Dallas felt some better for having talked to Mamie McCutcheon. Odessa seemed even more forceful, and they had little doubt that the outspoken woman would be equally convincing to Faro Duval and Levi Collins.
The Sevier River, southwestern Utah.
August 6, 1870
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âMy God,â Isaac Puckett groaned, âdonât them Utes ever let up? If we had dynamite, and Levi was here, we still couldnât work the claim.â
âThatâs been botherinâ me some,â said Felix Blackburn, feeding more shells into his Winchester. âLeviâs been gone near three weeks, and we ainât accomplished a damn thing.â
âI ainât been much help,â Josh Snyder said, âlayinâ here with a stiff shoulder and sore arm. I canât even comb my hair left-handed.â
âI wouldnât complain too much,â said Blackburn. âYou could have took that Ute arrow in your belly, or through a lung. Besides, it might have been Isaac or me, instead of you.â
âYeah,â Puckett said, âand weâd best all lay low, because we got no more whiskey for fightinâ infection. At least, not until Levi brings us supplies from Santa Fe.â
âI got all the confidence in the world in Levi,â said Snyder, âbut we got to face the possibility that he never got to Santa Fe, that these damn Utes got to him first.â
âWell, hell,â Blackburn said, irritated, âwhy donât we just surrender to these Utes and let âem have theirway with us? If Levi donât bring us some ammunition, weâll soon end up throwinâ rocks.â
âDonât be talkinâ agin Levi,â said Puckett. âI reckon heâd of backed off and let either of you go, instead of him, if youâd wanted to. If you aim to lay here and sweat over what might go wrong, chew on this for a while. Iâd bet my share of the claim that Levi made it to Santa Fe. What concerns me is that he may not find a teamster in all of Santa Fe with the sand to risk cominâ into these mountains.â
âWe give him the authority to swap a quarter of the strike, in return for wagons and mules, if he has to,â Snyder said.
âTrue,â said Puckett, âbut there must be some limit as to how far a man will go for gold, or the promise of it.â
Blackburn laughed. âDamn right. Was I in Santa Fe, knowinâ what Iâve learned about these Utes, Iâd think long and hard about takinâ teams and a wagon into this godforsaken country. For a quarter claim, a half claim, or a full claim. All the gold in the world ainât worth havinâ an arrow drove through your brisket.â
Blackburn had raised up just a little, so that the crown of his hat was visible above a boulder behind which he had taken cover. Suddenly an arrow whipped the hat from his head, and he fired.
âGet him?â Puckett inquired.
âNo, damn it,â said Blackburn. âI should have saved the ammunition.â
âI think thatâs their game,â Snyder said. âThey know theyâre no match for our rifles, but they also got to suspect thereâs a limit to our shells. I think the varmintstempt us to shoot, even when we ainât got a chance of hittinâ one of âem.â
âI wish you hadnât brought that up,â said Puckett. âThereâs a little more than two hundred rounds for each of us, and weâll be out of ammunition for our Winchesters. Two more weeks, and if Levi donât show, weâre dead men.â
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
Durham continued to ride behind the last wagon, and when disaster struck, it was he who first became aware of it.
âIndians!â the gambler shouted.
Odessa was the first to rein up her team. Seizing her Winchester, she stepped off the wagon box and dropped to the ground, as arrows began to fly. The nearest cover was a windblown pine behind which Hal Durham
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro