A man seemed to rise out of the ground right at his feet.
There were two sharp intakes of breath.
Then the man must have recognized Blade in the moonlight. The fellow’s reaction was instantaneous. His right hand slapped down to the butt of gun. Blade was momentarily conscious of the danger from that gun, but, at the same time, he knew he did not want the sound of a shot to alarm the men in the shack. He lashed out with his right fist and sank it into the man’s midriff. The other sagged back against the corral fence. Blade followed with a left to the face, but the man rode away from the blow and Blade struck air.
He saw the gun clear leather. By this time he had his hands on the man’s coat and was hauling him away from the fence. His left foot kicked the fellow’s feet from under him and he hit the ground hard. At the same time, the man’s gun went off.
Somebody inside the shack bellowed out.
Blade stamped down on the prostrate man’s belly, did not wait to see the effect, but hurled himself at the gate and pulled it open. Rolling over on the ground, the man grabbed for Blade’s legs, but Blade kicked him off.
Then Blade was inside the corral and the man was up and yelling for him to surrender or he’d kill him, but Blade knew he dare not shoot for fear of hitting the horses.
The animals were bunching on the far side of the pen, startled by the gunshot. As Blade ran towards them, they broke out of the far corner, one by one to dart past him to the open gateway. Blade dived for an animal going past him, missed and stretched full-length on the ground. He rolled, protecting his head against flying hoofs with his arms. There seemed to be horses all around him now. The dust they raised choked him. He staggered to his feet, aware that the man at the gate was desperately trying to turn the now panicking horses back. They were all rushing the gate, but suddenly the leading horses shied back from the man and started to circle the corral again. A horse brushed against Blade and he grabbed blindly for its mane. The horse was traveling fast and it ripped Blade from his feet. He kept his grip, managed to get his feet under him and vaulted on to the animal’s back. The horse at once started to circle with the other horses. Blade cursed, pulled his gun from leather and let go with a couple of shots. They were precious bullets, he knew, but he had to get these damn horses out of the pen. The animal he had forked at once bolted. Those ahead of him stampeded. He yelled at the top of his voice to keep their terror going and they went in a bunch for the gateway, shouldering the uprights so that they were nearly uprooted and making the man who tried to bar their way jump aside to save himself.
Blade was aware of men pouring from the shack, shouting. He lay flat along his mount’s neck and kept on going.; He rode through a thick pall of dust, taking the stuff into his lungs as he yelled the horses on. He wanted to keep them going till they were off the shelf. Distantly, he could hear the sound of guns. He guessed they were shooting at him.
As they swept along, Blade tried to prevent them from slackening their pace, knowing that, if he did so, he would lose more of them than if he kept them at a hard pace. That way they might stay bunched. But, as he came to the south-eastern end of the shelf, the loose horses suddenly split. Almost too late, Blade realized they had done so because they were heading directly into a bunch of horsemen coming along the shelf from the Tucson road.
He couldn’t see how many there were. Maybe five or six, maybe as many as ten. He swerved to the left as best he could on a saddleless and unbridled horse. He thought he heard one rider shout a challenge, then he was past and yelling the horses that remained to him on.
A few seconds later, not knowing if any of the riders had turned to follow him, he was at the end of the shelf and in the broken brush country that edged along the creek. Here, with some difficulty, he edged the horses in a bend of the creek and managed to bring them to a reluctant halt.
He found that he had five horses left to him, including the one he was on, and he reckoned he was lucky at that. A few minutes later, the two girls found him. They had heard the horsemen coming up from below and they were apprehensive.
The horses were knee-deep in the creek, drinking. Blade said: ‘Maybe those riders were running from the other crowd – whoever they are.’
Charity offered: ‘Let’s head for them.’
‘I hate to go without Rose Mary Dimsdale,’ Blade said. ‘Everything hinges on her, Charity.’
Charity said: ‘We’re not going to help her by getting caught flat-footed by Draper and his crowd. If that’s somebody on our side down on the road, my vote says we join up with them.’
That made good sense. Blade said: ‘All right. Now let’s see if you girls can stay on a horse bareback.’
Davida giggled – ‘You’ll be seeing more female leg than is good for an impressionable young man.’
Charity snorted, hitched her skirts high and said: ‘Hoist me aboard, impressionable young man.’
Blade took her by the waist and tossed her across one of the horses. The animal kicked up its heels, but quietened at once. When it came to Davida’s turn, Blade whistled at the sight of her long legs. When he got his hands around her waist: ‘I’m impressed,’ he said.
Charity said: ‘Reserve your impressionability for my legs, Blade.’
Blade rode out on to the shelf and listened to make sure that nobody was coming down in their direction before he whistled the girls forward. They trotted their horses southeast and the two loose horses followed them for company. As they went on a couple of the other loose horses joined them. They had ridden for about ten minutes when they were startled by a challenge in Spanish: ‘¿Quien es?’
Blade thought he knew the voice.
‘Espada,’ he replied.
‘It is the señorito. Patrón, it is Don José and with him are the two young ladies.’
A number of men appeared from the brush and from behind rocks with rifles in their hands. In their van was the stocky form of Luis Donoso. Don Sebastian came pushing his way through his riders.
Blade slipped from the horse’s back. He did not know when he had been more pleased to see men in his life. The don and Luis embraced him.
‘My conscience at last is clear,’ the old man said. ‘I would never have forgiven myself if the young ladies had come to harm.’
‘They’re well enough, tío,’ Blade said, ‘but we have lost Mrs Dimsdale.’
The old man laughed – ‘Possibly you have, nephew, but I have found her. She is here with us.’
While the caporal and the men took up their positions under cover again, the old man led Blade and the girls some fifty or so yards and there was Rose Mary Dimsdale wrapped warmly in a blanket and happy to see them.
‘I didn’t know what to do, Joe,’ she said, ‘when I heard the shooting. I reasoned that one of the people doing the shooting down here must be on our side. So I came down here.’
Blade reckoned all was well that ended well. What they had to decide now was what they were to do about General Dimsdale in Tucson. The battle was by no means won. Blade said that, for all they knew, Draper had managed by now to bring the army in on his side. In that case, if he, Blade, tried to get back into Tucson, he might have the army to reckon with.
The don asked: ‘In the last resort, Joe, have you a written commission from the general to show to the army if they stop you?’
‘Yes, I have,’ Blade told him.
‘Good. Then I suggest I take the three ladies back to Espada. Now they will be safe there. I have called in all the Espada men and the house is strongly defended. I shall tell Luis to hold the road against anybody who tries to go towards Tucson from the mine. So far the only casualty we have suffered is one man wounded. I do not intend that my people shall die if I can prevent it. Therefore I shall tell Luis to do what damage he can on the enemy without undue risk. After all, there are other ways for a horseman to reach Tucson without using the road. You, Joe, should go at once to the governor and tell him he has nothing to fear for his wife.’
Blade said : ‘That
makes sense.’
‘You will need some men.’
‘George McMasters should be in Tucson now. He’s worth an army.’
‘Take the brothers Ramirez with you,’ said the don. ‘They are both experienced in fighting the Apache and they do not mind a little blood.’
Blade smiled. He knew the two terrible brothers. They had been bandits before Don Sebastian persuaded them that a life with him offered more security than the life of a bandido.
Charity said: ‘And I think I should go with Blade. I have worked from the beginning on this case.’
Don Sebastian looked shocked.
‘My dear nephew,’ he said, ‘do you allow your women to be so free with their opinions?’
Blade laughed and said: ‘I’ll say before she can open her mouth, she’s not anybody’s woman. She is her own woman.’
Don Sebastian looked scandalized.
Charity said: ‘Blade, you have learned your lesson well.’
‘Maybe I have,’ he said, ‘but you don’t come to Tucson with me. If you try to, my uncle will restrain you by force.’
Charity looked pretty mad at that, but she simmered down when the don said with a charming smile, ‘Joe speaks no more than the truth, my dear.’
The two brothers Ramirez, Sancho and Pepe, were fetched. They came with saddled horses, two tough and leathery Sonoran riders, grim-faced and with a certain swagger. A saddle was found for Blade and they were ready for the trail.
Blade said to the brothers: ‘If you come to Tucson with me, you know that there will be shooting?’
They nodded and the elder, Sancho, said: ‘We are aware of this, señor.’
Pepe said: ‘Gunfire is not new to us, patrón.’
Charity said: ‘If you took me along, you would have no need for those two gorillas.’
‘You watch out for Tío Sebastian,’ Blade told her, ‘he is a devil for the women.’
Don Sebastian chuckled proudly and said: ‘He speaks no more than the truth, my dear.’
Blade led the way and the two Mexicans fell in behind him. They lifted their horses into a canter. They rode in silence for some thirty minutes before Blade halted and listened to their back-trail. There was that distant popping of guns again. The sound died away, but a whisper of another sound took its place.
Sancho said: ‘Luis Donoso has allowed some riders past him on the road.’
‘It is time we went to Tucson by another way,’ Blade said.
‘It seems wise,’ agreed Pepe.
They turned their horses off the road and kept on at a steady pace. About twenty minutes later, they halted again and listened. They heard several riders pass down the road going at a flat run.
Blade thought, Draper is headed for Tucson and the army. There’s going to be a reception committee ready for us when we get there. With his replacement for the governor dead and the three women safe at Espada, Draper was going to be desperate. Blade knew that there was nothing more dangerous than a man like Draper facing defeat. Blade’s great hope was that George McMasters had made himself known to the governor.
And, not for the first time, Blade wondered about the territorial marshal, the man who had been conspicuous by his absence from the start of this affair.
This man’s name was Samson Rule. Blade did not know much about him except that when General Dimsdale wanted help he had turned to Blade not the marshal. There was a wealth of insinuation in that choice.
He set his horse in motion again and looked at the sky. Dawn was not far off and he was as tired as all get out. As the first fingers of the false dawn touched the sky, they saw a glimmer of flame off to their left. Blade drew rein.
Sancho Ramirez said: ‘That is a fire on the road.’
‘I shall go and check,’ Pepe offered. Blade signed for him to go ahead.
As they waited Sancho offered Blade some jerky and they chewed on the dried meat until Pepe came back. He reported that the fire belonged to some Yanqui soldiers who had set up a road-block.
Sancho laughed and said: ‘It is as well that we go into town quietly like little mice.’
A short while after, as they came near to the first adobe buildings, true dawn broke clear over Tucson. Straightway they ran into an army patrol of six foot-soldiers, a corporal and a lieutenant.
The officer was young and very stern.
‘I have orders to stop all travellers coming into town,’ he said. ‘You will dismount and show your papers.’
Blade said: ‘I shall not dismount, nor will my men. I am on official business of the governor and demand that you step aside, lieutenant.’
This seemed to shake the young man to his socks.
But he had the grit to hold his ground with – ‘I cannot accept that, sir, without proof of your identity. I must also know where you have come from and where you are going.’
‘I wasn’t aware that martial law had been declared,’ Blade said.
‘Then let me so inform you, sir,’ said the soldier. ‘Now, your papers.’
Blade produced his commission from the governor and the young man seemed quite taken aback by it.
‘I – er—’ he said.
He looked as though he wanted to retain the paper, but Blade leaned from the saddle and took it from his hand.
The two Mexicans sat their horses impassively, but Blade felt they were ready to spring into instant action. Their bandit pasts did not make them great lovers of soldiers.
The lieutenant said: ‘Well, sir, I think I shall have to detain you. I mean I am not authorised . ..’
Blade said: ‘Mister, if you do not instantly stand aside I shall have to detain you. Any more of this confounded nonsense and I shall place you under arrest. You will be guilty of hindering an appointed peace officer in the pursuance of his duty.’ He thought that sounded pretty good.
It seemed to impress the officer.
‘I must know your destination, sir.’
‘The governor’s palace.’
The boy did not say another word. He signed to the soldiers to stand aside and the three of them rode on into Tucson.
Pancho said: ‘Phooee, I could see myself shooting soldier boys. That would not be good for the future of the brothers Ramirez, I think.’
Blade was wondering how long it would take for the news of his arrival in Tucson to reach the Ring. Anyone he might see on the street could be one of their hired hands. He fought his desire for sleep and kept his eyes everywhere.
They came in sight of the governors palace. There were extra guards at the main entrance. There was even a guard at the mouth of the alleyway beside the building.
‘I think,’ said Blade to his escort, ‘this is where our troubles begin.’
Seventeen
Coincidence played its part in the Tucson conspiracy as it does in all the affairs of men.
George McMasters, befriended by the old man who ran the livery stable, had been allowed to sleep in the hayloft of the livery barn. Awake at dawn, as was his habit, McMasters looked out of the loft window on the street below. From here he could just see, at an angle, the entrance to the governor’s palace. His amazement can be imagined when he saw the living image of the man he had killed in the governor’s office step from this doorway past the sentries and on to the street.
Perhaps “amazement” is an understatement. Maybe “shock” would be a better word. Poor McMasters began to shake and he had to argue with himself that he had planted two pieces of lead in this man at point-blank range. He tried to convince himself that the laws of nature itself demanded that this man he could see now was not the man he thought he had shot. So he pulled on his boots with great haste, scrambled down the loft ladder and ran out into the street to catch this living ghost as he took his early morning constitutional past the livery.
General Dimsdale saw McMasters at once and immediately recognition showed on his face.
‘George McMasters,’ the governor cried and advanced on McMasters with outstretched hand. He glanced around rat
her nervously as if he were afraid of being overheard. ‘My God, George, I’m glad to see you. I fear that my plans have gone sadly awry.’
McMasters said: ‘I think we’re in a cleft stick, General. Joe said for me to contact you if anything happened to him. I’m not too sure what’s happened, but I reckon we have to act as if Joe ain’t around any more.’
‘George,’ said the general, ‘I am so bewildered, I don’t know what’s happening. My world seems to have gone completely crazy. The Ring puts a substitute for myself, a cousin of mine who is my double, into the governor’s office and they take me prisoner. Now I am reinstated as governor. They have my wife in their power. They demand that I request the president to declare martial law here so they can do as they wish.’
McMasters said ‘I know most of this, General. I also know that when I got into the palace to report to you, I shot you plumb dead.’
It was the governor’s turn to be amazed and shocked. ‘You mean you—?’
McMasters nodded. He said: ‘Are you going to ask the president for martial law, General?’
Dimsdale nodded miserably – ‘It goes against all my principles to give into thugs of this kind, but I can see no alternative.’
‘Can you get me into the palace with you, General?’ McMasters asked.
‘Of course. I doubt the sentries are in any plot.’ McMasters started and placed a hand on the governor’s arm.
‘Here come the leading villains,’ he said.
The governor looked around nervously and saw to his horror that Draper, with Stewart, Stavers and a number of other men, was coming down the street towards them. With them were Colonel Mark Rally and another officer of the volunteers.
McMasters said softly: ‘If I start lying, General, you go along with me. We’ve got to bluff these sonsabitches till events come our way a mite.’
‘All right, George,’ said the governor.
When Draper came up with them, he was all heartiness and smiles for the benefit of any witnesses.
‘Why, governor,’ he cried, ‘good morning to you, sir. You’re abroad early.’
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