He didn’t give Leah a gun. With the mental state she was in, she didn’t need to be armed. It was going to be difficult enough just getting her to cooperate and do as she was told, although she had calmed down considerably since Jess had comforted her.
The Kid went to the window and studied the compound. It was quiet, with most of the Rurales having already turned in. There were still guards on the walls.
He pulled one of the sheets off the bed and started tearing it into strips.
“Give me a hand,” he told Jess. “We’re going to make a rope and climb down from this window.”
“I’m not sure Leah can do that,” Jess said.
“You’ll have to talk her into it. Trying to go out the front door is too risky.”
Jess and Elsie started tearing up the other sheet. It didn’t take long for The Kid to braid and knot the strips together and fashion a makeshift rope that was sturdy enough to support them. He tied one end to the bed, then stood next to the window, holding the rope.
“I’ll climb down first,” Jess said. “Leah, you’ll come right after me, won’t you?”
Leah’s face was tear-streaked and her eyes were still wide and rolling like those of a spooked mustang, but she nodded and seemed to understand what Jess had said. Jess smiled and patted her on the shoulder.
Without hesitation, Jess swung out the window and went down the makeshift rope hand over hand. Violet and Elsie helped Leah through the opening. The Kid held his breath, but Leah managed to climb down into Jess’s welcoming arms.
Elsie went next, then Violet. Jess kept them all pressed close to the building in the shadows. When all four women were on the ground, The Kid leaned out the window and handed the rifle down, then pulled up the knotted bedsheet and left it in the room. He didn’t want the rope hanging out to attract attention. He climbed through the window, hung from his hands, and dropped the five or six feet to the ground, landing agilely.
“The corral is over there,” he whispered to Jess as he pointed out the enclosure. “The four of you head for it, and stay in the shadows as much as you can. I’m hoping that if anybody sees you, they’ll take you for one of the Rurales and think that you’re escorting the prisoners to the barracks.”
“Why would they be taking us to—Oh.”
“Yeah, it would be just like Guzman to let his men have some sport once Kelly and the others were through with you.”
“Some sport,” Jess said bitterly. “The bastards.”
“You’ll get no argument from me. I’ll join you at the corral in a few minutes.”
“Where are you going?”
“To make us a way out of here.”
She was puzzled, but didn’t ask questions. While she herded the other three women toward the corral, The Kid headed for the powder magazine.
The stone building stood next to the wall of the compound, with only a narrow gap between the two. The Kid hoped it wasn’t locked.
Luck was with him there. The door was latched but not locked. He slipped inside. The darkness was almost absolute, but he couldn’t risk striking a match with that much powder around. Working by feel, he found two kegs. He used his knife to pry the lids off both and reached inside to find the gritty, slightly greasy feel of gunpowder.
He had left the door open a crack. Looking through the gap and not seeing anyone, he moved outside with the kegs. It took only a moment to shove both kegs into the gap between the magazine and the wall.
With his background in railroad construction, he had worked in the past with dynamite and blasting powder. Gunpowder was a little different, but it would still explode. Dipping a hand into one of the kegs, he laid a trail of powder to the corner of the building. It would burn fast, so he wouldn’t have much time.
An idea occurred to him. Patting the pockets of the uniform he had taken off the dead Rurale, he found a thin black cigarillo in one of them. The Kid had put his own matches in one of the pockets. He took one out and leaned into the narrow opening behind the magazine so the sudden flare of light wouldn’t be noticed as he struck the match.
He puffed the cigar into life and quickly smoked it down to about half its length. The coal on its end glowed redly as he set it on the ground with the unlit end in the powder trail. That would give him a little more time, but he had to rely on the cigarillo not going out before it reached the powder. If that happened ...
If that happened he would think of something else, The Kid told himself. Leaving the burning cigarillo and the gunpowder behind, he hurried toward the corral.
The women were waiting beside a shed where feed and tack were stored. Jess hissed at The Kid as he came up to let him know where they were.
“Stay here,” he told them. “I’ll saddle some horses for us.”
With another glance at the guard towers and the parapet, he opened the gate and slipped into the corral. The Rurales still had their attention focused outward. The idea that there could be a threat inside the compound obviously hadn’t occurred to them.
The Kid found his own saddle in the tack room that opened into the corral. He didn’t waste any time getting it on his dun. Having somebody poking around inside the corral in the dark made the other horses a little skittish. He hoped they wouldn’t move around so much they attracted the attention of the guards.
As he worked, he wished he knew whether or not that cigarillo was still burning down toward the powder. All he could do was get some other horses saddled and wait.
When he had the dun and four other horses ready to ride, he held their reins and led them over to the gate. He handed the reins of two of the horses to Jess. “You’ll probably have to lead Leah’s horse. Can you do that?”
“If it means getting out of here, you’re damned right I can.”
The Kid grinned in the darkness. Jess’s fighting spirit had come back, and that was good.
Because they were liable to need it.
Violet and Elsie climbed onto a couple of mounts, and Jess urged Leah onto another one. She and The Kid were about to swing up into their saddles when a thunderous roar split the night and shook the ground. Jess staggered a little and exclaimed, “What was that?”
“With any luck, our way out of here,” The Kid said. “Follow me!”
Chapter 29
A ball of flame shot into the air from the explosion, lighting up the compound as bright as a day in hell. As The Kid led the women on horseback across the courtyard, he wasn’t surprised that the magazine was still standing. The stone structure had been built to contain an explosion. But with the magazine on one side, the force of the blast had to go somewhere. He hoped that it had blown a gaping hole in the wall.
He glanced over his shoulder to check on the women and saw all four right behind him, riding with the urgency of life and death. Jess had her reins and also those of Leah’s horse held tightly in her hands. Violet and Elsie were close behind them.
The guards on the wall shouted alarms—as if everybody within a couple of miles hadn’t heard the explosion —but they didn’t start shooting. They were confused by the fact that two of the riders appeared to be fellow Rurales. Those few moments they held their fire were invaluable to The Kid and the women.
Another glance back showed The Kid another good thing. He had left the corral gate open behind him, and the rest of the horses were so frightened by the blast they were streaming out of the corral and running wildly around the compound. As herd animals will do, they started following the horses on which The Kid and the women were mounted.
If he could lead them out of there, The Kid thought, it would take quite a while for the Rurales to round them up and put together any sort of pursuit.
He rounded the magazine and saw the big hole in the wall, at least eight feet wide. Rubble littered the ground, but other than that the way was open. The Kid leaped the dun over the chunks of masonry. Behind him, the other horses sailed over the obstacles as well.
They were out of the compound. Hot night air blew in The Kid’s face as he swung the dun toward the lights of
