Outlaw Road (A Breed Western #10) by James A. Muir

Author:James A. Muir
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: elmore leonard, louis lamour, apache indians, george g gilman, spaghetti westerns, piccadilly publishing westerns, angus wells, ralph compton, johnny legg
Publisher: Piccadilly

Chapter Eight

THE GIRL WAS down on her face, sprawled across the blanket and moaning softly. The dark lines of the whipping were lost beneath a brighter curtain of crimson that pulsed steadily from the wound in her back. The arrow had gone in high up on the left shoulder, cutting through the muscle to lodge against the scapula and each movement grated the stone head against the bone.

Azul reached for her skirt, thrusting a fold of the heavy material into Brigitte’s mouth, then placed a knee against her back as he grasped the wooden shaft.

‘This’ll hurt,’ he grunted. ‘Bite down hard. Now!’

He yanked the arrow clear of her body, thankful that the tip was not barbed. Even so, it left a gaping hole from which there gouted a sudden surge of blood. The girl fainted. Azul reached for his gunbelt and tugged a cartridge loose. Biting off the lead slug, he dribbled powder over the wound and then lifted a burning twig from the fire, touching it to the powder. There was a brief flash and the acrid smell of scorched flesh. Brigitte groaned and twitched. Azul upended a canteen over the powder burn, then left the girl where she lay as he began to dress.

He pulled his clothes on in a hurry and kicked the fire apart, dousing the glowing embers under the sand. Then he opened the woman’s saddlebags and found a petticoat that he tore into strips to make a bandage. He wadded a square of the white cloth against the bleeding hole in her shoulder and fastened it in place with more lengths of silk. Brigitte began to come round and Azul lifted the canteen to her lips.

‘What happened?’ she asked. ‘It hurts.’

‘Arrow wound.’ Azul passed her clothes over. ‘The Yaquis jumped us. You took a shaft in the shoulder.’ He grinned cynically. ‘Just when I was getting it in a better place.’

He helped her dress and strapped her arm against her stomach with more of the petticoat. Then he saddled the horses and lifted her astride the pinto.

‘We are going up now?’

He nodded. ‘Sure. If the Yaquis on top heard the shots, they’ll reckon there was a skirmish down here. That means they either decide to come down and take a look, or that their brothers got themselves killed.’

‘So they will be waiting for us.’ The girl seemed to be getting over the shock of her wound. ‘Or coming down towards us. Would it not be better to wait here?’

‘Like a badger waiting to get dug out?’ Azul glanced around the walls of the cleft. ‘No. They could fort us up and starve us out. Be better to meet them on the way. They won’t expect that.’

He climbed on to the big grey stallion and urged the horse forwards. His rifle was canted across the saddle and he guided the horse with one hand, letting the girl follow on behind. As they crossed the sand the shape of the dying Yaqui became distinct: he was

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