Utah Blain (1984) by L'amour Louis

Author:L'amour, Louis [L'amour, Louis]
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2010-12-12T06:26:07.906000+00:00

Chapter Twelve.

The mountains into which Rink Witter led his four men were rugged and heavily wooded. Skirting the lower shoulder of a mesa, he headed across an open stretch of exposed Coconino sandstone and swung back toward the river.

Ceaselessly he searched out the possible hideouts that could be used by two exhausted men and their worn mounts. North of the towering wall of the mesa there were a half-dozen deep canyons. Each of these canyons had occasional seeps from intermittent streams where a man might obtain water.

Even without a cache of food there was game back here: deer, elk, bear and plenty of birds. A man could scarcely ask for a better hideout. Rink was in no hurry. Hunched atop his horse, he studied the terrain with his flat-lidded eyes. Trust Blaine to pick a hole with a back way out. Yet if they took their time, Blaine might relax. He was tired. He had to be tired. And after a few minutes he would relax and sink down, and possibly he would go to sleep.

Wardlaw, one of Rink's special men, studied the terrain with care. "Country for an ambush," he commented. "This Blaine ain't no tenderfoot."

It was nearing sundown before they completed an examination of the two canyons to their north and started up the main canyon

called The Gorge, which led almost due east. They had gone scarcely a half mile when the tracker lifted a hand. Plain enough for all to see were the marks of a horse crossing a stream.

All drew up. Wardlaw struck a match and squinted past the smoke at Rink. "Figure it's far?"

Rink looked speculatively up The Gorge. "This canyon," he told them, "takes a sharp turn about two miles east. My guess would be they'll be located right up there at the foot of Whiterock Mesa. There's an undercut wall there, plenty of firewood an' good water.

"I say," he continued, "that we take her mighty easy. If we come along quiet we may come right up on them. "

Timm came awake with a start, horrified at what he had done. Hours must have passed for it was already past sundown. He started to move, and then he stopped. Not sixty yards away were Rink Witter and his killers!

They saw him at the same instant. Wardlaw's gun leaped and blazed. The shot sprinkled rock on Timm, and he swung his rifle. His own quick shot would have taken Rink but for the fact that the gelding Rink rode chose that instant to swing his head and the shot took him between the eyes. The horse went down, creating momentary confusion, but Wardlaw fired again, knocking Timm back into the rocks. Rolling over, he started to crawl.

Utah came out of his sound sleep wide awake. He sprang to his feet and threw himself into the shelter of a rock before he realized the shooting was centering about a hundred yards away. Hastily he swung saddles on the two horses and cinched them. Then he threw the packs on.

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