After Janna had gone fifteen feet, she was certain that she was going the right way. The crack became a very narrow ledge, too narrow for a horse to pass safely. Marks that could have been left by a chisel or hammer showed in the stone. Apparently the ancient tribe had widened and leveled a natural split in the rock face until it became a ledge just wide enough to take a man on foot. With overhanging rock on her left, a path no more than twenty inches wide at her feet-and sometimes less, if the rock had crumbled away-and a sheer drop to the valley floor on her right, she scrambled the length of the crack.
When Janna vanished around a column of rock on the far end of the ledge Zebra nickered as though to call a foal back to her side. When that didn't work, the mustang neighed loudly. Lucifer added a ringing, imperious command that carried from one end of the hidden valley to the other.
Janna popped back into view, sliding and skidding down to the ledge, desperate to calm the stallion before he alerted half of Utah Territory. Despite the need for haste, Janna slowed to a very careful walk while she negotiated the dangerous ledge. Zebra whickered softly in encouragement or warning, then nuzzled Janna when she was within reach once more. Having achieved his purpose in calling back a straying member of his band, Lucifer made no further noise.
"Lord, what a bugle you have," Janna said to Lucifer, who ignored her irritation. She looked back at the ledge and shook her head. "I know, that's a scary path even for humans. I can imagine what it must look like to you. But you didn't give me a chance to find out if the rest of the trail- if it really is a trail-goes all the way to the top."
After a few moments spent reassuring the horses, Janna started toward the ledge again. She had taken no more than two steps when she heard a barrage of rifle fire.
She froze, listening intently, trying to decide where the shots were coming from. The lighter, rhythmic barks of Ty's Winchester resolved the issue beyond a doubt. The sounds were coming from the cleft that Ty had remained behind to guard. The Indians must have decided to try rushing the cleft's entrance, or perhaps it was only a feint.
Either way, Janna wasn't comforted. The number of shots that were being fired told her that renegade reinforcements must have arrived. If they timed their attack carefully, they could provide cover for one another while they reloaded their rifles. But Ty was alone in the rocky cleft with no one to cover him while he reloaded.
Chapter Forty-One
The trip back down the ancient trail took much less time than the trip up had, but it seemed like an eternity to Janna. The instant it was safe to demand speed from Zebra, she kicked the mare into a hard gallop that ended only at the shadowed entrance to the cleft. Heart hammering, Janna leaped from Zebra and ran into the dark opening just as there was a renewed fusillade of rifle fire. The cleft distorted sounds, making them seem to come from nearby and far away all at once. She kept hoping to hear the carbine's lighter sound but heard only her own breath and the erratic bark of renegade rifles.
Just as Janna rounded the last bend before the exit, Ty's carbine resumed its rhythmic, rapid firing. She slowed slightly, almost dizzy with relief.
Ty heard her footsteps and looked over his shoulder. "You're supposed to be sleeping."
"Not likely with all the racket you're making," she said breathlessly.
His smile was rather grim as he turned his attention back to the land beyond the cleft. He fired quickly three times and was answered by a scattering of shots.
"I'm having a little help making noise, as you can see."
"How many?" Janna asked.
"I saw enough dust for an army, but I don't think there are more than ten rifles out there right now, and all of them are single shot."
"For these small blessings, Lord, we are thankful," Janna said beneath her breath. "I think."
Ty's smile was little more than a hard line of white beneath his black mustache. He wasn't sure that it made a difference what kind of rifles the renegades were shooting. The chance of Janna and himself slipping past the Indians-much less of stealing a horse or two on the way by-had dropped to the point that it would be frankly suicidal rather than probably suicidal to try escaping through the cleft.
But there was no other way out.
"I think I found a way out," Janna said.
Her words echoed his thought so closely that for a moment Ty wasn't sure that she really had spoken. His head snapped around.
"What did you say?"
"I think I found how Mad Jack got his gold into the ruins without our seeing him."
A movement beyond the cleft commanded Ty's attention. He turned, got off two quick shots and had the satisfaction of knowing that at least one of them had struck home. There was a flurry of return fire, then silence. As he watched the area beyond the cleft he began reloading methodically.
"How did he do it?" Ty asked.
"You know how the valley narrows out behind the ruins?"
"Yes."
"I followed it," Janna said.
"So did I about two weeks ago. It ends in a stone cliff."
"There's a ravine coming in before that."
"There are at least ten ravines 'before that,' and those ravines branch into others, which branch into others. And they all end against a stone cliff," Ty concluded flatly.
"Even the one with the ledge?" Janna asked, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice.
"What ledge?"
"The one that goes along the western Up of the valley almost to the rim."
"Are you certain?"
"I was on it until I heard rifle fire."
Slowly Ty lowered his carbine and turned toward Janna. "You said 'almost to the rim.' How close is 'almost'?"
"I don't know. Zebra started whinnying when I got out of sight and then Lucifer set up such a ruckus that I came back to calm him down. Then I heard rifle fire and was afraid they were rushing you and you didn't have anyone to cover you while you reloaded." Janna closed her eyes briefly. "I got back here as quick as I could."
"How close is almost?" Ty repeated calmly.
"A hundred feet. Maybe a hundred yards. Maybe a quarter mile. I couldn't see."
"Would you bet your life on that path going through?"
"Do we have a choice?"
"Probably not. If Cascabel isn't out there soon, he will be when word gets to him. Until then, there are at least eight able-bodied warriors and two wounded renegades under cover out there, just waiting for something to show at the cleft."
"What if we wait until dark?"
"We can try it."
"But?" Janna prodded.
"Our chances of getting out alive through that cleft are so slim they aren't worth counting," Ty said bluntly. "The same darkness that would cover our movements also covers theirs. Even now the renegades are moving in closer, finding cover, covering each other, closing in on the cleft. By dark they'll have the cork well and truly in the bottle. After that, it's just a matter of time until I run out of ammunition and they rush me."
Ty said nothing more. He didn't have to. Janna could finish his bleak line of thought as well as he could.
"There's something else to consider," Ty said. "If you can find that trail from this end, sure as God made little green apples, a renegade can find it from the other end if he has a good enough reason to go looking-and your hair is a good enough reason, thanks to Cascabel's vision."
Janna nodded unhappily. The same thought had occurred to her. "We can take the horses most of the way."
"But not all?"
"The ledge was made for men, not horses."
Ty had expected nothing more. He bent, put his arms through the straps of his heavy pack and shrugged it into place. "Let's go. We only have a few hours of light left."