Hell on the Border by Sidney Thompson

Author:Sidney Thompson [Thompson, Sidney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC033000 Fiction / Westerns
Publisher: Bison Books

10

Somewhere at Sea

The orange sunset continued to redden and purple and the air thicken as Bass transferred Floyd’s saddle from the dead mare onto Strawberry. Once he’d tacked him, he bent over Webb, and taking hold of his arms, he dragged the body until Webb’s legs had unfolded out from under him and Bass could find Webb’s boots. Bass tugged one free, with a cloud of dust, and then the other. From Floyd’s saddle he found rope and cut a length. He ran it through the boot loops and tied the ends around the saddle, then unbuckled Webb’s gun belt and buckled it to the rope. Together, that would be evidence enough for the court that Webb had died in the act of being served his warrant. Then, for himself and the young’uns, Bass dropped Webb’s revolver down into one of the boots. Maybe it would be evidence enough for Bennie to be godly and follow rules, and he wouldn’t want to grow up to leave his gun to a better man.

Since he didn’t have a shovel for a proper burial, Bass kicked a veil of dirt over him and prayed Webb had found it in his heart, while it still beat, to accept Jesus there. He prayed he was planting a flower. By morning, after the cow killers and the coyotes, Webb’s body would be unidentifiable.

He surveyed the carnage of Floyd’s mare one last time, the blood spill as long and wide as a quilt. He remembered himself many years ago, when he was a different person, as if on a different planet, who could have been startled to distraction by the needless shooting of a horse. Webb had bet with his life that Bass had never changed.

Bass scooped up a handful of dirt and tossed it on the mare, a gesture for a friend, before easing back at a trot to Bywaters’s Store.

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