DOYLE LEE LED THEM NORTHEAST, right along the edge of the salt flats.
Just getting close to the Lago again started the nerves in Lu’s spine singing. Crash didn’t much like their chosen route either. As soon as they came within sight of the white salt plain he started crow-hopping and tossing his head. It took every bit of Lu’s horsemanship just to quiet him down. Protests were voiced, but Doyle Lee was unimpressed with any opinion other than his own. He held to the edge of the salt flats with a faithfulness bordering on paranoia. It was a miserable time to be out there, too. No sooner did their horses’ hooves touch salt than the wind began to howl. Doyle Lee seemed to welcome the storm, while Chino cursed the wind in two languages. MacLemore and Henry kept their heads down and their eyes shut. Lu tried to do the same, but couldn’t resist looking over his shoulder every few minutes. He was worried about their pursuers. The last thing Lu wanted was to be shot in the back while his eyes were closed. Sadie kept looking back as well.
“I’d sure hate to get shot,” Lu said to her. The sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon, and the wind had responded by lowering to a mere gale. “Wouldn’t you?”
“Better than being hung, I reckon,” Sadie replied.
It was a debate much enjoyed by the boys back in St. Frances. Half thought it’d be better to be shot, and could see no earthly reason why a robber would ever give himself up. The other half considered hanging preferable. Lu had always been on the shooting side, mostly because folks said it was quicker, assuming that the man who shot you was a good aim. Now he wasn’t so sure. There were powerful few hanging trees in the Lago, but bullets aplenty.
“Which do you think they’ll do if they catch us?” he asked.
Sadie considered a while. “I’ve heard the Saints are big on castrating men not of their faith,” she said at last. “So I guess that’s what they’d probably do.”
Castration made hanging and shooting both sound pretty good. “What do you think they’d do to you?”
“Oh, I know just what they want to do with me. They hope to take me back to their town, lock me in a room somewhere, and preach at me ‘til I want nothing more than to wear dresses and bake pies.” Judging by the tone of her voice, Sadie considered this about on a par with castration.
The sun had been up over an hour, and their horses were beginning to seriously feel the heat, when Doyle Lee finally called for a rest. By that time, MacLemore decided he’d had enough.
“I don’t know where you’re leading us, sir,” he said. “But we certainly aren’t getting there. If you don’t know where the mountains are, say so now. I’ll point them out to you.” He didn’t wait for Doyle to answer. “There they are.” MacLemore gestured wildly. “Right there. Due west by any compass.”
“You want to get free of the Danites, don’t you?” Doyle asked him.
“I can’t see how wandering aimlessly will help us escape. Maybe you could explain yourself.”
“Their best tracker’s not with them.”
“So?”
“The wind’s covering our tracks.”
Lu looked. Sure enough, hoof-prints stretched out behind them for a hundred yards or so and then began to fade, filled in by the blowing dust.
“And just how do you know their tracker isn’t with them?” MacLemore asked.
“Because I’m their tracker,” Doyle said.
“Do you think they’ll find us?” Sadie asked him.
“Danites are what Gentiles call ‘avenging angels.’ They don’t give up easy.”
“These horses are near played out,” Henry said.
“We’ll rest again as soon as we reach those trees.” Doyle gestured toward the mountains. Lu squinted, but could make out no trees whatever, just a vague sort of black-green velvet.
“What if they catch us?” Chino asked.
“Then you’ll have to fight.”
“Can we beat ’em?”
“I doubt it.”
“Henry and me have been in tough scrapes before. We’ve always come through.”
Doyle shrugged. He wasn’t a man much given to talk. Lu remembered watching him at the dinner table, staring at his food. At the time he’d thought Doyle quiet, either because he was naturally shy or out of respect for his superior, Bishop Higbee. Now he guessed Doyle was one of those men who preferred to hoard up their thoughts, seldom letting more than one or two out at a time. Like Jack Straw, Doyle Lee never wasted words.
When the horses had caught their breath, Doyle struck out in a new direction. He guided them due west, following a trail only he could see. They kept to the low places between the hills as much as possible. It got brushier as they neared the mountains, but they pressed through. Finally, when they were within shouting distance of the tree-line, the sagebrush got so thick it acted as a sort of fence. There was no way through, so they took to the hilltops. It was then that Henry saw the riders.
They all paused a moment to look back. Lu squinted until his eyes ached, but still couldn’t make out a thing. “Is it them?” he asked.
“Must be,” Henry replied.
“I count twenty-five,” Doyle said. “That’s a pretty good number on such short notice. Comin’ fast, too.”
“Probably found our tracks and figure they got us treed,” Chino remarked, though he didn’t bother to look. His eyes were excellent for close-up work, as when studying a flower or leaf, but at a distance they were weaker than Lu’s.
They urged their horses onward, forcing them into a stiff trot as they neared the tree-line. Lu didn’t know what would happen once they reached the forest, but knew it’d be a lot better in amongst the trees than out on these bald hills. With sufficient cover, they might hold the Danites off for hours.
“How long before they catch us?” MacLemore asked.
“Half an hour,” Doyle said. “Maybe more. There’s a rock outcropping just a quarter-mile farther. If we can get on top of it, you still might manage an escape.”
They galloped their mounts into the wood, coming at last to the base of a stony ridge. It wasn’t more than twenty feet high, but stretched away north and south for as far as Lu could see. Best of all, there weren’t but a half-dozen spots where a horse could climb up. To Lu, the ridge resembled the walls of a medieval castle.
Doyle gave his horse a sharp kick and was soon at the top. Henry and Chino raced up behind him, followed closely by Lu and Sadie. MacLemore, riding Lucky, came up last.
As soon as they were safe atop the rocks, Henry dismounted, drawing his rifle from its scabbard even as his feet touched ground.
“That’s it for me,” Doyle said. “I’m in no hurry for those men to see me.”
“What if they already saw you?” MacLemore asked. “What’ll they do?”
“You mean will they kill me?” He shook his head. “Not outright, I don’t guess, though it may come to that by and by. They’ll start by excommunicating me. I reckon I’ll spend eternity in the outer darkness.” His brow furrowed. It was clear to Lu that this “outer darkness” was a greater threat to Doyle Lee even than death.
“Why are you helping us?” Sadie asked. “No offense, but you seem more the kind to be with them.”
“I have been, time and again. If you make it up that path yonder,” he gestured down a game trail, leading away from the back side of the ridge—it was framed on both sides by trees, and mostly overgrown with skunk cabbage—“you’ll come to a meadow. In it you’ll see some of my handiwork.”
Doyle frowned. “Two reasons. First, Higbee took one of my own daughters. She’s the Nellie you heard Sister Eliza asking about. In the beginning he was just peaches and cream. But I don’t believe he’s been in to see her even one time since she got pregnant. I guess I don’t take too kindly to that.”
“What’s the other reason?”
“I reckon these killings have got to stop. Gentiles are already sending lawyers to inquire into what they call irregularities. Cavalry will be along soon. Eventually, someone’s sure to hang. Like as not, it’ll be one of those men out there, killed for doing his duty. And the real instigators, men like Jacob Higbee, they’ll find a way to wriggle free. They always do.”
“Is this the way to Silver City?” Henry asked, pointing at the game trail.
“One of ’em. Follow it and you’ll come to the middle-fork of the Paiute River. That ought to take you to Silver City all right.”
MacLemore held out his hand. “We appreciate your help, Doyle.”
They shook, and then Lee set his spurs to his horse and loped into the forest.
“Reckon he’ll get away?” Sadie asked.
“One way or another,” Chino said.
“How long do you think we have?” MacLemore asked.
“Five minutes,” Henry replied. “Maybe ten.”
They made a quick survey of their surroundings, locating a half-dozen defensible spots. The three best were behind large rocks, just a stone’s throw from the game trail. Henry said they offered an avenue of escape, should the need arise.
“Lu, I want you and Sadie to take the horses a couple hundred yards down that path,” Henry continued. As he spoke, he took two boxes of ammunition from his saddlebags. “Go ‘til you’re just barely out of sight. Hold them there. If we can fight these Danites off long enough, we might make a run for it in the dark. The three of us will take up positions here.”
MacLemore untied the rifle Melvin Hammond had given him from his saddle. The box of shells he stuck in his pants pocket.
“Daddy?” Sadie’s voice quavered.
“We’ll be fine, honey. It’ll be just like target practice.”
Chino jerked his pistols from his holsters, spun the cylinders to make sure both were fully loaded, and rammed them back home. “I’m lookin’ forward to it,” he said. “My pistols have been quiet too long. They need exercise.”
“I can stay, too,” Lu offered. “I’ve got my revolver.”
“No,” Henry said. “It’s a fine weapon, but you aren’t proven with it yet. You’ve only fired the one shot.”
Chino nodded in agreement. “This is no fight for you, chico.”
“But I killed that deer.”
“With my rifle,” Henry said, “which I guess I’ll use myself.”
It was a bit of logic against which Lu had no defense. Clearly he could offer little in the way of experience, weaponry or marksmanship. To be truthful, Lu didn’t much want to be involved in any battles. But he didn’t want the other men to think him a coward either.
“We all know how brave you both are,” MacLemore said. “But this isn’t about bravery. Now, I want you to take these horses into the trees, just as Henry told you. In fact, I’m ordering you to do it. Both of you. You’ll admit I’ve given very few orders so far. None in fact. But I’m doing it now. If you want to keep working for me, you’ll take these horses to safety.”
There was nothing else to say. Lu climbed onto Crash, took Lucky’s reins and the reins of Chino’s mare, and started up the path through the trees. Sadie was right behind him. As they rode away, numb and silent, Lu heard Henry talking.
“We’d best get into position,” Henry said. “Try to shoot as many of their horses as you can. A man afoot will lose interest in chasing, I hope.”
Lu and Sadie rode better than a hundred yards from the ridge, but could still see the blue chambray shirts of the men they were leaving behind. It wasn’t until they’d reached a hard bend in the path, around which they discovered a fallen pine tree, that they finally got clear of the battle site.
“I guess we’ve gone far enough,” Lu said, climbing out of his saddle.
There was a patch of green grass behind the fallen tree. Lu led the animals to it and then stood by while they grazed.
“He ain’t my boss,” Sadie muttered. “I don’t have to follow no dern orders.”
“He’s your father,” Lu said. “That’s sort of like a boss.”
Sadie glowered at him.
Just then, they heard the first of what was to be hundreds of shots. Lu and Sadie both recognized the source. Henry’s rifle had a way of rumbling in the inner ear long after it had been fired, like thunder after a bolt of lightning. The horses nickered, but made no move to bolt. Henry’s horse, having spent the better part of its life as a cavalry mount, didn’t even perk up its ears.
The next shot rang out soon after, followed by a third. These must’ve come from MacLemore’s rifle. A few more shots followed. Thus far, they’d heard no return fire. Lu guessed the Danites had been taken by surprise. That wouldn’t last long. It’d only take a moment for them to determine where the bullets were originating from, and adopt the proper response. Unfortunately, Lu was right. In no time they were hearing the whine of lead slugs, ricocheting off the boulders behind which their friends were crouched, and clattering through the trees.
Sadie tied her horse to the fallen pine.
“What are you doing?” Lu asked her.
“I’m goin’ to watch.” She’d finished tying Carrot, and was rapidly doing the same with Henry’s quarter-horse. “And you’re comin’ with me.”
“No, I’m not. Your father ordered me to hold these horses, and I aim to do it.”
“Well, I’m ordering you to come with me.”
“You can’t order me.”
“Sure I can. Don’t you remember your contract? It said you worked for the MacLemores. That means both of us, Daddy and me.”
Lu paused. He didn’t think that sounded right. It was months ago that he’d signed his name to that bit of parchment, but he didn’t recall its saying anything about his working for Sadie MacLemore. To be honest, he didn’t recall its saying anything about John MacLemore either. All he remembered was a long bit about the “reclamation of a property.” He voiced his doubts, but Sadie just sneered.
“I tell you it was in there. Now tie off that horse of yours and let’s get going.”
Lu did as he was told, sure that he’d regret it later.
“How do you want to go?” he asked. “We can’t just go sauntering down the trail. We’d be killed for sure.”
“Let’s just go ‘til we see the others. We’ll figure out what to do from there.”
So they crept back down the center of the path, quiet as mice. It wasn’t long before they saw a blue chambray shirt, crouched behind a boulder on the lip of the stone ridge. At first, Lu couldn’t tell who it was. Then he saw the man stand up, a pistol in either hand, and send a half-dozen slugs blasting down the hillside. Chino shot so fast, Lu didn’t see how he could possibly know where any of his bullets were going. He seemed content merely to fill the air with lead and let the chips fall where they may.
“What now?” Lu whispered.
“I can’t see Daddy, but I think I hear his rifle.” Sadie pointed through the trees to their right. “Let’s sneak through there.”
So they ducked and twisted their way amidst the tightly grown wood, coming at last to a place where they could see fully thirty yards of the stone ridge. Sadie was all for going on, but Lu held her arm.
“I still can’t see him,” she complained.
Lu pointed. A blue chambray shirt was just visible to their left, and it wasn’t Henry.
“What’s he doin’?” Sadie asked.
“Looks like he’s reloading his gun.”
For the next few minutes they sat, shoulder to shoulder, watching as MacLemore twice more loaded and fired his rifle empty. He was fast. Not as fast as Henry, maybe, but still a good deal quicker than Lu would’ve guessed. Brass cartridges littered the ground at his feet. Lu couldn’t see the box, but figured MacLemore’s ammunition must be at least half gone.
“I wonder if he’s hittin’ anything,” Sadie whispered.
“I’ll bet Henry is.”
Just then, one of the Danites attempted to gallop to the top of the ridge. Lu and Sadie both held their breath as horse and rider leapt over the escarpment, nearly trampling Sadie’s father in their rush. MacLemore barely got his rifle up in time, and likely wouldn’t have if the horse hadn’t reared. But it did, and MacLemore blasted him.
The bullet tore through the lower leg of the rider, a man of no more than twenty, dressed in a homespun shirt and straw hat, and into the side of his mount. Lu’s stomach dropped as both horse and rider toppled backward off the ridge and fell out of sight.
“My lord!” he whispered. “Did you see all that blood?”
Sadie grabbed one of Lu’s hands and squeezed. Lu thought she looked a trifle green.
“Another horse,” she said. “That’s all we ever do, shoot horses.”
“What about the man on it? He looked mighty young.”
Sadie nodded. The horror was plain in her eyes.
Lu wondered about the part of the battle they couldn’t see. He remembered the way the deer had been blasted open when he shot it, one of its front legs having been sheered clean away. And how Cody’s neck had spurted blood like a fountain until he’d sunk beneath the surface of the lake. He thought about the buffalo Henry shot, the slug driving right through its enormous skull. From where they crouched, Lu couldn’t see Henry at all, but he could hear the boom of his rifle, and knew all too well the sort of damage it might do. All at once, he didn’t want to be there any longer. Sadie’s orders or no, he was going back to the horses.
“I don’t want to see any more,” he whispered.
Sadie nodded. “Me either.”
They began to scoot back through the trees. But before they’d gone even five feet, Sadie grabbed Lu’s arm. “Look!” she squealed.
Ahead of them, and just a hair to their right, a group of men was attempting to climb over the ridge. Lu could just see their eyes, and the brims of their hats, as they raised up, took a quick gander along the edge of the rock outcropping, and then ducked back down. They were only about ten yards from MacLemore, but for some reason he hadn’t noticed them. Maybe they’d found a blind spot, Lu guessed. He knew he had to do something, and fast. Any second, one of those men was liable to rise up with a gun in his hand. MacLemore would be dead where he sat.
Lu didn’t want to do it, but could see no other way. He drew his revolver, thumbed back the hammer, making sure as he did that there was a bullet in the next chamber, and took careful aim on the rocks over which the Saints were trying to sneak. He was just about to pull the trigger when the memory of the last time he’d fired the gun leapt to his mind.
“Hold my shoulders,” he whispered to Sadie.
“What?”
“Last time, the kick knocked me off my feet.”
“This is ridiculous,” Sadie muttered, but did as he asked. Lu could feel her breath on the back of his neck.
“I’m going to shoot now,” he warned.
“Just do it. And hurry.” One of the Danites had just stuck his head over the tops of the rocks again, and this time he made no move to duck back down.
Lu squeezed the trigger and his pistol gave its deafening boom. The recoil tore through his elbows and shoulders, and even into Sadie, who lost her grip and fell against Lu’s back. She’d added sufficient weight to keep him from going over backward, however, and so Lu got to see what became of the bullet he’d fired.
It was a bad shot. Lu missed the Danite by a good two feet, hitting instead a piece of the stone ridge. But the results were amazing. A chunk of granite as big around as a dinner plate exploded, sending bits of stone flying in every direction. Lu might not have done so much damage if he’d used dynamite. More importantly, the blast drew MacLemore’s attention while it sent his attackers scrambling for safety.
“Let’s get out of here,” Sadie said.
Lu didn’t need to be asked twice. He leapt to his feet, slid his pistol back into its holster, and ran.
They crashed through the underbrush, bouncing off the trunks of trees and tripping over old logs, but somehow managed to keep their balance long enough to reach the path. Sadie was a swift runner, but Lu matched her step for step. By the time they reached the horses, both were out of breath.
“My Lord,” Sadie wheezed. “When Daddy said you had a cannon, I thought he was just foolin’. But that pistol of yours puts Henry’s rifle to shame. You must’ve put the fear of God in them.”
“Not Higbee,” Lu muttered. His ears were ringing again, just like last time.
“What?”
For some reason, Lu knew, as sure as if he’d seen the man’s face, that Higbee had been amongst the group of men trying to climb over the ridge and take MacLemore unawares. How he knew that, Lu had no way to tell. It was just a thought that had burrowed its way into the back of his mind. And it wasn’t the only one. He also knew that the other Danites were by no means excited to be on this adventure. In fact, a few had already suggested going home. One had come right out and said that this whole enterprise was nothing more than lust gone wild. Again, those weren’t statements Lu had heard. He just knew them.
“Higbee was one of those trying to climb over the cliff,” Lu said.
“I didn’t see him,” Sadie replied. “And I’d bet my eyes against yours any day.”
“He was there.”
“And just how do you know that?”
“The bullet.” The words popped out of their own volition. They felt true, but still not the sort of thing a body ought to say. In fact, if Lu had known he was about to say something so outlandish, he’d have come up with a lie.
“I’m serious,” he continued, then clapped a hand over his mouth. For some reason, the truth was just boiling to come out, whether he willed it or not.
“The kick on that pistol has rattled your brains,” Sadie said. “You sure it didn’t come up and bonk you in the head?”
“I’m sure. Those men. Their thoughts. Even their memories. The bullet put it all in my mind.” He tried to cover his mouth with his hands again, but it didn’t help. Every word came out as clear as air.
Sadie laughed. “If those are magic bullets, why didn’t you know anything the last time you shot one? Why didn’t you hear what that javelina was thinking?”
Lu shook his head. He had no answer for that. “Maybe it wasn’t thinking anything,” he said.
But Sadie wasn’t listening. A hush had descended over the forest. “What do you think’s happening now?” she asked.
“The Danites are scared.”
“Is that more bullet talk?”
Lu shrugged.
Just then, they heard the sound of running feet. Someone was coming up the path. Sadie reached into her jacket pocket for her own little revolver. Lu lifted his gun out of its holster again. Both of them came close to shooting Henry as he loped into sight.
“What’s happening?” Sadie asked.
“The Danites seem to have given up,” Henry said. “And I thought they were just about to get us, too.”
A moment later, MacLemore came huffing and puffing through the trees. “We heard your gun,” he said to Lu. “Are you all right?”
“Higbee was trying to lead some men around behind you,” Lu explained.
“Did you shoot him?”
Lu shook his head.
“Too bad. Would’ve served him right, the old pirate.”
“Where’s Chino?” Sadie asked.
“Here.” Chino trotted into the clearing.
“What are they doing now?” Henry asked him.
“Trying to catch their horses. What few they have left. Something really put the terror into them.”
“I’d guess it was Lu’s shot,” Sadie remarked. “His are magic bullets, you know.”
“Was that what we heard? I thought the mountain had been struck by lightning.” Chino grinned at Lu. “Magic bullets, eh? What do they do? Other than blast things all to kingdom come.” Lu ground his teeth. He didn’t want to say.
“Well?” Chino asked.
“They tell the truth,” Lu said. “All of it.”
“Enough,” Henry said. “The Danites may decide to go home, or they may not. I don’t intend to wait around to see which they choose.”
For the next hour they rode, keeping to a fast trot as much as possible. Henry and Chino stayed at the rear, just in case their pursuers elected to follow. Lu didn’t think they would, but couldn’t say for sure. Whatever insight the bullet had given him was used up.
“How much farther do you think it’ll be before we strike the river?” MacLemore asked. “I sort of think I hear something.”
“Looks like there’s a clearing ahead,” Lu replied. “Just through those trees.”
MacLemore led them to the edge of a shallow basin, surrounded by pines.
“Lord of mercy,” he said, stopping cold.
The entire basin was filled, front to back and edge to edge, with skeletons. A path had been swept through the center, but all the rest was bone. If a person was of a particularly twisted mind, he might skip from one side of the depression to the other and never step on anything but death.
They rode through in silence, passing the weathered remains of women, children, horses and men. Here and there they saw the moldered scraps of old dresses, shirts and trousers. Near the opposite end of the basin lay a team of oxen. Their yoke had been either stolen or rotted away, but the necks that wore them—the neck-bones, at least—were still there, tied together in death for all eternity.
“Doyle said we’d pass through some of his handiwork,” MacLemore said, as they climbed out of the basin on the other side, “but I didn’t pay him much attention.”
“Did you see all the little ones?” Sadie whimpered. “Someone mashed their little skulls in with an axe.”
Lu had nothing to add. The bones spoke for themselves. These settlers had suffered across the desert, maybe across the terrible Lago del Fuego itself, only to be gunned down and butchered in what should have been the welcoming embrace of the forest. And with a stream of fresh water just a stone’s throw away, too.
Henry suggested they stop and water the horses.
“What about the Danites?” MacLemore asked.
“Something tells me they’ll hesitate a good long while before crossing through that meadow back there.”
“What makes you say that? Aren’t they the ones that did it?”
“That’s why they’ll hesitate.”
“Did you notice the ground under those bones?” Chino asked. “Burnt. Just as though there’d been a fire. I didn’t see any char on the trees though.”
“Let’s not talk about it,” Lu said. He felt as though darkness was closing on them with every word.
“I agree,” MacLemore said. “I don’t want to talk about it either.”
They waited until their horses were finished drinking, then pushed on.
It was getting toward sundown, two days later, when they came around a bend in the river and saw the remains of a log cabin. One of the walls was caved in and the rest leaned perilously to the side. Most of the logs were rotten, the windows had all been smashed, and the front door hung by a single hinge. A crow, easily the largest Lu had ever seen, sat on the roof, or what little remained of it, eyeing them warily. As the riders approached, it stuck its head out and delivered a throaty croak.
“I know this place,” MacLemore said. “I’ve been here.” He looked through one of the windows, careful not to cut himself on any of the glass. “This used to be a miner’s cabin. Old Joe McShane built it.”
“How far is it from here to Silver City?” Henry asked. They’d finished Mrs. Hammond’s goat sandwiches the day before and were once again hungry. All but the horses, who’d put back some of the considerable weight they’d lost in the desert.
“Can’t be an hour’s ride. We ought to see lots more cabins soon enough.”
“I hope one or two are still lived in,” Chino remarked. “Never met the miner yet that didn’t keep a jug. I could stand to wet my whistle.”
“Look over here,” Lu called.
Lying a dozen or so yards beyond the deserted cabin was a sign. It had once stood beside the road, but the post onto which it’d been affixed was rotten, and the sign had fallen down.
“What’s it say?” Chino asked.
Lu read aloud:
“Welcome to Silver City.
Population 122 and Growing.
No Irish.”
“No Irish? That’s certainly new,” MacLemore said.
Henry peered down the road ahead. Another burned-out old hulk of a cabin was just visible amidst the shadows. “I don’t think anything here is new,” he muttered.