“Where’s the other one?” someone asked.
Joseph’s voice was tense, but that worked in his favor as he quickly recited what Nick had told him to say. “Bertram wanted to ride ahead to the fort to make sure it was clear. We’re to follow right behind him.”
The man who’d asked the question had a long face and a mustache that hung down past his chin. His eyes were narrowed as if they were constantly fighting the sun’s glare. “I been around these parts for a while and I never seen no fort.”
One of the other riders was younger and looked about ready to start running if his horse didn’t get moving soon enough. “I seen a lynch mob ride from out of nowhere once and they blasted the hell outta a gang of horse thieves! They come from the south just like he says.”
Joseph nodded. “The fort’s five or six miles to the southeast. Anyone that would rather take their chances on their own can do what they like. Bertram told me to bring you men to the new camp and that’s what I aim to do. If you stay behind, I suggest you keep on riding and forget about any sort of job.”
As Joseph was starting to ride away, he heard something that he hadn’t been expecting.
“To hell with this,” the young horseman said. “That lynch mob hung those men from a pole and left ’em there for days with piss stains on their pants for the world to see. I ain’t getting strung up like that.” With that, the young man lowered his head and steered his horse away from the rest so quickly he almost twisted the poor animal’s neck.
“You damn coward!” the man with the long face said. “What the hell did you expect you was gonna do to earn yer pay?”
Despite the harsh words pouring from the older horseman’s mouth, a few of the younger ones followed the kid, who had yet to look back. That only left four men with Joseph.
“Are you men with me?” Joseph asked.
“Yer damn right.”
“There may be some trouble along the—”
“If there is,” the horseman interrupted, “we ain’t a bunch of snot-nosed kids, and we can prove that to Mister Bertram.”
When Joseph looked around at the other men, he saw intense faces and angry eyes. The anxiousness hanging in the air over the men’s heads reminded Joseph of a herd working itself up into a stampede. “All right then. We’ve wasted more than enough time already.”
“Lead the way.”
Joseph snapped his reins and got his horse moving, quickening the pace until all five horses were charging into the shadows. He shook his head in amazement. “This might actually work,” he thought.
Kazys chomped at the bit to run faster. It seemed the horse could sense what was coming as surely as if Nick had whispered it into his ear. All nine men riding with him were anxious as well, but they were more than happy to let Nick stay up front and lead the way. In fact, when he looked over his shoulder to check on them, it seemed he’d lost a few along the way. Nick grinned and faced front. He was surprised that some of those kids hadn’t ducked out sooner.
After riding a few miles, Nick strained his eyes toward the northwest. The shadows were thick, but the stars and moon allowed him to make out shapes from a fairly good distance. Just when he was starting to worry about Joseph being found out and overtaken by the men in the first camp, Nick spotted a few shapes moving at a quick pace. Nick kept a close eye on the figures until he was certain they were headed for the spot that he and Joseph had agreed upon. A little bit longer, and Nick was able to make out the rough shapes of men on horseback.
Nick breathed in to steady himself and then turned around in his saddle.
“Looks like we might have some trouble!” Joseph shouted to the men following behind him.
The horseman with the long face trotted up next to him and asked, “Where?”
Joseph pointed to the south at the shapes he’d spotted a minute ago.
The rider twisted and looked in that direction. Soon, his eyes were able to pick out the same shapes that Joseph had been searching for the entire ride. “Holy shit! Is that the posse?”
“It’s not anyone I know,” Joseph said. “The other camp’s been cleared out already. Besides, the fort is to the southeast. Those men are riding in the opposite direction.”
“They sure are. They’re headed straight for us!”
Two of the other men joined them. “What’re you talking about?” one of them asked.
“Someone’s riding straight at us,” Long Face said.
“It’s got to be that posse,” Joseph added. “They must have been on their way to the fort when they heard us coming.”
“Or they’ve already been there,” one of the others offered.
“Wherever they’ve been, they’re headed this way now!” Joseph shouted. “And it looks like they’ve already got their guns drawn.”
“How the hell can you see that?” Long Face asked. “I’m lucky I don’t steer my horse into a goddamn hole.”
“I ride this stretch of land all the time. I know a damn posse when I see one, and I know what a gun looks like. Can’t you see them?”
“Jesus Christ. I see ’em, all right!”
Nick drew his gun and held it pointed upward. His throat was straining after getting the others riled up so far, but he wasn’t about to let up now. “Posse’s riding straight for us! Get ready!” he shouted.
While most of the men drew their guns and held them at the ready, a few of them glanced back and forth as if they didn’t know what to do. Nick sized them up in an instant, guessing they would either bolt now or after the first shot had been fired. He knew better than anyone that it was always easier to talk like an outlaw than ride like one.
“They sure as hell ain’t turning,” Long Face said to Joseph. “You think we can outrun them?”
“If you don’t mind giving them your back,” Joseph replied. Seeing the way the men were squinting ahead at the approaching horses, he drew his own gun and pointed it toward the other group. “It’s the posse!” he shouted. “That’s one of them right up front!” Before anyone could say a word or do a thing, Joseph pulled his trigger.
The shot cracked through the air, but Nick didn’t hear the hiss of a bullet come anywhere close to him. Even so, he took a shot of his own. “They’re shooting at us!”
That was all the rest of the men needed to hear before they took aim and started firing wildly.
Nick gritted his teeth and kept shooting well above the other riders until he could make out which of them was Joseph. As return fire started coming back at him, he prayed that Joseph’s men were as rattled as the ones behind him.
Joseph didn’t need to act in order to look rattled. He’d heard about men riding into battle during the war and always figured it was terrifying. This scene was more than enough to prove those stories right.
Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the hardened faces of the remaining riders as they squeezed off shot after shot. The bullets flew in a steady stream, most of which came from pistols. Long Face had enough presence of mind to draw the rifle from his saddle and take his time before pulling his trigger. Joseph kept firing and then eased his horse slightly away from the rest.
“One of them’s bolting!” Nick shouted. “Let him go. Try to get the rest before they get too close.” Even though he repeated himself a few times, Nick knew his voice was being swallowed up in the growing crackle of gunfire.
As the two groups drew closer, the gunfire intensified. A few men around Nick let out pained grunts as some of the bullets found their mark. None of the men had fallen, but with the shots hissing closer and closer, that would change soon enough.