I shall cut slowly, very slowly. You will seel” Bastion lay on his shoulder, staring at the half-breed. Stooping over him, the Yaqui pricked him with the knife point, but Bastion did not move.
Enraged, Fernandez tossed up the knife and caught it in his fist. “You do not jump, eh? I make you jump!” Viciously, he stabbed down, and Mike, braced for the stab, turned to his back and kicked out with both feet. The heels of his boots caught Fernandez on the knees and knocked him over backwards. As he fell, Mike rolled to his knees and jerked hard at the rawhide binding his wrists. Something snapped, and Mike pulled and strained. Fernandez was on his feet, recovering his fallen knife. Fighting the ropes that tied him, Bastian threw himself at Fernandez’s legs, but the Yaqui leaped back, turning to face him with knife in hand. Bastian turned himself, keeping his feet toward the other man, then as the outlaw moved in, Mike lifted his bound feet and slashed downward. His spurs caught the outlaw on the inside of the thigh, slashing down, ripping his striped pant leg and cutting a deep gash in his leg. Fernandez staggered, cursing, and Bastian jerked hard on his bound wrists and felt something give. The rawhide ropes started to fall away, and shaking them loose he whirled himself around and grabbed at the outlaw’s ankle, jerking it toward him.
Fernandez came down with a crash, but fighting like an injured wildcat, he attempted to break free.
Mike, grasping Fernandez’s wrist with one hand, took his throat with the other, shutting down with all the strength developed from years of training for just such trouble. Struggling, the man tried to break free, but Mike’s grip was too strong. Fernandez’s face went dark with blood. He struggled, thrashed, and his struggles grew weaker. Releasing his grip on the man’s throat, Bastian slugged him viciously on the chin, then hit him again. Taking the knife from the unconscious man’s hand, Mike cut his ankles free and stood up, chafing his wrists to get the circulation back. Now-I A moment, he hesitated. Looking down at the unconscious man. Fernandez was wearing no gun but usually had one. It could have been left outside the door. Careful to make no sound, as he had no idea what awaited, he moved to the door and opened it cautiously.
The street before him was deserted. His hands felt awkward from their long constraint and he worked his fingers continually. He pushed the door wider and stepped into it. The first thing he saw was Fernandez’s gunbelt hanging over the back of a chair.
He had taken two steps toward it when a man stepped out of the bunkhouse. The fellow had a toothpick in his hand and was just putting it to his mouth when he saw Mike Bastian. Letting out a yelp of surprise he dropped the toothpick and went for his gun.
It was scarcely fifteen feet and Mike threw the knife underhanded, pitching it point first off the palm of his hand. It flashed in the sun as the gun lifted.
The man grunted and dropped his gun, reaching for the hilt of the knife buried in his stomach, his features twisted with shock. Mike grabbed Fernandez’s gunbelt and slung it on, one gun-butt forward, the other back. Then he ran for the boardinghouse where his own guns had been taken from him. He sprang through the door, then froze. Doc Sawyer was there with a shotgun in his hands. Four of Perrin’s men were backed against the wall. “I’ve been waiting for you,” Doc said. “I didn’t want to kill these men but wasn’t about to try tying them up.” Mike’s gunbelt was on the table. He stripped off Fernandez’s guns and belted on his own, then thrust both of Fernandez’s guns into his waistband. “Down on the floor!” he ordered them. “On your faces!” It was the work of minutes to hogtie all four. He gathered their weapons. “Where’s Roundy?” “I haven’t seen him since he walked out of the boardinghouse. He just stepped out and disappeared.
I’ve been wondering.” “Forget him. Let’s go up to the house and get Ben Curry, then we can figure this out. We don’t have much time. They’re headed for the V-BaT.” Doc looked sick. “I didn’t know. My lord! And those womenfolks-to “ Together they went out the back door and walked along the line of buildings. Mike carried his hat in his hand, the easier to be recognized. He knew that Ben could see them, and he wanted to be recognized. Sawyer was excited but trying to be calm. He had seen many gun battles but had never been directly involved in one.
Side by side, gambling against a shot from the stone house or someone of the Perrin outfit they had not rounded up, they mounted the stone stairs to the house.
There was no sound from within. Opening the door they stepped into the living room and looked around.
There was no sign of life. On the floor was a box of rifle cartridges scattered over the carpet.
A muffled cry reached them, and Mike paused, listening. Then he ran out of the room and up the staircase to the fortress room. He stopped abruptly. Sawyer was only a step behind him.
This was the room no outsider had seen, not even Doc. A thick-walled stone room with water trickling into it from a stone pipe, falling into a trough and then out through a hole in the bottom of a large stone basin. The supply of water could not be cut off, and there was a supply of food stored in the mom.
The door was heavy and could be locked from within.
Nothing short of dynamite could blast a way into this room.
This was Ben Curry’s last resort, but he lay on the floor now, his face twisted with pain.
“Broke more’ legs Tried to move too fast an’ I’m too heavyl “Slipped on the steps, dragged more’self up here.” He looked up at Mike. “Good for you, son! I was afraid they’d killed you. Got away by yourself, did you?” “Yes, Pa.” Ben looked at him, then away.
Sawyer had dropped to his knees, examining the older man’s leg. “This is a bad break, Ben.
We won’t be able to move you very far.” “Get me a mattress to lay on where I can see out of the window. You an’ me, Mike. We’ll handle “eml” “I can’t stay, pa. I’ve got to go.” Ben Curry’s face turned gray with shock.
He stared, unbelieving. “Boy, I never thought-was “You don’t understand, pa. I know where Perrin’s gone. He’s off to raid the V-Bar. He wants the cattle and the women. He figured he could get you any time.” The old man lunged with a wild effort to get up, but Doc pushed him back. Before he could speak, Mike explained what had happened, then added, “You’ve got to tell me how you cross the Colorado. With luck I can beat them to the ranch.” Ben Curry relaxed slowly. He was himself again, and despite the pain Mike knew he was feeling, Curry’s brain was working. “You could do it, but it will take some riding. They’re well on their way by now, and Kerb will know where to get fresh horses. He won’t waste time.” He leaned back, accepting the bottle Sawyer brought to him. “I never was much on this stuff, but right now-was He took a long drink, then eased his position a little. Quickly but coolly, he outlined the trip that lay ahead. “You can do it,” he added, “but that’s a narrow, dangerous trail. The first time we went over it we lost a man and two horses.
“Once you get to the river you’ll find an old Navajo. Been a friend of mine for years. He keeps some horses for me and watches the trail.
Once across the river you get a horse from him. He knows about you.” Mike got to his feet and picked up some added ammunition. “Make him comfortable, Doe. Do all you can.” “What about Dave Lddenaker?” Doc protested.
“I’ll handle Lenakerl” Curry flared. “I may have a busted leg but I can still handle a gun. You get a splint on the leg and rig me some kind of a crutch. I’ll take it from there!” He paused. “I’m going to kill him when he shows in that street, but if something happens and you have to do it, Mike, don’t hesitate. If you kill either Perrin or Ducrow you’d be doing the west a favor. I’ve been thinkin” of it for years.
“But remember this about Lenaker. If I miss out somehow or you see him first, watch his left handl” Mike went down the steps to his own room and picked up his .44 Winchester rifle. It was the work of a minute to throw a saddle on a horse. Ben Curry and Doc could hold out for weeks in that room if need be, but the risk was dynamite thrown through or against the window. He would have to ride to the Red Wall and get back as quickly as possible.