The Road to Santa Fe by Harvey Stanbrough

Author:Harvey Stanbrough
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: StoneThread Publishing
Published: 2022-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

In the dead of night near the western border of the Texas panhandle, the mesquites, creosote, and white-thorn acacia whispered not a sound to mark the swift passing of 13 year old Sly Elk. As a result, the young brave appeared almost as if by magic through the south side of small clearing. He stopped in a small cloud of dust and regarded the three Comanche braves seated before him on the north side of the clearing.

A hundred yards or more behind him, someone was flailing about in the brush, occasionally stumbling over stones and sometimes cursing quietly.

Sly Elk grinned, his young teeth obvious in the dim glow of the half-moon that had risen no more than a half-hour earlier. “I could have hit either of them with a stone, even if I only tossed it lightly.”

The brave on the right, Shadow Bear, frowned. “Why are you pleased?”

The grin still in place, Sly Elk said, “Because I was able to draw so close before I was spotted.”

“Ah. But you were spotted. You had to abort your mission.”

Still grinning, Sly Elk said, “Yes sir, but I evaded him easily and silently.”

Shadow Bear nodded. The young one wasn’t ready yet to absorb the lesson. He gestured to the south. “Is that the Ranger?”

Sly Elk nodded. “Yes sir. But he will never—”

Shadow Bear raised one hand then canted his head for a moment, as if listening. “Never is a large word.” He looked at his fellow braves, Three Deer and Falling Leaves. “We must go.”

All three rose and Sly Elk fell in behind them. With Shadow Bear in the lead, they moved silently through the brush and over or around the cacti for close to a quarter of a mile. Eventually they came to a shale and quartz outcropping that extended some thirty feet west to east from a low rise. The outcropping itself was some ten or twelve feet tall.

Shadow Bear stepped to one side and gestured, indicating the others should move past and get out of sight.

The two remaining braves and the boy moved into the protected area. It was bathed in grays from the moonlight. A small spring bubbled up soundlessly to fill a depression in the southwest corner where the outcropping exited the slope. Three of the hobbled horses dined on grass growing around the spring. The fourth looked up and announced their arrival with a quiet snicker.

Crouched on the south side of the outcropping, Shadow Bear was listening again.

The sounds from the brush farther to the south were faint, and they seemed to be growing even more distant. The Ranger probably was on his way back to his camp.

Shadow Bear carefully looked around, scanning the terrain in the still-dim moonlight and listening. Finally he rose and moved behind the outcropping with the others. He looked at Sly Elk. “You are sure the one who chased you is the Ranger?”

“Yes sir. The Ranger Crowley, I believe. Only he gave chase. The other is the governor. I recognized his beard.

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