Читать книгу Hopalong Cassidy and the Eagle's Brood - Clarence E. Mulford - Страница 9

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Nueces drew rein at the edge of the lava desert, his companions following suit and bunching around him.

“I’ve never been farther than this,” admitted the horse-faced deputy, looking out over the forbidding and grotesque stretch of rock and sand, with its gray-green vegetation and thrusting cacti. “Never had no need to,” he grunted.

“Sorry we have,” said somebody behind him.

“Somewhere near th’ middle of this devil’s playground,” continued Nueces, “is a town, an outlaw town, without an honest man in it. Up north it’s Jackson’s Hole; down here, Hell’s Center. There are several ways in to it, if you know ’em: I don’t.”

The group sat motionless, each man looking out over the desolate prospect; and a prospect more desolate than a lava desert is difficult to imagine.

“We’ll go to th’ water hole, an’ stay there till mornin’,” said Nueces, gesturing with his left hand. “It’s a right good place, an’ th’ water is good.”

In a moment the cavalcade was under way again, riding slowly and silently, and when it stopped it had reached Tinaja Verde, the only known potable water for eighty miles of riding north and south. The water oozed out of a stratum of rock and was sweet and cool.

The deserts of high altitudes, once the sun goes down, cool rapidly; a brisk, sputtering fire baffled the darkness of the desert night and gave a grateful warmth to the circle of men seated closely around it. Two of their number were missing, standing guard somewhere out in the darkness, stolidly waiting their turn at the fire and blankets. Grotesque shadows loomed on the rock wall, and the reflection of the fire on the rock could be seen for a fair distance.

“Who comes? Quien es?” rang out a challenge from the north, and the circle at the fire stirred and became alert.

“Amigo. Fr-riend,” sounded the instant answer.

“Then head for th’ fire, an’ keep in my sight till you get there,” ordered the sentry, moving so that the newcomer stood silhouetted against the distant light.

“Si, si, señor; I onderstand.”

The Mexican advanced into the circle of light, his white teeth shining in a friendly smile. “Ah, Señor Nueces! I am glad to fin’ you so soon.”

“Hello, Felipe! There was only one place to look for me. You headin’ for San Ignacio?” asked Nueces, motioning for the visitor to seat himself in the circle, and looking at his complacent friends. “This is Felipe,” he explained. “He’s El Toro’s eyes an’ ears. I can vouch for him. Sit down, amigo.”

“Gracias,” replied Felipe, sitting cross-legged in the space provided for him. “Yes, I go to San Ignacio.” He reached out, replaced a fallen stem on the fire, and smiled again. “Eet ees pleasant to have company for the night. I deed not expect eet.” He winked gravely at his friend, the deputy.

Nueces chuckled.

“Just kinda went for a little hossback ride, an’ first thing you knowed, here you was?” suggested the horse-faced deputy, chuckling again.

“Si, señor,” said Felipe with a laugh. He produced a corn husk and some loose tobacco from a pocket and his fingers became busy.

“Curious layout, this desert,” observed Hopalong, his eyes on the lithe, brown-skinned guest.

“Si, señor; eet ees ver’ curious.”

“You ever cross it?”

“Si, si: many time. I deed not car-re, mooch.”

“Reckon not,” replied Hopalong. “Cross it from different directions?” he persisted, carelessly.

“Si, si; but most fr-rom the south.”

“Any water holes on it?” drawled Skinner, getting the drift of the questions.

“Si, si: ther-re ar-re—oh, thees number,” answered Felipe, thrusting out both hands, with two fingers curled back. “Ocho.”

“Eight,” muttered Nueces, nodding his head.

“Ever been in Hell’s Center?” asked the deputy, feeling for tobacco sack.

“Twice, Señor Nueces, eet ees well name’.” The black eyes glanced around the circle, and their owner smiled. He was here to give information, but not eagerly, not to volunteer it. He would answer questions.

“Th’ town very far from here?” asked Duncan, idly breaking a greasewood twig in a very casual manner.

“A day’s ride, eef you know the way.”

“Hum!” said Duncan, tossing the bits of greasewood on the fire, where they flared up swiftly.

“You know th’ way?” asked Hopalong, curiously, looking the Mexican squarely in the eyes.

Felipe shrugged his shoulders and paused in the making of the second cigarette.

“Seex, eight, ten ways, señor; there ees even one from here, close by.”

“Uh-huh,” grunted Nueces. “Supposin’ you was figgerin’ to visit th’ town: where’d you start, from here?”

“Eef you weel ride weeth me a short ways to-morrow, I weel e-show you,” replied Felipe. “I weel e-show you the other tr-rails eef you weesh.”

“Quien es? Who comes?” sharply rang out the voice of the southern sentry.

There was no answering voice, and the circle around the fire, making a series of beautiful lighted targets, arose as one man and melted into the darkness.

A gun crashed, and again. Lead screamed from the rocky ridge above the fire. Again a gun crashed, this time from the west. Twigs snipped and sifted down. Rustlings sounded here and there, interspersed by low words of caution. There came the sudden creak of leather, the pounding of hoofs, and two more shots.

A horse burst out of the darkness, running and plunging and kicking; and something weighty dragged from a stirrup, jerked heavily by the frantic animal. A shadow arose out of the darkness along the ground like a jack-in-the-box, and leaped for the head of the panicky horse. In another moment two more shadows joined the first and subdued the frightened animal.

“... tore past me in th’ dark an’ like to run me down,” one of the shadows was saying. The voice sounded as if it belonged to Tex. “Fired point blank at me. If th’ hoss hadn’t shied at me, I’d be grub for coyotes, right now. Once was enough, so I let him have it. I knowed he wasn’t none of us: he was mounted.”

“Mebby Nueces or that Mex. will know who he is—or was,” said the second shadow. “Looks like th’ pot’s opened—for th’ limit.”

“In a table-stake game,” said Tex.

“Shore does,” said the third shadow. “Untangle him, an’ we’ll carry him in to th’ fire,” and the speaker aided in pulling the foot of the dead man back through the stirrup, where it had slipped and locked. He straightened up suddenly.

“Looks like that gang ain’t waitin’ for us to call. Wonder how they learned anythin’ about us?” he asked.

“Saw th’ fire, scouted up close enough to see that we was strangers an’ to hear us talkin’, an’ then tried to get away with th’ news.”

“Mebby: sounds reasonable. If he was alone, there’s no harm done,” said the third shadow. He raised his voice carelessly, and other shadows appeared.

At the fire the carriers laid down their burden and Nueces and the Mexican bent over it. They straightened up at the same time, looking across at each other, and gently nodding.

“Black Jim,” said Nueces, squinting thoughtfully.

“Si” said Felipe, nodding again.

“An’ who’s he?” asked Hopalong, curiously.

“One of Big Henry’s gang,” answered Nueces. “Fast work, fast work.”

“Then that makes one less,” grunted Skinner complacently.

“Which don’t cut ’em down very much,” said Nueces. “Still, every little bit helps.” He turned to the Mexican. “I’ve heard all kinds of rumors, Felipe: how many are in that gang?”

“Mebby twenty, mebby thir-rty. They come and they go. When all are together, mebby thir-rty. Beeg Henry, Black Jeem, Geor-rge White, E-steve Smeeth, Tom Walters, Paso Frank—they ar-re the beeg ones; but ther-re ar-re many others. Beeg Henry: si, but not so beeg as El Toro!”

As Felipe called off the names, his companions nodded at each one: they were the names which had been told to them back in Bulltown, the names they treasured.

“Well,” Hopalong said, looking around the circle of friends. “Twenty or thirty kinda changes things. I had hoped to ride in, ask some questions, spot our men, an’ start shootin’. No use to waste a lot of time when it ain’t necessary; but now I reckon it’s necessary. We got to use our wits as much as our guns: mebby more.”

“Split up,” suggested Skinner, picking Nelson’s tobacco sack from its pocket.

“Yeah; split up,” echoed Hopalong. “It’s th’ best thing we can do. We’ll learn some of th’ other trails in, an’ use ’em. If anythin’ goes wrong, or we get divided, an’ want to come together, this will be th’ place to meet. Chances are we’ll be leavin’ that town in a hurry, an’ mebby will have trouble gettin’ supplies for th’ outward trip. We’ll take care of that before we leave here, an’ cache plenty of supplies right near here: canned goods, ca’tridges, things that will keep. That will let us go in light, leave light, an’ not have to worry about grub after we get out.”

“I can cache ’em so an Injun can’t find ’em,” said Duncan.

“Good,” replied Hopalong. He rubbed his chin. “Split up: yeah. Tex an’ I can play our parts easy: we’ll be just plain gamblers. You fellers will have to figger out yore own plays, an’ pair up to suit yoreselves.”

Saunders looked across at Duncan, grinned, and nodded at the sudden knowing expression on his friend’s face.

“Reckon me an’ Duncan can figger out somethin’ that’ll suit us,” Saunders remarked, thus indicating his choice of companion.

“Reckon that hitches us up double, Nelson,” said Matt Skinner, chuckling and looking expectantly at Johnny. He laughed with poorly concealed pleasure. “Us young an’ good-lookin’ fellers oughta stick together, anyhow. I reckon we oughta get along real well if nobody picks a fight with us.”

“I think Hoppy’s right about me an’ him goin’ in together,” Tex said. “We’re both able to earn a fair livin’ at poker, an’ we won’t have to play any parts in that respect. It’s th’ natural thing for both of us.”

He arose, deftly adjusting his belts, and turned to leave the fire.

“I’ll stand my watch, boys. Up there on th’ top of that ledge. That means that I can see th’ whole layout, an’ that means that there won’t be no need for th’ second sentry.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Hopalong, getting to his feet, “We can talk things out while these boys do th’ same thing right here.”

Nueces cleared his throat.

“I’ll stand th’ watch after you, Ewalt,” he volunteered. “I can sleep all day to-morrow, if I want to, while you boys will have to keep ridin’. I’ll go on duty when you come back, Tex; an’ then stay on all th’ rest of th’ night.” He chuckled at the expostulations which met his announced self-sacrifice, and waved the arguments aside.

“I can’t go with you, but I shore pine to do what I can. It’s all settled when th’ deppety speaks. As a matter of fact, I’d just as soon start right now, an’ run th’ whole trick. That’s th’ idear, Ewalt! You an’ Cassidy stay here with th’ gang an’ talk everythin’ over with ’em, while you got plenty of time. I’ll go up on th’ ledge right now.”

“I weel go weeth you, an’ e-sleep while you watch,” offered the Mexican, thus effacing himself with graceful tact. “Then you weel e-sleep while I watch, no?”

“Shore! That’s th’ idear, Felipe. Me an’ you will guard these tenderfeet an’ listen to their snores. Set right down ag’in, Tex; you, too, Cassidy. You boys ain’t got much time to arrange things before you split up.” He laughed and shook his head, and stubbornly held to his purpose; and at last they let him have his own way and watched him and the Mexican fade into the night.

“Wish that string bean was goin’ with you an’ me, Nelson,” said Matt, his imagination soaring. “Man, oh, man!”