Bodie 4 by Neil Hunter

Author:Neil Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: wild west, bounty hunters, western adventure, american historical, piccadilly publishing
Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing

Chapter Eleven

Coyote and his men were gone. The ledge below the rim was deserted. Only a few crushed cigar butts and some scraps of food showed that they had been there. For some reason the half-breed had decided to back off. Bodie stared down the deep fissure he and Eden had climbed, and which Coyote and his bunch had used. He stepped over the edge of the mesa and began the long climb down.

It was easier this time. He wasn’t carrying the weight of all those damn guns. Bodie climbed steadily, pausing every few yards to listen. Just in case there was someone waiting. Nothing happened. Not until he reached the base of the fissure.

He could see along the dry floor of the ravine. It lay no more than ten feet below him. Bodie crouched down, pressed against the side of a tall boulder, his gaze wandering back and forth, searching, checking. There didn’t appear to be anything to see. The way ahead looked clear — silent and deserted. Bleached rocks and shriveled brush. Fine dust hanging in the hot air.

Bodie’s head turned. Damn fool! He’d almost missed that. He narrowed his eyes, reducing the harsh glare of the hot sun. Now he could see it clearly. A fine mist of dust, still settling slowly. Which meant that someone had passed that way not too long ago. Going where? Bodie checked the dense brush that lay close to the raised dust. That was a damn good place for a man to hide. He’d be hard to spot in that tangled mass of vegetation.

He stood up and completed his descent. With his rifle in his hands he moved off along the ravine. Bodie couldn’t have explained it to anyone, but he knew that he was being watched.

He drew level with the spot where he’d spotted the dust hanging the air. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a half smoked cigar and stuck it between his lips. Then he fished a match out. Bending he struck the match on a rock and as it flared Bodie touched it to a clump of thick, dry grass sprouting at the base of the tangled brush. The grass caught and burst into flame. Bodie straightened up and put the match to his cigar, and walked on.

He’d only covered a few yards when he heard the sweeping crackle of flames. At his back the brush was being consumed at an alarming rate. Flame ate greedily at the tinder-dry vegetation, smoke rising in thick clouds. Bodie smiled coldly, visualizing the discomfort the man concealed in the brush.

“Goddam!”

The curse rose above the crackling, and Bodie reacted instantly, turning as he went down on one knee, throwing the Winchester to his shoulder. A running figure appeared out of the smoke and flame. The man was slapping frantically at the left sleeve of his shirt where it was smoldering. As he lurched out of the brush, stumbling along the ravine, his eyes came to rest on Bodie and he dropped his right hand to the gun holstered on his hip.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.