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Show -6- 6~C and clamped one hand over the roan's nose. Sitting there without movement he searched the rocks above him and to the south for any sign of a sentry. None. He rode on for another hundred yards, tethered his horse to a stunted cedar, drew his 30:30 from its scabbard and, moving like a cougar, an Indian, albeit an old one, he made his way south. He knew exactly the place he was headed for, a boulder with an overhang of rock above it; he had known of it since childhood when he played ambushes with Tim. Occasional rain had deposited sand behind the boulder, which, shaded by the overhand, was gratifyingly cool. By now it must be at least a hundred and ten, and in the sun the rocks hot enough to cook on, and so besides the shade making his ambush more secure, him less visible, if they got him pinned down here he wouldn't have to fry before they killed him. He pulled back the hammer of the 30:30, took off his hat, his white hair yellowed on the edges and thin on top, plastered to his head with sweat, and, careful to bring the rifle up, moved on his elbows and belly in the sand up to the rock and looked over. There they were, not suspicious of a thing; he was looking down their throats all right. Except something was wrong. The men he looked down upon did not know the place was called Billy Springs. There were three springs in all, two about ten feet apart and the third a good fifty yards further out from the Butte. Willows grew around the springs and between them; grass grew among the willows. Ordinarily the willows in the heat of the day would have been full of cattle, but now there were no cattle anywhere near. Instead there were three pickup trucks with campers on them, another pickup without a camper, and a horse trailer. And nine men who sat in the narrow shade thrown by the campers, smoking and drinking beer cold from the springs. The man in charge, the director, wore Bermuda shorts, a paisley sport shirt and a cap with an extra large bill. Instead of beer he was drinking milk from a carton and frownine as if it were poisoning him. |