Hide and Seek

We spend the remaining dark hours in a squat position, pouring over a dirt map that Seedling has drawn in on the sprawl of the river bank. It is all he knows about the area, painfully extracted by repetitive questioning. He would keep getting side-tracked, talking about the items they took, mumbling a verse of this song and that. He seems very disturbed by the robbery. It isn't until we actually ask him that we find out he knows who they are.

"Why didn't you tell us you know the bastards?" Andy says in place of the usual tisk in these instances.
"Didn't ask?"
"Are you trying to be funny?"
"Nope." Seedling stands up to face Andy, who has been pacing around. "You fella's loose your hard earned valuables in that there robbery? I been working the soil for months for that gold."

"You had gold?" Mike asks, just slightly behind the curve on this one.
Seedling looks at him like he might be holding a spear and have a bone through his nose. He turns his attention back to the map.
"Them boys are the Keene gang. Orlis Keene, he was the one that stole my keep."
Lou stands and shakes his legs out.
"You know this Orlis Keene?"
"Only knew of him until last summer. Looks a little like you, Louis." Seedling stands and kicks the soil at his feet. "Saw him and his gang rough up the Trading Post, killed two fellas right out in the street."
Seedling is silent for a beat or two, remembering the carnage.

"This guy is a gunslinger?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
"The worst... the best." Seedling corrects himself and then explains, "Worst temper, quick and deadly on the trigger."

"Oh... GREAT." Andy seems to have cured himself if the tisks. Haven't heard one for a while now.
"So this guy is like Jesse James or something like that?" Mike asks with a wonder only he can have in moments like these.
"Don't rightly know this James fella. He run in Arizona Territory?"

Lou puts a hand on Seed's shoulder, "This Orlis, he is a fast draw?"
Seedling turns and looks him right in the eyes. Lou finally sees a little clarity in the man's face.
"Orlis Keene is the fastest, most deadly gunfighter they have seen in these parts." He averts his eyes, "He don't care who he kills... woman, little ones, don't matter to that devil."

We watch as Seedling traces possibilities in the soil of directions they went, areas that might serve as hiding places, and their relationship to our original destination of the trading post.
"What's over here?" Lou is off the map to our east.
"That there is the Salt River Canyon, Rio Salinas. There are spots up in there where you could hide a herd of buffalo."
"Then we head that way."

They took Seeds coffee along with his saddle bags. Luckily he had made a full pot before all this occurred. It seems like an hour before we have enough light to move out. It was enough time to drink the hearty pot and boost our energy.

The trail is easy enough to follow. Who, after all, is wants to track a lion back to its den. We all start out in a group, but as the sun climbs we spread out. Lou has taken point. Ollie walks with him, both of them in silence. Apparently Ollie has a tracking talent that had gone unnoticed until now. Every once in a while one of them or the other would take a knee, pointing out broken plant life, the depth of tracks, a pile of horse shit. Lou did everything but take a bite. But with this examination he says he can tell where the horse had been... meadow or sage covered desert.

At one point the trail branches off. Lou points out that two of the gang broke off and head North. There is a ridge that starts maybe five miles off. We surmise that they sent scouts up that ridge to watch for pursuers. It is at this point that we begin to scan the ridges and the path ahead with renewed interest.

"Jesus... where the hell is Seedling?" Lou looks back behind the group.
Seed seems to be in no hurry, not wanting to tax ole' Bess in the compounding heat.
"Come ON, Seedling."
Pretty soon we hear some little song or piece of conversation and there he comes around the bend. He looks at us for a second as though he has never seen us before, and then there is a flash of recognition and he gives a little wave.

"We can't be waiting on this guy all FUCKING day." Andy stands with his hands on his hips.
"What happened to you when we tripped back here with the Clarok? You find your bad-ass in that flash, or what?" Lou asks him, giving him a little shove.
"I just want to get back to the boat. Get our thing back, do what we have to do and get back to our time... that boat." He holds his brow for a moment then puts his hand back on his hip. "I can't believe any of this."

Seed finally catches up. "What? You boys already tired? Well... we can make camp and have a little... "
"CAMP?" Andy is going to pop a blood vessel.

"No, Seed, no camp. We don't camp when it is still morning. What I was going to suggest is that you take your time. We are going to forge ahead and see where these guys went. When we find them you won't want to be there anyway."

"Oh... you'd like that there, wouldn't ya, never'd see ya after that one, eh?"
Lou takes a deep breath and looks up at the sky for a moment.
"Seedling, if you don't stop with this SHIT I'll kill you right where you stand. We don't care about your crap. We need the Clarok. That is all we care about."

Seed looks at each of us for a moment. "There's another of you fella's?"
Lou puts a hand on each of Seedling's shoulders and makes sure they are looking eye to eye.
"You are going to keep walking, follow our trail. We are going to walk on ahead and see where these guys went. If there is any danger, I will make sure one of us is there to let you know."
Lou watches Seedling's eyes and sees them drift back over his shoulder. Lou shakes him. "SEEDLING... are you listening to me?"
"Probably just make your way over to that smoke in the canyon."

We all turn slowly and see the ribbon of smoke. It is coming from somewhere in the canyon miles ahead of us. A fire that can pinpoint your position is one only a fool would start. Either a fool or someone that fears no one; Indian, outlaw, or Cavalry.
I wish we were dealing with a fool.

The canyon walls start to climb around us as we wind our way up river. Lou decides we had better take the high ground. If we get caught in the canyon we will have no where to run. We convince Seedling to make camp and wait for our signal... three rifle shots in quick succession.
"You ain't got no rifle." He says suspiciously.
"If we succeed we will." Lou tells him.
"Well... make sure ya do." He pauses, looking Lou in the eye. "You might need this."
He pulls what used to be a hunting knife from a pocket on the side of his britches above the knee. The blade has been sharpened down over the years until all that exists is no more than an awl with a hell of an edge on it.
Lou takes the blade and runs it up his arm. It shaves a spot where it meets the flesh.
"That will do."
"I wannit back."
"Just make camp... and make the best of it. We should be back for you tonight."
"Tonight?"
"With their numbers I don't want to chance taking them all on at once. Better to thin them out in the dark."

Seedling watches as we start up the canyon wall.
"Don't go gun to gun with Orlis. He kill ya sure as there's flour in biscuits."
Lou looks back at him as he puts his arm around ole' Bess' neck.
"Don't be so sure, Seed. We'll be back for you."

It seems well passed noon before we make the top of the canyon, winding our way toward the smoke in the distance. Lou is on point, waving us on or stopping us when he feels we might be in danger. He is certain that we will find a couple of men,at least one, up here keeping watch on the trail below. It's a good thing we are on the look-out. Before long, Ollie throws a hand up and then motions us to the ground just as quickly. Lou sidles up next to him and Ollie points to a man in the rocks up ahead. He is perched on a look-out that oversees the canyon and the scrub trail we are following on the ridge. I crawl up between them.

"You going to take him?"
Lou looks at the man and his surroundings.
"I was hoping to pick them off in the dark."
"Well... this guy is off by himself. Why don't we start with him?"
In the silence that follows, we see the man take a swig off a bottle.
"Yeah... take him now." Lou looks at the approach.

The man is perched on an overlook maybe five feet above our trail and the ridge. To his back the canyon wall continues up maybe six feet and then crests. There is no way to take him without climbing up behind him.

Lou pulls the knife that Seedling gave him and gives it a quick look. The five of us back off and get into hiding as best we can as we watch Lou scramble up the rocks to our left. Within minutes he is above the man on watch. Even though the man has tossed that bottle back he is alert enough to see the shadows cast from the ridge above him.

As Lou jumps the man turns. He is holding a rifle in the one hand, the whiskey in the other. Nothing but suprise in his eyes as Lou drops in from above. The bottle drops as Lou jabs the tips of his fingers on his left hand into the man's windpipe. His right hand thrusts several times just below his rib cage. It all happens in the time it would take to pull change out of your pocket.

He lowers the man to the ground and immediately begins to remove the clothing, trying to keep the blood off of it. The five of us move up to his position in silence. As Lou removes the clothing from the man, Andy is already out of his dress. He puts on each piece of clothing as soon as Lou has it free of the man. He opts not to don the man's underclothing.

Lou stands, holding the dead man's gun belt and pistol. He fastens the belt around his waist and draws the weapon. A tick of a smile comes across his face. He buries it in the holster.

It is early afternoon. We have a rifle, the shotgun, a pistol, and ammunition. Even though we only have the two rounds in the shotgun, the rounds we have in reserve for the other two weapons make up for it. We back off the ridge and gather to look at our new inventory. Andy even finds some hard candy in the pockets of the vest the man was wearing. He hands us each a piece.

Ollie goes on ahead to survey the situation. Andy is all smiles, tugging the sleeves of the new shirt. There are three bloody holes in the chest of the garment but that doesn't seem to matter. It is gender correct and that is all he cares about right now.

There is a canteen with water, and of course the whiskey. Lou takes a couple of slugs to take the edge of this latest fatality. He passes it to me and I take a pull.
"What now?"
Almost on cue Ollie scrambles back over the hill and gives a quick report to Lou. Antonelli listens, then translates.
"The whole gang is over the next rise and down in the canyon. He counted eight of them."
"Eight? Including this guy here?" I point to the semi-nude body face down in the scrub. Antonelli asks the question.
"No... eight more."

Lou goes with him to recon the situation. When he returns he hustles us off of the trail a ways. "There is a guy riding up from the camp toward us. Probably this guy's relief."

"Well that's perfect then, we can take him the same way."
"Maybe so, but they're going to start missing these guys just the same."
He looks at the five of us.
"Let's just hope this next guy is packing the same firepower."