Red Moon by Ralph Cotton

Author:Ralph Cotton [Cotton, Ralph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western
ISBN: 9780451240101
Google: PfP7Gd2a6WAC
Amazon: 0451240103
Barnesnoble: 0451240103
Goodreads: 15815769
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Riding abreast through three inches of lying floodwater, the four had ridden less than an hour when the black-streaked sky overhead turned dead calm. The rain stopped as fast as an off-turned water spigot. The wind seemed to be grabbed by some mighty and unseen hand and drawn backward across the wet tortured terrain. The change came so strong and sudden, Wilson Orez brought his bay to a short abrupt halt and stared at the black distant sky. Beside him, Rosa Dulce stopped too. So did Manning and Hardin.

“Now, this just suits the living hell out of me,” Manning commented, taking off his wet hat, slapping it against his thigh. “What about you, Evan?”

“It pleases my soul plumb down to its sap,” Hardin said, unbuttoning the top two buttons of his slicker and fanning air inside it. “It stopped so fast my ears popped.”

“Mine did too, come to think of it,” said Manning.

The two gunmen looked to Orez for a comment. But the leader sat staring straight ahead, stone-faced, his head cocked a bit toward a deep steady rumble in the distance.

Seeing his attention was drawn to a rising swirl over the curve of the horizon, Manning and Hardin listened too. Beside Orez, Rosa Dulce sat staring with a look of terror on her face, edging her horse away from Orez as if prepared to make a getaway.

“We must be closer to the new rail spur than I thought,” said Manning. “I can hear a train from here.”

“They haven’t started building on the new spur yet,” Orez said without looking around. Rosa’s horse reared slightly, nervous, feeling the fear of its rider. Beneath Orez his big bay turned restless. He held it firmly by its reins.

“It ain’t built yet?” Manning laughed and put his hat back on. His horse also grew anxious, agitated, and back-stepped against its reins. “Then somebody’d better tell that train,” he said, turning his laughter to Hardin beside him. “Because it’s bearing right at us.”

“You see any rail tracks?” Orez asked him flatly, staring straight ahead.

“Well, no.” Manning looked all around, confused.

“Damned fool,” Orez said under his breath, sharply cutting his bay to his right. Beside him Rosa had already turned her horse. She batted her feet to its sides out of habit, but her horse had already sensed what was coming and bolted away, wanting no part of it.

“Now, where are those two going?” Manning asked with a bemused chuckle, looking at Hardin. “Are they afraid of trains?”

“Jesus, God Almighty,” said Hardin, “look at that!” He stared at the distant horizon, at a high rise of blackness swirling up into sight.

“Tornado, tornado!” Rosa shouted back at them in her native tongue. Her horse splashed water high around her as the animal ran for a line of hills and cliffs over a mile away, following the direction of Orez atop his horse.

“Tornado?” said Manning, still not catching on. “The hell does she mean?”

“She means run, Freeman!” Hardin shouted, jerking his horse around, batting his heels to its sides.

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