'Sackett here,' I said, 'and I got a lady for company. I'm coming in.'
Falling back beside her, I said, 'Ma'am, I'm sure sorry about back yonder. Folks never reckoned me a quarrelsome man, but I'd trouble with these men before.'
She did not reply and suddenly scared, I said, 'Look--you ain't hurt, are you?'
'No... I'm not hurt'
Her voice sounded different, somehow, but I didn't think much of it until I reached up and helped her down. She felt stiff in my hands, and she wouldn't look at me.
A man stepped up beside us. 'Sackett? I'm Joe Rugger. Remember? I spoke of coming back to see you. I've been trying to keep them off Cap.'
Rugger was the square-set man who had ridden with Kitch. Brushing past him, I went to the lean-to. Cap was lying there on his blankets, and he was so pale it scared me.
'Most times we haven't dared have a light,' Rugger said. 'They've been pot-shooting around here at night.'
'Put the light out.'
For a few minutes I sat there, scared to death. That old man looked bad off, mighty bad off. We hadn't been together long, but I'd come to be fond of him. He was a solid, true-blue old man.
'They ambushed him ... four, five of them. They shot him out of his saddle and then went hunting him like an animal. Only Cap was clear conscious and he let them come in close where he couldn't miss. He killed two and the rest took off like scared pole-cats.'
'Where's he hit?'
'Missed the lung, I think. Took him high, but he lost a lot of blood before he got here. I didn't know of it until the next morning. Then I came right up.
'When they came to finish him off, I stopped them before they could get to the trees. Cap, he came out of it and managed to get off a shot . . . they think he's in better shape than he is.'
I walked outside and stood under the trees. If that old man died I'd hunt every man-jack of them down and gut-shoot them.
By now they had seen Kitch and they knew I was back. If I knew that crowd over there, tonight they would argue, they would threaten, and they would make wartalk, but unless I was completely wrong, they wouldn't come down here in the dark. Not after what happened to Kitch. Tomorrow I could expect trouble.
However I would be ready, and if they wanted it tonight instead of tomorrow, they could have it.
Last thing I'd wanted was trouble, but they'd called the turn, and now they would get a bellyful of it. If they wanted to start the town with a line of graves in boot hill, it would be that way.
Joe Rugger came up behind me. 'You want I should ride south for Orrin and Tyrel?'
'No, sir. No, I don't. This here is myself, and I don't think there's going to be enough of it to go around.'
They could have forty-eight hours. Then I was riding down.
Chapter X
Morning broke with an overcast sky and a hint of rain, and rain worried me because down here rain could mean snow in the mountains where the gold was.
First off, I walked out to the edge of the timber that surrounded our camp and looked toward the town site. There were several tents, one building already up, and a couple more on the way.
Nobody seemed to be pulling out.
Joe Rugger was squatting over the fire with a long fork, working on some venison steaks. Ange was helping him, but when she looked at me her eyes were bleak and frightened.
Not that I could blame her. It must have come as a shock to come out of the peace of those hills and run into a gunfight . . . and my way of doing things must have been a shock. Folks who live sheltered or quiet lives, away from violent men, have no idea how they have to be dealt with. And I never was one to stand around and talk mean ... if there's fighting to be done the best thing is have at it and get it over with.
Those men at the town site had had their warning, and I gave them time to think about it. In any such number of men a few of them with nerve will stand up to trouble; they will be tough, resolute men. A few will be talkers willing to ride along with the crowd; a few will be camp-followers ready to pick up the leavings of stronger men. And of course, there is always the kind who is himself a tough man, if given leadership.
Such a warning as I had given was apt to thin their ranks somewhat. A few of the camp-followers would shy from trouble, and some of the talkers would make an excuse and ride out.
Cap was in bad shape. He had lost a lot of blood, like Rugger said, and he was a thin, tough old man without too much blood in him. He ran mostly to bone and sinew.
It scared me when I looked at him. His cheeks were sunken in and his eyes were hollow. He looked a sight
'Ange,' I said, 'will you see what you can do for him?'
'Yes.'
'Ange, I'm sorry about last night.'
'You didn't have to shoot those men. That was wicked! It was an awful thing!'
'They were mighty bad men. They came out there to kill me, Ange.'
