Страница 25 из 50
— 37 —
When Virgil and I got close we could see Lo
Lo
“Hang on, Lo
Virgil fetched our horses and I tended the best I could to Lo
When Virgil arrived with the animals I retrieved the medicine kit from the pa
We cooked some venison strap we’d got from the cook at the bridge camp and heated up some beans.
Lo
“Wa
Lo
“I run into some shit,” Lo
“You seen Sheriff Driskill and his deputies, Karl and Chip?” Virgil said.
“No, I haven’t,” Lo
“What kind of shit did you run into?” Virgil said.
“I was riding from the camp, on my way back to Appaloosa, and Ruth, my mare of twenty years, spooked. There was a goddamn rumble from the earth or some such, blackbirds shot out of a thicket and Ruth jerked up and sidestepped. Next thing I know she was walking fu
Lo
“I was on foot,” he said. “Weather was getting bad. Started raining. I’d been walking for, hell, a good three hours when some soldiers come riding up behind me.”
“How many?” I said.
“There was seven of them,” Lo
Virgil looked at me.
“What happened?” Virgil said.
“Well, hell, I thought, Thank God. Soldiers. The soldier driving the buckboard looked kind of familiar to me. I asked them if I could get a lift back to Appaloosa. He said nothing but nodded to one of the other soldiers. That soldier got off his horse, friendly like, and asked me if I was heeled. I told him I was. He asked me to show him my gun. I did, I didn’t think nothing of it. I didn’t think nothing of it until he told me to take off ru
“Then what?” Virgil said.
“They started laughing,” Lo
“Then what happened?” Virgil said.
“I waited. I was just imagining he was go
“Then what’d you do?” I said.
“I laid there, afraid to move for ’bout an hour. But then I figured I better get up before I did die. It started raining harder and I found this place and took shelter. Thank God I had some jerky and matches or I’d be dead for sure. I started gathering wood and stashing it under here. I got a good bunch of it. I was able to find some fairly dry bark here and there and I finally got me a fire going. I gathered more and more wood and stayed hunkered down here outta the rain and tended to my wounds the best I could. I been here a long time, can’t say how long, exactly, but a long time. I drank as much water as I could from this creek behind me here. I kept thinking the weather was go
— 38 —
Lo
Virgil and I drank coffee by the fire. The night was bright with the opening skylight reflecting off the snow. With the exception of the golden glow of the campfire, our snow-covered surroundings were a glistening steel blue.
“What the hell, Virgil?” It was a combination of a question, a query, and downright dismay.
Virgil stared at the fire for a moment before he answered.
“Them two men,” Virgil said, “the Cotter boys. They didn’t do this for shits and grins.”
“No,” I said.
“Somebody hired them,” Virgil said.
I nodded.
“Paid them pretty good, too, I figure,” I said.
“Yep,” Virgil said. “They didn’t spend two weeks working on the bridge because they were honest bridge builders.”
“Who are they, I wonder?”
“Whoever they are,” Virgil said, “they got hired by someone that wants the bridge gone.”
“They hire on, get the lay of the land around the bridge,” I said. “Plan the attack.”
Virgil nodded.
“Those soldiers you saw riding into town,” Virgil said. “They have mules?”
“No.”
“Somehow they managed to get a shitload of dynamite,” Virgil said. “We ain’t talking about a little dynamite in saddlebags.”
“No,” I said. “That was a massive structure. Took a bunch.”
“More than what a few horseman carried,” Virgil said.
We thought about that for a moment.
“Then,” Virgil said. “They cut the telegraph line at the way station so they give themselves as much distance as possible.”
“It was damn sure thought out,” I said.
“Was,” Virgil said.
“Then they get picked up by the five other riders and hightail it,” I said.
Virgil nodded.
“Get into Union uniforms,” he said.
“They did.”
“Like I said, gives them validation,” Virgil said.
“Just like what happened here with Lo
“Yep,” Virgil said, looking over to Lo
“Till they goddamn told him to run, and shot him in the back,” I said.
“Yep,” Virgil said. “And then they ride into Appaloosa for one night.”
We thought about that for a bit.
“Why ride to Appaloosa?” I said.
Virgil looked at the fire for a long moment, then looked to me.
“Get paid,” Virgil said.
“Paid by who is the question.”
“Why is the question,” Virgil said.
“We find out why, we find out who,” I said.
Virgil nodded.
“You think this Swickey fella did this?” I said.
“Maybe,” Virgil said.
“Cox?” I said.
“Don’t think so,” Virgil said.
“Something about him, though,” I said.
“There is,” Virgil said.
“Why would he blow up his own bridge?” I said.
Virgil shook his head.
“Like you said,” Virgil said. “We look at the why and will find the who.”
“’Spect we need to pay this Swickey a visit?” I said.
“We do.”
“Just need to figure out where his place is,” I said.
“Him ru