The Spurs of Iron Eyes (Iron Eyes Western #3) (11 page)
Read The Spurs of Iron Eyes (Iron Eyes Western #3) Online
Authors: Rory Black
Tags: #bounty hunters, #western fiction, #western adventure, #piccadilly publishing, #rory black, #pulp western fiction
Manillo was no mere bandit
or outlaw. He was a proud, vain, ruthless leader of men who might
not be willing to turn tail at the first hint of trouble, but be
willing to fight to the death just to maintain his
pride.
Iron Eyes found himself
concerned about the safety of those who trusted his
judgment.
Pablo cautiously moved away
from the side of the tall hunter and carefully stood behind the
adobe as the rider cantered up into the heart of the small village.
The bandit paused beside the well and reached down to the water
bucket placed upon the wall and lifted the ladle to his cracked
lips.
As he drank, his eyes
flashed around the houses watching for any sign of life.
Behind the nearest house,
Iron Eyes slid out of his heavy coat and pulled the long lethal
knife from out of his boot then pressed himself against the wall.
Suddenly, there was death in his face once more, etched into every
scar on its terrifying surface.
Watching for a signal, Pablo
felt his heart pounding inside his thin shirt as he stood trembling
where he had been told to stand. Vulnerable
out in the open, the old farmer
began praying silently.
Placing the blade of his knife
into his teeth and biting on to its cold steel, the bounty hunter
nodded to the old man. Pablo stepped slightly to his right and
deliberately caught the eye of the mounted bandit. Pretending to
run away, Pablo moved to Iron Eyes
’ side.
Dropping the ladle back into
the bucket, the bandit spurred his horse into following the old
man. As the horse came around the corner of the house, Iron Eyes
leapt up behind the saddle and grabbed the man
’s head with one hand, sliding
the knife blade across his throat quickly with the other. There was
a sound like escaping air from the rider as he sagged in Iron Eyes’
arms. It was all over in a few seconds. Iron Eyes reached below the
limp rider’s arms and pulled the reins up so the horse would
stop.
Grabbing the
man
’s
sombrero, the bounty hunter placed it upon his own head before
pushing the lifeless body to the ground.
Wrestling with the
petrified horse, Iron Eyes managed to gain control of it before
riding out from behind the white adobe and allowing Manillo and his
men to observe him from their distant vantage point.
Iron Eyes stared from under the
wide brim of
the stinking sombrero at the group of bandits. For a moment
he wondered if he had managed to fool them. He did not have to
worry for long though as within a few seconds of his dismounting,
he noticed the dust rising from the bandits’ horses’ hooves as they
began to head toward the village.
It had worked, he
sighed.
Tying the reins of the horse
to a porch pole, the bounty hunter walked slowly away from the
front of the buildings and back to the shaking figure of Pablo
within the shadows.
‘
They
are coming?’
‘
Yep.
Manillo is heading on in, old man,’ Iron Eyes answered as he tossed
the large hat away. ‘Now I’m counting on you to keep these boys
steady’
‘
You
can count on me, Iron Eyes.’
The bounty hunter nodded.
He knew the frail old-timer had what it took. He just hoped the
younger farmers were cut from the same cloth.
It was like witnessing the
approach of a golden mirage as the sunlight danced off the
confident bandit. Manillo had no reason to doubt the sight before
him as he led the fifteen riders across the green crops towards the
carefully laid trap. Iron Eyes had encouraged Pablo and the five
remaining village men to walk around the middle of their small
village as the ruthless riders approached. Each of the terrified
farmers held onto the guns supplied by the bounty hunter waiting
for him to signal them to take cover.
They had placed their faith
in God, but their lives were in the hands of Iron Eyes as they
watched the horses thunder in towards them.
Walking from behind his place
of cover, Iron Eyes yelled out at the terrified farmers as the
riders rode within
two hundred yards of them.
‘
Take
cover, men!’ he screamed.
None of the half-dozen souls
required telling a second time and they fled to the relative safety
of the adobes. The grim-faced bounty hunter stood defiantly,
watching the approaching bandits silently.
It was the keen-sighted
Manillo who was first to spot the tall, thin figure hovering before
a small house holding both his pistols at his sides. Dragging at
his reins the vain bandit forced his large stallion to a halt with
every muscle in his strong arms. Unable to work out why their
leader had stopped so suddenly, his men rode into him sending half
crashing into the fields.
Manillo stood in his stirrups
and tried to work out who the creature with the long black hair
swaying in the gentle breeze could be. He knew
for certain it was not the
bandit he had sent into the village a few minutes
earlier.
‘
I
think it is an Indian, Manillo,’ the feebleminded Pedro said from
behind his leader.
‘
He is
no Indian, fool!’ Manillo yelled as his magnificent black stallion
reared up and kicked out at the very air itself with its polished
hooves.
The grounded bandits tried
desperately to catch and remount their horses as the wide-eyed
Manillo glared across at the figure who sucked on a thin
cigar.
‘
What
is wrong, Manillo?’ one of the other bandits, still in his saddle,
asked as the horses reared up all around them, causing even more
panic.
Who is that?
’ Manillo shouted out above the
sounds of the mayhem which encircled his stallion.
There was no reply from any of
them. Manillo rode through his men who were still attempting to
catch hold of their loose reins and regain control of their
animals. As he cleared the last of them, Manillo
’s eyes focused upon Iron
Eyes.
As his jaw dropped, the
massive Havana cigar fell from his mouth of golden teeth into the
soil.
For the first time in his
life, Manillo knew what it was like to feel fear coursing through
his veins. At first he did not know why he was afraid, but he
was.
It was as if he had seen a
monstrous vision created in the bowels of Hell.
Somewhere within the depths
of his memory, Manillo recalled the description of the man who
stood clutching his Navy Colts at his sides. It was long ago, but
the name came quickly to his lips as he stared in disbelief from
his saddle.
‘
Iron
Eyes!’ Manillo said, as he remembered the name of the most feared
of all bounty hunters.
As his words echoed in the
ears of his men, the true horror of their situation filled their
heartless souls.
Iron Eyes turned to Pablo
and nodded. The old man called out to the other farmers who
immediately began hauling at the array of ropes which the bounty
hunter had laid.
Without any warning, the saddle
ropes seemed to leap up into the air from below the green crops and
vibrate around the stunned bandits. It was as if they had been
caught inside a massive spider
’s web. They had. Unluckily for them, it was Iron
Eyes who was the spider.
The bounty hunter fired the
two Navy Colts in quick succession as if in reply to the lead which
came seeking his life. Iron Eyes walked calmly across the face of
the adobe as bullets rained down on him. Pulling his triggers with
an almost mechanical precision and felling every bandit who came
close enough to find his range, the lethal marksman moved like a
puma. The wall of the house behind his narrow frame began to be
ripped apart as the trapped bandits frantically tried to shoot
their way to safety.
Without even ducking, the tall
bounty hunter strode to the corner of the house and knelt down
whilst still firing with his left hand at the men who were
desperately shooting at him. Resting his right-hand Navy Colt on
the ground, Iron Eyes took the cigar from his mouth and blew
at
its
glowing tip. Then he pressed it to each of the long fuse wires in
turn and watched as they began to hiss and begin their
journey.
As the bullets tore away
the corner of the white adobe, Iron Eyes retrieved his pistol from
the ground and slipped into the safety of the shadows. Quickly
expelling the spent shells, the bounty hunter picked his long coat
up off the ground, pulled out a handful of bullets and slid them
into the empty chambers of his Navy Colts. The wall was quickly
being torn away as he stared at the farmers still holding onto the
saddle ropes.
‘
Keep
pulling on them,
amigos.’
Iron Eyes grinned, as if he were beginning to enjoy the
deadly confrontation.
Running around the back of
the small house, the bounty hunter raced out toward the well, just
as one of the bandits managed to jump his horse over the twisting
entangled ropes. The rider rode with his reins in his mouth as he
drew both his Colt Peacemakers and shot down at the longhaired Iron
Eyes.
As bullets tore through his
flapping coat tails, Iron Eyes raised himself up and blasted two
deadly shots into the skull of his attacker. He did not wait to see
the body fall, but turned and ran for the cover of a low
wall.
Pausing only briefly to focus
on the burning fuse wires as they smoked past him, Iron Eyes heard
the snorting nostrils of another of the bandits
’ mounts as it bore down on
him.
Spinning around quickly,
Iron Eyes squeezed each of his triggers again and felt the blood
splattering down over him as his deadly accuracy once more found
its mark. A body crashed down beside him as, once again, he pulled
back his gun hammers with his thumbs.
Throwing himself across the
yard, through the hail of bullets, Iron Eyes rolled over until he
found himself lying directly opposite the remaining bandits. At
their centre, the arrogant Manillo was now cocking his Winchester
and shooting at anything and everything he could still see through
the cloud of thick gunsmoke.
Once more, Iron Eyes
glanced over at the burning fuse wires as they separated and
started to take their individual pathways to the hidden
explosives.
Iron Eyes began counting as
he trained his pistols on the roped-in vermin. It had only been a
matter of minutes since he had lit the fuses but Iron Eyes knew the
first of his surprises would soon erupt into all its lethal
glory.
Then it happened.
The first explosion deafened
everyone including the bounty hunter as he was rising to his feet.
Blood and gore flew in every direction as the dynamite chain lifted
one bandit and then another into the air. The sound of crippled
horses was the first thing the bounty hunter heard as he found
himself lying upon his spine covered in burning debris.
Crawling onto his still
painful side, Iron Eyes had barely enough time to focus when the
second explosion ripped through the air and threw him violently
backwards. Only the thickness of his skull saved him as he crashed
into the wall of one of the adobes.
Iron Eyes stared through the
dense dust in the direction of the bandits. He could see nothing at
all, apart from blinding flashes amid the choking fog of burning
debris. Rising once more, he began to see the devastation he had
created. He was no expert with dynamite or gunpowder and began to
wonder whether he might just have used too much of both. Suddenly
like a volcano erupting into life, the third explosion blasted
upward and outward, its force far greater than the two previous
ones. Watching in disbelief, Iron Eyes saw three horses lifted high
above his head with their lifeless riders still in their saddles
before being dropped in a far-off pasture like rag
dolls.
Now confused, Iron Eyes tried
to work out how
many more deadly outbursts of dynamite and gunpowder were
left. It was impossible to calculate.
Staggering forward, Iron
Eyes held his two guns at waist height as he made his way into the
swirling, choking cloud of dust. Then somehow more bullets came
defiantly out from the stifling mist from the guns of the few
bandits still capable of squeezing their triggers. They tore
through the tails of his long coat. Undaunted, Iron Eyes could hear
a single horse whinnying in a mixture of fear and anger deep inside
the impenetrable cloud as he continued walking directly into the
mayhem.
From the relative safety of
their hiding places, the farmers watched in disbelief as
their
savior
strode out toward the rising flames - firing his weaponry at the
sounds which filled his ringing ears.
It was like watching the
Devil returning to Hell.
Firing blindly at the blurred
flashes, Iron Eyes heard one bandit after another feeling the heat
of his lethal lead. As yet another blast ripped up the surface of
the ground, the bounty hunter found himself showered in hot ashes
as he was forced down onto his knees. Ramming his empty left pistol
into his thick leather belt, Iron Eyes ran
his free hand over his head trying to
extinguish his smoldering hair.