“Come away, Indigo. The party’s over. Rube put on a good fandango. He’d sure be pleased to know how much of a success it was. Come on, Indigo.”
“What the hell—out in the rain again?”
“He said he wanted to see me at daylight,” replied Joe, ducking through the rear door. “But I’m runnin’ away from him. Don’t want to see him. It’s daylight, ain’t it?”
The barn was a red skeleton that illumined all the island. Gray dawn broke along the sullen eastern rim. And the rain came down steadily. They got their horses out of the shed—whence the animals had drifted since last used—and turned past the barn and bunkhouse toward the east end of the island.
“Yuh can’t cross this water,” objected Indigo.
“Got to. Indigo, I’d rather drown than meet Dead Card John. Yeah, I would. It don’t look so bad by light. Let’s try the old channel. I see a trail up the bluff, once we ford the water.”
“It don’t make no difference to me. I’m as wet as I ever could be. There’s a shaller spot.”
They stood a moment on the edge, watching the current curling over the gravel. At best, it was a difficult crossing even with the firelight of the barn to guide them. Joe urged his horse into it and kicked his feet out of the stirrups. Twenty minutes later the two of them poised on the bluff and looked back, downward upon the Ox Bow. They saw men moving restlessly around the yard; they heard a gun’s report.
“Lookin’ for us, I bet,” said Indigo. “What makes yuh so afraid of meetin’ that jasper?”
“Bristow told her what I told him. Dead Card John is her daddy. Met him in Abilene once. She’ll forgive him. No matter how bad he’s been she’ll forgive him. And don’t you think he won’t run that outfit smooth. The man’s had his punishment. It wouldn’t be in a woman’s heart to quit him now.”
“Well, what’re you afraid of then?”
Joe smiled. “He wanted to kill me once for tellin’. Right now I reckon he wants to thank me. He ain’t a man that’s had much practice in showin’ gratitude. He’d make a terrible botch of it, Indigo. So we’re relievin’ him of the trouble.”
Indigo swore a while. They turned east again and rode toward Terese. The gray morning dawned. Joe shook his head. “Indigo, it’s winter. We’ve got to figure about holin’ up.”
“Yeah,” said Indigo, not meeting his partner’s eyes. “Tell you what. We’ll eat and take a wink in Terese. Then we’ll ride south and think on it with some mature judgment. And we’ll finally decide what to do when we get to the next sizable town.”
“Agreed.”
Indigo muttered something to himself. He had seen a map of the country the previous night and he knew what Joe didn’t yet know. The next sizeable town south of Terese was a full hundred miles. That was staving off difficulty for quite a few days.
So, silently, they jogged toward Terese in the driving rain.
The Western Megapack - 25 Classic Western Stories Page 48
