of me.
I could barely make out several dark shapes on the ground near the fire what might of been bedrolls. But from where I was watchin’ they could just as easy been the twisted-up roots of them big ole live oak trees. After I’d shifted my gaze back an’ forth a time or two, lookin’ for any movement what might appear at the corners of my eyes, I was reasonable certain there weren’t nothin’ nor nobody stirring about that camp at the moment.
So either the folks who’d built the fire was powerful sound sleepers. Or maybe they wasn’t just exactly where I expected them to be.
Along about then it struck me that I hadn’t come acrost no sign of horses nor livestock neither. Could be that meant the campers was just some strangers travelin’ on foot, which was a more common thing hereabouts than out in them western lands I’d lived in till recently. But it might mean too, that I’d ought to take a little better look around before jumpin’ to conclusions.
So after one more glance about the fire without seein’ nothing I hadn’t already seen, I eased myself further back into the shadows and got to my feet. If there wasn’t no animals picketed out yonder in the grass, which seemed the likeliest spot unless somebody had concerns they might be noticed, it appeared the only other place to leave ’em would be right here in these woods where I was standin’.
I took a long, slow, careful look all around in ever direction, movin’ nothing but my head and the hand what held the six-shooter. But underneath them thick branches everthing was so pitch black that I didn’t expect I would of caught sight of a elephant if the critter was standin’ a dozen feet in front of me.
Then I tried listenin’ for the little sounds a horse or a mule will make, stompin’ a foot or croppin’ grass, or swishin’ its tail at a insect. But a breeze had come up off the lakes about then, and with all them leaves a-rustlin’ I couldn’t be certain of anything partic’lar around me, unless it happened to be mighty close by. I tried to wait her out, but when she just kept on a-whisperin’ and a-blowin’ real steady for long minutes on end, I finally told myself “The hell with it,” and started in to move.
I was still bein’ watchful as a cat, takin’ one step at a time and gettin’ each foot set before pickin’ up the other so as not to make no more noise than necessary. Kept my ears pricked for anything the least bit out of the ordinary too, the entire while I was moving.
Suddenly I heard what sounded like a low nicker a couple yards away, and I froze in my tracks. There was somethin’ familiar about that horse-whisper, and when it come to me a second time I’d no doubt a-tall who it was had made it.
You can choose to believe that or not, I don’t give a damn. ’Cause it’s the honest truth. That ole roan horse and me had covered a sight of territory together, prob’ly spendin’ more days and nights in each other’s company than a lot of husbands an’ wives. I reckon I knew his voice ever bit as good as he knew mine by then.
When I’d whispered a couple words to try an’ keep him calm, I stepped up closer until I could lay a hand on his neck in the dark. Generally Ole Roan weren’t much of a one for showin’ his feelin’s. But this time I guess he was so plumb glad to see me that he didn’t care who knowed it. He was dancin’ and tossin’ his head somethin’ fit to kill, and it near ’bout cost me a finger before I could get his hackamore loose from that picket rope it was tied to.
I was mighty pleased at the re-union my ownself, so it like to pained me to the quick when I had to grab holt of his nostrils an’ pinch down hard to keep him from makin’ any more ruckus than he already was. Still I figured we’d best be on our way without further to-do, ’cause it wouldn’t be much longer until all Hell busted loose. The other horses was stirrin’ about restless-like from hearin’ me and the roan, and I could make out Jube’s mule a-warmin’ hisself up to sing ’most any second in the background.
I still didn’t have no idea where Lila and her compadres was situated at the moment, so it appeared my best plan was to just light a shuck with the roan, and worry about gettin’ the rest of my outfit back some other time. If they mounted up to give chase, I’d a mind to lead ’em east towards Micanopy, and away from Monk’s wagon.
For starters I managed to drag the roan a short distance off from the picket line and turn him, before grabbin’ a handful of mane and settin’ myself to swing up onto his bare back. Then as I was reachin’ down to holster my pistol, I heard these two sharp clicks no more’n a dozen feet behind me.
I threw myself backwards and hit the ground rolling, just as Purv’s shotgun split the air with a mighty blast a couple feet above my head. The second charge of buckshot chunked into a tree alongside my shoulder whilst I dropped down into a dry creek bed and skittered on my knees an’ elbows for another dozen yards before comin’ up a-smokin’.
I let fly twice at the sound of Purv’s voice whilst he was callin’ out to his friends. And it give me a feelin’ of satisfaction to hear him yelp an’ cuss when he realized why a gent with a unloaded shotgun would be a mite smarter to hold his peace.
They was some scrabblin’ around in the woods between Purv an’ the horses, so I changed position and tossed a couple more shots over thataway to remind big Jube and Lila not to get too careless about when and how they decided to make their appearance. Didn’t hit nothin’ this time, far as I could tell. But it weren’t because I wasn’t tryin’.
I reckon maybe it crossed my mind for a half a second there about how one of them I was shootin’ at was a woman. But I didn’t let it fret me. Generally I ain’t one to make war on women, nor treat ’em bad in any other way. But this here Lila had brought the war on me, ordering my killin’ earlier in the day an’ all. And she was totin’ iron the same as a man.
If she didn’t want more trouble she knew how to avoid it. And if she still meant to come a-huntin’ it, the least I could do was make sure she didn’t go away disappointed.
I’d dropped down on one knee after them last couple shots. Now I started easin’ myself back to where I’d left Ole Roan. I didn’t have no plans to lose track of that critter again, regardless of how this fight come out. Not after all I’d been through today chasin’ after him.
When I seen a pistol flash and heard a bullet whisper through the brush right close to the spot I’d been kneelin’, I didn’t bother shootin’ back this time, but just kept on moving. That would be Lila I reckoned, somewheres off on my left. Leastways from the sound I was pretty sure it was her .38.
A couple minutes later I was climbin’ out of that dry wash not far from the place where Purv first tried to ventilate my hide. It was still black as the inside of a tar barrel under them trees, so I was bein’ mighty careful about how an’ where I put my feet. Trippin’ and falling over one of them vines or roots hereabouts would of been embarrassin’ enough. But it wouldn’t be nothin’ compared to the feeling I’d have whenever the whole neighborhood opened up shootin’ at the sound from it.
Ole Purv’d had him plenty of time to slip a couple fresh shells into his shotgun by now. There was a chance I’d got some lead into him earlier. But if it weren’t enough to keep him from hollerin’, it prob’ly weren’t enough to keep him from pullin’ no triggers neither.
An’ then there was big ole Jube.
I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of that feller since first arrivin’ at this place. But it was a safe enough bet he was somewheres about. And I’d of sure give a pretty to know where it was.
Thinkin’ about all them dangerous folks around me what I couldn’t see had kind of slowed my steps, until I was standin’ stock still at the moment, tryin’ to puzzle out what I’d ought to do next. The odds didn’t appear near so favorable now as they had when I first made powwow with Monk on t’other side of the clearing, plannin’ to take everbody what was camped here by surprise instead of the other way around.
I’d more’n half a notion to take my Ole Roan horse and just light on out. If I could lay hands on the critter in the dark that is, without findin’ one of them other three first.
Speakin’