[Texas Rangers 06] - Jericho's Road (32 page)

Farley expressed a thought that Andy had considered but rejected. “Reckon Sergeant Donahue’s reports were exaggerated?”

“
Nobody said exactly when Jericho was comin’. They just said that he would.”

“
If he don’t pretty soon, you’ll see things start comin’ unraveled. A lot of the neighbors will start wantin’ to go home and do their milkin’.”

“
Ain’t likely he’d come in the night. Neither side could see their targets in the dark.”

“
When we fought the Yankees it seemed to me like the best time to attack was at first light. It generally caught them half asleep.”

After dark Andy heard several men ride off to the west. Several more rode east.

Farley said, “They’re desertin’ already.”

Andy said, “I don’t think so. I believe Chavez has sent them off to wait out of sight. When Jericho strikes, they’ll come in on the flanks.”

“
Sounds like Confederate military tactics.”

“
Or Comanche.”

“
Makes sense. Most of these Mexicans are more Indian than Spanish. If Lupe Chavez would shave off that mustache I’d take him for a Comanche.”

The night was long and restless. Despite his fatigue from yesterday’s ride, Andy found it difficult to sleep. He would doze, then awaken abruptly in a sweat, thinking the attack had begun. He realized he had been dreaming. He and Farley had taken a position behind a three-foot adobe wall that ran parallel to the front of the house.

Farley grumbled, “I don’t see how you can sleep.”

“
I can’t, much.”

“
I keep thinkin’ about that little girl in there. If anything was to happen to her …”

“
Those walls are thick. Ain’t likely any bullets will go through.”

“
But what if Jericho managed to break into the house? The walls wouldn’t help much.”

“
We have to stop him before he gets that far.”

The stars began fading in the east, and several roosters crowed. Andy’s nerves began to tingle. Farley had finally gone to sleep. Andy started to wake him, then changed his mind. Farley would wake up quickly enough if Jericho came.

Lupe Chavez emerged from the house and walked around his defense perimeter, cautioning the men to stay low and avoid being seen as the morning light improved. He came at length to Andy and Farley. “You are still here? I thought you might slip away in the night.”

Andy said, “We told you we were stayin’.” He repeated what he had told Chavez the day before: “We’re not here for you. We’re here for the McCawleys.”

Chavez turned a disapproving gaze upon Farley. “Especially my niece, I think.”

Farley said nothing.

Chavez sniffed. “Young women can be foolish. She should look to someone better than a gringo
rinche.
”

Farley declared, “Show me somebody better.”

Porfirio galloped in from the north and shouted for Chavez. Andy could not understand the words, but he understood the excited look and the way Porfirio pointed as he reported to his
jefe.

Farley had dozed again. Andy shook him. The Ranger was suddenly awake and alert, his rifle ready.

Andy pulled the skin at the corners of his eyes, trying to sharpen the image. He thought he saw movement to the north, toward the river, but he could not be sure.

Farley thumbed back the hammer of his gun. To Andy the click sounded as loud as a gunshot.

McCawley came out of the house and took up a position beside them. Andy asked, “What about your womenfolks?”

“
Tony’s inside with them. He’s standin’ at a window.”

Andy saw a rifle balanced upon a windowsill.

The sun had not yet broken over the horizon, but the predawn light was enough that now he could clearly see movement to the north. Jericho’s horsemen had fanned out in a line over a space of more than a hundred yards.

Chavez gave an order in Spanish. McCawley said, “He’s tellin’ everybody to keep down. Let Jericho think he’s caught us asleep. And he would have if you-all hadn’t brought warnin’.”

Andy rough-counted the riders. He saw around forty. “There’s more of them than there is of us.”

The Jericho men were within fifty yards of the Chavez defense line when a defender raised up. A Jericho rider fired at him. Andy heard Jericho shout, “Pour it on them.”

The invaders spurred into a run, coming on like a whirlwind.

The defenders began rising, taking aim at the mass of horsemen coming at them. Gunfire crackled all around Andy. Riders pitched from their saddles. Horses fell, some struggling to regain their feet, some lying on the ground and kicking. To Andy’s left a defender screamed and went down.

McCawley staggered backward, a bullet in his leg. Andy ran to help him, easing him to the ground.

He heard a curse. Farley held a hand to his side. Blood oozed out between his fingers. The impact had knocked the breath out of him. He gasped, trying to get air back into his lungs. Andy started toward him, but Farley waved him away and pointed in the direction of Jericho’s men.

Powder smoke rose like a patchy fog, hiding many of the adversaries from one another. Andy was sparing with his ammunition. He fired only when he could see something to aim at. Bullets smacked into the adobe wall or whispered past his ears to sing off the stone wall of the house behind him. The incessant firing made his ears throb with pain.

The attackers came near breaching the defense line, then wavered. He heard a shout in a voice he thought was Jericho’s. The invaders began pulling back, shocked and badly bruised by the determined defense.

About now, Andy thought, Jericho must be wondering what could have gone so wrong with his plan. Ordinarily so large a force should have overrun this ranch in a matter of minutes. They should have swept through the buildings with relative ease, cutting down the inhabitants before they had time to mount any creditable defense. Jericho was probably cursing, asking himself if he had a spy in his ranks.

The invaders took cover wherever they could find it, behind corrals, behind outbuildings, in the fringes of brush. They began a desultory firing. The defenders fired back. None of the shooting now was doing much damage to either side so far as Andy could see. He knelt over McCawley, pressing a handkerchief against the wound to slow the blood. He then went to Farley, but Farley refused help. He had regained enough breath to say, “It ain’t that much.”

Andy heard a drumming of hooves from the east, then from the west. The flankers were coming in, attacking Jericho’s men from both sides. Many invaders hit the saddle and beat a fast retreat toward the river. Andy could hear Jericho’s angry voice calling for them to come back and fight. Shortly he was left with only a handful of men unable or unwilling to quit the scene. They were well concealed but not in a position to carry the fight forward.

The shooting died away. Neither side offered many visible targets. An uneasy quiet fell over the contested ground.

Lupe Chavez raised up a little, looking over the wall. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “You, Jericho, you give up now? You bring with you too many cowards. They run like rabbits.”

Jericho answered, “You don’t see
me
runnin’. I come to settle things with you, Lupe. I ain’t leavin’ till I do.”

“
You are welcome to stay. I give you six feet of ground. It will be all your own.”

“
You damned chili picker, you ain’t seen the day you can put me under.”

The two men went quiet for a bit. Andy returned to McCawley. “I’ll help you into the house.”

McCawley put up no argument. Andy got the rancher’s arm around his shoulder and boosted him up onto his feet. He half carried, half dragged him to the door. Juana opened it and cried out in alarm. The two women helped Andy bring McCawley into the house. They laid him upon the floor, well below the windows through which a bullet might reach him.

Tony looked down on his stepfather, his face softening. “He ain’t goin’ to die, is he?”

Juana said, “You have struck him in the heart, but the bullet did not. Do you just stand there, or do you help?”

Tony went to his knees. “I’ll help.” He ripped his stepfather’s bloody pants leg open with a knife blade.

Andy went back outside, where only an occasional wild shot was being fired. Crouching, he returned to Farley, on his knees behind the wall, his shirt off and wadded up, pressed against his side. He did not give Andy time to ask questions. He said, “I told you, Badger Boy. This happens every time I’m with you.”

“
I’m not the one that shot you.”

“
No, but I’ll bet they was aimin’ at you instead of me. You’re the damndest jinx I ever saw.”

“
I’ll help you into the house.”

“
It ain’t so much. Clipped my ribs is all. Might’ve cracked one, the way it feels.”

Andy’s patience was strained. “Don’t be so stubborn. Teresa will patch you up, her and her mother.”

Mention of Teresa had a positive effect on Farley. “All right, but soon as I can I’m goin’ as far from you as I can get. A hundred, two hundred miles. Maybe more.”

Teresa gasped as Andy brought Farley in. She appeared even more concerned over Farley than over her father. Andy tried to explain that the wound was not all that serious, but he saw that Farley was enjoying her attention. He went back outside.

For a while all was quiet. The shooting had stopped. Andy was sure the remnant of invaders remained, though they were well hidden.

He heard Jericho call again: “Chavez, you still there?”

“
I am here,
diablo Tejano.
What you want now?”

“
I got a proposition for you. We can make a deal.”

“
You came here to kill me, and now you want to deal? You got no cards.”

“
I have one. I’m bettin’ I’ve got more guts than you do.”

Indignant, Chavez stood up to his full height, just a little over five feet. He shook his fist. “I got plenty guts, gringo.”

“
Then let it come down to just me and you. We step out into the open, both of us. Best man wins. Either way, everybody else goes free.”

“
It would not be an even fight. You are a bigger target than me.”

“
Maybe I’m a better shot. It’ll be easy to find out.”

Chavez hesitated. “Why should I do this? You are in a trap. When you try to get away my men will kill you.”

“
I thought you wanted that pleasure for yourself. When it’s over everybody will say you were too much of a coward to face me.”

Chavez bristled. “I am not a coward.”

“
Then show me.”

Chavez shouted in Spanish. Andy assumed it was an order for everyone to stay put, to take no part. Jericho shouted for his men to keep hands off. “This is between me and Chavez. Whichever way it goes, everybody else rides out of here peaceful. You hear me, Burt?” He paused, looking around. “Burt?”

Burt Hatton was not there. Andy wondered if he had been shot or if he had fled.

Jericho stepped out from behind a small shed, carrying a rifle. He walked toward the wall. Porfirio handed Chavez a rifle, then stood back as Chavez went out through an opening and stood waiting. Jericho walked to within twenty feet of him, then stopped.

Chavez said, “A long time we have been enemies, Jericho. But never did you come against me like this. For why now?”

“
Some of your bandits murdered my wife’s nephew. It was like she’d lost a son. I couldn’t stand still for that.”

“
I know nothing of it.”

“
I had it in mind to kill your nephew in return, but it’s better this way. I’d rather kill you.”

“
If you can, gringo. If you can.”

For what seemed several minutes the two men stood glaring, taking each other’s measure, each waiting for the other to move. When it happened it was so fast that Andy could not tell which man moved first. Two shots sounded as one. Chavez staggered, eyes stricken as he dropped his rifle and clasped both dark hands against his stomach. He tried to speak, but no sound came except a groan. His knees buckled. He went down on one shoulder.

Jericho’s left arm hung at his side, shattered. Blood soaked a torn sleeve and dripped from his fingers. He swayed like a tree about to fall.

Porfirio moved toward him, fury in his eyes, but Chavez called to him in a weak voice. Porfirio dropped on his knees beside his fallen leader. The language was Spanish, but Andy surmised that Chavez was telling him to let Jericho go.

Tony hurried out and knelt beside his uncle. Quiet words passed between them. Tony looked at Jericho with hatred and seemed about to move against him. Chavez grasped Tony’s sleeve and stopped him. A deal was a deal.