“Look at them rocks up on the top there, on the right hand side. Do you see ’em?”
“I see ’em.”
“If we push the rocks down, it’ll block the draw and he can’t get through,” Luke said.
“Hell, why don’t we just wait until he gets into the draw, then push them rocks down on him?” Clete asked.
“Yeah, all right, we can try it,” Luke said. “Come on, let’s hurry through the draw.”
Fifteen minutes later, Falcon reached the spot where the five men had halted. He could tell by the tracks they had stopped there for a few minutes, and he could also tell they had left the spot at a gallop.
Why?
What would cause them, out there in the middle of nowhere, to suddenly break into a gallop?
Looking ahead, he saw the trail led to a very narrow draw. Slapping his legs against the side of his horse, he urged the animal on.
“Here he comes,” Luke said. “Get ready.
Clete and the others got in position behind the rocks and waited.
“Now!” Luke shouted. “Now!”
The word rolled down from the top of the rock wall, amplified by the narrow confines of the wall. The word itself got Falcon’s attention, and he jerked his horse to a stop. Then, he heard the scrape and clatter of rocks, followed by the thunder of a rockslide. Glancing up, it looked as if the entire wall was collapsing right on him.
“Ha!” Luke shouted. “We got him! There ain’t no way he got out of that!”
Clete, Terrell, Caldwell, and Poole stepped up alongside Luke to look down into the draw. They saw nothing but a large pile of rocks on the floor below.
“Who was it, do you reckon?” Poole asked.
Luke shook his head. “I don’t have no idée,” he said. “Prob’ly some deputy or somethin’. Whoever it was, it don’t make no never mind now, ’cause he’s deader than a doornail.”
“Ha!” Poole said. “And we’ve got away clean as a whistle.”
“Yeah, what say we divide up our money now, and each one of us go on our different way?” Caldwell said.
“Not yet,” Luke replied.
“What do you mean, not yet? Why not?”
“If they was one deputy comin’ after us, there’s just as likely to be another one. Or maybe two or three more. We’d be better off all stickin’ together ’til we’re sure.”
From the moment he heard the word Now, Falcon was on the alert. Jerking his horse around, he was at a full gallop by the time the rocks began falling, and well clear of the draw by the time the rocks started piling up on the floor below. Turning back toward the draw, he watched the dust rise as the rocks closed the passage.
Fortunately he had been there many times, and he knew another way around. Coming out on the other side no more than half an hour later, he picked up their tracks immediately. Thinking they were in the clear, they no longer made an effort to hide their trail. They were heading in a straight line for the little town of Black Hawk.
The sun went behind the clouds just before noon, and the clouds thickened and darkened.
“Purty soon it’s goin’ to commence to rainin’ here like pourin’ piss out of a boot. And we’re goin’ to be right in the middle of it,” Terrell said.
“What if it does rain? You ain’t made of sugar,” Clete said. “You ain’t goin’ to melt.”
Poole laughed. “You ain’t made of sugar,” he repeated. “I like that.”
“I ain’t goin’ to melt, that’s true,” Terrell said. “But it ain’t goin’ to be none too comfortable bein’ out here in it, neither.”
“Let the rain come,” Luke said. “The more rain the better.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it, Terrell. If anybody else is on our trail, why this rain will wash out all the tracks,” Luke said.
Terrell was quiet for a moment, then he nodded. “Yeah,” he said. He laughed. “Yeah, that’s right, ain’t it? It would wash out all our tracks. Hell, I say, let the rain come.”
“Not yet,” Luke said.
“What do you mean, not yet? You just said the rain would wash out all our tracks, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did, and it will. But if it will just hold off for another half hour or so, we’ll be to Black Hawk.”
“Black Hawk? What’s Black Hawk?”
“It’s a town me and Clete have already scouted out. No railroad comes to it, there’s no telegraph wires, and even if they have heard of us, there ain’t likely no one there who has ever seen us. We’ll be safe inside, and the rain will wash away the tracks. We can hole up there for a while until they quit lookin’ for us.”
“And spend some of our money?” Terrell asked, hopefully.
“Yeah,” Luke replied with a grin. “We can spend a little of our money there.”
“I ain’t never been to Black Hawk,” Caldwell said. “What’s it like?”
“It’s got beer, whiskey, food, and women,” Poole said. “What else do you need to know about it?”
Terrell chuckled. “Don’t need to know nothin’ more about it a’tall, I don’t reckon.”
It took the better part of a quarter hour to reach the town after they first saw it, and they rode in slowly, sizing it up with wary eyes. It was a town with only one street. The unpainted wood of the few ramshackle buildings was turning gray and splitting. There was no railroad, but there was a stagecoach station with a schedule board announcing the arrival and departure of four stagecoaches per week. The first few drops of rain started to fall, and the few people out on the street ran to get inside before the rain started in earnest.
“There’s where we’re headed,” Luke said, pointing to a saloon. Painted in red, outlined in gold on the false front of the saloon were the words Lucky Nugget.
The five rode up to the front of the saloon, dismounted, and tied off their horses. Luke reached for the little cloth bag that was tied to his saddle horn.
“You takin’ the money in with you?” Terrell asked.
“You don’t think I’m goin’ to leave it out here, do you?”
“I reckon not. Just think it might be a little strange for you to be carryin’ all that money.”
“Don’t worry about
