Hired Guns by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2019-10-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

One by one, with Pettigrew using Eagle’s Winchester to provide cover fire, Luke, Eagle, and Barlow edged back away from the spots where they’d initially taken refuge. As each made it deeper into the badlands, the rock outcrops grew larger and more frequent and their exposure to the rifle fire from the hill dropped dramatically.

About two hundred yards in, they converged in a deep, ragged-walled gully. The sun overhead was climbing closer to its noon peak and both the air and the bare rock surfaces all around them were growing steadily hotter. All three men were already dripping sweat and caked with dust. From back near the front edge of the broken terrain, where Pettigrew remained, they could hear the shots he was exchanging with the men on the grassy hill growing more sporadic and farther apart.

“So far so good,” Eagle declared. “Now it’s time for us to split up and finish makin’ this pay off.”

“Do you know these badlands at all?” Luke said.

Eagle shook his head. “Nobody does, really. Nothing in here worth spending time to learn about. I only know that it’s widest up to the north where it eventually feeds into the Spearpoints. To the south it’s narrower and eventually tapers off into some prairie once again. But by narrower, I mean it’s still dozens and dozens of trackless miles.”

“That’s okay, I don’t aim to pass through it,” said Luke. “I’ll go ahead and split off, though—but only for a ways.”

“What do you mean? Why only for a ways?”

“Occurs to me,” Luke said, “that if Ferris didn’t already send some men to flank us before, he surely will now after seeing that some of us decided not to stay pinned down up front. That makes me change my mind how I mean to play my part of this. Instead of making a run for it, I’m going to hang around and do some hunting of my own. It’ll give me the chance to pick off some of those flankers and not only trim their overall number but also keep them off Pettigrew’s back.”

“I like the sound of that part. Pettigrew won’t stand a chance if they get into these rocks and work their way around behind him.”

“Why don’t we all stay and make a fight of it then—from here, deeper in the rocks?” said Barlow.

Luke gave a quick, firm shake of his head. “No. Somebody still has to concentrate on getting all the way clear—if for no other reason than for the sake of the others in the encampment. You and Eagle know the valley to the north, right? If you can make it out of these badlands up that way, where some of the ranches and farms used to be, your familiarity with the area will give you the best chance for at least one of you to find water and shelter and eventually one of those horses running loose. Then you can make it the rest of the way.”

“What about you?”

Luke smiled a wolf’s smile.

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