North to Montana Page 10

  From his position, Quitman could see Usher but he had no idea what had happened to the doc. They were both directing their fire at the mountain where the gunnies were concealed, but he was aware they were probably not doing much damage. By the same token, neither were the gunslicks. For the moment, they seemed to have reached a kind of stalemate, but he didn’t know how long they would be able to keep it that way. He was getting low on ammunition. The shooting had grown sporadic and he was on the alert for any change of tactic on Rackham’s part.

  He glanced over his shoulder. From where he lay, he could just see a corner of the ranch-house and part of a corral behind it. Suddenly he tensed. A thin plume of smoke was rising over the tops of the trees. At first he thought it must be coming from the chimney but as he watched it grew denser. He still couldn’t work out what it could be; maybe Rackham or his men were up to something. Then he saw a flicker of flame and he realized that the ranch-house was on fire. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he couldn’t prevent a thin smile coming to his lips. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t doing Rackham any good. He realized that the gunfire from the mountain-side had ceased. Rackham’s men must have seen the fire too. Could they have abandoned their position and be making their way back to the ranch-house? He looked towards Usher. The man had got to his feet and was working his way towards him.

  ‘Somethin’s happenin’ down there!’ he shouted as he got closer.

  ‘Yeah. But what?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it sure seems to have distracted Rackham.’ He stopped, struck by another thought. ‘Say,’ he said, ‘you ain’t seen what happened to the doc or Muleskin?’

  ‘Muleskin was here a while back. I didn’t see him move.’

  They both looked about. The mountainside was quiet. A dark cloud of smoke was blowing towards them and they could hear the crackling of flames.

  ‘Come on,’ Quitman said: ‘Let’s get up the mountain and see if we can take those buzzards by surprise.’

  Once Nation and his little group had been warned of the ambush he had so carefully prepared, Rackham realized that he had a fight on his hands. He cursed the fact that something had happened to give him away. However, there were only six people in Nation’s party, and one of them was a woman, so he didn’t have any real doubts about the outcome. Then he saw the smoke rising from his newly acquired ranch-house and his attitude changed. Somehow, fate seemed to be against him.

  Just when his plans had seemed about to come to fruition, this man Nation had appeared from nowhere. It had seemed a simple matter to get rid of him and the potential danger he represented, but one way and another Gunter had failed him and Nation had survived. He had been brought the news of Nation’s arrival in Hooker’s Bluff by someone who had been present at the shoot-out there between Nation and Denton. It seemed his luck was still in. To bushwhack Nation and be finally rid of him had seemed a relatively simple matter. Now that too had failed. He watched as the flames from the burning ranch-house rose higher above the trees.

  ‘Let’s get movin’!’ he shouted. ‘The varmints must have got away and set fire to the ranch.’

  The gunnies loosed off a fresh salvo of gunfire before drifting away through the trees to get back to their horses.

  When he was confident that the blaze he had started had taken hold, Muleskin hobbled away from the ranch-house. His leg was giving him a lot of pain and he felt weak. His tumble down the mountainside had taken more out of him than he had realized. He staggered towards the corral but before he reached it his legs gave way beneath him and he sank to the ground. He managed to rise and limp on a few more steps before his legs buckled again and he fell awkwardly. He dragged himself a little further till he was able to prop his back up against a fence post. From this position he looked back at the burning building.

  Dense, acrid smoke was now billowing from it. Some of it was coming in his direction and he began to cough and splutter as it took hold of his lungs. He continued to stare as the first tongues of flame began to spiral from the building like glowing serpents. As he watched something more terrible seemed to emerge, something thick and ghastly and monstrous. He had slid down and as he struggled to sit upright the dark, amorphous mass began to assume a more definite shape, to congeal and then solidify into the form and substance of a huge black bear. Terror gripped him as he vaguely reached for the rifle which Nation had thrown him; then he remembered he had lost it in his fall. Fear was engulfing him, robbing him of his senses, but he retained enough of them to reach for the six-gun which he had stuck in his belt. As the bear drew near, he pulled it out and fired. The hammer fell on an empty chamber. In a last agony of desperation he hurled the useless lump of iron in the monster’s face. The effort of doing it made him fall back and his head banged against the fence post. There was no escape. The bear was upon him and as he opened his mouth in a soundless scream the bear’s fierce, foaming visage seemed to melt, to dissolve and transform into a face, a familiar face which he recognized as the doc’s.

  ‘Hurley?’ he managed to say.

  ‘Yes. Who did you think it was?’ the doc replied.

  Muleskin felt confused. ‘Good boy, Midway,’ he said. He closed his eyes and then, after a few moments, opened them again. His head felt slightly clearer. ‘What happened to the dog?’ he said.

  ‘The dog’s fine,’ Hurley replied. ‘Just take it easy. Everything’s fine.’

  Rackham and his gang of gunslingers quickly made their way through the trees towards the open space where they had left their horses. As he cleared the last of the pines, Rackham stopped and gaped, his jaw falling open.

  ‘What the hell!’ he muttered. ‘Where are the horses?’

  His men, coming up behind him, looked around the glade with puzzled expressions. ‘Are you sure we got the right place?’ one of them said. ‘These clearings all look the same.’

  Rackham rounded on him. ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’ he snapped. The man shrank back. ‘Take a look around,’ Rackham ordered. The men were about to split up to carry out his bidding when a voice behind them rang out.

  ‘No need! The horses are gone. We got our rifles trained right on you so I suggest you drop your weapons and do it real slow.’

  Rackham half-turned as one man’s hand dropped towards his gunbelt. Nation squeezed the trigger of the Winchester and sent a shot winging through the air close to the man’s head.

  ‘I wouldn’t try that again!’ he rapped. ‘Rackham, tell your men to follow instructions or the next one is for you.’

  Rackham hesitated but the sound of Nation levering his rifle brought him to a decision. ‘Do as he says,’ he concluded. The men obeyed his command and, when they had done so, Nation stepped out of cover. From another position, Quitman and Usher emerged into the open with their six-guns in their hands.

  ‘The game’s over, Rackham,’ Nation said. ‘As for the rest of you, I’ll give you a choice. You either clear out of here or you accompany Rackham to the nearest jailhouse.’

  The men looked at each other. ‘What about our horses?’ one of them said.

  ‘Nothin’ doing,’ Nation replied. ‘If you start walkin’, you should make it to Hooker’s Bluff. Eventually.’ The men grumbled and one of them muttered an oath beneath his breath.

  ‘It’s up to you,’ Nation said. ‘But remember this. There isn’t gonna be much left of that ranch for any of you to go back to. Rackham’s time is through. Best you move on and don’t ever come back.’

  The gunmen still hesitated but eventually one of them moved away and the others began to follow. Seeing them give way, Rackham started to plead with them but his words soon became a torrent of abuse.

  ‘You can see what Rackham really thinks about you,’ Nation said. ‘Keep walkin’ and give my regards to the marshal when you get to Hooker’s Bluff.’ In a few more seconds the glade was deserted except for Rackham and his captors.

  ‘OK,’ Nation said. ‘I think it’s time we took a look at what’s left of your ranch-house.’
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  Once they had reunited and rounded up the horses, Nation and his companions wasted no time in leaving the smouldering ruin of the old Block E behind them. It was a long ride back to Wyoming and they would have to put up with Rackham and his complaining and cursing all the way. Nation had considered returning to Hooker’s Bluff with him but decided against it. He had no wish to renew acquaintance with the marshal there and he didn’t want to run into any of Rackham’s gunslicks.

  They had set up camp on the second evening after their departure. The mountains were well behind them. A cold wind blew but they felt comfortable by the roaring flames of the camp fire.

  ‘You know,’ Muleskin said, ‘I’m kinda disappointed our little adventure is almost over.’

  ‘I feel the same way as you, Muleskin,’ Annie said. ‘I reckon I’m going to be sorry when we get back to Gunsight.’ They sank into silence for a while till eventually Nation spoke.

  ‘If you don’t like the idea of pickin’ things up again in Gunsight,’ he said, ‘you don’t have to.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Muleskin said.

  ‘Well, I hope you haven’t forgotten that I’m now the owner of the Forty-Five. That place has been allowed to go to ruin. I reckon it’s gonna take a whole lot of hard graft to get it up and runnin’ again.’

  ‘You’re going to attempt to make a go of the old Forty-Five?’ the doc put in.

  ‘Figure I’d give it a try,’ Nation answered. ‘But there’s no way I can do it on my own.’ The others looked at each other.

  ‘Hell!’ Muleskin cried. ‘It looks like you got yourself a whole outfit. From now on, we’re all ridin’ for the Forty-Five.’

  The night wore on and they remained sitting by the fire, each thinking of the future. From time to time one of them would rise to throw another branch on the fire. The wind whipped up and outside the circle of flames the horses stamped. Midway got to his feet and uttered a growl.

  ‘It’s only the wind, old fella,’ Muleskin said. ‘It ain’t no bear.’ Doc Hurley looked at him with a certain degree of apprehension written on his face.

  ‘It’s OK, Doc,’ Muleskin said. He faced the others. ‘I had a bit of a turn back there after I set the ranch on fire,’ he said. ‘The doc knows. Somehow I got confused and thought he was some kind of big bear comin’ to get me. Right afterwards, when you folk started comin’ back, I felt altogether different. I don’t know what it was, but I feel as though some kinda weight’s been lifted off my back.’

  ‘That’s good,’ Nation said. ‘You sure seemed to get riled whenever you mentioned it.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess so. But there was more to it than that.’

  Annie made a move towards the old-timer. ‘You don’t have to go into it again,’ she said.

  Muleskin turned to Quitman. ‘You have no cause to blame yourself either,’ he said. Without waiting for Quitman to respond, he addressed Nation. ‘I think we owe you an explanation. Now that we’re workin’ for you, I reckon it’s good that it’s all come out into the open.’

  He paused, looking at Quitman. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I hope you don’t mind.’

  ‘Go ahead,’ said Quitman. ‘I’ve gone over it all so many times, it’s almost a relief.’

  ‘It was like this,’ Muleskin resumed. ‘I got tangled up with that goddamn bear when it attacked Miss Annie. We were out ridin’ and we’d stopped to rest the horses. The varmint came out of nowhere.’ He hesitated.

  ‘It’s OK, Muleskin,’ Quitman said. ‘The thing is, Nation, I was there too and when that bear appeared, I guess I just froze. Me and Miss Annie, we had a sort of understanding. I felt ashamed. . . .’

  ‘None of it was your fault,’ Annie intervened. ‘There was no need for you to blame yourself.’

  ‘I guess I can see that now,’ Quitman said. ‘But it was different then.’

  ‘That was when Quitman handed in his badge and left Gunsight to live away from town,’ Muleskin concluded. ‘I guess in a way Annie quit too. I was in a bad way for a while. She looked after me and then she offered me a place to stay. And that’s the way things were till you rode into town.’

  He stopped and they lapsed into silence. Nation rose and walked over to the horses. He came back carrying a flask in his hand.

  ‘What you got there?’ the doc asked.

  ‘Call it medicine,’ Nation said. ‘Just don’t take too much at a time.’

  He opened the flask and took a swig before handing it to Annie. ‘Like I say, take it real easy,’ he said. She swallowed and then gasped. Quitman took the flask and drank from it before handing it to Usher, who finally passed it to the doc.

  ‘Hell, I see what you mean,’ the doc said. ‘What is that stuff?’

  Muleskin grinned sheepishly. ‘It’s my own concoction,’ he said. Just then they heard muttering coming from a little distance away. Muleskin rose and handed the flask to Rackham. He took a swallow and then burst out spluttering as Muleskin rejoined the others.

  ‘I didn’t like to deprive him,’ he said. ‘That should shut him up till we hit Gunsight.’

  The others laughed and Midway began to bark. Muleskin patted his head and he quieted down again.

  ‘Looks like the old fella’s volunteerin’ to act shotgun on Rackham the rest of the way,’ Muleskin said. ‘Guess he’s joined the outfit too.’