Natchez by Paul Lederer

Author:Paul Lederer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497694064
Publisher: Open Road Media

CHAPTER ELEVEN

They rode out the hour after sunset. Long stands of pine and cypress which had been silhouetted against the pale, magnificent orange of a clear dusk, grew together into a black, tangled mat.

Frogs grumped in the bottoms, there was the constant humming of insects in the air. It was still warm, and a whippoorwill called from deep in the glades.

They rounded a bend in the trail, dipping into the willows. A man came up out of the shadows, carrying a long gun. Ray had his pistol in his hand in an instant; Kid Soledad had seen something else in the meager light, however, for he just sat Khamsin’s back calmly.

“You’ll be riding with us?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then come along, Joseph. We’ve a ways to go tonight.”

“I’ll get my mule,” Big Joseph said. In a moment he reappeared from the deep brush, riding a long-eared Missouri mule, rifle across the saddle.

“We were thinking of taking a ride to the Toures Plantation,” Kid Soledad said to Joseph. “Since you’re here, maybe you should take the lead.”

“I will,” Joseph said. “I was afraid you folks might take a wrong turn out here tonight.”

“That’s why you came?” Ray asked.

“No,” Joseph laughed. “Why I came is between me and Dr. Spectros.” Joseph glanced at Kid Soledad. Somehow the man knew, somehow he had guessed.

Silently they rode the deep tangled woods, in places finding thick, milky fog rising from the dark earth. There were tangled vines draped over cypress limbs, and patches of quicksand which Joseph guided them around.

Sometime after midnight, a pale moon rising, they made the high road. The Toures Plantation house cut a stark, square image against the white of the moonlit sky. A hound bayed off in the hollow.

A faint light glimmered in the front parlor, and another seemed to flicker briefly in an upstairs window before being extinguished.

“There’s someone there, Kid,” Ray said quietly.

“I think so too.”

Khamsin stamped once and then settled at a touch of the Kid’s hand on his shoulder.

“There’ll be guards out,” Featherskill guessed. “A couple of ’em I know.”

“The Questlers?” Inkada asked.

“Yes. Keep an eye out, Inkada.”

“What do you want to do, Kid?”

“I want to know what’s going on, Ray. If anything. The man’s around; we all know that. But I don’t want to chase him off. Someone should ride in.”

“I’ll do it, sir,” Joseph said quietly. Kid Soledad shot a glance at the broad-shouldered black man.

“You?”

“Sir, I’m known around here. I’ve got relatives on the Toures grounds. Sharecroppers. They might not like me being here, but I doubt they’d suspect anything.”

“It’s dangerous…” Featherskill began.

“I know it is,” Joseph allowed. “But I’ve lived dangerous. None of the rest of you can get within a quarter mile of the house.”

They watched as Joseph rode off on his jack mule, whistling casually. After a moment the whistling was all they could hear, then that too was gone as the darkness swallowed him up.

“What’s in this for him?” Kesey asked as they dismounted and sat down to wait.

“Toures might have killed his brother,” Kid Soledad told him.

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.