“Damn near thataways now,” Hardrock fired back.
They kept the outlaws’ guns and ammunition and put what money they had in a leather sack, to give to Fae. Then they caved in the ravine wall and stacked rocks over the dirt to keep the varmints from digging up the bodies and eating them. By the time they had finished, it was time for breakfast.
Fae and Rita had fixed a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs and oatmeal and biscuits. The men dug in, piling their plates high. Conversation was sparse until the first plates had been emptied. Eating was serious business; a man could talk anytime.
After eating up everything in sight—it wasn’t polite to leave any food; might insult the cook—the men refilled their coffee cups, pushed back their chairs, and hauled out pipes and papers, passing the tobacco sack around.
“We’re leaving, aren’t we?” Fae asked, noticing how quiet the men were.
“Till this is over,” Smoke told her. “It’s a pretty location here, Cousin, but it’d be real easy for Hanks’s men to pin us down.”
“They’ll destroy the house.”
“Probably. But you can always rebuild. That beats gettin’ buried here. Take what you just absolutely have to have. We can stash the rest for you. Spring, you and Pat stay here and keep a sharp eye out. We’ll go bunch the cattle and start pushing them toward Cord’s range. We’ll cross the Smith at the north bend, just south of that big draw. Let’s go, boys.”
The cattle were not happy to be leaving the lush grass of summer graze, but finally the men got the old mossyhorn lead steer moving and the others followed. Smoke and Hardrock rode back to the ranch house. Hardrock went to the bunkhouse to get his bag of goodies for the outlaws. Ring had bunched the horses and with Pat’s help was holding them just off the road. Spring was driving the wagon. Both Rita and Rae were riding astride; Parnell was in his buggy. He had a fat lip from his encounter with his sister the night past. He didn’t look at all
“I’ll catch up with y’all down the road,” Hardrock told Smoke.
“What is in the sack?” Parnell inquired.
“Some presents for the range-robbers. It wouldn’t be neighborly to just go off and not leave something.”
Parnell muttered something under his breath about the strangeness of western people while Smoke grinned at him.
The caravan moved out, with Smoke riding with his rifle across his saddle horn. Smoke did not expect any trouble so soon after the outlaw attack the past night, but one never knew about the mind of Dooley Hanks. The man didn’t even know his own mind.
The trip to the Smith was uneventful and Spring knew a place where the wagon and the buggy could get across with little difficulty. A couple of Cord’s hands were waiting on the west side of the river to point the way for the cattle. Smoke rode on to the ranch with the women and Parnell. Cord met them in the front yard.
“The house and barn go up last night?” he asked. “We seen a glow.”
Just the barn. I imagine the house will be fired tonight.” He smiled. ”After they try to loot it. But Hardrock left a few surprises for them.” He told the ranch owner about the rattlesnakes in the bureau drawers and in other places.
Cord’s smile was filled with grim satisfaction. “They’ll get exactly what they deserve. Your momma’s in the house, Rita.” He stared at her. “Girl, what
“Whacked it off.” Rita grinned. You like my jeans, Mister Cord?”
Cord shook his head and muttered about women dressin’ up in men’s britches and ridin’ astride. Rita laughed at him as Sandi came out onto the porch. She squealed and the young women ran toward each other and hugged.
“The women been cleaning out the old bunkhouse all mornin’, Smoke. It ain’t fancy, but the roof don’t leak and the bunks is in good shape and the sheets and blankets is clean.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll go get settled in and get back with you.”
“Smoke?”
He turned around to face Cord. The man stuck out his big hand and Smoke took it. “Good to have you with us in this thing.”
“They done pulled out!” Larado reported back to Jason and Lanny. “They moved the cattle toward the Smith this mornin’. I found where they caved a ravine in on top of them they kilt last night. And it looks like the house is nearabouts full of good stuff.”
“One down,” Lanny said with a grin. “Let’s take us a ride over there and see what we can find in the house. If they left in a hurry, they prob’ly didn’t pack much.”
The range-robbers rode up cautiously, but already the place had that aura of desertion about it. Lanny and Jason were feeling magnanimous that morning and told the boys to go ahead, help themselves to whatever they could find in the house.
A dozen gunnies began looting the house.
“Hey!” Slim called. “This here box is locked. Gimme that there hammer over yonder on the sill.” He hammered the lock off while others squatted down, close to him, ready to snatch and grab should the box be filled with valuables. Slim opened the lid. Two rattlesnakes lunged out, one of them taking Slim in the throat and the other nailing a bearded gunny on the cheek and hanging on, wrapping around the gunny’s neck, striking again and again.
One outlaw dove through a window escaping the snakes; another took the back door off its hinges. A gunny known only as Red fell over the couch knocking a bureau over. A rattler slithered out of the opened drawer and began striking at the man’s legs, while Red kicked and screamed and howled in agony.
Larado ran from the house in blind fear, running into Lanny who was running toward the house, Lanny fell back into Jason, and all three of them landed in the dust in a heap of arms and legs.
Ben Sabler rode up with his kin just in time to see Red crawl from the house and scream out his misery, the rattlesnake coiled around one leg, striking again and again at Red’s stomach.
