Fargo 20 by John Benteen

Author:John Benteen [Benteen, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: piccadilly publishing, john benteen, neal fargo, mens adventure ebook, bejamin haas, bullets and guns, soldier of fortune story
Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Seven

At the Pine Ridge Agency, they turned south, away from their true destination. Fargo knew that they’d been watched all the way across the reservation, and likely would be for a while after they left it. He begrudged the extra time required to confuse the watchers with evasive action, but there was no help for it, and he led the way like an old dog coyote, using every scrap of cover, never riding on the skyline, hiding tracks wherever possible. “Hell,” Stokes said admiringly, “you could give some of the old Sioux I’ve known lessons.”

“It’s somethin’ you learn in my business, or else you don’t stay alive very long. Anyhow, I’ve already made two misjudgments—tryin’ to trail those remounts with only Billy to help me, and thinkin’ Clyde Kills Twice would rather get even with the people that killed his brother than all the rest of the whites. I’m not going to make another mistake, if I can help it.”

Swinging slightly past the Nebraska border, they turned north again, sheltered by the tumbling outer reaches of the Black Hills. Fargo, watching Stokes, was impressed, too. The young man had learned a lot from the Indians about cover and concealment. But he lacked the patience that every fighting man, red or white, must have. “This detour’s taking so much time,” he complained. “Mary Running Deer—”

“Anything they’re gonna do to her,” Fargo cut in brutally, “they’ve already done. We won’t help her by getting ourselves bushwhacked.” It had been two days since they’d cleared the reservation, and now, with an hour of daylight left, they were camped in a narrow, wooded canyon where a shallow cave offered natural shelter. He and Stokes had carefully reconnoitered the broken country before holing up here, and so far there had been nothing to worry about. Nevertheless, the shotgun was across his lap as, sitting before the cave, he said: “Let me see that map again.”

“Cedar Pass on the south, Bigfoot Pass and the Pinnacles on the north, those are the easiest ways in,” Stokes said. “In fact, about the only way we can really get in on horseback.”

“You’d better be pretty good at walkin’ and climbin’,” Fargo said, “because we ain’t goin’ in on horseback.”

Stokes’ eyes widened. “But, my God, man, we’ve got to have horses. We can’t go up against those people without mounts.”

Fargo’s grin was crooked around the cigar. “We’ll git mounts when we need ’em. They’ve got plenty of horses in yonder—fifty, anyhow, that I’m sure of.” He sobered. “You said Custer called those Badlands ‘hell with the fires out.’ Like a big bed of cinders, right?”

“In a way.”

“Okay. Now, you take the ashes of a campfire. A couple of rabbits go across it, nobody could miss seem’ ’em. Other hand, a couple of ants crawl through ’em, who’s gonna see ’em? Men on horseback stand out like rabbits. Men on foot, in a place like that, ain’t nothin’ more than ants. And with horses, you got to keep to the trails where they can travel, cross the passes that are guarded.

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