Fargo was the first one to reach the vicinity of the livery. He stopped just behind the feed store, which was right next to the livery. Holding out his hand in a signal for the others to be quiet, he leaned around the edge of the building to check out the livery.
“Well, I’ll be damn,” he said.
“What is it?” Ponci asked.
“It looks like they got our horses in there,” Fargo said. “That’s good. If I’m goin’ to be doin’ a lot of ridin’, I don’t want to be breakin’ in no new horse.”
“What’s our horses doin’ here? I thought they run away.”
“I thought they did too, but they must’a drifted back. Horses’ll do that sometimes, you know,” Fargo said. “Anyway, they got ’em all in there. The even got Pete’s horse.”
“How many folks they got watchin’ ’em?”
“Looks like they’s just one in there now, an’ he’s nothin’ but a kid,” Fargo said. “Ponci, go in there and take care of him.”
Ponci nodded, but said nothing. The others watched as Ponci started toward the kid. The kid, seeing Ponci, started toward him.
“Yes, sir, mister,” the kid said. “Something I can do for you?”
“Hey, kid, you see that sorrel over there?” Ponci asked, pointing toward the paddock.
“Sorrel? Where?” the kid asked.
“Come here, I’ll point him out.”
The kid came closer, then tried to look where Ponci was pointing.
Ponci was pointing with his left hand. As the kid tried to pick out the nonexistent sorrel, Ponci pulled his knife with his right hand. It took but one quick slice to cut the boy’s jugular. The boy slapped his hands over his neck in surprise, then went down as the blood streamed through his fingers.
Ponci signaled the others.
“What about Pete’s horse?” Dagen asked.
“Leave him.”
“An extra horse might come in handy.”
“Leave him,” Fargo said. “One extra mount ain’t goin’ to do the five of us any good. And it’ll just be a pain in the ass to keep up with him. Leave it.”
“Whatever you say,” Dagen said.
Fargo glared at Dagen. “Yes,” he said more forcefully. “It is whatever I say. And if you don’t like it, you can ride out of here on your own right now.”
“No, no,” Dagen said quickly. “I don’t have no trouble with you bein’ the leader of us, ’n I don’t think there’s no one else what has any trouble with it either.”
“No one else has questioned it,” Fargo said, gruffly. “You have.”
“Yeah, well, you done good, gettin’ us out of jail and all. I won’t be questionin’ it no more,” Dagen said. “I promise.”
All the time they were talking, the men were also putting saddles on their mounts.
“Everyone saddled?” Fargo asked, swinging onto his own horse.
“All done here,” Dagen said. Ordinarily Dagen was the last to do anything, but right now he was straining to stay on Fargo’s good side.
“Here too,” Ponci said, and his response was echoed by all the others.
“Then get mounted. We’ve got a stage to catch.”
CHAPTER 6
Timmy’s mother’s name was Jane Stockdale. At Oro Blanco, she would be connecting with another stage going on to Providence Wells, where her husband owned a ranch.
“What is your name?” Timmy asked the Indian girl.
The Indian girl smiled. “My name is Yaakos Gan.”
“Yak ... ?” Timmy couldn’t repeat it.
“Ya-kos Gan,” the Indian girl said, pronouncing the word phonetically. “Yaakos Gan. That means ‘Cloud Dancer.’”
Timmy smiled. “Cloud Dancer. I like that. I can say that.”
“For our first year at school, we lived with a white family, and the white family gave us all white man’s names. I lived with the Walkers, so they gave me the name Nina Walker.”
Timmy shook his head. “No, I like ‘Cloud Dancer’ better. It’s prettier.”
Cloud Dancer laughed. “I like it better too, because it is my name. But when we go away to school, we are given white man’s names ... white man’s clothes”—she made a motion with her hand, taking in her yellow dress
