by John McNally
They all glanced at the fire pit, the flames flickered and the dusk shadows danced across their faces. Carter sighed.
‘When they killed my partner Nate yesterday, we had our bit of gold hid under the fire. I believe that Mooney remembered and used the same trick. Mind you, he needed a dadburned bigger pit.’
Garrett Baird glanced at Carter and said, ‘Could be, there’s a heck of a lot of dirt piled around that pit, we didn’t even dig them that deep in the Army. If you filled that hole there’d still be a whole lot of dirt left over.’
‘Exactly, he’ll have put the gold in and covered it with stones then built the fire over the top. Nobody looks under a fire.’
‘It won’t harm the gold, that’s for sure.’
‘Right. So, Don, he’ll reckon when you don’t find the gold you’ll all move on and he can just ride in when it’s quiet and pick it up.’ Baird leaned forward, picked up a hunk of wood and poked it into the flames.
‘Wait, Garrett,’ said Carter. ‘We keep that fire burning tonight. As long as there’s a fire it tells Mooney we ain’t figured out what he’s done. It’s all but dark, we wait for tomorrow. He’ll be watching us right now.’
Grandpa spoke up. ‘Ain’t we sat like hogs in a pen waiting to be slaughtered?’
Plunkett tossed a branch onto the fire and smoke and ash drifted off into the dark.
‘He’ll wait, there’s six of us so it’s too risky and Eddie’s right, all he has to do is hang around until everyone gives up and goes. Still and all, it’s a mite uncomfortable letting him stalk us in the dark, makes your back itch, don’t it?’ He took his hat off and fanned the flames. ‘Maybe the gold ain’t here?’
‘Maybe,’ said Carter, ‘but if it ain’t we’ve only lost one night. Tomorrow some of us can turn the tables on him and hunt the hunter.’
Shine smiled. ‘I guess it’s like playing a blind hand at poker, we hope we’ve got four aces but it’s his call tonight right enough.’
‘Looks like we’ll be digging that gold up twice over,’ said Plunkett, ‘but listen, it’s a dangerous game and anyone who wants to leave can go. We won’t think any the worse of you.’
No-one moved.
The trees surrendered quickly to the darkness, their trunks faded into black columns like rifle barrels and the leaves trembled beside them.
They sat drinking coffee. Grandpa pulled his pipe out of his vest pocket, scrapped the bowl with a knife then packed it with tobacco and lit it with a burning twig from the fire. Quincy Roof handed round cigars and chewing tobacco laced with molasses. Carter bit a lump out of a plug of tobacco and sat with his jaw packed. Plunkett chose a cigar, bit the end off, picked a piece of tobacco off his tongue and lit up. He leaned his head back and blew a plume of smoke into the air. It mingled with the smoke from the fire and curled upwards and broke apart in the breeze. The smell of tobacco and burning wood filled the air. They waited.
The moon came out for a short while and then big banked clouds rolled in from the west and the wind picked up. The dark clouds bunched and drifted like black smoke and then, pressed down by the leadened sky, they shrouded the tops of the trees. A fine spray of rain swept in, the canvas on the wagon slapped in the wind and it tugged their coats open and pushed at their hat brims.
‘It looks like it’s going to be a real frog-stringer for a while, don’t it?’ said Plunkett. ‘Maybes we can use it as cover and have a look around.’
Carter stood up and stretched his back, it felt like a burning cord tightened around his hips.
‘Let’s do it,’ he said. ‘I need to ease my back anyways. I guess Mooney expects us to move around some. Me and Don will take a walk out yonder while the rest of you get some sleep under the wagon. Stow some lumber in the wagon out of the rain, we need it for the fire.’
Garrett Baird looked up and said, ‘We’ll bank it up and leave it burning like any other night.’
‘I agree,’ said Carter, ‘you fellers sleep.’ His face hardened. ‘Nobody wears a hat tonight. If we see anyone wearing one we know it’s Mooney.’ He looked at Plunkett. ‘Don, we’ll split up and wander around some. We ain’t looking for trouble in the dark.’
‘No, but trouble usually comes whether you’re looking for it or not. If we find it, we take it to Mooney good and proper.’
As they moved away, the wind clattered over the brow of the hill and the first hard drops of rain hammered on the canvas bonnet of the wagon like gunfire.
CHAPTER 16
Carter was glad to get away from the others, he enjoyed their company but mostly he liked to be on his own. Tonight he wanted time to think, tomorrow the killing would begin. He moved through the trees and headed north towards a high ridge. The rain started but when he reached the top of the incline and looked back, the fire still burned and in its uncertain light he could see the wagon and a couple of mules silhouetted against the shadowed rocks.
He moved on, following the shoulder of a rise that climbed up before a pathway swept up the gradient and tapered into a muddy track that curved high over the hill. The rain swept in, driven by a bitter night wind and burst against him. He moved through a curtain of water that thrashed the trees. Even with the downpour, he began to sweat and the two day growth of whiskers that peppered his face and neck began to itch. As he breathed, the cold air felt like a razor on his throat. He gazed at the lines of trees as they drifted away from him in the dark.
All he could hear was the swish of his own footsteps in the drenched grass. His boots glossy with wetness, the rain water seeped through and dampened his feet.
The shadows changed as he moved and in his imagination, he saw Mooney standing in front of him, breaking and reforming in the shifting darkness. Carter felt his heart pound in his chest. He pictured Mooney waiting to draw him in and kill him. He lost the track in the blackness of the hills, he could not make anything out in the gloom but he remembered the lay of the land and went on.
Fear like a pain clenched his chest and twisted down into his stomach. He slid forward, waiting for the trees to come to him out of the shadows. Rain pelted down in the darkness, drummed on the leaves and splattered on the mud. His wet hair, plastered to his head, shone like it was oiled.
It reminded him of a recurring dream that haunted him when he was young where something, or someone, chased him through an endless forest. He just knew that danger lurked behind every tree but he ran on in panic and fear, unsure where he was going or where he had been. The memory came back to him now like the shot of a gun. Turn back, he thought, but he realized that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, he had no intention of going back. Fear only comes if you let it in, he reminded himself, he straightened his back and pressed on. There was no give in him at all.
As suddenly as it started, the rain stopped and the clouds moved south, dimming the land. The moon poked out and dull chrome light silvered the trees and undergrowth. The wind blew a chain of cold raindrops off a branch and it ran over his face and pattered across his shoulders and back like buckshot. He knew where he was. He stood on a high butte, and he made sure there was no-one about and stole across to look down the sheer side with the river far below. The water shone like a sliver of ice in the silvery light. Beyond the river hung the shadow of the far hills and trees climbed the high ground into a black sky.
He doubled back and looked towards the other side with a clear view of the valley and camp site below. He noticed trampled undergrowth on the ground to his right and saw two cigarette butts in the grass. It looked like someone had stood for a time and studied the camp already. Mooney must be around.
Carter decided to get off the hill, he eased back into the thick blue-black shadows of the trees and worked his way back to camp. He took his time through the woods, passing down the incline until the ground levelled off. He stood and waited in the damp blanket of the night, stood in the smell of wet pine and rotten wood and the sound of the rain water ticking off the leaves as they shivered in the milky moonlight. His eyes searche
d the gloom for movement. As the wind eased, he left the protective murky darkness of the tree line and walked quickly across the open ground.
Just shy of the camp, he crawled under an outcrop of rock filled with the heavy scent of damp leaf mould, the wetness soaked his elbows and knees. He stretched out and dozed. After about half an hour he stirred and without really waking up, he saw Don Plunkett cross the camp and push his way under the bed of the wagon.
The next time he opened his eyes it was early dawn, he pulled himself out and stirred the fire into life. Weak flames fluttered in the frail grey light of a new day. He took wood from the wagon to bank up the fire and as he glanced down, he saw Don Plunkett watching him from the shadow of a wheel, holding a gun in his hand. When Plunkett realized it was Carter he smiled, stood and slid the gun into his waistband. They got the fire going and let the heat dry their damp clothes. The smell of coffee woke the others and they edged out, stretching and shaking themselves free of sleep. They started towards the fire but Carter held a hand up to stop them.
‘Stay there,’ he said. He studied the ground, skirted the fire pit with an animal alertness in his movements, hesitating a couple of times. He raised his eyes and looked off towards a small stand of pine and then, satisfied, he straightened up and motioned the others towards him and said, ‘None of you came out to the fire in the night, did you?’
They shook their heads and Milton Shine said, ‘I don’t reckon any of us moved, all I could hear above the wind and rain was Quincy snoring like a hog with a cold, reminded me of a woman I once knowed in Medford.’
‘I don’t snore,’ said Roof.
‘Well,’ said Shine, ‘someone must have drove a herd of buffalo through here last night.’
Carter said, ‘Mooney came in and looked around.’
Roof picked a scattergun out of the wagon and they watched him cock it and glance around. The gun shook in his hand.
‘He’s gone, Quincy, for now,’ said Plunkett. ‘Looks like you was right about the gold, partner,’ he said, looking at Carter. ‘I figure he was checking the gold was still there. That means he’ll be back.’
Carter faced them across the fire pit.
‘Look at me,’ said Carter. ‘Now don’t make it obvious but there’s a high butte over my right shoulder. The land rises up and the top’s fringed with trees, I reckon he’s there. I was up there last night and I’m pretty sure he watched us from the top. I’d guess that’s where he is right now like as not, looking down like a hungry buzzard.’
‘What are you going to do?’ said young Floyd.
‘Eat breakfast,’ said Roof. He uncocked the gun and pushed it back in the wagon. ‘I’ll cook up something while you figure out what to do.’
‘Come on, Floyd,’ said his grandpa. ‘Let’s build that fire up and eat, a man can do most anything on a full stomach.’
‘Yes, sir,’ said Floyd, ‘and me and Mr Baird will see to the horses.’
The others sat by the fire and smoked while Carter cleaned his Sharps carbine as best he could. He took time to wipe out the gunpowder residue from the breech, blew it clear with the lever down and the breech open then he set it aside and took out a Colt Navy. He checked the foil cartridges were all in place, spun the cylinder with the palm of his hand, set the safety and slid the gun into his rig. He checked a second gun and hefted it in his hand, enjoying the feel of the cold weight; he ran a thumb down the barrel and tucked the Colt down his waistband.
They ate chops with bread fried off in the fat. Plunkett gnawed the meat off a bone and tossed it onto the fire, the last of the fat flared brightly in the flames and he said, ‘Garrett, you’ve been in the Army, right? We could sure use your help in Sailors Diggings, that’s if you’re minded to help out. I reckon with what you know from being a quartermaster you could organize food, clothes and such like for the families of those killed.’
Carter thought Baird might have doubts but he seemed to have grown in confidence in the last day because he looked up, grinned and said, ‘That I will, Don. I’d be right glad to help out.’
Grandpa watched him while sucking the grease off his fingers. He wiped his mouth with his shirt sleeve and said, ‘Listen, Garrett, me and Floyd have an idea of our own. We’d like you to come and work with us at the livery, you know, blacksmithing and such. You said you done that sort of work in the Army. I’m getting too old for the heavy iron work.’
‘What does Floyd think?’ said Baird, looking straight at the youngster. ‘Are you for it?’
‘You bet,’ said Floyd. ‘I reckon I can learn a heap of stuff from you.’
Grandpa said, ‘The livery will be Floyd’s when he’s old enough to take it on proper but you can board at the stables to start with and we’ll pay you what we can.’
‘Money don’t bother me none,’ said Baird, ‘but I’d be right glad to work for you and earn my keep. Things sure seem to be looking up for me.’
Above them on the butte, Mooney watched them in a deep deathly silence. He held a rifle in his hand and Baird’s Colt tucked down his trousers.
CHAPTER 17
‘What about Mooney?’ said Roof, gathering up the tin plates. ‘What are we going to do?’
‘Kill him,’ said Plunkett. ‘His life’s been one long horse ride to hell. Let’s get to it.’ He clenched his right hand, the knuckles whitened and his fist looked like a sledgehammer. ‘If you ask me we should go get him today, he came in last night and we cain’t risk him doing that again. He might just take it into his head to start shooting, I don’t like just sitting here with him out there.’
‘I agree,’ said Shine, ‘we cain’t just accept the hand we’ve been dealt. Let’s take it to him hard and fast.’
Carter nodded and said, ‘Milt, are you handy with that gun?’
‘If it breathes I can kill it,’ said Shine, laughing. ‘’Course I’m better if the other feller ain’t got a gun and he’s standing still and looking the other way.’
Carter scratched his head through his hat and said, ‘You know, that’s given me an idea about getting Mooney to look the other way. What we do is start to break camp real slow and let him,’ he nodded towards the ridge, ‘think we’re leaving. Milt wanders off into the trees over yonder where the trail goes behind those rocks and he kicks up a storm shooting and hollering. It’s safer if you shoot into the tree trunks, Milt, then no-one catches a stray bullet. Some of us rush in after you and you keep the commotion going while me and Don make our way up the butte in the trees. Mooney will be too busy looking down here wondering what in tarnation is going on. We’ll split up and move in on him from each side while he’s trying to make out what the hell is happening.’
Plunkett stood up and clapped Carter on the shoulder and said, ‘I like that a lot, we squeeze in and crush him while he’s looking the other way.’
Shine stood and hitched his gun rig up on his hips and loosened his shoulders.
‘Take it easy, Milt, them trees ain’t going to shoot back,’ Plunkett said.
Shine said, ‘Those trees are as good as dead already.’ Then he looked serious. ‘When the shooting starts up there we’ll come a-running, count on it.’
Carter turned to Roof. ‘Quincy, if you feel it’s going against us you get that youngster and his grandpa out of here, you hear me on that? Get down the trail to the settlement and bring some help out here right quick.’
Roof rubbed his chin with his fingers and said, ‘I will for sure but it don’t seem right, us getting that gold back for Crick and it maybe costing some of our lives.’
Carter said, ‘I’ve been studying on that myself some, if we get back we’ll talk about it.’ He took a deep draw on his cigar, tossed the butt on the dirt at his feet and ground it out with the toe of his boot. He let the smoke drift out of his nose and mouth as he said, ‘Let’s do it.’
‘You’ll be back,’ said young Floyd. ‘I know it.’
Roof handed Milt Shine two extra fully loaded Colt Dragoons.
‘There’s not
hing special about them, Milt, but they’re reliable, they take five rounds. Remember that and make them last.’
Shine stuck them down his waistband, pulled his trousers up but did not speak or try to make a joke; he just turned and walked off to the trees.
‘I’ll go up the right, Don, if that’s fine with you?’ said Carter.
‘See you at the top,’ said Plunkett.
They watched Shine disappear into the woods, the sun glowed and unblemished heat and light poured over them. The last they saw of Shine was his back netted in shadow from the canopy of pine trees and then he disappeared into the woods.
‘Let’s hitch up the team,’ said Roof. ‘We take our time and make out we’re leaving.’
They worked in silence, the only noticeable sounds in the camp the jingle of the bridles, the horses stirring and the creak of the wagon as they loaded up. The smell of horse and mule mingled with the harsh tang of wood smoke, the fire gave a dull dusty sigh as the charred embers caved in on themselves and a cloud of white smoke curled up around their ankles. Even though they waited for Shine’s first shot it took everyone by surprise when it came. The crack made the mules jump, snort and shake their heads, birds cawed in alarm and lifted from the trees until the sky was flecked with them as they spiralled away.
Shine shouted and the men turned and rushed into the timber towards him.
Carter ran, he saw Shine’s shadowy silhouette wave to him as he passed but he did not stop or speak. He cut east and ran through the matted undergrowth and then his steps shortened as he started to move up the incline. He heard more shouting and another shot but did not look back. He shut everything else out, he could only hear his own heavy breathing and the thud of his own boots, he felt the thump of each step resonate through his body as he ran. Sweat trickled down his face and back like raindrops and his damp shirt clung to his back, the air layered with heat and dust clawed at his face.
