the Bounty Hunters (1953) (3 page)

He must a caught you with his old lady.

Bowers looked at him steadily, but said nothing.

Flynn took his hat off, leaning back, and felt the adobe cool against the back of his head. Mister, he said to Bowers, what do you think?

About what?

God, the calm one. He's tensed-up being calm. About your orders.

You almost answer your own question. They are orders. Under the circumstances I doubt if an opinion would affect them one way or the other.

Madora grinned. Look out, Dave. You got yourself a serious one.

I don't believe this concerns you in the least, Bowers said coldly.

There was silence. Flynn watched the lieutenant grip his hands behind his back and walk to the single window. Flynn said to the back, Do you know what you're talking about?

Bowers turned on him sharply. Mr. Flynn, I assure you I am capable of interpreting a military order. It is a precise, unadorned, quite literal description for a specific assignment which I have been trained to obey without question, without hesitation. Since my opinion is of no value, I see little reason in discussing it' especially with a person who is in no way related to the order in question. Is that quite clear?

Very clear, Mr. Bowers. Colonel Deneen stood in the doorway of the post commander's office. Lieutenant Woodside could be seen behind him. And I might say unduly modest of you. Your opinion is worth' something.

He hesitated, his eyes roaming over the group in the outer office. He was a man of medium height, in his early forties, carefully dressed, from the trace of white showing above his collar to the highly polished black boots and silver spurs that chinged softly as he moved into the room. And though he took only a few steps, a faint limp was noticeable, a favoring of the right foot as he put his weight on it. One hand picked idly at the front of his tunic, as if removing invisible lint, and he looked at the three men closely, individually, as if to command their attention.

At ease, Mr. Bowers. He nodded to Madora, who stood relaxed with thumbs in vest pockets, then his eyes went to Flynn and stopped there. Flynn had not moved his position. He leaned against the wall with a half-boot still hooked on the edge of the bench, his arm resting idly on the raised knee and the extended hand holding the stub of a cigarette. He drew on it as Deneen looked toward him.

Don't get up, Flynn.

Dave Flynn returned his stare, looking up at the smooth features, dark hair well combed and shining. He dropped the cigarette then, but did not step on it. He glanced at Woodside, the post commander. Don, good to see you again. Then back to Deneen How's the foot, Colonel?

For a moment the face tightened and the dark eyes did not blink, holding squarely on Flynn, as if waiting for him to say more, but Flynn remained silent. The face relaxed then and Deneen said, Very well, thank you.

There was the hint of a smile playing at the tips of Flynn's mustache. That's good. Sometimes those old wounds start aching, especially when the weather's damp.

Fortunately the climate is uncommonly dry.

Fortunately.

I can't say I expected to see you here.

I don't imagine you did.

You know why you were asked, of course.

As well as you do.

Because of your knowledge of the country. I'm told you've been on a mining venture down there for something like a year and a half. I assume it was unsuccessful, or you would not have returned to scouting. Did you see signs of Soldado Viejo?

There are always signs.

And less cryptically, that means what?

The dead.

I suppose the Mexican government has done little.

On my way up I talked to a man in Soyopa who said that Porfirio Diaz was sending police to help them. They were expected any day.

Rurales?

Flynn nodded.

His newly formed police. Bandits to fight bandits.

Maybe that's the way, Flynn said.

What about the scalp bounty?

The government's still paying it if you're man enough to take an Apache's hair.

I'm told there's an American outlaw down there making something of a success of scalp hunting. Lazair. Have you heard of him?

He was pointed out to me once.

Where?

In Guazapares, over a year ago. At that time scalps had to be taken to Guazapares for the bounty. Lazair rode in with some of his men and I saw him at a distance. I saw his face before that on wanted dodgers up here.

How does he get along with the authorities?

Flynn shrugged. I don't know. Everybody seems afraid of him.

I'm told he's now trying quite eagerly for Soldado's scalp.

He should, it's worth five hundred pesos, Flynn said. Are you suggesting we go to him for help?

Deneen smiled faintly. If you were making a business of scalping Apaches, would you think kindly of someone appearing to take them away?

I was going to remind you of the same thing.

I'll take the responsibility of my own reminding.

Flynn shrugged his shoulders, saying nothing.

I will mention again, Deneen said politely, that you are not obligated in any way to take this assignment.

What about Bowers?

That is not your concern.

I mean nothing personal, but there are other officers with considerably more experience who might have been chosen. He glanced at Bowers as he said it and saw the young officer stiffen, as if anxious to reply.

Deneen said, Do you imply that you won't go if Lieutenant Bowers does?

Of course not. I just don't see why you'd send an inexperienced man on a job like this.

And how do you gain this experience if you never take the field?

Tracking Soldado in his own element isn't exactly just taking the field.

We're not going to debate it. You either go or you don't go.

I'd like to speak to you alone.

I haven't the time. Are you going?

Flynn hesitated, then nodded his head.

You will leave in the morning. The quartermaster sergeant will issue your ammunition if you use a Springfield; otherwise you supply your own.

I'm aware of all that.

Then there's no reason to detain you, Deneen said, and turned abruptly to Bowers. Lieutenant, step into the office.

The sun had dropped below the horizon line of the Catalinas and they rode back to Contention in the silent dusk, Flynn thinking, reminding himself that he was in it now, and that was that.

He was almost half decent for a minute, Madora said. Then the ninety-nine percent bastard started to show.

You've got to hand him that, Flynn said. He's consistent. Flynn was silent, riding, following the sway of his mount. Then, Joe, where does he get his authority for this?

I hadn't thought of it.

The orders said the army wouldn't recognize us. If there was an agreement with Mexico, there'd be an expedition.

With a lot of noise, Madora added. And you'd never find Soldado.

That's not the point. What does the general say about this? I don't think it's something that can be kept from him.

Deneen's a talker, Madora said. Maybe he can explain it so it sounds legal.

Maybe. Flynn shrugged it off then, saying, What are you going to do now?

I'm leadin' Deneen's grand tour of post inspections. With Three-cents and his Coyoteros along to add color.

You could do worse.

Like what?

It was dark when they turned off Commercial Street onto Stockman, riding past the Republic House on the corner. They were both staying there and they boarded their horses at the livery stable behind the hotel, on Stockman. They dismounted in front of the wide doorway framing the darkness inside.

I wonder where the man is? Madora said. He stopped just inside, blinking his eyes.

Behind him, Flynn said, Seems to me there was a lantern on a nail along the boards there.

Over here? Madora moved into the darkness.

This side of the first stall.

Madora's hand went into his coat pocket and came out with a match. He scratched it against the board partition and just ahead of him Flynn saw a yellow flare and Madora's face close to the boards.

And the heavy, ringing, solid slam of the rifle report was there with the match flare. Flynn went down instinctively. The match went out and he heard Madora gasp as if he'd been hit hard in the stomach, and the sound of his weight falling against the partition.

Joe!

Flynn was rising. Three shots then in quick succession in the close stillness and he went down flat, hearing the horses scream, knowing they had been hit. In front of him, Madora's mare fell heavily and did not move, but his own broke away and veered out into Stockman Street. His pistol was in his hand, but there was nothing, only the darkness and the stabled mounts moving nervously, bumping the boards and nickering.

Suddenly the rear door, not more than fifty feet away, swung open with the sound of hoofs striking boards and packed earth and momentarily horse and rider were framed against the dusk, pushing through as the door swung open only part way. Flynn fired, the heavy revolver lifting in his hand, and then horse and rider were gone and he could hear the hoofbeats outside, on the street beyond the livery.

Madora was breathing with his mouth open, his chest rising and falling with a wheezing sound. Flynn's hand went over him gently until he felt the wet smear of blood just above his waist at his side.

Joe, you'll be all right. It probably went clean through you.

Madora tried to answer, but he could not. He was breathing harder, gasping.

There were footsteps behind them.

What happened?

Then more steps on the packed ground and a familiar voice. It belonged to the barber, John Willet.

Soon as I seen him I knew' tearing up Commercial like that. I didn't even hear the shots and I knew.

Someone said, Who?

Who do you think! Willet's voice was edged with nervousness. Frank Rellis. My God, he's done it now' .

Chapter
3

Late in the afternoon the sky changed to pale gray and there was rain in the air, the atmosphere close and stifling, and a silence clung heavily to the flat colorless plain. The distant peaks to the east, the Dragoons, rose gigantically into the grayness, seeming nearer than they were, and the towering irregular crests were lost in the hazy flat color of the sky.

The sudden threat of rain was relief after the relentless sun glare of the morning. They had traveled through it saying little, their eyes heavy-lidded against the glare. Flynn's searching, from habit swinging a slow wide arc that took in every brush clump and rise, then lifting to the rimrock and squinting for the thin wisp of smoke that would be almost transparent in the sunlight, or the mirror flashes that no white man could read, and half expecting one or the other to be there because you never knew. There were reservations; still, you never knew.

Flynn followed the sway of his horse loosely, a dun mare that he had bought last night, listening to the squeak of saddle leather. His hat was straight across his eyebrows and he seemed tired, listless; yet his eyes never ceased the slow swing over the valley. Often he would slip his boots from the stirrups and let his legs hang free. All things become routine. Relax, and be watchful at the same time. Relax only, and in Apache country it will kill you.

He thought about Joe Madora and he could still hear the wheezing sound of his breathing. The crowd that had formed almost out of the air. First they were alone, then there were voices, dozens of voices, and one that he recognized. John Willet's voice. He had heard John Willet very clearly say the name Frank Rellis. He had told Bowers about it before they started out that morning. Bowers said he was sorry, that was about all.

Bowers wore civilian clothes now, a gray broad-cloth suit that he had worn on furlough perhaps a year or two before and now was too small for him.

The doctor had worked on Madora a long time, half the night, and stayed there the rest of it, up in the hotel room where they'd carried the wounded man. He'd stop the bleeding, then it would start again and he'd work at the wound, applying compresses. Madora was unconscious by then, his eyes closed rightly as if ready to snap open at any moment. Flynn had watched the face more than he did the doctor's hands working at the middle of Madora's body, because he expected the face to become colorless and the eyes to open. He was sure they would open, because almost every dead man he could remember had been lying with his eyes open. He had placed small stones over the eyelids when he had the time. That was a strange thing. No, that's why you remember them. There were others with eyes closed that you don't remember.

But Madora's face remained calm, and though the bearded skin was pale, it did not become drained of all its color.

Flynn slept for an hour before dawn and when he awoke and pulled on his boots and strapped on his gun, the doctor told him that the old man had a chance to live, but he wouldn't advise making any hotel reservation in his name.