“Yeah, I thought of that, too. We need to get in front of ’em somehow. I wonder how well Chloride knows this part of the country.”
“Let’s ask him,” Bo suggested.
The old-timer was bringing up the rear on his mule. Bo and Scratch dropped back, letting Gustaffson, Bardwell, Ramsey, and Keefer go past them, and fell in on either side of Chloride.
He looked back and forth at them with narrowed eyes. “You boys got somethin’ in mind,” he said. “I can tell by lookin’ at you.”
“You have any idea where those varmints might be headin’?” Scratch asked.
“How should I know? Do I look like a bandit to you?”
“We thought maybe you’d know a good place for them to set up an ambush,” Bo said. “They’ve got to have a pretty good idea that we’re on their trail, and they’re bound to want to get rid of us.”
“Well . . .” Chloride scratched at his beard. “Back in my prospectin’ days, I wandered up and down a bunch of these canyons and climbed some of the mountains, includin’ that one it looks like they’re headin’ for. There’s a place called Wolf Head Rock that got the name because—”
“It’s shaped like a wolf ’s head,” Scratch guessed.
Chloride glared at him. “Are you tellin’ this story, or am I?”
“Go ahead, Chloride,” Bo told him.
The old-timer snorted and said, “Well, anyway . . . There’s a pass on the south side of the mountain that’s the easiest way to get through to the other side, especially now with this snow. The other passes are narrow enough they’re gonna be drifted up so’s it’d be hard to make it through ’em, even though this wasn’t that bad of a storm. Thing of it is, Wolf Head Rock sorta sits there overlookin’ the trail to the pass, so you can’t get up there without ridin’ by it. Once you go past there’s a trail that loops back around to the top.”
“And some riflemen hidden up there could pick off anybody who rode past,” Bo said.
Chloride nodded. “If I was on the run and tryin’ to get shut of a posse, that’s the way I’d go, sure enough.”
“The Devils ride past the rock and leave plenty of tracks so the posse has to follow ’em,” Scratch mused, “then they circle around, get above the trail, and wait to bushwhack whoever’s followin’ ’em.”
“Yep,” Chloride said. “It’s just a guess, mind you, but if the trail we’re followin’ goes past Wolf Head Rock, I’d bet my last dime those varmints’ll be up there layin’ for us.”
Bo thought about it for a moment and then asked, “Is there any way to get up to the rock without going past it and then doubling back?”
“Yeah,” Chloride said. “If you’re a—”
“Don’t say mountain goat,” Bo interrupted. “Please.”
Chloride frowned at him. “How’d you know that’s what I was gonna say?”
Bo sighed. “Because I keep having to climb, and I don’t like it much.”
“But you could climb down to Wolf Head Rock from the back side of it?” Scratch persisted.
“Maybe,” Chloride said. “With this cold and snow and the fact it’ll be gettin’ dark soon . . . I don’t know. Sounds to me like a good way to get killed.”
“There are a lot of good ways to get killed out here,” Bo said. “Do you know a shortcut that might get us there before the gang, so we can be waiting for them?”
“I can get you there, but not before the Devils. They’ve got too big a start on us.”
Scratch looked across the old-timer at Bo. “It’s gonna be dark soon. If the posse makes camp, the Devils’ll have to wait for ’em to come along in the mornin’. That’d give us time to slip in the back and maybe get those gals outta there.”
“You mean to take the women back up that rock wall you’d have to climb down?” Chloride shook his head. “You can’t do it. They’d never have a chance.”
“Then we could take the Devils by surprise while they’re waiting for the others,” Bo suggested. “We’ll hit them from behind and distract them while the rest of you gallop past, circle around on that trail, and come at them from that direction. We can cut down the odds, grab the hostages, and get them out of harm’s way while the rest of you charge up there and finish off the outlaws.”
“Yeah, that’s a mighty fine plan . . . if it works,” Chloride said.
“All plans are fine when they work,” Scratch said. “You got any better ideas, old-timer?”
Chloride squinted at him. “I ain’t gonna sink to your level and dignify that with an answer.” He looked over at Bo. “I reckon if you want to give it a try, I can show you where to go.”
Bo nodded. “Let’s talk to Manning and the others.”
He rode forward and asked the sheriff to call a halt while they discussed the plan. Manning did so, and Bo laid out the idea.
“You’ll just get Marty and Mrs. Pendleton killed,” Bardwell protested.
“That’s if you even get there,” Ramsey said. “You’ll probably fall and break your necks.”
Manning asked Chloride, “Have you ever been to the top of this Wolf Head Rock, Coleman?”
“Yeah, I been up there,” Chloride said. “The rock sticks out in front and narrows down so it looks like a wolf’s snout. There are a couple of spires, one on each side, that form the ears. Back of that is the open ground that’s at the top of the trail from down below, and back of that is an even bigger rock that forms a cliff.” He looked at Bo and Scratch. “I been thinkin’ about it. That rock sorta pooches out. You can’t climb down it. Not even a mountain goat could. You’d have to be a fly to make it.”
“How about lowering us on ropes?” Bo asked.
Chloride thought about it. “Maybe. You can’t get horses up there. You’d have to make it on foot and find places to tie the ropes. I reckon it could be done. But one slip and you’re a dead man.”
“We’re willing to take that chance.” Bo looked at Manning. “What do you think, Sheriff?”
“We don’t even know for sure they’ll be up there to try to ambush us,” Manning said.
“The Devils love to bushwhack folks,” Chloride pointed out. “They’ve done it over and over again.”
Manning thought it over and slowly nodded. “If you’re wrong, though, we’ve lost some time and let them get even farther ahead of us. That could turn out to be fatal for those women.”
“It’s a chance we have to take,” Bo said. “If the Devils wipe us out, Sue Beth and Marty are done for.”
“We can’t let that happen,” Bardwell said.
“I agree,” Ramsey added. “We have to try it, Sheriff.”
“All right,” Manning said. “The rest of us will find a place to camp, and the three of you—” He looked at Bo, Scratch, and Chloride.
“We’d better get goin’,” the old-timer said. “There ain’t no time to waste.”
Manning gave them a curt nod. “Just remember that more than the safety of the women depends on you. We’ll be riding past Wolf Head Rock in the morning, and if you’re not up there to hit the Devils from behind, we’ll be right in their sights. It’ll be like they’re taking target practice on us.”
“Then you’d better wish us luck,” Bo said with a faint smile.
“And a happy day after Thanksgivin’,” Scratch added, “because otherwise it’s liable to be a black Friday for all of us.”
CHAPTER 25
As the posse took up the trail again, Bo, Scratch, and Chloride veered away from the rest of the group. Since the decision had been made to head for Wolf Head Rock, they didn’t have to worry anymore about following the tracks left by the Devils. They could reach the place by the shortest, quickest route possible. Chloride knew some shortcuts through the rugged landscape, but he warned the Texans that they wouldn’t be easy.
That certainly turned out to be true. Chloride led them through brush-choked gullies, along knife-edge ridges, through gaps between giant rocks that were barely wide enough for a man on horseback to get through them, and down slopes that would have been steep and slippery under good conditions. The coating of snow just made them worse. More than once, Bo thought he and his mount were about to tumble to their deaths.