Fargo snuck to the Texan. “Are you strong enough to stand?”
“I’m as weak as pond water. But if you need me to, I will.” Raidler started to rise.
“Not yet. When you hear me yell, get up. Once I have you on a horse, stay low. Leave the rest to me.”
Raidler was going to say something but Fargo gestured for him to keep quiet, pivoted, and padded toward the animals. The mules and horses were on separate strings, the horses nearer the high cliff. Fargo freed them first, working swiftly, patting each and speaking softly so none would wander off before he was ready. Next, he cut the mules loose. Then, grasping the mane of a sorrel, he swung up. His Colt took the place of the Arkansas toothpick.
Fargo had planned to wait until the warriors were eating but another Apache rose and came toward the spring. Straightening, Fargo gave voice to a piercing war whoop that would do any Sioux proud. The lusty, bloodcurdling cry ran out loud and strident. Simultaneously, Fargo banged off a shot at the Apache bound for the spring. As the man toppled, the mules and the horses whirled and stampeded off up the canyon—toward the startled Apaches.
Confusion reigned. Fargo, pulling on the rope to a spare horse, flew to the captives. Burt Raidler was trying to rise. But hampered by his broken leg, he could not quite manage it. Fargo vaulted off the sorrel, wrapped an arm around the Texan’s midsection, and literally threw the cowboy onto the bay. “Hang on!”
The stampeding mules and horses were almost to the center. Bunched together, they thundered down on the warriors, who scattered, running every which way. A couple were too slow and paid for their sloth by being battered aside. One was trampled, his shrieks when a leg was shattered adding to the mayhem.
Gripping the bay’s rope, Fargo galloped toward the canyon mouth. He stayed in the shadows, close to the cliff. The Apaches were in a state of total confusion, milling about, some waving their arms to try and stop the animals. He was almost abreast of the fire when a swarthy shape hove up out of the murk. The warrior saw him and went for a pistol tucked under a belt. Fargo’s Colt boomed once.
At the shot, Apaches everywhere turned. Those on the other side of the canyon could not see Fargo but those on the near side could, and howls of rage pealed off the high walls as they sped to head him off.
Fargo had to shoot another one. Then he was past the fire, past most of the renegades. The fleetest were in determined pursuit. Rapidly outdistancing them, Fargo saw the welcome sight of the entrance ahead. Not so welcome was the appearance of the two sentries, who had rushed in to see what the uproar was about.
The fleeing horses and mules barreled into the gap. The two sentries scampered for their lives, one high into the rocks, the other pressing against the wall. After the last of the animals had gone by, he sprang to bar the sorrel from following suit.
Fargo shot the man down, then twisted and snapped another shot at the sentry in the rocks, who was raising a rifle. The warrior clutched at his chest, tottered, and fell. Another few moments and Fargo was out of the canyon. Guns cracked, lead sizzling the air. Fully half the band had given chase.
Raidler was still atop the bay, clinging desperately to its mane, his face as white as that of a ghostly specter.
Fargo raced to the spot where he had to branch off from the trail. He was well ahead of the Apaches, but his lead was not so great that he could afford to be careless. Going a short distance, he reined up so they wouldn’t hear him, and waited. He did not wait long.
Warriors streamed off along the game trail. The racket made by the fleeing animals lured them on. They assumed Fargo was ahead of them. Presently, the sounds of padding feet and jumbled voices faded, so Fargo kneed the sorrel on to the gulch where he had hid the Ovaro.
The Texan marshaled a wan grin. “We did it, pard! We skunked those hombres!”
“Yell a little louder, why don’t you?”
After switching to the stallion, Fargo reloaded the Colt, flipped the loading gate closed, and took hold of the ropes to the bay and the sorrel. Although the stand of oaks was to the east, he headed due west. With the countryside swarming with angry Apaches, he’d decided to take a roundabout route back. It would take longer but be safer.
Fargo rode slowly, frequently stopping to probe the darkness. After a couple of hours went by without a hitch, he congratulated himself on eluding the war party.
But he did so too soon.
They had turned to the north to work their way to the gorge. Raidler kept flitting in and out of consciousness, sometimes mumbling incoherently. He needed rest, food, and most of all, doctoring.
Fargo was thinking that maybe it would be best to stop and let the cowboy sleep until dawn when the Ovaro pricked its ears and nickered. Halting, he listened, but he heard nothing out of the ordinary, even though they were in open country and noise carried far.
Raidler began to mumble again. Quickly dismounting, Fargo placed a hand over the Texan’s mouth. He scoured the desert shrub but did not see anything. When the cowboy quieted down, Fargo led the horses on foot.
The night seemed peaceful enough. All was quiet, the wind included. A multitude of stars bathed the arid terrain in their ethereal glow.
Fargo saw no reason for concern, yet his instincts blared a warning that all was not as it appeared. Something was wrong, something was out of place, but for the life of him he could not figure out what it was.
Out of habit, Fargo drew the Colt. To his left appeared some saguaros, to his right random boulders. Either might conceal Apaches. Since the boulders were the more likely spot, he watched them intently, glancing at the saguaros every so often. It was when he did so for the fourth or fifth time that his instincts proved once again why they should be trusted.
One of the saguaros had moved. The saguaro was a cactus plant with a thick trunk and upturned arms that gave it a vaguely human aspect. And one of the lower arms on one of the saguaros had changed position.
Fargo stopped but did not let on that he knew. Walking to the bay, he pretended to examine Raidler. He was buying time to think. The Apaches wouldn’t spring their ambush until he was a little closer, or if he tried to get away. But that was out of the question. With Raidler passed out, the cowboy couldn’t stay on his mount. He’d fall and be slain.
Since Fargo couldn’t watch over the Texan and fight off the Apaches both, he must do what the Apaches least expected. The Texan mumbled again. Fargo, sliding the revolver into its holster, bent over as if listening to the gibberish. When Raidler fell silent, he stepped to the Ovaro and reached out as if to grip the reins. But his hand closed on the Henry’s stock instead. The rifle was in his hands before the Apaches could suspect what he was up to. Levering a round into the chamber, he fired at the trunk of the saguaro that had seemed to move.
Two of the cactus’s arms flapped like the wings of an ungainly bird as the warrior crouched behind it was flung to the ground.
A command was barked and the rest broke from cover, three from the boulders, two more from the saguaros. Several had guns and they were the ones Fargo dropped first, firing as fast as he could work the Henry. Then the remaining two were on him, one wielding a lance, the other a war club.
The latter was Chipota.
A swing of the lance brought it crashing down on the rifle’s barrel. Fargo held on and spun to shoot but the war club caught him across the right forearm, a grazing blow that numbed him from the elbow to the tips of his fingers. He backpedaled to gain room to move but another sweep of the long lance jarred the Henry from his grasp.
Chipota growled a few words at the other warrior, then came in low while the other one came in high.
Fargo couldn’t draw the Colt because his right hand was next to useless. His fingers tingled madly and wouldn’t clench tight enough to grip the butt. He avoided a lance thrust, a flash of the club. The Apaches were so eager to finish him off that in their rush to get at him, they crowded one another.