“I don’t know why, but they did it,” Lulu said. “They just did it.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because Luke got drunk one night and told me,” Lulu said. “He did more than just tell me, he bragged about it. And Percy did the same thing with Sue. They seeded the field up here. And all this time they’ve been laughing at all you men, behind your backs.”
“I’ll be damn,” Rob said. “You know, I could almost believe it. Nobody has really found anything since we started. Nobody. I just can’t understand why they would have done it, though. By the way, if you know this, why are you and the other girls staying here?”
“We’re here because we know where the gold really is.”
“You do? Where?” Rob asked.
“It’s in your pocket, honey. And the pockets of every other man up here.”
Rob laughed. “I guess I walked right into that one,” he said.
Somewhere in the predawn darkness a calf bawled anxiously and its mother answered. In the distance a coyote sent up its long, lonesome wail, while out in the pond, frogs thrummed their night song. The moon was full and the night was alive with stars, from the very bright, shining lights, all the way down to those stars that weren’t visible as individual bodies at all but whose glow added to the luminous powder that dusted the distant sky.
Around the milling shapes of shadows that made up the small herd rode four men: Eddie, Win, Willie, and Hawke.
“You ever drove a herd before, Mr. Hawke?” Willie, one of the cowboys who had stayed on at Northumbria, asked.
“No, I can’t say as I have,” Hawke replied.
“Well, sir, I know you’re the boss ’n’ all, so’s I wouldn’t want to speak out of turn or nothin’, but iffen it was me, I’d start drivin’ ’em toward the river now.”
“Good idea, thanks. All right, 1et’s start ’em toward the river,” Hawke said.
“I’m surprised they don’t have anybody out here watching the herd,” Win said.
“They do,” Hawke replied.
“What do you mean, they do? Have you seen anyone?”
“No,” Hawke answered.
“Then what makes you think they’ve got anyone out here watchin’?”
“I can feel it,” Hawke said.
The calf’s call for his mother came again, this time with more insistence. The mother’s answer had a degree of anxiousness to it.
“Sounds like one of the little fellers has wandered off,” Eddie said. “Maybe I’d better go find it and get it back to its mama.”
“Leave it,” Hawke said. “We need to get out of here as quickly as we can.”
“Ah, I don’t mind,” Eddie said, slapping his legs against the side of his horse and riding off, disappearing in the darkness.
Suddenly, from the darkness, came a gunshot.
“What the hell is Eddie doing?” Willie asked. “He’ll spook the herd.”
“I don’t think that was Eddie,” Hawke said.
“What do you mean?”
“I think we’ve got company.”
They heard the sound of galloping hooves. From the darkness, Eddie’s horse, its nostrils flared wide and its eyes wild with terror, came running by them, its saddle empty.
“My God, where’s Eddie?” Willie asked.
Now, several gunshots erupted in the night, and the muzzle flashes lit up the herd.
“Jesus! What’s happening? Who is it? They’re all around us!” Win shouted in terror.
The cattle, spooked by the gunfire, started running. But Hawke noticed they were at least running in the right direction.
“Willie, Win, keep the herd running!” Hawke said, pulling his rifle from the scabbard.
“What are you doing? Where are you going?” Willie asked.
“I’m going to stop them, then I’m going to find Eddie.”
“By yourself?”
“Stay with the herd!” Hawke shouted again, already starting back toward the sound of the guns.
The two cowboys were more than anxious to comply with that order, and they fell in beside the herd, shooting and yelling, urging the cattle to run faster.
Hawke rode at a gallop to a nearby ridge, leaped from his horse and lay on his stomach on a flat rock.
He saw them then, four mounted men, moonlit and silhouetted against the star-bright sky. They were riding hard in pursuit of the herd, their right arms extended in front of them, pistols in their hands, firing toward the thundering herd.
Hawke fired at the one in the rear and saw him tumble from the saddle.
Because of the noise of the nearly stampeding herd and the sounds of the gunshots, the men did not realize that they were themselves under attack, nor did they know that one of their number had been shot.
Hawke fired a second time, again taking out the man riding at the rear. Not until he took out the second man did the two remaining riders realize what was happening—that they were no longer the hunters, but the hunted. Breaking off their chase, they turned and galloped away as fast as they could. Hawke threw a couple of long distance shots at them, purposely missing them now, because they no longer represented a threat. But he put the bullets close enough so they could hear them passing and keep running.
With the danger now gone, he rode back over the ground, looking for Eddie. He found him about a mile back, lying belly down. When Hawke got down to look at him, Eddie suddenly turned over, his gun in his hand.
“No, Eddie, it’s me!” Hawke said.
Eddie lowered his gun.
“Where are you hit?” Hawke asked.
“In the ass,” Eddie replied. “The sons of bitches shot me in the ass.”
Hawke looked, and saw that the bullet had hit him in one cheek of his buttocks. He didn’t see an exit wound.
“The bullet is still in there,” Hawke said.
“In the ass,” Eddie said again. “Can you think of a worse place to be shot?”
“Yeah,” Hawke said. “Think where you would be if it had hit you in the front at about that same place.”
“Oh,” Eddie said. “Oh, yes, I see what you mean. Yeah, I guess I am lucky at that.”
“Think you can sit a horse?” Hawke asked.
“I don’t know what happened to my horse.”
“We’ll catch up with him. Right now you’re going to ride double with me.”
Hawke helped Eddie up onto his horse, putting him on just behind the saddle.
“Oh, damn, this hurts,” Eddie said. “We’re not going to be able to ride very fast if those guys come after us again.”
“They won’t be coming after us.”
“They won’t? How do you know?”
“Because I ran them off,” Hawke answered without further elaboration.
Chapter 19
EDDIE TAYLOR’S HORSE KEPT GOING, ALL THE WAY back to Northumbria. Several of the hands recognized the riderless horse as Eddie’s, and they were forming a group to go after him and the others when a rider some distance from the Big House spotted a herd on the move. Cautiously, he headed toward them. When he recognized the men, he quickly closed the distance. That was when he saw Eddie being pulled in a travois.
“When Eddie’s horse come runnin’ in all alone, we was some worried about you,” the cowboy said.
“Hey, Tim, is my horse all right?” Eddie asked. “Was he shot?”
“No, he wasn’t shot. He’s fine. What happened to you?”
“Nothin’,” Eddie said. “Nothin’ happened to me.”
Win laughed. “He got shot.”
“What’s so funny about gettin’ shot?” Tim asked.
“Here,” Win said, pointing to his own posterior. “He got shot here.”
“I’ll go back and tell the others you are all all right. They was gettin’ ready to come after you.”
“Don’t you tell them nothin’ ’bout where I got shot!” Eddie shouted as the cowboy headed back toward the Big House. “Do you hear me, Tim? Don’t you tell them nothin’.”