“I see it,” Smitty replied quietly.
“That’s where they’ll hit us.”
They rode on in silence for less than another minute. Then, suddenly, eight mounted men burst out through the opening in the ridge, exactly where Falcon had said they would be. With screams of challenge in their throats, they rode at a gallop toward the wagon party.
“Take cover behind the wagons!” Falcon shouted, jerking his horse around as he yelled. Stopping the wagons, the drivers and guards jumped down into the barricade formed by the V of the three wagons. All had their weapons ready.
The outlaws, with their pistols extended in front them, began firing. The flat popping sound floated across the open ground, reaching Falcon’s ears at about the same time the bullets began whistling by.
“Take aim, but hold your fire!” Falcon shouted. Falcon aimed at one of the men and held it as the riders came closer. The outlaws continued pouring in a steady barrage of fire, and as they got closer the bullets came closer. Some of them were hitting the wagons now, sending out splinters as they made a solid, thocking sound.
“Now!” Falcon shouted.
Falcon pulled the trigger. His target tumbled from his saddle. A second later, one of the other outlaws went down and the six remaining outlaws, suddenly realizing the precariousness of their position, jerked their horses to a halt. Then, turning them around, they started off at a full gallop.
“What just happened back there? I thought it was going to be easy!” one of the riders demanded. “Hell, we had two men down almost before you could take a breath!”
“You should’ve kept on going,” Ray said. “A little shooting and you all turned tail and ran.”
“A little shooting? Deke and Seth was killed right off. There wasn’t none of us countin’ on gettin’ killed.”
“You took your fifty dollars, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t of took it if I’d knew they was folks goin’ to get killed.”
“Quit your bellyachin’, Cooper. You should’a known it wasn’t goin’ to be a walk in the park,” Lou Reeder said. “You took your money like the rest of us, and you ought to have enough sense to know that you don’t get paid fifty dollars just for a walk in the park. Besides, you was with us the last time.”
“That big bastard they had with ’em today wasn’t with ’em the last time,” Cooper said.
“What big bastard?” Cletus asked.
“Ha. Someone you would be interested in,” Lou said. “It was that same man you tangled with in town the other night.”
“I didn’t tangle with him exactly,” Cletus said. “He hit me when I wasn’t lookin’.”
“But that was the same one. It was Falcon MacCallister is who it was,” Lou said.
“You’re sure?”
“Damn right I’m sure. He ain’t the kind you can just forget about. He’s also not the kind of fella you want against you,” Lou continued.
Cletus turned in his saddle and pointed his pistol at Lou. “If you say one more word about Falcon MacCallister, I’ll shoot you. Do you understand that?”
“What?” Lou gasped, throwing his hands up in alarm. “Cletus, come on, I don’t mean nothin’ by it. I’m on your side, remember?”
“Then shut up about Falcon MacCallister,” Cletus ordered.
“Sure, Cletus, you want me to shut up about ’im, I’ll shut up about ’im,” Lou said. “I ain’t goin’ to say another word about him, no, sir. I ain’t even goin’ to mention Falcon MacCallister’s name again.”
Cletus glared at Lou, then he put his pistol away. The eight men rode on, though they were no longer riding at a gallop.
“What do we do about Deke and Seth?” Cletus asked Ray.
“What do you mean, what do we do about them?” Ray asked.
“I mean, what are we goin’ to do about them? We just left them lyin’ back there.”
“They won’t mind,” Ray answered.
“But they’re dead,” Cletus said.
“Like I said. They won’t mind.”
When the three wagons rolled into Higbee an hour later, they were met by Wade Garrison, who came toward them with a big smile on his face.
“Well, you got through, I see,” he said. “I’m glad you didn’t have any trouble, but I thought…” He stopped in mid-sentence because he saw two canvas-covered lumps lying in the back of one of the wagons. “What’s that?” he asked.
Dismounting, Falcon walked to the rear of the wagon and jerked the covers off, disclosing two bodies.
“I’ll be damn!” Garrison said. “That’s Deke Mathers and Seth Parker. They ride for Ike Clinton,” Garrison said. “Or rather, they did,” he added, correcting himself.
“Yes, I recognized Mathers,” Falcon said. “Lou Reeder was with them, too.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I recognized them because I saw both of them with Cletus Clinton the other night.”
“Did you see any of the Clintons?” Garrison asked.
