Caleb’s hands moved in sign talk that was as graceful as it was precise. Wolfe nodded and moved past Eve, touching his dark hat in silent greeting as he did. The hand he lifted to his hat was holding two boxes of shells. His other hand was wrapped around two repeating rifles.
Eve stared for an instant, then eased farther back into the trees, pulled by Caleb’s hand on her arm. As soon as it was safe to speak, she did.
«There was a cave-in. Reno’s trapped. There are two guards at the next cascade.»
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. «Is he alive?»
She nodded, unable to say anything for the fear drawing her throat tight.
«Is he hurt?» Caleb asked.
«I don’t know. I couldn’t get to him.»
«What did he say?»
«Nothing. He couldn’t hear me.»
Caleb didn’t ask how Eve knew Reno was alive. He had seen both the wildness and the soul-deep determination in her eyes.
«I took care of the guards,» Caleb said. «Go back to the marshy area and wait. We’ll be along shortly.»
«But Reno —»
«Go. We can’t do a damn thing for Reno as long as Jericho Slater is settin’ up to shoot us in the back.»
Caleb turned away, then stopped and looked over his shoulder at Eve.
«Rafe Moran is somewhere around here. So if you see a man as big as Reno coming at you, blond hair, easy-moving, with a bullwhip in one hand and a six-gun in the other, don’t shoot him.»
Numbly Eve nodded.
«There’s a pint-sized redhead called Jessi Lonetree about a mile back down the trail,» Caleb continued. «She’s supposed to stay put, but she might take a notion to come looking for her man after the shooting stops.»
«Jessi? Then that was Wolfe?»
Caleb grinned. «Sure was. Now, go on up to the marsh and wait for us. With Wolfe and a repeating rifle up on that rock preaching to them about the wages of sin, Slater’s boys will soon see the error of their ways. There will be a regular stampede of converts heading down the mountain.»
«I can help.»
«You sure can,» Caleb agreed. «You can get your rump up to the marsh and stay safe. If anything happens to you, no one would know where to look for Reno.»
«Then I’ll go back to the mine. He might be calling for me.»
«Don’t go inside that mine until I’m there,» Caleb said flatly.
Eve opened her mouth to argue.
«I mean it, Eve. I’ll tie you like a chicken for the spit if I have to.»
«But —»
«Get it through your head,» Caleb said roughly, overriding her attempts to speak. «Without you, we don’t have a chance in hell of helping Reno.»
Slowly Eve nodded and turned away, not even noticing the tears that were once again making silver trails through the dirt on her cheeks.
She was halfway up the cascade when Wolfe Lonetree opened up with his rifle. Shot after shot screamed through the high mountain air, echoing back from stone peaks. From below, other rifles returned fire in a crescendo of noise.
By the time Eve reached the marsh, the rifle shots were coming less frequently. As she climbed the second cascade, a six-gun opened up in measured intervals. Silence returned to the mountain before she reached the tiny valley that held the mine.
Caleb had been right. Slater’s gang hadn’t liked facing Wolfe Lonetree’s lethal skill with a rifle.
22
«You're not making sense,» Eve said flatly.
Hands on her hips, she faced the three hard-looking men and the slender red-headed woman who had gathered in front of the mine.
«You’re the one who isn’t making sense,» Caleb said. «First you were going to take on Slater’s bunch with a shotgun, and now you’re talking about going down alone into that hellhole and —»
«I went after Slater because I didn’t care if I killed some of his gang digging out Reno,» Eve interrupted. «You have a wife and child waiting for you.»
She turned to Wolfe. «And you have a wife right here who needs you. I’m the only one who knows how to get to Reno, and I don’t have a soul who looks to me for anything at all. Besides, there’s only room for one to dig at a time. When I can’t dig anymore, you can draw straws.»
As Eve spun around to go inside, a bullwhip snaked out and curled tightly around her knees, holding her in place without hurting her in the least.
«Wait up, miss. I’m going with you.»
Eve spun and confronted the big, blond man who smiled and spoke and moved so much like Reno, she could hardly bear to look at him. The color of the eyes was different, gray rather than green, but their catlike tilt and clarity were so similar, it was like a knife in her heart.
And like Reno, Rafe’s eyes could be as cold as winter ice when he was determined to get something.
«Don’t waste my time arguing,» Rafe said bluntly. «Either I go with you or I go alone. I’m no stranger to mines and Reno’s trail signs. I’ll find him.»
Eve didn’t doubt it.
«All right,» she said in an aching voice. «I’d be obliged. I’m not nearly as strong in the shoulders as you are.»
Rafe flicked his wrist. The long bullwhip fell away from Eve. Ignoring Wolfe’s and Caleb’s objections, she grabbed a lantern and went into the mine’s entrance. Rafe dropped the whip and followed, pausing only long enough to grab a shovel and a lantern.
Caleb and Wolfe were right behind them, sharing a third lantern between them. Jessi stayed just inside the mouth of the mine with a shotgun, standing guard on the off chance that one of Slater’s Comancheros had run the wrong way when the bullets started flying.
Eve heard the sounds of more than one person following her, looked over her shoulder, and felt warmed. Though there truly wasn’t room for more than one man at a time to dig, it made her feel better just knowing that so many hands would be available to help.
Rafe ducked lower and lower as the ragged ceiling of the mine came down. At every branching of the tunnel, he noted the signs Reno had left.
Eve went through the big, rockbound tunnel with a speed that set the lantern to swinging. Rafe followed her like a large, muscular shadow. Caleb and Wolfe kept back a bit, marking the branching tunnels in their own way.
A dust as fine as talcum powder still hung in the air back where the collapsed coyote hole cut away from the main tunnel. Rafe took in the place with a single glance. When he saw the pile of gold bars, his eyes widened. He looked swiftly at Eve. She paid no more attention to the gold than she would have to a similar pile of river rocks.
«This goes back about ten feet before it’s blocked,» Eve said, pointing to the coyote hole. «I shouted and shouted, but he didn’t answer.»
Rafe’s mouth thinned, but all he said was, «Let me try it. My voice carries a lot farther than yours.»
Eve nodded tightly and watched as Rafe knelt and set aside the lantern. The coyote hole looked about as inviting as a grave. He glanced down at the shovel. In that narrow opening, he would be lucky to have enough room to use it as a bludgeon.
«Surprised Reno went in here,» Rafe muttered. «He never cared much for dark, tight places.»
«Maybe he never had Spanish gold waiting on the other side,» she said tersely.
«There’s more?» Rafe asked as he crawled over the stacked ingots and into the dark, tight hole.
«Two ingots that we know of. Supposed to be a lot more buried somewhere down here. For all of me, they can stay buried.»
The only sound that came from Rafe was a low curse as he forced himself over the ingots and into the narrow coyote hole.
Eve sank to her knees and leaned against the cold wall of the tunnel. Distantly she realized that she was trembling. When Caleb touched her shoulder, she started wildly.