Devil's Canyon

Devil's Canyon by Ralph Compton Page B

Book: Devil's Canyon by Ralph Compton Read Free Book Online
Authors: Ralph Compton
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
.
    â€œMy God,” Isaac Puckett groaned, “don’t them Utes ever let up? If we had dynamite, and Levi was here, we still couldn’t work the claim.”
    â€œThat’s been botherin’ me some,” said Felix Blackburn, feeding more shells into his Winchester. “Levi’s been gone near three weeks, and we ain’t accomplished a damn thing.”
    â€œI ain’t been much help,” Josh Snyder said, “layin’ here with a stiff shoulder and sore arm. I can’t even comb my hair left-handed.”
    â€œI wouldn’t complain too much,” said Blackburn. “You 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€œYeah,” Puckett said, “and we’d best all lay low, because we got no more whiskey for fightin’ infection. At least, not until Levi brings us supplies from Santa Fe.”
    â€œI got all the confidence in the world in Levi,” said Snyder, “but we got to face the possibility that he never got to Santa Fe, that these damn Utes got to him first.”
    â€œWell, hell,” Blackburn said, irritated, “why don’t we just surrender to these Utes and let ’em have theirway with us? If Levi don’t bring us some ammunition, we’ll soon end up throwin’ rocks.”
    â€œDon’t be talkin’ agin Levi,” said Puckett. “I reckon he’d of backed off and let either of you go, instead of him, if you’d wanted to. If you aim to lay here and sweat over what might go wrong, chew on this for a while. I’d 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 comin’ into these mountains.”
    â€œWe give him the authority to swap a quarter of the strike, in return for wagons and mules, if he has to,” Snyder said.
    â€œTrue,” said Puckett, “but there must be some limit as to how far a man will go for gold, or the promise of it.”
    Blackburn laughed. “Damn right. Was I in Santa Fe, knowin’ what I’ve learned about these Utes, I’d think long and hard about takin’ 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 ain’t worth havin’ an arrow drove through your brisket.”
    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.
    â€œGet him?” Puckett inquired.
    â€œNo, damn it,” said Blackburn. “I should have saved the ammunition.”
    â€œI think that’s their game,” Snyder said. “They know they’re no match for our rifles, but they also got to suspect there’s a limit to our shells. I think the varmintstempt us to shoot, even when we ain’t got a chance of hittin’ one of ’em.”
    â€œI wish you hadn’t brought that up,” said Puckett. “There’s a little more than two hundred rounds for each of us, and we’ll be out of ammunition for our Winchesters. Two more weeks, and if Levi don’t show, we’re dead men.”
    *   *   *
    Durham continued to ride behind the last wagon, and when disaster struck, it was he who first became aware of it.
    â€œIndians!” 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

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