Slocum #422 by Jake Logan

Author:Jake Logan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

10

“There’s no way we can keep going like this,” Slocum said, slipping back down the sand dune and lying flat on his back to stare at the cloudless sky.

The heat built quickly, and finding water had proven to be a problem. He had misjudged where they were and had ridden a considerable distance to the south without finding the tracks. Going west would eventually bring them to the Colorado River, but Slocum had spotted another problem to wandering about aimlessly.

“How many?” Marlene asked.

Slocum appreciated how quickly she was understanding the problem.

“A couple dozen. This must be the main body of the Indians. They’re going west, likely to get water from the river.”

“They’d see us, wouldn’t they?”

“If we tried to do the same.” Growing exasperation seized him. “I took us in the wrong direction. I thought the railroad was only a few miles away.”

“It might have been if we’d been closer to the river,” Marlene said, “but it doesn’t run straight east and west. Immediately after crossing the Colorado, it takes a dogleg to the southeast, angling down toward Yuma.”

“How much farther do we have to ride to get to the tracks?”

Marlene shook her head. “I know there is a small station for taking on water that can’t be too far away.”

“Water,” Slocum said. The word caused his mouth to turn even drier. “The Apaches have to know about the water tank. Why are they riding west if the station is east?” The answer worried him.

“We can find out,” Marlene said. “We don’t need to follow the tracks.” She squinted at the sun, then drew a crude map. The wind erased her lines almost as fast as she ran her finger through the sand.

Slocum watched as she worked out where they had to ride, but he paid less attention to her drawing than to the woman. Not once had she complained. They had ridden until the horses were almost dead, then they’d dismounted and walked to rest the horses. Slocum barely had the strength to put one foot in front of another, but Marlene said nothing that didn’t buoy his spirits and give him reason to keep going. How could he give up when he had to deliver her to her family in San Antonio?

“No, you wouldn’t,” she said, looking up.

“What’s that?”

“You’ll never give up. No matter what, you won’t surrender, to the Indians, to the desert, to simply dying. You’re a fighter, John. I hear it in your words, and I see it in the set to your shoulders. You carry yourself like a winner.”

“I don’t feel much like a winner,” he said. Stretching caused bunched muscles to protest. His back was covered with small cuts from rocks, and his chest still leaked blood in a dozen places where the Indians had tortured him.

Marlene looked at him. He tried to decipher the message in her eyes and couldn’t. She looked down in embarrassment and ran her finger in a wide circle around her map.

“I didn’t mean to be so forward,” she said.

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.