Longarm and the Sand Pirates by Tabor Evans

Author:Tabor Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Melinda’s prediction proved to be true. With him having a pretty good idea what was waiting for him that night, the day passed with agonizing slowness for Longarm. But he borrowed a blanket from one of the wagons, folded it up to use as a pillow, and spent quite a bit of the time sleeping on the counter in the trading post. He also drank a couple of buckets of water and had two more good meals from the supplies the wagons had brought with them, so by evening he felt that he had recovered for the most part from the ordeal he had gone through.

That was probably a good thing, he thought, because if Melinda was as lithe and eager as she appeared to be, he was going to need all the strength he could get.

The outriders who had been searching for Melinda rode into Abaddon late that afternoon and were relieved to find that she was already there. After everyone had eaten supper, Longarm got together with McCready and Barstow and discussed setting up guard shifts.

The first thing Barstow wanted to know was why they needed sentries. “As far as I can tell, we’re the only ones out here in this wasteland,” he said.

“That may not be true,” Longarm explained. “Before that sandstorm hit, Deputy McCready and I were after some outlaws who tried to cross the desert after a little ruckus I had with them in Brimstone. There are three of them, or at least there were when they rode into the desert, and they’re all cold-blooded killers.”

“You really think they’re wandering around out here somewhere, after that storm yesterday?”

“Haygood and I made it through the storm, and so did Miss Kelly. We don’t have any way of knowing what happened to those owlhoots. But if they are alive, and if they happened to stumble into this place, they’d like nothing better than to kill us all and take those wagons and supplies.”

Actually, they probably wouldn’t kill Melinda right away, thought Longarm . . . but she would probably wish that they had by the time they got through with her.

Barstow scratched at his jaw as he thought, then after a moment he nodded and said, “Yeah, I reckon it’d be a good idea to post some guards, all right. There are eight of us, not counting Miss Kelly. Should we split up the night into four two-man shifts?”

“Sounds like a right smart plan,” said McCready. “That way nobody has to lose more’n a couple of hours o’ sleep.”

Longarm agreed. He volunteered to take the last shift. That would give him plenty of time with Melinda, and time to get some sleep, too . . . depending on just how eager she really was.

They agreed that a guard would be posted at each end of town. Barstow’s men were well armed with rifles and pistols, and Longarm and McCready would each borrow a Winchester when it was their turn to stand guard. McCready planned to sleep under one of the wagons, making a bedroll out of borrowed blankets.

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