An Arizona Christmas by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

The stagecoach reached the way station at Hondo Wells a short time after dark. Catherine Bradshaw, Mrs. Bates, and George were all tired, and Smoke could tell they were glad the coach would be stopping for the night instead of continuing on as it would have if a relief driver and guard had been available. Even Sally, who had a core of steel, as Smoke had seen demonstrated many times, looked weary after a day of stagecoach travel.

A man named Whitney ran the station and greeted the passengers. “Got a pot of stew, some fresh-baked bread, and plenty of hot coffee inside, folks. The rooms just have cots, but I promise you, after sitting on those bench seats all day, once you stretch out those cots will feel almost as good as feather beds.”

“I doubt that,” Catherine muttered sullenly as she and some of the other passengers began to drift inside.

Smoke noticed him sidling over to Scratchy and Mike with a worried expression replacing the smile he had displayed earlier. Smoke drifted closer to hear what the stationmaster was going to say.

“I didn’t really expect to see you boys. Couple riders came by earlier, stopped to water their horses, and said the Apaches were out again on this side of the border.”

“Just a raidin’ party from across the border,” Scratchy said. “They jumped a supply wagon . . . maybe. Ain’t no real proof even of that.”

“Well, there’s proof now,” Whitney said grimly. “Last night they hit a ranch south of here, burned it out, stole most of the stock, and killed all the folks who ran the place except for one fifteen-year-old boy who managed to get away with an arrow in his shoulder. He made it to one of the other spreads scattered down that way and told the tale.”

“He was sure it was Apaches?” Scratchy asked with a frown.

“Certain sure. And that isn’t all. There’s been reports that some of the bucks have jumped the reservation. They probably heard about the raids from south of the border and decided they want to get in on the sport.” Whitney gave a glum shake of his head. “It looks like it might be shaping up to be a general uprising, Scratchy. I’d tell you to turn around and head back to Ajo, but hell, you might be better off just trying to make a run for Tucson. There’s no way of being sure where the hostiles are.”

“I ain’t turnin’ back,” Scratchy declared. “That ain’t the way I do things. I’ll stick to the schedule and make the reg’lar run. We can get through all right, can’t we, Mike?”

“I reckon.”

Smoke didn’t think he sounded entirely convinced, though. The young shotgun guard was concerned—as anybody with a lick of sense would be.

Whitney glanced over at Smoke as if just noticing that he’d been listening. “Mister, you don’t need to worry—”

“You don’t have to try to reassure this hombre, Hal,” Scratchy broke in. “He ain’t a reg’lar passenger. This here is Smoke Jensen.

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.