Desert Crossing by Luke Short

Author:Luke Short [Short, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Kirby waited impatiently in the scalding heat of the malpais. It was too hot to sit down, and the heat from the rocks that came through the soles of his boots was almost unbearable. His lookout had told him half an hour ago that the train was nearing the malpais. But where was it? Earlier he and his men had passed down this road and had left their horses at King's Wells, which was on the eastern edge of the malpais. Now he had his men distributed on either side of the road, with orders to keep themselves hidden and to hold their fire until he shot first.

They had had a hard, hot ride from Layton's and they had not spared their horses. There would be plenty of fresh horses for them after this was over, he had told his men.

Brick had certainly picked an ideal spot, Kirby thought with grudging admiration. The whole train could be trapped here and easily overwhelmed, for his men had the enormous advantage of cover and height

Now Kirby cocked his head and listened. In moments came the sound of many hoofbeats. Kirby smiled. He crouched lower and peered through the space between two irregular chunks of malpais. The train was approaching the spot directly below him. He could hear the heavy jolting of the wagon as it lumbered over the rock-floored road, and presently the officer commanding the detail came into sight. Behind him was a pair of troopers.

Another pair of troopers passed, then the teams, wagon, and the two troopers bringing up the rear. One of the latter was Brick Noonan, his sergeant's stripes plain.

Kirby waited for the second wagon, but it did not come. The racket made by the first wagon was slowly diminishing in volume, yet there was no sound of a following wagon. Kirby felt a swift uneasiness. What had happened? If the wagons were strung out far apart, then the first wagon would be past his last man before the last wagon was even with him.

He decided to risk a look, and he rose and peered over the rock at the stretch of road in the direction from which the wagon had come.

The road was empty.

Kirby had to come to an immediate decision. With unerring instinct he guessed the strategy they were using against possible attack—one wagon at a time. In those few moments he weighed the proper course of action. He did not know if the wagon passing contained the rifles; he did know that he could not afford to let it through. If he stopped it and the rifles weren't in it, then he could play his hole card; he could keep the whole train from water, without which they couldn't live. That being so, there was one other thing he had to do.

He swung his rifle up and took a careful sight on Brick Noonan's back. With eventual victory clearly in sight he did not intend to share the loot with Noonan. As he sighted, he thought, You’re a sucker, Brick; then he squeezed the trigger.

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