Skeleton Lode (41 page)

“Once he’s led us to the gold,” said Carp, “is they any reason why I can’t just shoot the loco coyote?”

“Not far as I’m concerned,” Bowdre replied.

Paiute waited on the ledge that dipped into the wall of the drop-off, and when he saw the distant bobbing lights of the lanterns, he made his way carefully along the narrow ledge from which Kelly had fallen. This day he would not hinder their search, and they would trudge the river from one end to the other, finding nothing. Only then, Paiute believed, would they bring the hated Gary Davis into the search. Tomorrow, then, Hoss Logan’s revenge might be complete.

Bowdre and his crew followed the river to the end, where it sprang from a great gash in the rock.

“That’s one side of it,” Sandoval said, “and we ain’t seen a thing that looked close to a passage to a mine. We ain’t even seen a hole that a prairie dog could squeeze into, without suckin’ in his gut.”

“There’s the other side,” said Bowdre. “We might as well cross the river and see what’s over there.”

“I got me a hunch,” Carp said. “I’m bettin’ the other side of this damn river’s just as bare as this side was.”

“Well, just keep that hunch where it is,” said Bowdre irritably. “Maybe we won’t find nothin’, but by God, we’re gonna at least have a look.”

And they did look, cursing as they slipped and stumbled over the slick, mossy rock.

“Careful,” Bowdre cautioned. “The first clumsy son of a coyote that busts a lantern globe hoofs it back to camp for a replacement.”

Slowly, they worked their way past the upthrusts of rock that began in the river and crowded outward against the very walls of the cavern. Once they were past the falls, the going became easier, but the chances of their discovering any crack or crevice diminished markedly.

“We ain’t found a damn thing hikin’ up and down this blasted river,” said Carp, “and we ain’t goin’ to.”

“Maybe not,” Bowdre replied, “but we’ll stay with it as long as we can. At least until we reach that old riverbed that leads us out of here.”

“We still got time to go over it all a second time,” said Sandoval. “Could be we overlooked somethin’.”

“Go over it as many times as you want,” Ellerton said. “I’ll come in here one more time, and that’s when we turn Davis loose.”

“I reckon I’ll have to agree with you,” said Bowdre. “Davis has been there once. Maybe we can shock him into goin’ there again.”

“You aimin’ to bring him in here today?” Three-Fingered Joe asked.

“No,” said Bowdre. “We’ve been in here most of the day. I think we’ll get a fresh start in the morning. I look to have a problem with Davis. After the day we just had, does anybody feel up to that?”

“Not me,” Sandoval said, and for a change, nobody disagreed.

“Let’s get out of here and back to camp, then,” said Bowdre. “I’m ready for some grub and hot coffee.”

It was considerably later than they thought, for the sun had already set. By the time they reached the treacherous trail up the mountain, the first stars had taken their places in a purpling sky. Entering their hidden camp, Sandoval lit one of the lanterns. But something was wrong.

“Davis,” Bowdre shouted, “where are you?”

The only answer was an echo and then silence. Gary Davis was gone, and the contents of their packs lay scattered about.

Left alone, Gary Davis had lapsed into a kind of stupor for most of the day. When he awoke, it was as though from a nightmare. He screeched wildly, causing the horses to rear and nicker in terror.

“Logan,” Davis shouted. “Jed Logan! Damn you, Jed Logan, I killed you once. Why won’t you stay dead?”

Davis eyed the saddlebags belonging to Cass Bowdre and his men. Seizing one and ripping it open, he dumped its contents. In a fury, he emptied the rest of them in like fashion. The last one belonged to Bowdre, and its contents immediately interested Davis, for they included two gun rigs—belts, holsters, and Colts. One had belonged to Mose Fowler, the other to Pod Osteen. Davis checked each of the weapons, found them fully loaded, and shoved them under his belt. He removed all the cartridges from both belts and stuffed the shells into his pockets. He then left the cavern, making his way up the split to the top of the mountain. From there, he crossed to the east rim, fighting his way down the precipitous trail to the canyon where he had spent his first terrible night in the Superstitions. He waded the stream and entered the forbidding cavern where the woman he had taken from Jed Logan had died. He had taken her not because he wanted her, but solely because of his hatred for Logan. Now the woman was dead and Jed Logan was somehow still alive. But he would kill Logan again. And again, and again, and again, by God, until he stayed dead. But now
he must rest. His head hurt and his vision dimmed, and he sank down against a stone wall and blacked out. Once more, the hated Jed Logan stalked through the shadows of his tortured mind.

“Wherever he is,” said Bowdre, “he’s well armed. He’s got the pistols that belonged to Pod and Mose, and all the extra ammunition.”

“I ain’t sleepin’ in here,” Ellerton said. “That damn fool’s likely to sneak in here and shoot us all.”

“We’ll have to keep watch,” said Bowdre, “and come first light, we’ll have to find him if we can. I still think he can lead us to the gold.”

“I don’t,” Carp disagreed. “He took them guns and shells for a reason. When we find him, we’ll have to kill him, or he’ll kill us.”

“When we find him,” said Bowdre, “don’t do nothin’ foolish. Just hold your fire while I try to talk some sense into him.”

“I reckon you’re forgettin’ somethin’,” Sandoval said. “Wells and Holt will be comin’ back. If Davis cuts down on them, they’ll blow him to hell and gone. They don’t need him.”

“Then we’ll have to find him first,” replied Bowdre. “After we’ve had our grub, I’ll take the first watch.”

Although Kelly Logan had awakened at sundown the day after her fall and had insisted on getting up, her three companions didn’t share her optimism.

“Kelly,” Arlo said, “I think you’re gettin’ up a little too soon. You need at least one more day of rest.”

“Maybe,” said Kelly, “but I can’t stand another day of just lying here doing nothing, while the rest of you are as restless as penned-up coyotes. Tomorrow we’re going back along that ledge and find the gold. Once this is finished, there’ll be plenty of time for all of us to rest.”

Kelly was in some pain, but she refused to yield to it. She forced herself to get up and walk, to move about, to
work the soreness out of her body. It was well past midnight before she again lay down to sleep.

Bowdre was making plans to search for Gary Davis, but he also needed to know if Arlo Wells and Dallas Holt would return. Soon as it was light enough to see, he sent Sandoval to the west rim. Growing weary of staring at the same greasewood and chaparral thickets, Sandoval climbed to the top of the mountain and crossed over to the east rim. He arrived just in time to see Gary Davis emerge from the cavern where he had spent the night. There would be no time for Sandoval to report this turn of events to Bowdre, for if he did so, he would risk losing Davis. He would just have to follow Davis and take his chances with Bowdre’s wrath. As Davis followed the canyon where six men had died in the fight with Apaches, Sandoval skidded and slid down the hazardous trail in pursuit. Davis left the canyon, turning north along the foot of the mountain. Lest he be discovered, Sandoval kept his distance, but his quarry was oblivious to everything except whatever was foremost in his confused mind. Sandoval had trouble keeping up and eventually lost Davis in the thickets that cloaked the foot of the Superstitions. Fighting his way through the brush, Sandoval searched in vain. Where had the damn fool gone? Luckily, the ground was muddy from last night’s rain, and Davis was making no effort to conceal his tracks.

“Well, by God,” said Sandoval, under his breath, “he’s gone into that passage where the river is.”

Sandoval had seen enough. He hurried back to camp.

“Right where we want him!” Bowdre shouted exultantly when Sandoval broke the news. “This is workin’ out perfect. Let’s go! He’s got somethin’ on that crazy mind of his. What could it be, if not the gold?”

But the last thing Gary Davis had on his mind was gold. He stumbled on through the darkness where he had spent three terrifying days and nights with a ghostly presence that had robbed him of his sanity.

“Where are you, Jed Logan?” he bawled. “Damn you, I killed you once, and I’ll kill you again!”

For Kelly’s sake, Dallas and Arlo didn’t arise as early as was their custom. While the girl was irked at them for making allowances for her, their concern was well founded. For all her grit and determination, Kelly still had trouble getting to her feet, and once there, she had trouble staying on them.

“Kelly,” said Dallas, “you ain’t ready for this, and you know it. Why don’t you wait one more day?”

“Because I can’t stand being laid up another day,” Kelly replied. “Once I’ve been on my feet for a while, I’ll do better.”

Dallas helped Kelly to mount, and they moved slowly out.

“If that other bunch is watching for us,” said Kelly, “they won’t have any problem following.”

“I doubt they’ll be looking for us,” Arlo said, “because we’ve never arrived this late before. Anyway, before we’re done, I expect we’ll be tangling with them over the gold. Finding the gold is one thing, holding it will be another.”

“That’s a blade that might cut two ways,” said Dallas. “We could find it first and still end up in a gunfight over it.”

“I know Uncle Henry wanted us to have the mine,” Kelsey said, “but I can’t believe he’d want any one of us dead because of it.”

“He wouldn’t,” said Arlo, “and I believe he left us an ace in the hole that we probably won’t recognize until the showdown comes. Remember also, Paiute’s still around here somewhere.”

“He may not be such an ace in the hole,” Dallas said. “One look at that skull at sundown, and he lit out like his shirttail was afire.”

“I’ve been thinkin’ about that,” said Arlo, “and I reckon he was supposed to leave us be. That was as good a time and as good an excuse as any.”

“Even if he never does anything more,” Kelly said, “he got us away from Gary Davis, and I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”

“What Arlo just said fits what Uncle Henry used to tell us,” Kelsey said. “Do you remember, Kelly, when we begged him to bring us to the West? He said the frontier is hard on men, and harder on women. He said if we were ever to come out here, we’d have to prove ourselves worthy, or the land and its people would never accept us.”

“I remember.” said Kelly. “The gold was just a means of getting us here. Actually Uncle Henry wanted to see if we could survive being manhandled by hostile Indians, shot, dunked in freezing water, hung over on moonshine whiskey, and sleeping on solid rock or hard ground next to a pair of gun-slinging Arizona cowboys who aren’t quite sure what the difference is between girls and boys.”

Arlo and Dallas howled, slapping their thighs with their hats, until their horses threatened to bolt.

“If all this has been Uncle Henry’s idea of a test—an education for us—then I don’t regret it in the least,” said Kelsey, “even if there is no gold.”

“I don’t regret it either,” Kelly said, “but I’d have to think about it a while, before I’d start over and do it all again.”

As they had done before, they picketed the horses and mules a considerable distance north of the hidden passage into the mountain. But as they drew near their entrance, they could see fresh depressions in the soft earth.

“Six sets of boots,” said Dallas. “I reckon the showdown’s gettin’ almighty close. Do we go in?”

“We do,” Arlo said, “but we don’t light the lanterns. Not yet. We’ll just have to take it slow in the dark. Once these hombres discover we’re on their trail, they could cut down on us with lead. I’d like to find out what they’re up to without them knowing we’re here. Up to now there’s been just five of them. Now there are tracks of six. Come on, let’s tune up the fiddle and start the dance.”

Once they reached the river they were able to see
distant twin dots of bobbing light ahead of them. There was shouting, but it was distorted by the echo, and they couldn’t understand the words.

“My God,” whispered Kelsey, “one of them sounds just like Gary Davis. Don’t you think so, Kelly?”

“It does sound like him,” Kelly admitted, “but I’ve never heard him screech like that. He sounds kind of wild.”

“Let’s ease in closer,” said Arlo. “He’s really raisin’ hell about somethin’, and I’d like to know what.”

While Cass Bowdre and his companions could hear Davis well enough, his raving made absolutely no sense to them.

“He’s lookin’ for some hombre named Jed Logan,” Sandoval said, “and that ain’t the gent that found the mine.”

“We’ll just foller him and see where he goes,” said Bowdre. “He’s sure as hell headed somewhere.”

Davis slipped and fell, and they could hear him cursing the rocks, the darkness, the river, and the very mountain. The four young people were soon near enough to understand his words.