.44 Caliber Man (21 page)

Ignoring his
lost horse, Colin rose and turned towards Jeanie. The girl ran
forward and threw herself into his arms.

‘
Are you all right, Jeanie lass?’ he asked gently after kissing
her.

‘
Sure,’ she replied. ‘I thought they’d tromp you
flat—’

‘
You saved me.’

‘
How?’

‘
By telling me how horses wouldn’t cross a furrow. I figured
that they might not trample me if I lay still.’

They stood in
the embrace for a moment, then a squeal of pain from the dun
brought their attention its way. One look told them all they needed
to know. Although the horse tried to rise, its near fore-leg would
not support its weight.

‘
Broken!’ Colin said, releasing the girl and making a closer
examination of the dun’s injury.

‘
Damn it to hell!’ Jeanie cursed bitterly. ‘Let me have your
gun, Colin.’

‘
I’ll do it,’ he told her. ‘Go wait by the end of the canyon.’
If any other man had made the suggestion, Jeanie would have felt
indignant and refused. In Colin’s case, she raised no objections.
Helping him to remove her saddle, she dragged it aside and then
walked back towards the canyon’s mouth. Much as the Scot hated the
thought, he knew what must be done. Drawing and cocking the
Dragoon, he took aim at the center of the horse’s head. Jeanie did
not turn as the revolver boomed. Walking slowly on, she heard Colin
approaching. Placing his arm across her shoulders, he squeezed her
gently. ‘It was a good hoss,’ Jeanie said.

‘
We’ll catch more of them,’ Colin promised, then a disturbing
thought struck him and he put it as lightly as he could. ‘If we can
find our way back to the camp, that it.’

‘
Why shouldn’t we?’ Jeanie asked in surprise.

‘
I hadn’t time to watch where we were going,’ Colin confessed.
‘We could be anywhere for all I know.’

If she had
heard Colin admit such a thing earlier in their acquaintance,
Jeanie would have regarded it as a further example of his general
incompetence. To a girl born and raised on the great open range
country of Texas, finding one’s way from place to place came
naturally. Like most children of the plains, Jeanie had developed
an inborn ability to remember which direction she had travelled
without conscious need to watch the route taken. Added to that, she
knew the area around the Ronde River very well and so experienced
none of the Scot’s concern.

‘
I’ll show you where the camp is as soon as we’re out of here,’
she told him.

So they walked
on, Colin with his right arm still around Jeanie’s shoulders and
her saddle in his left hand. He felt complete confidence in the
girl’s ability to direct them to the camp. More than that, he
expected that Ma and Dusty would have sent riders after them. If
so, they would be saved the long walk back.

With that
thought in mind, Colin started to look around him as they emerged
from the canyon. As his head swung towards the right, he saw
something which appeared to confirm his belief that a search party
was on its way,

‘
Look, Jeanie,’ he said, taking his arm from the girl and
pointing. ‘We won’t have to walk far.’

Following the
direction Colin indicated, Jeanie saw four riders emerge slowly
from the distant bosque. They were too far away for her to even
guess at their identity, but she felt worried by their presence.
Then two flickers of reflected sunlight sparkled from them.

‘
Get back into the canyon!’ she hissed.

Retreating
hurriedly in response to the urgency in the girl’s voice, Colin
lowered the saddle to the ground. He rejoined her at the mouth,
noticing how she peered cautiously around the edge of the wall.

‘
What’s wrong, lass?’ he whispered. ‘They’re some of your
mesteneros—aren’t they?’

‘
I don’t reckon so. Ma wouldn’t send four men out after us and
I’m near on sure that flickering was from the heads of
war-lances.’

‘
Indians?’

‘
Yeah!’

Looking out
across the range, Colin studied the four men. Like Jeanie, he could
tell nothing about them. He was willing to accept her judgment and
gave his attention to the immediate future.

‘
What are they after, lass?’

‘
Us. That was about where we left the bosque. Likely they’re on
our trail.’

‘
That’s bad,’ Colin said, right hand brushing the grips of the
Dragoon.

‘
Real bad,’ Jeanie agreed. ‘If we go out, they’ll see us and if
we stay put, they’ll have us boxed in.’

‘
Aye,’ agreed Colin. ‘Even if we slipped out, they’d find our
tracks and follow. They can move faster than we can on foot.
There’s only four of them.’

‘
Scouts ahead of the main bunch, likely,’ Jeanie pointed out.
‘We’ve only got five bullets in the gun.’

‘
I’ve my dirk and sgian-dubh.’ Colin went on, pointing to the
weapon on his belt and small knife in his stocking. .’But fighting
isn’t the answer.’

‘
There’s no place to hide,’ Jeanie warned.

‘
Not down here,’ Colin agreed. ‘But there will be up on
top.’

‘
We could maybe go up that side,’ Jeanie said doubtfully,
looking at the right-hand slope.

‘
Aye. But we’re going up this side,’ Colin told her.

For a moment
the girl stared at the wall, then she gulped and turned her eyes to
Colin’s face. ‘This side?’

‘
They’ll not expect it, lass. Come on, we’ve little enough time
to do it.’

‘
How about my saddle?’

‘
We’ll have to leave it, but we’ll need your rope. Take it and
fasten one end around you while I put your saddle so it’ll lead
them astray.’

Taking the rope
from her saddlehorn, Jeanie, knotted its end about her waist. Then
she followed Colin as he carried the saddle to conceal it among
some rocks at the foot of the slope. With that done, he crossed to
the other side and walked along studying the wall. Back in
Scotland, climbing had been his hobby since a boy. So he brought to
bear all his knowledge on the business of selecting a spot up which
Jeanie might climb with his assistance. At last he made his choice.
A point sufficiently far down the canyon for them to be hidden from
the approaching men and offering a variety of foot or hand
holds.

‘
Come up after me, Jeanie,’ he told her, knotting the rope’s
other end around him. ‘Keep the rope hanging loose, but not
dangling too much. And if you get into trouble, stop and tell me
straight away.’

‘
S–Sure,’ Jeanie gulped.

Scooping her
into his arms, Colin planted a kiss on her lips. He could feel her
body stiffen and knew that he could rely on her to do as he said.
Turning, he began to climb up the wall. Jeanie stood below him,
looking upwards and trying to remember the places where he rested
his weight or which he used to haul himself higher. Then her gaze
turned to the wall. From the ground, its eighty or so foot of
height seemed far greater. Always something of a tomboy, Jeanie had
climbed slopes and trees as a youngster; but she had never
attempted such an ascent. Only her faith in Colin gave her the
courage to make the try.

Slowly, feeling
her way with groping fingers and toes, the girl pulled herself
upward. At first the climb was comparatively easy. Then the strain
began to tell on her wiry little body. Sweat soaked her, but she
continued to drag herself higher. One foot slipped from its place,
scrabbled and found another crack into which it dug. For a moment
she hung there, gasping and shuddering. Only by exerting all her
will power did she manage to raise the lower foot in search of the
next support.

‘
C–Colin!’ she gasped.

‘
Keep coming, lassie,’ he answered in a calm, reassuring tone.
‘It’s not far to the top now. Don’t look down though.’

Gamely Jeanie
struggled on. Above her, Colin sought out the easiest way and had
to keep constantly remembering that the girl could not equal his
reach or length of leg. Looking up, he saw the last feet would be
difficult for any but the most experienced climber—and Jeanie was
anything but that.

‘
C–Colin!’ the girl croaked. ‘I–I can’t–g–’

‘
Just a few more feet, Jeanie lass,’ the Scot answered. There’s
a ledge you can rest on until I reach the top and can help you
up.’

How Jeanie made
the ledge, she would never know. Somehow she managed to pull
herself on to it. No more than eighteen inches wide, the ledge
petered out within a few feet. By standing flattened against the
wall, arms spread-eagled on the cold stone, Jeanie could rest her
aching limbs. She felt the rope moving and managed to raise her
eyes. Above her, Colin’s kilt swung and his legs kicked for a
moment. Then he disappeared from view and she felt a momentary
panic.

‘
C–Colin!’

‘
I’m here, lass,’ he answered, appearing at the edge. ‘Very
carefully get both hands on the rope. Slow and easy.’

Soothed and
prompted by the calm voice, Jeanie followed the instructions. At
first she thought that she would fall, but the rope gave her
support. Looking down, Colin continued with his commands. Bracing
her feet against the rock, Jeanie began to walk upwards as he
pulled. Compared with the first part of the climb, the last twenty
feet seemed child’s play. Then she realized that it must have been
sheer hell for the unaided Scot to go up.

Drawing in on
the rope hand over hand, Colin found time to dart a glance at the
entrance to the canyon. So far the men had not come into view. Up
rose Jeanie and at last she gripped first one then both Colin’s
wrists. With a final tug, he swung her over the edge and on to
welcome level ground.

‘
Colin!’ Jeanie whispered and fell into his arms.

‘
You’re safe now, lassie,’ he replied. ‘It’s ove—Get
down!’

And saying the
last words, Colin sank to the ground. He drew Jeanie down at his
side, then peered cautiously over the edge. Backing off, he
motioned the girl to follow him. They crept along the edge until
they found a place from which they could see into the canyon
without the danger of being seen. Looking towards the mouth of the
canyon, Jeanie decided that they had not completed the climb any
too soon. The riders came into sight and one of their number
slipped off his horse to make a closer examination of the
ground.

‘
I was right,’ Jeanie breathed. ‘Injuns and a Mex.’

‘
Jeanie!’ Colin hissed at the squat-built Mexican. That’s the
man whose horse I shot in Fort Sawyer—’

‘
The one the Kid reckoned was Matteo Flores?’ the girl gasped.
‘Him and his brother must’ve tied in with the Tejas. Here they come
into the canyon. We’ll soon know if we’ve fooled them.’

‘
There’s plenty of cover up here,’ Colin commented, looking at
the bush and rock-dotted land behind them. ‘Let’s see what they
make of our disappearance first, then decide what to do
next.’

Unknown to the
Kid, three Tejas bucks had been ahead of the main body as scouts.
When they had seen Jeanie’s and Colin’s departure from the camp,
they took the news back to their companions. From their
descriptions, the Flores brothers identified Colin. However the
brothers ran into objections when they prepared to follow the Scot.
On contacting the Tejas to form an alliance against Ma’s party,
Matteo’s main point of persuasion had been that his gang carried
Spencer rifles to counter the repeaters of the Texans. So, not
unnaturally, the Tejas refused to let the brothers go off on a
private hunt. The best the Indians would allow was for Matteo to
take the three scouts, while Tiburcio and the other bandidos backed
up the attack on the mustangers’ camp.

Taking the
trail out of sight of the camp, Matteo and his men followed it.
They did not hurry, wanting to come upon Colin and Jeanie where the
sound of shooting would not reach the camp. On approaching the
canyon, they found their task made difficult by the coming and
going of the mustangs.

‘
There’s a horse!’ the only Tejas with a firearm announced,
pointing to Jeanie’s dun.

‘
I can’t see the man and girl,’ Matteo growled, scanning the
bottom of the canyon. ‘Maybe they came out riding
double.’

‘
None of the tracks show it if they did,’ objected the taller
of the lance-carrying braves. ‘They’re hiding in the
canyon.’

Leaving their
horses ground-hitched, the men advanced cautiously. While they
studied every inch of the canyon’s floor, none of them thought to
look upwards. At the rocks where Jeanie had left her saddle, one of
the lance-toting Tejas leapt forward excitedly and hauled it into
view.

‘
They were here!’ he yelled.

‘
We know that!’ Matteo snorted. ‘Only they’re not in here now.
Which way did they go?’

‘
We’d have seen them if they’d come out and crossed the open
range,’ Eats Anything, the man with the rifle announced. ‘They must
have climbed this slope.’

‘
Let’s get after them!’ whooped the second buck, dropping the
saddle and moving towards the slope.

‘
Wooden Head is well named!’ Eats Anything scoffed. ‘If they
are up there, they could kill us all as we climb.’

‘
I can’t see any tracks,’ Tommy Dog, the last Indian,
commented. ‘Maybe they went up the other side.’