The Bounty Hunters

Warren said, "All of a sudden the old man can go where he wants." He tried to understand this. "Maybe Duro feels sorry for him."

"Or else he's tiptoeing till he finds out what's going on," Lew Embree said. "That younger one's got army written all over him, but that doesn't mean anything. He might of just gotten out." He shrugged. "We'll let Lazair figure it out."

They rode out of Soyopa by the south road, passing the rurales' camp area, and went on in the same direction for almost three miles before begi

The base of the slanting rock wall was in deep shadow, and passing into the dimness, Warren said, looking up overhead, "Somebody must be asleep."

They heard the click close above them, sharp in the stillness-the lever action of a carbine. "Stand there!"

Lew looked up, but could not see the guard. "Who's that, Wesley?" He called out, "Wes, it's me and Warren!"

The voice answered, "What're you sneaking up for?-sing out, or you're liable to get shot!"

"Go to hell…"

They passed on, entering a defile that climbed narrowly before opening again on a pocket in the rocks, walled on all sides. Four tents formed a semicircle behind a cook fire. Off to the left another fire glowed in the dusk, a smaller one, in front of a tarpaulin rigged over the entrance to a cave. The cave was Curt Lazair's. His fourteen men shared the tents.

Lew Embree handed his reins to Warren who led their horses off to where the others were picketed along the far right wall. He nodded to the men sitting around the cook fire. They looked up from tin plates, some mumbling hello, and watched him make his way over to the cave, wondering what had brought him from the pueblo, and as he reached the tarpaulin awning, Curt Lazair appeared in the entrance.

"What are you doing back?"

"Somebody hauled in a load of dead Mexicans right after you left," Lew said.

"I didn't think they'd find 'em so quick." Lazair eased into a camp chair, sucking his teeth, and propped his feet on a saddle in front of the chair. "You eaten yet?"

"No."

Lazair nodded back toward the cave entrance. "That girl ain't a bad cook…At least she's good for something."

"The people who found 'em weren't from Soyopa."

Lazair looked up. "Who were they?"

"A couple of Americans."

"Prospectors?"

Lew shrugged. "That's the question nobody knows."

"Well, why didn't you stay to find out?"

"I figured you'd want to know right away."

"You could've left Warren there."

"Between the mescal and that saloon whore he'd find out a hell of a lot."

"What'd they look like?"

"Like anybody else." Lew shrugged. "They weren't carrying signs."

"What!"

Lew reconsidered. "One of them looked army."

"A lot of people were in the army. What does that look like?"

"He had an army pistol holster on him…"

"You're about as much good as Warren."

"What did you want me to do, go up and ask 'em for their cards?"

"There're enough rum-bum rurales you could have asked!"

"How would they know?"

"Because they live in Soyopa and talk to people…those two aren't bringing the bodies into Soyopa 'cause they don't know anybody here! Why didn't they haul them to Rueda or Alaejos? They're just as close."

"Oh…"

"Oh," Lazair mimicked him. He rolled a cigarette then, idly, considering what this could mean.

Lew said, "Maybe we shouldn't of hit that wagon string. There were too many of 'em…all from Soyopa."

Lazair said nothing.

"Now," Lew went on, "people right in the village have got kin and close friends to pray over and wonder about…and maybe they'll wonder so long they'll figure something out."

"How much they hate the Apaches," Lazair said. "That's all the figuring they'll do."

"I don't like it."

"I didn't ask you to like it! You don't get paid for your smiles!"

"Maybe those two Americans'll figure out something…"

"Goddamn it shut up, will you! I can't think with you crying in my ear!"

Two Americans suddenly appear with the bodies. They must have had a reason for coming down here. They stumble onto the ambush and know exactly where to cart the bodies; they knew they were from Soyopa, Lazair thought. Hell, if they knew where they were from, then they knew who they were! Why? Maybe one of the Mexicans had something on him that told what his village was. What are you getting so excited about? Probably a couple of saddle tramps looking for greener grass. Just mustered out of the Army. Maybe they heard about the scalp bounty and thought it was worth a try. You son of a bitch, you've got fourteen men with you and you worry about two. But all of a sudden people were starting to pop out of nowhere. Like the man they ran into just before the ambush who wanted to join the band. Well, the ambush was his test. He came out all right. If he had backed down, he'd have been left with the dead. Sure, he turned out all right. He thought now: And maybe he saw them. He must have come down the same way.

He called over to the cook fire, "Frank!"

The man was a shadowy figure crossing the camp area, taking his time until finally he appeared out of the dimness in front of the fire at the edge of the tarp awning. Frank Rellis had changed little. Dirtier, that was all.

"What?"

"When you were coming down from Contention, did you see anybody?"

"Did I see anybody?"

"Two Americans."

"What the hell kind of a question is that?" Rellis said.

Lazair swung on Lew irritably. "What did they look like!"

"One was a little taller than medium size, thin in the hips and put his boots down hard like a horse soldier. A young fella with red hair. The other one had a mustache, light-colored. He was stringier than the other fella and seemed taller. He looked peaceful enough, but his coat bulged a little like he had a six-gun under it."

Rellis said instantly, "A soldier mustache?"

Lew said, "Yeah, and the other one had an army holster on his side."

"Where are they?"

Lazair looked at Rellis curiously. "You know them?"

"Where are they?"

"Soyopa. They found those dead Mexicans and brought 'em in," Lazair said watching him closely. "I asked you if you knew them."

"I don't know. Maybe I do. One of them sounds like an old friend. Maybe I ought to go to Soyopa and find out for sure." He walked away before Lazair could ask him anything else.

Lazair watched him go back to the cook fire. The hell with it, he thought. Getting anything out of that son of a bitch is like pulling teeth. If it was something to worry about he would have said something. He looked at Lew Embree. "You want a drink?"

"Fine."

Lazair half turned and called behind him, "Honey!" There was no answer and he winked at Lew. "She's bashful."

Lew gri

"I can't even get her to smile."

"They don't have to smile."

"Honey!" Lazair called again. "Bring us out a bottle of something!"

Nita Esteban appeared in the cave opening, in half-shadow, the light of the fire barely reaching her. She held the ends of a red scarf that was about her shoulders tightly in front of her. Her features were small, delicate against the soft blackness of her hair. Her skin was pale in the light of the fire and her eyes were in shadow.

Lazair glanced at her and gri

She disappeared and returned in a moment with the bottle in her hand. She approached Lazair reluctantly, handed the bottle to him and turned quickly, but as she did this he reached for her. She felt his hand on her back and dodged out of reach, twisting her body away from him. But his fingers tightened on the scarf and pulled it from her shoulders as she slipped away.