Slocum and the Glitter Girls at Gravel Gulch (9781101619513) (18 page)

They watched with binoculars as two Mexicans unhitched horses, saddled them, and then poured something over whatever was in the wagon bed.

Then both men struck matches and tossed them into the wagon.

The wagon erupted in a blaze of fire that turned to smoke.

The smoke rose straight up in the sky as if through an invisible chimney.

“Wallace,” Laurie exclaimed. “That’s the signal for the Apaches to attack. It’s got to be.”

“All hell’s goin’ to break loose pretty soon,” he said as he gripped his rifle and looked at the column of smoke.

The two men climbed up on the saddled horses and rode off toward town at a gallop.

Slocum rode Ferro past the stables and headed for the hotel.

The sun had passed its zenith and was falling toward the west in a slow burning arc.

Just before he turned the corner of Second Street, he saw Johnny run toward him from the stables.

“Mr. Slocum, Mr. Slocum!” he called.

Slocum reined in Ferro and came to a halt.

“I gave that flyer to Miss Marlene,” he said. “Like you told me to.”

“Good, Johnny. Now you better get yourself a rifle and strap on a pistol.”

“How come?”

Slocum looked back toward the valley and pointed.

“That’s the signal to the Apaches,” he said. “They’re going to come through town like shit through a tin horn pretty quick.”

“I looked at that flyer, Mr. Slocum. That’s Canby, ain’t it?”

“Afraid so, son.”

“He had me hitch up them horses you sold him and he’s loadin’ up bags and suitcases and such right now. Like he’s goin’ on a long trip.”

“Thanks, Johnny. Marlene say anything?” he asked.

“She said to thank you, Mr. Slocum. And…and she said she hoped she would see you again sometime.”

“Better tell her about the Apaches, Johnny.”

Slocum rode around the corner. Down the street, he saw Canby and a man he did not know, lifting bundles and satchels into a covered wagon. The four horses he had brought to Deadfall were hitched up and stomping their hooves.

He caught Canby by surprise. The man with him went wide-eyed as well.

“Slocum,” Canby said.

“Junius,” Slocum said.

Jennings’s face turned white.

Slocum dismounted and slapped Ferro on the rump. The horse trotted off but then stopped and stood several yards away.

“You want to go easy, Canby, or hard?” Slocum said as he stood there, feet apart, his arms loose at his sides.

“I ain’t goin’ with you, if that’s what you mean, Slocum. Me and Jennings here have other plans.”

“You called it, Canby,” Slocum said.

Just then a man stepped out of the hotel. He looked at Slocum in surprise.

It was Hack.

He started for his pistol, his hand diving like a hawk toward the butt of his Colt.

Slocum drew his pistol, cocked it on the rise.

“You made your choice, Hack,” Slocum said. “Now die.” He fired one shot, and Hack fell to the street.

Slocum turned as Jennings opened his coat and his hand floundered to reach the pistol hung high on his belt.

He shot Jennings in the face before the man could draw his weapon.

Canby had a derringer in his hand. He cocked it as Slocum swung his pistol.

Canby fired one round, which missed Slocum by several inches.

It was the last thing Canby ever did.

Slocum squeezed the trigger and shot Canby right through the heart. The blood spurt did not last long as the organ stopped pumping.

Canby collapsed into a pile of tailored cloth and blood.

Smoke lazed from the barrel of Slocum’s pistol.

He walked over to Ferro and climbed into the saddle. Then he reloaded his pistol and rode back into the valley.

Apaches screamed as they emerged from behind the buttes in bunches of three and four.

Gunfire erupted from rifles and painted bucks bit the dust everywhere he looked.

Slocum drew his rifle from its boot and rode into the fray. As he levered shell after shell into the chamber and started firing, the Apaches started dropping.

Finally, one warrior threw up his hands in surrender and rode toward Slocum.

Slocum held his fire.

“You are the one my braves told me about,” he said in English. “I am Blue Wolf.”

“Canby is dead,” Slocum said. “The men here will fight you to the death.”

“I know. I leave now. You have won.”

Then Blue Wolf rode away, calling to his men. The Apaches melted into puffs of dust behind the buttes.

A silence settled over the valley.

The war was over.

The Apaches had carried off their dead, and the wagon was burned to a crisp, just a smoldering hulk in the middle of a valley that was peaceful once again.

Watch for

SLOCUM AND THE SANTA FE SISTERS

410
^th
novel in the exciting SLOCUM series
from Jove

Coming in April!