Cordonna shouted to his sergeant. “Bonilla, how many have you?”
“Fifteen, Lieutenant.”
Cordonna looked at the two bandits from the train. “These also?” Rivera nodded and pushed them forward. “What about the girl?”
Dillinger swung around quickly. “She’s only a kid.”
“Like all Americans you are a sentimentalist,” Rivera said. “I would remind you that it was the girl who carried the arms on board, relying on the fact that she wouldn’t be searched. She is directly responsible for the conductor’s death.”
Cordonna grinned. “What a pity. I could find a better use for her.” He sent her staggering toward Bonilla. “Six at a time. Detail ten men.”
The windows of the second-class coach were crowded with faces, but there was no sound as the troopers pulled carbines from their scabbards and dismounted. They marched the bandits a short distance from the train and lined up the first six at the edge of a small hollow.
Cordonna strolled toward them, paused, and barked an order. The sound of the volley echoed back from the mountains.
Cordonna and Sergeant Bonilla drew their revolvers and moved forward as two of the fallen started to scream. Dillinger glanced at Rivera’s impassive face, then looked across at the Indian girl.
Dillinger turned, climbed up into the train, and went along to Rivera’s compartment. Villa was sitting on the bunk and Fallon lounged in the doorway, the barrel of his revolver propped across his left forearm.
“I’ll take over here,” Dillinger said.
“If you think I’m going to get any pleasure from watching that bunch outside, you’re mistaken.”
“Then go and have a smoke or something. I’d like a word with our friend here.”
“Suit yourself,” Fallon said, and he went away along the corridor.
Out of the silence, as Villa and Dillinger looked at each other. Cordonna’s voice drifted, sharp and clear on the morning air. There was no fear on Villa’s face, only strength and a blazing intelligence.
“In case you have failed to discover the fact for yourself, I should inform you that the patron enjoys this sort of thing.”
“He called you a murderer.”
“Quite true, senor. He had a foreman at his hacienda, and I had a young wife who killed herself. It did not take me long to discover the reason. It seemed to me that I was justified in putting my knife between his ribs. The patron thought otherwise.”
“I thought it would be something like that.” The silence was broken by another volley. Dillinger moved out into the corridor and opened the door on the other side. He turned to Villa. “You’d better get going. You haven’t much time.”
“For what, a bullet in the head, senor?”
Dillinger took the remains of his packet of Artistas from his pocket and tossed it across. “You can keep them.”
Villa’s face split in a wide grin. “Sometimes God looks down through the clouds, senor. It is almost enough to give a man faith again.”
He jumped down to the ground and ran for a narrow gully that curved up into the scrub that covered the lower slopes. Dillinger watched him disappear, then broke the revolver and emptied the rounds into his hand. He threw the rounds away and turned as the third volley crashed out.
A moment later Rivera climbed up and immediately frowned at the sight of the open door. “What has happened?”
“I’m afraid Villa got away,” Dillinger said.
Cordonna appeared in the doorway at ground level and stood there listening. Rivera said, “Why didn’t you shoot him?”
“I tried to.” Dillinger took the revolver from his pocket and handed it across. “Unfortunately, the damned thing wasn’t loaded.”
As Dillinger turned from the rage in Rivera’s eyes, Cordonna ran for his horse, calling to his men. Dillinger moved along the coach between the staring people and sat down beside Fallon.
“What’s all the excitement?” Fallon asked.
“Villa got away.”
As the train moved forward with a sudden jerk, Fallon said, “Johnny, I kind of think you and that fellow you just let get away have a few things in common.”
Six
Dillinger had had enough of the train to last him. “I can’t wait till they get my Chevy on the ground again,” he told Fallon. “I want to pay my first call on what’s-her-name-Rose-the lady at the hotel.”