The Trail Breakers by Paul Lederer

Author:Paul Lederer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497694033
Publisher: Open Road Media

SEVEN

Wally Chambers and Kata were waiting in front of the storehouse. Both looked relieved yet apprehensive as Ray limped toward them, his holster empty, his face battered, the shoulder of one shirtsleeve ripped open. ‘Sonny’, Ray’s thick-chested jailer, was his escort as he stepped down off the dilapidated plankwalk and stumbled toward his friends, who waited with the two horses and Bess. The man wearing the faded blue cavalry shirt stood nearby, watching Kata and Wally.

Approaching them, Ray could see that they had had a rough time of it themselves. Wally’s holster was also empty. There was a swollen bruise on the side of his face, and the knuckles of his hands were scraped and raw. A couple of fingers on his right hand looked as if they might be broken. Kata’s face was grim. Her hair was tangled wildly and festooned with cobwebs. Her face was dirty, her mouth determined.

‘Where’d they have you, Wally?’ Ray asked.

‘They jumped me, knocked down Kata, who tried to come to my assistance. After a brief scrap they hauled us off to some shed and threw us in. What about you, Ray? Where’d they take you?’

‘To meet the boss,’ Ray told him.

‘Blue Moon? What sort of man does he seem to be?’ Wally wanted to know.

‘He’s a volcano – you wouldn’t want to be around him when he erupts.’

‘No,’ Wally agreed. ‘What did he tell you?’

‘He said to grab some supplies and get the hell out of his town.’

‘That’s all right with me. Anything else?’

‘I’ll tell you on the trail. Right now we’d better do what we were told.’

Kata had been watching their exchange fearfully, not having understood any of it. She followed them along to the storage building where Ray and Wally grabbed up as much as they could find as quickly as they could. This was not a casual shopping trip. Sacking what they could, which included anything edible for the long trail back, they loosely slung, but securely tied the load on Bess’s back; they could not afford to lose these meager supplies.

Ray noticed that both of their rifle scabbards were empty. Well, why should he have expected anything else? He spoke in a low voice to Wally as they tightened the knots holding the mule’s load.

‘Did they get into my saddle-bags, Wally?’

‘Not that I’m aware of. Why?’

‘Because we may still have our four spare revolvers in there. And we might need them.’

Someone barked at them impatiently, ‘OK, cowboys! Let’s get riding. I’m supposed to show you the trail out and I’ve got other things I’d prefer to be doing with my day.’ The speaker was the outlaw in the cavalry shirt. Ray nodded, and with a quick check of his cinches he swung aboard his paint pony.

They lined out then, riding over barren land weaving through gigantic stacks of weather-cracked white boulders. The dust and the heat were oppressive in this chamber of stone where no breeze could reach them.

Twice the man with the white eyebrows waved up to watchers among the rocks, then proceeded on his way.

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