The Fall of America: Winter Ops (35 page)

“There’s a leftover biscuit on the rock there by the fire if you want it.”

“Thank ya kindly.”

“How long you been out here, in the desert I mean.”

“Let me see, I first come heah back in 1846, so it’s been twenty-two years.  Lord, how time flies by a man.”

Jake grinned and said, “Well, you missed the big fight back east then.”

“Twern't much, except fools killin’ fools over foolishness. I didn’t miss much in my eyes.”

“The Yanks said it was to free the slaves!”  

Tin Cup shrugged and replied, “I ain’t never owned no slaves and seen very few black people in my whole life. So the whole shindig had little to do with me.”

“I grew up in Mississippi, so I’ve seen my share of black folks, but the slavery issue would have died on its own, given time.”

“Mayhap, I ain’t got any view on slaves. I guess iffen I was a slave things would be different, but I ain’t.”

Jake laughed and asked, “You don’t know much about the war at all, do you?”

“Nope, I don’t, and don’t want to know. All I understand is we had Americans killing Americans, but fer what? Only a political jasper would call fer a war over a bunch of black people most of us ain’t never seen,” Tin Cup said and then turned his bacon with his knife tip.

“Well said, but it wasn’t fought just over slavery. The biggest reason for the war was states rights. See, in Mississippi we didn’t like the idea of some big wig in Washington making decisions that affected us, when he didn’t know Texas from Mississippi.  It ain’t a good thing. I felt it then and I still feel it.”

“I grew up in Missouri and I can tell ya right now, most of ‘em would have sided with the South or so it seems to me.”

Jake laughed once more and said, “Oh, they sided with us, but the state and Federal Government stepped in and brought ‘em into the fold of the Union.”

“Men must have been leavin’ the state by the thousands.”

“Yup, I’d say just about every unit in the confederacy had a few Missouri men in it.” Seeing Tin Cup’s bacon was about done, Jake said, “Help yourself to the coffee or I’ll have to throw it out in a bit.”

“Thanks.”

As the miner ate his simple meal, Jake looked up at the clear night sky and watched the countless stars sparkle. The desert nights were usually clear, but what had surprised him when he’d first arrived, was how cold the evening could get. The day could very well be 120 degrees and then that evening it would drop down into the lower 70’s. While not really cold, a fifty degree drop in temperature made it feel that way.

The miner reached over to place the coffee pot back on the flames and whispered, “We got comp’nee.”

“Injuns?”

“'Paches would be my guess.”

At that moment the coffee pot jumped about a foot in the air and exploded, followed a split-second later by a gunshot. Tin Cup threw sand on the fire and then scampered to the safety of the huge rocks behind him. Once beside Jake he complained, “Damned 'Paches! Every single time I’ve had a meal cut short it’s been ‘cause of them red bastards!”

Pulling a long piece of dried beef from his shirt Jake handed it to the miner and said, “Here, chew on some jerky for a spell. Only thing I ask is you eat fast, because we both know there will be an attack in a few minutes.”

“Yup, it’s comin’,” Tin Cup replied and then tore off a long strip of beef and stared working it.

Not a sound was heard and no movement seen for almost half an hour. Then, abruptly, the night air was filled with war cries and four men ran toward the rocks.

Jake raised his rifle, it barked twice and two warriors lay on the ground unmoving. Swinging his barrel to the right, he fired once, saw the man kicked back to the sand and immediately heard loud screams.  

Tin Cup fired his old Hawken rifle and smiled as a man dropped to the desert and began to thrash around.

“We need to check our back— ” Jake started to say when he saw two Apache almost in the rocks. He fired, missed and fired again, seeing one man go down. The second Apache struck the bounty hunter before he could give warning.

They rolled in the warm sand, with neither man gaining, when the warrior suddenly went stiff as his head went back, and he gave a loud pitiful scream. Throwing the man away from him, Jake stood, pulled his pistol and shot the man in the head. It was then he saw a big knife in the warriors back.

“Thanks for knifing that jasper.”

“Hell, I figured ya was playin’ with ‘em, but I needed another set of eyes in case them bastard’s charge us again. It ain’t a good idea fer jus’ one man to watch fer ‘Paches.”

By dawn, although they’d seen no movement, all but one of the dead warriors was gone. The remaining dead man was in the rocks with the two white men and could not be reached. As usual, Jake felt a shiver go down his spine when he saw the bodies were missing. While he might not like the Apache, he damned sure respected them as fighters.

“I know what yer thinkin’ and it ain’t natural like. Last night I saw a body and when I looked back a minute later it was gone.”

“I’m goin' to load up and move on to Tobacco Flats.”

“Mind iffen I ride along?  I’m headin’ that way to pick up some dynamite and supplies.  Be safer iffen we rode together.”

“It doesn’t matter to me, but you walk don’t you?”

“Usually, I do. Myrtle don’t mind iffen I ride sometimes and this looks like a good day to be mounted.”

“You mean because of them Apache?”

“Nope, ‘cause I’m dog-assed tired from no sleep.”

“If you’re goin’ with me, get your gear packed. I’m usually already on a trail by now.”

- - -

Jake Masters, Bounty Hunter
 

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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F1S4BAG
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