Death Rides a Red Horse by Cotton Smith

Author:Cotton Smith [Smith, Cotton]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781428518803
Published: 2012-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

As hungry as he was, food was quite hard to keep down after his nap. He drank from the canteen, refilled from the stream. This time he remembered to bring back his gunbelt, but it was heavy. So heavy. Taking an hour to prepare, a small fire warmed his torn body; so did the coffee that followed.

He curled up to rest for a few minutes before going for more firewood. But Cole Kerry sank again into an exhausted sleep. The sun of the new day was caring but he didn’t know of it.

Over the next several hours, curious animals paused by his camp. A wildcat and three deer were among the larger visitors. Ground squirrels and agitated jays scurried in and out. Once, his red horse walked over to nudge Cole’s body with his nose and get assurance of the man’s continued breathing. Another day passed with Cole repeating this ritual of eating a little, bathing and returning to sleep. His saddlebag food supply was soon gone. During one of his lucid times, his mind clicked onto ideas for survival beyond his body healing.

Should I try to ride? Could I get Kiowa to head for the roundup—to get men? Or town? I have to go after Gee’s gang; they have my Kathleen. Oh God, Kathleen!

His mind told him that he wouldn’t make it five feet, even if Kiowa could carry him. Thoughts about being tracked wandered into his consciousness. A good tracker would be able to follow him over the mountain rocks where his horse went. Unless the rain took all evidence of his passage away. Maybe Gee was convinced he was dead, or didn’t have the time to check. Maybe the posse caught up with them. There wasn’t anything he could do about it anyway. If they came, he would die.

Maybe that was best; he couldn’t help Kathleen.

Cole Kerry wept.

The cold had probably saved his life, stopping the blood and keeping out infection. Cole placed what moss he could find on his wounds twice, or was it three times? Where am I? How long have I been here? Does anyone miss me at the roundup? Or town? Or do they think I’m dead, too? Was it all over? Kathleen . . . Kathleen . . . Will I ever see her again?

Somewhere in the middle of this discussion with himself, Cole fell asleep again. But he had managed to fix a splint of straight sticks, tied with thong, for his right arm. There was some feeling there for the first time since he was shot. Mostly sharp twinges that would pierce his courage and ignite pain in his shoulder, leg and head. Before going to sleep, he managed to gather some more small kindling for his fire.

In the late afternoon, a young mountain lion dragged a deer carcass beside the south edge of the circle of rocks. His yellow teeth tore at his prize to get at the choice vital parts the big cat loved. But he was

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.