CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Since they rode out together they didn’t bother going back to the base of the rise they had been using to observe the town. Instead, they rode for some time until Jake felt they had put enough distance between themselves and Three Rivers, then stopped to rest the horses and take stock of their situation.
“Did you kill anyone?” Jake asked Dundee.
“I don’t know for sure,” Dundee answered honestly. “I may have thrown those sticks of dynamite deeper into the saloon than I intended.”
“We’ll have to figure some of the men were injured,” Jake said.
“That’s for sure,” Dundee said.
“And maybe even Seaforth and his segundo,” Jake added.
“I don’t think so,” Dundee said. “His man moved pretty fast to get him to safety.”
“Okay, then,” Jake said, “if a third of the men in the Red Cherry were injured, that leaves ten men comin’ after us.”
“What do you want to do, señor?” Taco asked.
“What I’d like to do is get Seaforth away from his men so I can kill ’im,” Jake said.
“How do we do that?” Curly asked.
“The only way I can think of is to split up,” Jake said. “That way he’ll have to split his forces to track us.”
“But he won’t know which tracks are yours,” Curly said.
“And I won’t know which tracks he follows,” Jake added.
“If we choose the place where we split up,” Taco said, “and you watch, you will see what tracks he picks.”
“And then I can track him.”
“So where do we do this?” Dundee asked. “And what do we do with the rest of the dynamite?”
“Okay,” Jake started slowly, “this is what I’d like to happen. I want to isolate him as much as I can, and make this a him-or-me situation. After that, you fellas can do whatever you want with his raiders, and use all the dynamite you want.”
Dundee and Curly looked at each other.
“This could be fun,” Dundee said.
Taco looked at Jake.
“Only men this young would think of this as fun, señor.”
“You and me, we know better, Taco,” Jake said. “Come on, let’s find a likely place to split up.”
Seaforth rode to the livery on his horse and met his men out front, led by Garfield. All told, there were now eight of them. When they joined back up with Walker and Sequoia, they’d be ten.
“Two of our men are dead, and two are injured,” Seaforth said. “We are going to catch the people responsible and make them pay. And we will not be returning to town until that is done.”
He had told Garfield to make sure each man had enough water and beef jerky to sustain him for some time, as they would not be returning for supplies. They had coffee and a coffeepot, in case they had to camp overnight. Seaforth expected running Jake Motley and his men down to take more than a day. He just wished he had Sequoia with him to read sign. Without the breed, he was going to have to rely on Garfield.
Seaforth looked at Garfield and nodded.
“Let’s move out!” Garfield shouted.
Garfield trotted his horse up to ride alongside Seaforth.
“Where do we go first?” Seaforth asked.
“I want to take a look where that Mex, Taco, said he left his horse,” Garfield said. “We might pick up some tracks from there.”
“We’d better,” Seaforth said.
“I’ll do the best I can, Sea,” Garfield said. “I’m no half-breed.”
They rode around to the rear of the livery, then followed the directions Taco had given them to his horse—if he was telling the truth. As it turned out, he was. Garfield found the place where Taco had tied his horse, then dismounted to study the ground.
“Well?” Seaforth demanded.
“I’d say once they picked him up from town, they brought him here to his horse.” He stood up and faced Seaforth. “I’m seeing four horses, here.”
“Four,” Seaforth demanded. “Less than he had last time.”
Garfield walked to his horse and mounted up.
“Shouldn’t be hard to follow the trail left by four horses,” he said to Seaforth. “And we’re only a couple of hours behind them.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Seaforth said, “just lead the way.”
As he followed Garfield he still wished Sequoia would come back. He depended on Garfield as his second in command, but the breed was his tracker.
Seaforth and his raiders only rode for twenty minutes before they saw two riders coming toward them at a gallop.
“Who’s that?” Seaforth demanded of Garfield.
“It’s Sequoia,” Garfield said. “And Walker.”
Seaforth called a halt to his column of raiders and they waited for the riders to reach them. They reined in their horses in front of Seaforth and Garfield.
“What brings you back?” Garfield said.
“The breed said he heard explosions,” Walker said. “I didn’t hear nothin’.”
“Dynamite,” Sequoia said.
“You got that right,” Seaforth said. “It was Motley and three of his men.”
“What happened?” Walker asked.
“We’ll tell you on the way,” Seaforth said. “Sequoia, we’re following the trail of four men, according to Garfield.”
Garfield pointed and Sequoia took a look.
“He is right,” the breed said. “Four horses.”
“You take the lead, then,” Seaforth said.
“Whatever you say, boss,” Sequoia said.
Jake and his men came to a three-pronged fork. It wasn’t a road, per se, but each path had definitely been well traveled and led into some South Texas brush country.
“This should be it, señor,” Taco said. He looked around. “You can watch from those rocks.”
“We can’t have each of you take a path,” Jake said.
“Why not?” Dundee asked. “That’ll split their force into three.”
“They’re gonna have to wonder where the fourth horse is,” Jake reasoned. “I’ll have to ride a ways with one of you, and then double back.”
“Ride with me, señor,” Taco said, not wanting his friend to go off on his own.
“Okay,” Jake said, “and hopefully, Seaforth himself will follow two of us, figuring I’d keep a man with me.”
“Why would he figure that?” Curly asked.
“Because I’m old,” Jake said. “Maybe I can catch him riding with only two other men.”
“You’re not gonna take on three men by yourself,” Dundee said. “And he’ll probably take most of the men with him. He’s no fool.”
“Dundee, if you get three men following you, you can handle them with the dynamite, right?”
“Definitely,” Dundee said. “It would probably only take one stick.”
“Okay, after you blow them to hell, double back and give Curly a hand.”
“And you?”
“I’ll have Taco with me,” Jake said. “You help Curly with the men who follow him, Taco and I will handle the rest.”
“You better save some of that dynamite,” Curly said.
“Don’t worry,” Dundee said, “there’s plenty.”
“Let’s go,” Jake said. “We’ve probably got a couple of hours on them. Plenty of time for me to double back and the rest of you to take cover and wait.”
“So we can ambush ’em?” Curly said.
Jake looked at him. “You can do whatever the hell you like, as long as I get Seaforth.”
Sequoia reined in as they reached the three-pronged fork.
“They have split up here,” he said, pointing to the ground.
“We’ll have to do the same,” Garfield said.
“No,” Seaforth said.
“Why not?” Garfield asked.
“Sequoia,” Seaforth asked, “which way is the Mex’s horse going?”
Sequoia studied the tracks. After they had told him about the Mexican, he had been able to isolate the tracks of the man’s horse. Luckily, he had a distinctive shoe on one hoof, for some reason.
“There,” he said. “With the two riders.”
“Then Big Jake’s riding with him,” Seaforth said.
“Why would he do that?” Walker asked.
“That Mex was a calm customer,” Seaforth said. “And he’s no kid. I think those two have been together for a while. And I think they’re together now.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“Send two men after each of those tracks,” Seaforth said, pointing to the single tracks. “The rest of us are going to follow these two.” He looked at the breed. “Sequoia, take the lead.”
From the rocks above, Jake watched, hoping that they had figured it right, and the raiders would split into equal forces.
To his dismay, Seaforth sent two after Dundee, and two men after Curly. He then took a force of six after his and Taco’s tracks. Only Taco was now alone.
“Shit!” he swore.
If they caught up to Taco, his Mexican friend wouldn’t have a chance against six men. Right now Jake wished he had some of Dundee’s dynamite in his own saddlebags.
He hurried to his horse and mounted up, still not sure what he was going to do.