I hope youre one of them Diego wanted, Valdez said. He turned toward the yellow brittlebush, loading the Remington.
Where was he? the segundo asked.
He must have been in them bushes and fired on them as they come by, the rider said. I was back a piece, up on the west side looking for his sign. When I heard the gunfire I lit up this way and they was coming out of the draw.
The segundo held up his hand. Wait. You dont want to tell it so many times. He squinted under his straw hat brim toward Tanner, mounted on his bay, looking down at them in the arroyo.
Tanner saw the two bodies sprawled in the dry bed. He saw the dead horse and the yellow-baked ground stained dark at the horses head. He saw the segundo and a man standing next to him and a half dozen mounted men and a riderless horse nibbling at the brittlebush. Tanner kicked the bay down the bank to the stream bed. He stared at the dead men, then at the segundo, a stub of a cigar clamped in his jaw.
This man, the segundo said, is one of the four we left.
You left, Tanner said.
I left. He says they went south looking for a sign of him. Then after a while the piss-ant you hired, something Davis, he come back this way.
Let him tell it, Tanner said, judging the man next to the segundo as he looked at him.
Well, as he says we worked south a ways, the rider said. Davis come back first and we spread out some. Then these two here must have started back. I was down there a mile and a half, two miles he pointed south, more at ease now, a thumb hooked in his belt when I heard the shots and come on back.
Where were they? Tanner said.
When I come back? They were laying there. He must have been in the bushes and fired on them as they come by. As I got close they was coming up out of the draw and going west.
Whos they? Tanner asked him.
Two men and a woman.
You saw them good?
Well, I was off a ways, but I could see her hair, long hair flying in the wind.
Youre saying it was Mrs. Erin?
Yes sir, Id put my hand on the Book it was.
You see Valdez?
Not his face, but it must have been him. One of these boys here was blowed off by a scatter gun.
That one, the segundo said. This one, I dont know, forty-four or forty-five, in the chest twice, close together.
Thats five men hes killed, Tanner said. He drew on the cigar stub; it was out, and he threw it to the ground. What about Davis?
The rider looked up. I figured he was the other one with them. Once I saw he wasnt around here.
Thats the strange thing, the segundo said. Why would the man want to take him? Hes worth nothing to him.
Unless he went with him on his own, Tanner said. Mark him down as another one,
a dead man when we catch up with them.
Well get him for you, the rider said.
Tanner looked down at him from the bay horse. Did you fire at them?
Yes sir, I got down and laid against the cutbank for support and let go till they was out of range.
Did you hit anybody?
I dont believe so.
But you might have.
Yes sir, I mightve.
That range you couldnt tell.
They was two hundred yards when I opened up.
You could have hit one though.
Yes sir.
You could have hit the woman, Tanner said to him.
No sir, I wasnt aiming at her. No, I couldnt have hit her. There wasnt any chance I couldve. See, I was aiming just at Valdez and he was a good piece from the woman.
Tanner looked at the segundo. Put him against the bank and shoot him.
The rider said, Mr. Tanner, there was no chance I couldve hit her! I swear to God thats the truth!
The segundo felt the tobacco in his cheek, rolling it with his tongue as his eyes moved from the rider to Frank Tanner, looking at Tanner now but aware of the mounted men behind him and those up on the bank watching. The segundo said, We lost five now. We shoot our own, thats six, but the same as Valdez killed him. How many you want to give for this man?
As many as it takes, Tanner said.
Instead of shoot him, the segundo said, we make him ride point. The first one Valdez sees if hes up there waiting. What do you think of that?
The rider was watching Tanner. Ill ride point. Mister, Ill cut his sign, too, and get him for you.
Tanner stared down from his judgment seat on the bay horse. He let the man hang on the edge for a long moment before he said, All right, this time, saying no more than that, but holding his eyes on the man to let him know how close he had come.
The segundo said to the rider, Start now, come on. He was aware of the men on the bank, beyond Tanner, moving in their saddles, a man wiping his hand across his mouth and another loosening his hat and putting it on again. They were glad it was over. They had killed men, most of them had, but they didnt want to put this one against the bank and shoot him. That would be the end of it. In a few days they would all be gone.
So that was done. The segundo walked over to Tanners bay; he touched the horses withers, feeling the smooth flesh quiver and patting it gently. We have him now, the segundo said, in a voice only for Tanner. Yesterday he could take us where he wants with plenty of time. Today he has maybe an hour. He has to run and now he doesnt have no more time.