The Border Empire (27 page)

“That's exactly what we want,” said Wes. “I doubt we'll ever track down and kill all these varmints. The next best thing is to force them out of Mexico and back into Texas, to face a rope or the guns of Texas lawmen.”

“
Sí
,” El Lobo said. “We follow, kill them there.”

“That makes sense,” said Renita. “At least we won't be fighting the whole gang at the same time.”

“We're still a long way from driving them out of Mexico,” Wes said, “but it's something to look forward to.”

Well before moonrise, Wes and El Lobo rode out, Empty leading. They would find the outlaw camp, learn where the horses were picketed, and return for Renita and Tamara. While El Lobo said nothing, Wes had his misgivings, but eventually the women would become involved in the fight. The stampeding of the horses would be a good night's work. There would be much time and opportunity for shooting before the dragon was beaten.

“We lose the
perro,”
said El Lobo.

“Empty will find us when he's ready,” Wes replied. “He won't let us get too close to the outlaws.”

“Him
amigo,”
said El Lobo.
“Perro mucho hueso.”

Wes laughed. “Empty looks a mite bony, but it's the way of his kind. He looks half starved right after he's been fed. He belonged to my father, Nathan Stone, and I'll thank God every day I'm alive that he took to me.”

“The perro sees much of your father in you,” El Lobo said. “The Señor Nathan be
uno bueno hombre.”

They had stopped to rest the horses when Empty returned.

“We'd better leave the horses and continue on foot,” said Wes. “Empty's a good judge as to how close we can ride without giving ourselves away.”

Wes and El Lobo picketed their horses and, with Empty leading the way, crept carefully through the underbrush. They had to be cautious, for the wind was against them. The supper fires had burned down to ashes, and Wes counted half a dozen beds of live coals, as the night wind touched them.

“Horses not be all together,” El Lobo said softly.

“Damn rotten luck,” said Wes. “With the horses picketed in six bunches, there's no way we can spook them all at once.”

“There be four of us,” El Lobo said.

“It'll take some doing,” said Wes. “It'll depend on you and me gettin' in close enough to free all the horses.”

“Tamara one bunch, Renita one bunch,” El Lobo said. “Other, you and me.”

“It's a long shot, Wolf,” said Wes. “I'll have to stampede a herd of horses through a camp of armed men, combine them with a second bunch, and then spook the lot of 'em. So will you. There's a damn good chance one or both of us will be shot.”

“Hombres
sleep, no
luna,”
El Lobo said.

“That's about the only chance we have,” said Wes. “We'll wait until the moon's down and they're all asleep. But there may be sentries watching the horses.”

“El Lobo fix.”

El Lobo didn't fear sentries, for he could move through the darkness like a shadow, his lethal bowie knife dealing silent death.

“Let's go, then,” Wes said. “We'll need to explain this to Tamara and Renita. I want them to do exactly as they're told. Nothing more.”

As he had expected, Wes found Tamara and Renita eager to take part in the spooking of the horses.

“There are six camps,” Wes said, “and six different groups of horses. El Lobo and me will slip in among the horses and cut them loose. These camps are pretty well strung out, one adjoining the other. Renita, you and Tamara will stampede the horses belongin' to the two groups of horses farthest east. You'll stampede them to the north. El Lobo and me will each try to run two groups of horses to the west, and eventually north.”

“You take all the danger upon yourselves,” said Tamara. “To stampede two herds of the horses, each of you must drive one herd through an outlaw camp before reaching the second herd.”

“Sí,”
El Lobo said. “It is the only way.”

“It's not worth it,” said Renita, “if one or both of you are killed.”

“We don't aim to be,” Wes said. “El Lobo will go after the sentries before we loose the horses, and we'll wait until the outlaws are asleep before we begin the stampede. We'll want to drive the horses as far as possible, leaving the whole bunch of them afoot. After El Lobo and me have driven the four bunches a mile or so to the west, we'll turn them to the north. All or most of these men are from some outpost to the north of here, and with any luck, all these stampeded horses will head for their home corrals.”

“It is a beautiful plan,” said Tamara. “Where are we to meet you when the stampede is done?”

“Once we're shy of the outlaw camps,” Wes said, “we'll try to run our horses to the northeast. They should mingle with your horses, and we'll all come together at the tag end of the stampede. Watch for Empty. He's done this before, and he'll bring us together if we get separated.”

“When we stampede the horses, should we fire our guns?” Renita asked.

“No,” said Wes. “I think we'd better save our ammunition. Just screech as loud as you can. Besides, there's a muzzle flash when you shoot at night, and that provides targets for return fire.”

Well after midnight, when the moon had set, Empty led them back to within a mile of the outlaw encampment.

“Renita, you and Tamara wait here until we come for you,” said Wes.

“It be long walk,” El Lobo observed.

“Sí,”
said Wes, “but they're downwind from us. Any closer, and their horses would be nickerin' their heads off.”

“We'll have to ride in close for the stampede,” Renita said. “Suppose their horses begin to nicker before we're in position?”

“It's a chance we'll have to take,” said Wes. “Once we're ready to hit them, we'll have to move fast. Their horses have to be off and running before those outlaws can roll out of their blankets and go for their guns.”

Leaving their horses with Tamara and Renita, Wes and El Lobo set out on foot. When they were within several hundred yards of the first group of horses, they halted. Ahead of them, there was an intermittent wink of light as a man on watch drew on his quirly.
²¹

“Espera,”
El Lobo said.

In an instant he was gone. He well knew that if one of the outlaw camps had a man on watch, it was likely there would be one or more sentries at all of them. Wes waited for what seemed an hour, and El Lobo reappeared as abruptly as he had vanished.

“Hombres
on watch no watch,” said El Lobo.

“Horses picketed?”

“Sí,”
El Lobo replied. “Close.”

“We have our work cut out for us, then,” said Wes. “I'll work my way around to the farthest bunch of horses, while you start here. If it all goes sour and we're discovered, get away as quickly as you can and return to our horses.”

Wes made his way to the farthest of the outlaw camps and in the starlight counted eighteen horses. He paused when some of the animals raised their heads, continuing only when they had resumed grazing. The night wind touched the ashes of a supper fire, and a single live coal winked like an amber eye in the darkness. Wes moved in among the horses, touching a flank to calm an animal that seemed uneasy, slashing picket lines as he went. He marveled at the thoroughness of El Lobo, for not a trace of the sentries remained. A dead body—or just the smell of blood—would have been sufficient to spook the horses. Making his way to the next picketed horses, he counted fourteen. By the time he had freed the third bunch—a dozen—El Lobo was by his side. It was time to return for Renita and Tamara. Empty ran on ahead, announcing their coming.

“All the horses are loose,” Wes said. “Tamara, I'll position you and Renita just south of the farthest two bunches of horses. The very second you hear El Lobo and me yelling, gallop toward those horses, making all the noise you can. Once the horses are on the run, stay behind them for a while. We want to run them as far north as we can.”

“It is a wise move,” said Tamara, “but these are only a few of the outlaws.”

“Less than a hundred,” Wes said, “but we have to start somewhere. After we've put enough of them afoot, we'll have the varmints afraid to sleep.”

Leaving El Lobo near the first of the outlaw camps, Wes guided Renita and Tamara to the north. Once they were well beyond the farthest camps, they circled back to the south.

“Renita,” said Wes, “this is your position. You can barely see the grazing horses from here.”

“I see them,” Renita said.

Wes rode on, Tamara following, until they could see the grazing horses near the last of the outlaw camps.

“Sit tight,” said Wes, “until El Lobo and me start raising hell. When you join in, give it all you've got.”

Wes rode back to El Lobo, and they circled to the southwest, coming in to the south of the remaining four bunches of horses. Their timing had to be exact, for each of them had to drive a bunch of horses through an outlaw camp, uniting it with the bunch of horses on the other side. They would then attempt, after stampeding the combined herd to the west, to head them north. Hopefully, their four bunches would combine with the two that Renita and Tamara would stampede. Wes counted slowly to a hundred, allowing El Lobo to reach his position.

“Hieeeeyaaah,” Wes shouted, kicking his grulla into a fast gallop.

There were immediate shouts, sounding like echoes of his own, from his companions. Some of the loosed horses nickered in fear, spooking the others, and they were all off and running. Sleeping men, rudely awakened, scrambled to escape flying hooves. Wes ran his first bunch of horses into the second, and then the combined lot into the two bunches El Lobo had stampeded. Thus three groups of the sleeping outlaws were in the path of the entire thundering herd. Struck by hooves, men cried out in pain. Others responded in the worst possible manner, firing into the darkness and spooking the horses all the more. Soon the sound of the galloping horses was lost to distance. When they began to slow, Wes and El Lobo got ahead of them, turning the leaders north. They had pushed them not more than three miles when they converged with the bunches stampeded by Renita and Tamara.

“Por
Dios,” Tamara cried, “never have I enjoyed anything so much.”

“Nor I,” said Renita. “It worked just as you planned. They shot at everything but us.”

“We took them by surprise,” Wes said. “If there had been more horses, we couldn't have pulled it off.”

“Mucho suerte,”
said El Lobo.
²²

“They've lost their horses and some men,” Wes said. “They'll be more careful now.”

The night was full of angry, cursing men, but they grew somber when they found the bodies of six of their companions who had been on watch. Each of the unfortunate sentries had bled to death from a slashed throat.

 

Some of the outlaws were about to venture forth on foot in search of their horses when Jarvis and Sandlin arrived. Jules Sumner, Skull Rudabaugh, and Burke Packer were part of the unhorsed bunch, and none of them was in a mood for embarrassing questions from Jarvis or Sandlin. But with their horses gone and their camp a shambles of smashed coffeepots and trampled blankets, little explanation was necessary.

“By God,” said Jarvis, “when will you men learn to stand watch over your horses?”

“There were six men on watch,” Skull Rudabaugh snapped, “and every one of 'em had his throat slit. You reckon you could have done any better?”

“Jarvis,” said Sandlin, “perhaps he has a point. One can only go so far with precautionary measures. We have underestimated the resourcefulness of these men who have set out to destroy us. All of you gather around, for I have something to say.”

Many of the men had never met Sandlin, and Jarvis felt an introduction was in order.

“This is Cord Sandlin,” Jarvis said.

It all seemed a bit ridiculous, and somebody laughed, but Sandlin ignored it.

“Within the next several days,” said Sandlin, “the rest of the men who were gathered in Durango should be here. All of you will then cover every inch of these hills surrounding Mexico City and Toluca until you discover and destroy this pair of marauders. Forget any orders given you about taking them alive. They're to be shot on sight.”

“What about the pair of whores they took from Mazatlán?” one of the men asked. “Do we got to shoot them, too?”

“Yes,” Sandlin said. “Kill them all.”

“I reckon we got no room to complain,” said Burke Packer, “but we got no horses. I doubt we can find this many horses in all of Mexico.”

“Perhaps that won't be as much a problem as you think,” Sandlin said. “Bear in mind that we have men riding in from Durango. How many, Jarvis?”

“Five hundred or more,” said Jarvis.

“I can't imagine these men not gathering those loose horses,” Sandlin said. “If they don't have sense enough to know something's wrong here, they'll answer to me.”

“We're goin' to wait for them, then,” said Jarvis.

“We are,” Sandlin replied. “We're going to end this foolish conflict once and for all.”

 

Many miles to the north, the stampeded horses were grazing alongside a creek. They lifted their heads and watched the approaching horsemen, more than fifty strong.

“This is an almighty lot of horses to just be wanderin' around loose,” one of the outlaws observed.