they hopped out of his way.
Scofield came up, panting for breath. He looked at the dead men in disbelief.
“Colonel Cody, sir, I never saw anything like it.”
“Like what?”
“Like the shooting you did. I had a bird’s eye view and saw those three men buck up against you. I thought sure you were a goner.”
Zak said nothing as he holstered his pistol, then lifted it slightly to keep it loose.
“I mean, how do you do that, sir?” Scofield said.
“What?”
“Go up against three gunmen and come out without nary a scratch? I couldn’t see your hand real well, but I know it was empty when that fat one went for his gun.”
“It’s real simple, Corporal. I knew what he was going to do. He didn’t know what I was going to do.”
“That simple?”
“Almost. Near enough.”
“Yes, sir. Mighty fine shooting, though.”
“Scofield, these men are dead. They didn’t have to die. I gave them a choice. They picked the wrong one. I regret that I had to kill them. I feel sorry for the lives they gave up.”
“Well, they were trying to kill you, sir.”
“Yes, they were. But I walked into their world. I was the intruder, not they. Makes you wonder.”
“What’s that, sir?”
“Just what keeps the world in balance. A man swats at a bug, kills it with the palm of his hand. Another cuts off a snake’s head, while another shoots quail out of the sky. Who keeps track of such small things? And what does it mean when the final count is tallied? Nothing? Or everything?”
“I don’t follow you, sir.”
“No need, Scofield. I just hate to take a life. It leaves an empty hole in the life of someone who’s still living. And maybe it leaves a little hole in my life, too.”
“Aw, you can’t go worrying about trash like these, sir. They was rawboned killers. Probably got more blood on their hands than you got on your hankie when you was a nose-bleedin’ kid.”
“Let’s go, Scofield,” Zak said. “Rivers will bring your horse and Miss O’Hara to the high end of that hill, and we’ll get on the trail of Trask and Ferguson. You want to ride double?”
“I’ll walk, sir, if it’s all the same to you.”
Scofield looked at the dead men again and shook his head as if he were still trying to figure it all out. The buzzards flapped, and three more landed some fifty yards away. They were ringed by the scavengers now and there were more still floating in the sky, their circles getting smaller as they slowly descended toward earth.
The smell of death lingered in Zak’s nostrils a long time that day. He was glad that Colleen didn’t say anything about what he’d done, although he’d bet a day’s pay that Rivers told her all about it, no doubt in exaggerated terms.
“I’m sorry,” she said that night when they stopped by a dry wash to rest the horses and stretch their legs.
“About what?”
“About what you had to do today. I know it was necessary.”
“It wasn’t necessary, Colleen. It was brutal and cruel and heartless.”
“But—”
“No, that’s what it was. I’m glad you weren’t around to see it.”
“You’re awful hard on yourself, Zak.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time. She moved in closer to him and he could smell her scent, her soft womanly scent, like lilacs and mint growing under a cistern. Fresh and sweet. He wanted to kiss her, but Scofield and Rivers were watching them. This was not the time.
He wondered when that time would be.
Chapter 24
Delbert Scofield finished smoking his cigarette, crushed it to bits between two fingers, scattered the remains on the ground. Then he scuffed up the dirt with his boot heels until there was no trace of tobacco or paper.
Hugo Rivers cleared his throat.
“When you aim to talk to Colonel Cody, Del?” he said.
Scofield looked over to where Colleen and Zak still stood.
“Directly. Soon as he gets finished sparking that schoolmarm.”
