few loud slaps of the pistol’s hammer hitting spent bullet casings, he reloaded without paying any mind to the shots that were still hissing by.
“Adam!” Mia shouted from where she was huddled against a half-buried rock. “Watch yourself!”
But Adam didn’t budge. He finished what he was doing, closed up the .44, and fired at the trees where the two men that Slocum had targeted had been. When he saw that spot was vacant, he flicked his reins to set out after Cale and the others.
“Adam, no! Come back.”
Although he’d ignored everything else until then, he wasn’t about to let that plea go unanswered. He fired a few shots toward the rise where Cale’s voice had originated while steering his horse around to face his sister. Even as he settled in a position to put himself between him and any incoming bullets, he was still firing his pistol.
Triedle stood up and dusted himself off. “Enough! All of you!” He seemed more surprised than anyone when the firing stopped. “That’s better. Can’t you see they’ve gone?”
“Give me your horse,” Slocum demanded.
“They’re not there anymore, John. They—”
“Give me your horse!”
“You’ve been shot, for Christ’s sake!”
Slocum felt the aching spot on his hip. There was blood coming from a wound there, but the bullet had done more damage to his jeans and gun belt than to his body. Denim and leather had been chewed away and blackened, revealing a shallow groove carved into his flesh. “I’m fine.”
“John, you need to—”
Slocum cut Triedle off by pointing the rifle at him.
“I’m no stranger to calling a bluff,” the gambler said.
Slocum narrowed his eyes to angry slits and levered in a fresh round.
“Maybe not bluffing,” Triedle said. “All right, then. Help yourself.” When Slocum grabbed the reins from him and climbed onto the horse’s back, Triedle shouted, “You’re welcome!”
12
Slocum returned a few minutes later. Several minutes ago, the spot had been just another stretch of trail on the long way to Louisiana. Now, it looked like a section of a battlefield that had been cut off from the whole like a hunk of bloody pie. Smoke hung in the air, blood stained the dirt, and a woman’s muffled sobs could be heard beneath a restless wind.
“Did you find anything else to shoot?” Triedle asked.
Eyeing the gambler intently, Slocum replied, “Maybe.”
Triedle backed off.
The horse lying on the ground was still trembling. Most of the blood on the ground seemed to come from its wounds, but Slocum checked the others to be sure. Mia was unharmed and Adam had caught a few glancing rounds that had ripped through his upper arm without doing a whole lot of damage.
“You’re lucky,” Mia told her brother. “I still can’t believe you’re not dead.”
Adam pressed a hand against the wound on his arm and said, “Yeah. Real lucky.”
“I’m fine, by the way,” Triedle offered. “Not that anyone seems to care.”
Slocum dismounted and threw his reins at the gambler. “Obviously you’re fine,” he said. “You’re up and moving, aren’t you?”
“I suppose, but still. A little concern would be nice.”
“Are you all right?” Slocum asked.
Triedle smiled and nodded once. “Yes, I am.”
“Good. Now stop your bellyaching.” Slocum’s eyes were already on the horse. His face twisted into an angry mask beneath a thick layer of dust and gunpowder that had drifted onto him and mingled with the sweat on his skin.
Mia stepped forward and placed a hand upon Slocum’s shoulder. “Are you hurt?” she asked.
He shook away from her and winced in pain as he knelt beside the wounded animal. A quick inspection was all he needed to surmise that the wounds were grievous enough to keep it from getting up from where it had fallen. “Those sons of bitches.” Patting the side of the horse’s face, he added, “Fucking animals will pay for this.”
Even though Slocum’s touch was gentle, the horse trembled as if it could feel the impact of his hand all the way down to its belly. Without letting another moment of suffering go by, Slocum stood up, drew his pistol, and put a single round through the horse’s head. It shuddered once more and let out a breath that allowed its body to finally rest peacefully. When he looked up, Slocum’s expression made it clear that he was searching for a better place to send his next round.
“What do we do now?” Mia asked sheepishly.
“I’m surprised you haven’t taken another horse and gone after those assholes,” Triedle said.
“They’ve got a lead on us after riling us up and ambushing us once already,” Slocum pointed out. “And that’s after they tracked us this far, which means they can track us again. From the sound of what Cale said when he left, he intends on setting up another ambush somewhere along the line. Charging off after them right now sounds like a damn fine idea.”
“I didn’t say it was a good idea. I just said I was surprised you hadn’t gone after them yet.”
Slocum looked at Adam, but his eyes settled firmly on Mia. “That’s just what he wants from us, so that’s the last thing we should give him.”
“If you’re holding back on account of me, don’t bother,” she said. “I’ll do anything you need for us to put those dogs down for good.”
Although he admired her spirit, Slocum wasn’t about to take advantage of it just to appease the anger that still raged inside him. When he thought about playing into Cale’s hands, it seemed more and more likely that the main purpose of this ambush had been to set up a second one. For all he knew
, there was another set of riflemen positioned along the trail just waiting for a clean shot.
“We’ll get our chance,” he said once the fire in his gut had finally dwindled a bit. “We’ll take it on our time, is all. I doubt those men will simply ride off and not come back.”
Mia looked relieved to hear that and the other two were just happy to get moving. Slocum wanted to get away from the horse carcass, even though it didn’t seem right to just leave it there. On the other hand, it seemed even less right to spend more time than necessary lollygagging in the spot where they’d already been bushwhacked.
They were down a horse, so Slocum emptied his saddlebags and divided his things among what little extra space there was in the other packs. After tying a makeshift bandage over his flesh wound, he retrieved all of his belongings, switched out Mia’s saddle for his own, and climbed onto that horse’s back.
“So that’s the way it’s going to be?” she asked as he offered a hand down to her. “My horse is the one you take?”
“I’m not taking it for good. We’ve got to keep riding, don’t we?”
“Yes, but—”
“Just climb up here so we can go!” When Mia still shuffled her feet in getting over to him, Slocum looked to Adam and asked, “Has she always been this difficult?”
“She’s never been able to ride behind someone on a horse, I can tell you that much,” he replied. “Ever since we were kids, she was always falling off.”
“All right, enough of this,” she said. Mia grabbed Slocum’s hand and nearly pulled him down in her haste to climb up. “Here. Happy now?”
“Just sit still and hang on tight.” As soon as her arms were wrapped around him from behind, Slocum added, “That’s it. Now I’m happy.”
She grumbled something under her breath, but didn’t loosen her grip. With a flick of the reins, he got her horse moving again. It took several paces for the animal to adjust to the added weight, but found its stride quickly enough.
“There’s another trail we can use a few miles away,” Slocum announced. “That still leaves plenty of room for a trap to be sprung, but if I remember correctly, it’s mostly open country between here and there. We should be all right so long as we keep our eyes peeled.”
“I’ll take the lead,” Adam said.
Slocum watched him trot forward from the back where he’d ridden most of the time so far. “You sure about that?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Adam replied while reloading his old .44.
Normally, Slocum wouldn’t be too happy about putting a man with a death wish in charge of spotting potential danger. But there was something different about Adam now. A glint of life was in his eyes that had only gotten stronger when Mia had been forced to hide amid a storm of gunfire. Whether Adam was still riled up from the ambush or if he’d had a genuine change of heart, he seemed to be the perfect man for the job. He only lacked one thing.
“Here,” Slocum said while tossing over his rifle. “You’ll need this if you intend on hitting anything before they can hit us. Do you know how to use one of those things?”
“Adam won four sharpshooting contests,” Mia said proudly.
“Is that true?”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “When I was ten. I still know my way around a rifle, though. It’s not like they’ve changed which end the bullet comes from.”
“He’s amusing when he’s not sulking,” Triedle said. “I’ll bring up the rear.”
The three horses rode in single file over the rise. Every step of the way, Slocum waited for a shot to be fired at them or for someone to try and ride up close enough to do some damage with a pistol or shotgun. Rather than try to figure out exactly what might happen, he did his best to be ready for anything. They rode at a steady trot, moving quickly toward the spot where they could switch trails without going fast enough for them to play into Cale’s hands. Although they twitched at the sounds of a few birds getting flushed from some bushes, they didn’t find anything worth their trouble.
A single shot cracked through the air. As Slocum’s hand snapped onto the grip of his Colt, one of the birds dropped from the sky.
“There we go,” Adam said while levering a fresh round into Slocum’s rifle. “Is that enough for supper, or should I look for more?”
“How about you wait until we’re not so worried about giving away our position?” Slocum asked.
“Sorry about that.”
Adam was anxious to either prove himself or dust off his sharpshooting skills because he almost fired another shot at some rabbits that darted across the trail. After they’d stopped long enough for Adam to collect the bird he’d shot, they picked up their pace and headed east.
Every so often, Slocum would slow the group to take a look through the field glasses that had fortunately not been crushed by his wounded horse. He surveyed the terrain while craning his neck and doing his level best to look behind every tree. As near as he could tell, Cale and his boys had moved on and weren’t interested in charging them just yet. Either that, or they were good enough to shadow them without being spotted. Neither choice mattered much because Slocum still had to keep moving and wouldn’t let his guard down either way.
The other trail Slocum had in mind was an overgrown set of wagon ruts that could have easily been mistaken for simple grooves cut into the dirt by an old stream or a fence that had been pulled up or blown away years ago. Slocum was extra careful in making the switch from one trail to the other. If Cale or one of his men spotted them at the wrong time, the effort of changing routes would lose its purpose.
Adam rode ahead until he found a good patch of high ground that allowed him to scout for anyone tracking them without making him easy to see from a distance. Slocum steered Mia’s horse off the trail, following it in a parallel path as if he was looking for a good spot to answer the call of nature. Every so often, he would angle away a little farther while keeping those overgrown ruts in his sights. Triedle stayed behind, lagging farther and farther to watch for anyone who’d circled around to get at them from that angle. So far, the only thing behind any of the riders was the dust kicked up by their horses.
Once Slocum was on the alternate trail, he rode slowly until the other two drifted in to fall back into their previous formation. The riding slowed down considerably, mainly because of the state of the trail itself. Although it was relatively easy to follow after riding on it for a while, the ground was uneven, the dirt was filled with rocks, and old trees had fallen down as if purposely trying to trip up any animals dumb enough to continue along that path.
“How many days are we tacking on to the ride with this little diversion?” Triedle asked. Although he’d been the only one to speak up, it was obvious that everyone else was anxious to hear Slocum’s answer.
“Maybe two,” he said. “But there’s an advantage to going this way. We’re saving time we would have spent skirting through some swampland that ain’t particularly kind to the nose. Also, there should be a town ahead.”
“How far?”
“Normally, I’d say we’d reach it tomorrow. But I think we might be able to get there with just a little bit of night riding if we set our minds to it and made sure not to dawdle.”
Although the Weylands seemed to be pleased with that news, Triedle wasn’t so quick to celebrate. “And you’re sure this isn’t just a carrot you’re dangling in front of us?” he asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’re the worst taskmaster I’ve ever ridden with. I’m just making sure there’s really a town and that it’s not just something you can use to make us ride faster without talking or doing anything else to ruffle your feathers for another day.”
“And what was I supposed to do at the end of the day if there ain’t no town?” Slocum asked.
“Simple. You say you were mistaken and that it must be a little further up the road or on some other godforsaken busted trail that’s stuck away in the back of your head so we keep going. Sooner or later, we’d come across a settl
ement and you could say that’s the one you were thinking of.”
Even though such tactics had sprung to mind more than once since they’d all stricken out from Bickell, Slocum said, “I am offended you’d say such a thing, Ed. And after all the ground we’ve covered as partners.”
“Partners, my ass,” Triedle squawked. “It was damn close to pullin’ teeth just to get you to sit down to a card table until we were already ahead by a hundred dollars.”
“All right, then,” Slocum said. “You’re so fond of gambling. If you’re certain that I’m full of shit, then put your money where your mouth is!”
“There’s no need for that,” Mia said while patting his shoulder.
But Slocum would have none of it. “Come on, Ed. You think I’m a liar? Back it up.”
“I never said you were a liar,” Triedle explained. “I believe the word I used was ‘taskmaster.’ ”
“That’s the word,” Adam said from the front of the line. “I heard it.”
“I suppose it’s an honest mistake,” Slocum said through gritted teeth. “Especially since the fact that you questioned me at all the way you did means you think I’d lie to all of your faces. All this after I nearly got shot trying to run off that asshole Cale.”
“Aw, Cale’s not even after us,” Triedle said dismissively. “He’s after them other two.”
“Honestly, all of you,” Mia said in a louder voice than the one she’d used before. “None of this is getting us anywhere.”
“You know what’s not getting us anywhere?” Triedle asked. “This goddamned trail!”
Slocum pulled back on his reins, bringing his horse to a stop so quickly that he almost forced Triedle’s to walk straight into him. “That’s it! Off yer horse. Right now!”
Mia’s hand tightened on his shoulder, as if she thought she could hold him in place as she said, “That’s enough. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover and we won’t get to that town if we stop to bicker amongst ourselves.”
“Don’t worry,” Triedle said. “Bickering for a while won’t matter because there isn’t a town!”
