The gold, he knew, had to end up with old Mart Summers. Finders keepers—that was the oldest rule of justice in the world. It was one that Blade believed in. There were not many rules on the frontier, but the few there were had to be upheld by honest men.
But honest men, he told himself, had sometimes to be as cunning as the crooks. So...
When he had enough spare fuel for an hour or more of good heat, he squatted down and said: ‘Let’s talk about the gold.’
Salome looked at him with some ferocity—‘There ain’t no call to talk about the gold. It belongs to me and Roxy. So keep your dirty thoughts off’n it, Blade.’
‘Hear me out, will you?’ said Blade. ‘Talk can’t hurt.’
‘Oh, yes it can, sweetheart,’ said Roxanne, ‘when it separates me an’ Sal from our gold.’
‘Will you just listen for a minute? Harry and the rest of his crew have been hurt trying for this gold. They’re getting madder as they get hurt more. Pretty soon or even right now, they’re ready to kill even you two girls. They’ve seen what you can do. If we stay together, we could all get killed. If we split up, maybe only one of us will get killed. What I’m suggesting is: we divide up the gold between us and scatter.’
The old man yelled with protest, ‘You ain’t dividin’ up my gold, young feller.’
In the same moment, Salome shouted at him: ‘Nobody ain’t takin’ our gold.’
The old man’s sharp ears caught a sound. He held up a hand for silence. ‘Listen, for God’s sake.’
They all listened.
‘I can’t hear a thing,’ said Roxanne.
‘I heard iron on rock,’ Mart Summers told them.
Blade said sharply to Salome: ‘Give me a gun and quit playing the fool, Salome. You can’t stop Lister any more than you can fly.’
Salome said with small jaw out-thrust: ‘No gun, Blade.’
‘Will you hush?’ hissed the old man at them. ‘There it is again.’
Now Blade heard it.
‘There’s somebody in the tunnel,’ he said.
They all turned and stared at the low slit through which Blade had escaped from Lister. He glanced from one girl to the other and saw they were both scared. He stood up and as he did so something cold was thrust into his hand. It was a revolver. Roxanne had given it to him. He looked at Salome and saw no objection on her face. Automatically, he checked the load. There were four bullets in the chamber. Not enough for a real fight, but better than nothing. He went into the rear of the cave and lay down, thrusting head and shoulders through the narrow opening. He stared uselessly into the pitch dark of the deep cavern.
Below him and from no more than six-foot away came a voice, ‘Mister, you sing out or I’m liable to blow your head off,’
‘Doke,’ exclaimed Blade in profound relief.
Doke’s uncertain voice answered: ‘Is this you, Joe?’
‘It sure is,’ Blade replied. ‘And you’d best have the gold with you or our two beauties will take you apart with their bare hands.’
‘Where’s Lister?’
‘God knows.’
‘Reach down, Joe. I have a parfleche of gold. It’s damned heavy.’ Blade heard Doke grunting as he heaved the great weight up. Blade grasped at the hide portmanteau and almost had his arms pulled from their sockets.
‘Doke, you must have a fortune here.’
Doke laughed: ‘You and me’re going to live fat for the rest of our lives, Joe.’
‘Don’t you kid yourself,’ said Blade. ‘The girls’re holding the guns. If they don’t get it, the old man will.’ Blade heaved the heavy load on to the shelf beside him. He reached down for Doke’s hand and pulled him up as well. The effort left him panting.
Doke sat down and said: ‘We ain’t doing too well, are we, Joe?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Blade. ‘The girls’re hellish pretty and you’ve been sober for a while. That can’t be bad.’
‘Get off my back, Joe,’ said Doke. ‘You don’t think I like being a soak, do you?’
They crawled into the cave, dragging the parfleche between them. The girls’ faces lit up when they heard the clink of Spanish coin.
‘You did it,’ cried Salome in rapture. ‘You’re wonderful, Doke.’
Old Mart Summers yelped: ‘That’s my goddam gold you’re gloatin’ over.’
Roxanne said: ‘You behave yourself, old man, and we’ll see what we can spare you.’ She took the gun from Blade.
Mart danced a dance of pure rage. He turned on Blade: ‘Ain’t you goin’ to do somethin’ about this, young Blade? Christ, your daddy’ll turn in his grave to see you sittin’ around while an’ old man gets robbed blind.’
Blade spread his hands: ‘What can I do? I don’t have a gun. These two girls’re dead shots and they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot. Ain’t I right, girls?’
They agreed he was right. Salome said: ‘Now, we rest up here till this rain stops. Then we head down for the horses. How far off is dark, Joe?’
‘An hour.’
‘All right,’ she said, ‘we get what sleep we can. Light or dark we start out when the rain’s gone. I’ll stay awake first. Roxie, you get some shut eye. You men stay clear of me now. Roxie, you come over here by me so none of them can get a hand on a gun.’
‘I’m starvin’,’ said Doke.
Salome made a face: ‘Don’t even mention food. I could eat a mule.’
‘We should have somebody out there on the shelf to watch the valley,’ Blade said. ‘Lister’ll come this way before he’s through.’
Salome said confidently: ‘I can watch from here. None of you men’re goin’ to be out of my sight.’
‘Have it your own way,’ said Blade. ‘Just I don’t want to wake up and have Lister holding a gun on me.’ He built up the fire and lay down with his feet to it, his head on the gold.
‘It’s my gold,’ said the old man, ‘and you don’t have no goddam right to lay your fool head on it.’
‘It’ll give me dreams of untold riches,’ Blade said and tilted has hat over his eyes against the bright firelight. Every now and then a gust of wind blew the rain into the cave and it hissed in the fire.
Doke sat down by Blade and said: ‘Come dark, Lister and his boys will see that fire from a mile off.’
Salome said: ‘Come dark, the rain’ll stop and we’ll be on our way. You’ll see.’
She was not far wrong. A half-hour after dark, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started. Roxie woke Blade with a kiss and he had to admit out loud that he had been awoken in more unpleasant ways during his time in this vale of tears. He sat up to become immediately aware of the silence of the great mountains. Old Mart Summers was on his feet, stretching and yawning. Doke swore softly as he opened his eyes to a world in which the women held the guns.
Blade patted Roxanne’s bottom and walked out on to the shelf. He would not have been surprised if Lister or one of his men had taken a shot at him from the cover of darkness. He would be nicely silhouetted against the flame of the fire. The chill night air of the high country cut into him and brought him to full clear-headedness. He knew that now the girls would make him and Doke carry the gold down the mountain. Which was something easier said than done. Getting off the ledge with the stuff would be dangerous. It had been hard enough coming up with empty hands.
He smiled to himself. He imagined Lister out there in the darkness, waiting for them to carry the gold down into the valley for him. He might even allow them to get as far as the horses. Blade reckoned the gunman would kill all of them. He would have to. Blade cursed himself for possessing a vivid imagination. Just the same, his thoughts disturbed him. The girls might be thieves, but he didn’t want to see either of them killed. Women of their verve were rare enough, God knew.
He went back into the cave and discussed with Doke how they would get their two burdens off the shelf. Doke was not partial to the idea of carrying the gold down the mountain at all.
‘Hell, Joe,’ he said, ‘if we was ca
rryin’ it ourselves—that would be a different matter. But to risk our necks just so these two girls can have spendin’ money for the rest of their lives—why, I ain’t too enthusiastic about that.’
Salome threw him a loving glance.
‘Doke, boy,’ she said, soft and sweet as honey, ‘I’ll spend some of it on you. I can’t be fairer than that.’
‘You could split it five ways,’ said Doke.
‘You young son-of-a-bitch,’ yelled the old man. ‘That’s my gold you’re divvyin’ up.’
Salome said: ‘Cut the cackle, boys. You’re goin’ to tote that gold just as far as we want. So you might as well get started.’
Blade said: ‘It’s goin’ to be difficult without a rope. A forty foot rope would make it a cinch.’
The old man stopped complaining and was suddenly and unexpectedly co-operative.
‘A rope is it?’ he said. ‘Old Mart Summers was never short of a rope.’ He unbuckled his belt and opened his coat. There, wound around his waist was a rawhide rope. ‘Keeps you kinda warm when the night strikes chill.’ He slowly unwound it and tossed it to Blade. You’ll find there’s more than forty foot there, son.’
‘Any objection to me cutting it, Mr. Summers?’ Blade asked.
The old man considered the question for a moment, then said: ‘If it helps to pack the gold, go ahead.’
With Blade and Doke carrying their heavy bags, they all went out on to the shelf. Blade lashed the rope around his bag and told Doke to lower it to him when he gave the word. The girls watched him go from view over the edge and a moment later heard the light scrabble of small rocks and dirt as he made his way slowly down the rocky wall. Once they heard him curse as he momentarily missed his footing, then they heard him calling softly to Doke who started to lower the first parfleche into the darkness.
After a few minutes they heard him call: ‘Keno, Doke. I have it.’ Doke pulled the rope back up and repeated the performance. Salome grew uneasy. She was not at all happy to have Blade down there alone with the gold. Doke persuaded her that her fears were groundless.
‘I’ll do the frettin’ about the gold, girlie,’ said old Mart. ‘It’s my gold remember.’
The second parfleche went from sight. Salome said: ‘Hurry it up, Doke boy. I shan’t rest easy till I have my eye on that gold again.’
‘You are not exhibitin’ a pretty side to your nature, Sal girl,’ said Doke.
She pouted: ‘After what we went through for that gold, I have a right to be greedy.’
‘Haul away,’ Blade called from below.
Doke pulled up the rope and called down: ‘I’m goin’ to start lowering the girls.’
Salome went first, Winchester gripped tightly in one hand. Now it was Roxanne’s turn to be nervous, for she reckoned that Blade could overpower her cousin and take the weapon from her as she came down. But a few minutes later, Salome called up happily that she was landed. Roxanne went next with Doke clinging to the rope above and gradually paying it out. Then it was old Mart’s turn.
‘You next, old-timer,’ Doke said cheerfully.
Mart’s tone withered him. ‘I been climbin’ these hills since I was in my ’teens, boy. I know every inch blindfold and I don’t need a goddam rope.’
Doke watched him disappear over the edge and followed him. When he reached where the others awaited him he found that the old man was lashing the parfleche to Blade’s back and was fitting him up with a head-band to help him take the weight on a difficult downward walk. Blade stood up and tried the pack out, declaring: ‘This ain’t at all bad.’ Doke asked for the same treatment and within ten minutes they were both ready to act as mules.
‘I reckon we’ve earned a high class dinner in Denver with all the trimmings, girls,’ Blade said.
‘You can say that again,’ said Doke.
‘And you shall have it,’ cried Roxanne. ‘The best money can buy.’
‘Stop talkin’ about my gold that way,’ yelled the old man.
Blade held up a warning hand. ‘Hush up,’ he said. ‘Listen.’
They were all silent, listening to the night sounds.
The old man said: ‘There’s men and horses right below us.’
‘Which way’re they headed?’ Blade asked softly.
‘Back toward the Denver road,’ Mart answered.
‘Goddammit to hell,’ said Salome.
Blade said: ‘If they keep headed for the road, they shouldn’t come on our horses.’
Roxanne put in: ‘They’ll be waitin’ on the road for us.’
Blade was not down-hearted. ‘Then,’ he said, ‘we shall have to keep our eyes open for them. We can make it if we’re smart.’
Roxanne said: ‘You almost sound as if you want us to get to town with the gold.’
‘Well, I don’t want two beautiful women dead,’ said Blade. ‘That’s for sure. It would be one hell of a waste.’
‘Get on and cut the gabbin’,’ said Salome crisply.
The old man advised: ‘Stay still till they’re out of earshot Sound carries in these hills.’
Blade and Doke sat and rested their awkward packs against rocks. The old man spat and said: ‘There’s at least four of ’em down there. Thank God that Indian ain’t with ’em. He’d of heard us for sure.’
They waited, listening to the faint clatter of distant horses. Now and then the wind lifted the sound of men’s voices to them. Slowly the small sounds drifted away and they heard only the sound of the wind sighing sadly around the great mountain. Far off a lobo sang its plaintive wilderness song.
‘Christ,’ said the old man, ‘how I hate that sound. I heard it for nigh on seventy years, an’ I still hate it like the first time I ever heard it Makes a man think of evil spirits an’ such.’
Salome said: ‘Shut up, you old fool, you’re giving me the creeps.’
The old man retorted: ‘Stealin’ my gold don’t give you the right to forget your manners, child.’
Salome snorted and said: ‘Go ahead, boys. Get totin’ that gold.’
Blade and Doke struggled to their feet and began slowly to go down, bracing themselves against the great weight that bore them downward.
For the, next hour or so they advanced slowly down the mountain. Every now and then, the girls called for a halt while they listened to make sure there were no horsemen traveling near them. The rain held off and the going was not too difficult. Just the same, the weights that Blade and Doke were carrying were considerable and by the time they started picking their way through the rocks of the valley below, they were pretty tired men. When they slowed their pace, Salome urged them on. They didn’t have all night, she told them. She was acutely uneasy. She did not like the way Lister and his men had simply disappeared. He wasn’t the kind of man to be put off easily. She felt he must be somewhere around, ready to pounce.
‘I have a feeling,’ said Blade, ‘that he’s pounced already.’
Sharply, Salome demanded; ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘That he’s found our animals.’
Salome said: ‘Don’t be a damn fool, Blade. There’s no chance that could happen. You took them ’way off the trail, didn’t you?’
‘Lister wasn’t born yesterday.’
‘He doesn’t have the Indian with him now.’
‘We’ll see,’ said Blade. ‘Taking our animals would settle our hash nicely. I don’t doubt they have had enough of killing by now.’
Old Man Summers said: ‘No riff-raff like that Lister is gettin’ his thievin’ hands on my money. You ain’t spendin’ it, young woman, an’ he ain’t’
Salome laughed.
They tramped on, climbing slowly down into the lower valley. Towards dawn, they came near to the cut-off where Blade had taken the animals off the main trail.
Blade halted and placed his burden on the ground.
‘Girls,’ he said, ‘one of us should go ahead and check the animals. Maybe Lister is still hangin’ around for the chance of a shot at us.’
‘An hour or more,’ Blade answered.
‘All right,’ said Salome, ‘Blade you go ahead and scout for those animals. Roxanne, go with him. I’ll stay and keep an eye on these two and the gold.’
Blade said to Doke: ‘Watch out, boy, that Salome is a man-eater.’
Doke grinned happily.
‘She can devour me any day she wants,’ he said.
Old Mart said: ‘Disgustin’. In my day, women weren’t so tarnation forward.’
Doke and Blade carried the parfleches of gold and placed them in the nearby rocks. Salome sat on one of them saying that if anybody wanted the gold they would have to kill her first. Old Mart said: and don’t think for one little minute he wouldn’t do it. It was his gold and an old defenseless man had a right...
Blade and Roxanne headed down the valley, leaving Doke sitting beside Salome and the old man mumbling on.
As soon as they were out of sight of the others, Roxanne took Blade’s hand like a small child and said: ‘Joe, this is sure marvelous, you’n me walkin’ hand in hand in the wilderness. If we had some of that gold, we could just light out and never look back.’
Blade said: ‘You treacherous little devil.’ He spoke half in admiration. He wondered if Salome was thinking the same thought. She probably was.
‘Roxanne,’ he said, ‘if the animals are gone, we’re in trouble.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ she said. ‘But we’ll handle that problem when we come to it. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.’
They walked a couple of miles and were nearing the spot where they would have to turn off the main trail when they halted abruptly. Ahead of them in the moonlight stood a solitary and motionless figure.
Blade’s right hand went to his holster and he was reminded unpleasantly that he was unarmed. Roxanne, though startled, had her wits about her. She pointed the Winchester at the figure and said: ‘Sing out or I fire.’
A voice said: ‘Don’t fire, missy. It’s Sam. Blade there knows me.’
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