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VI. Cody takes a chance
Epilogue
Chapter 6
Cody takes a
chance
As the night wore on, Cody became more morose. If he hadn't been so stupid, both he and Buck would have been on their way back to Sweetwater by now. He should have listened to Buck, he thought, casting an eye on his sleeping friend. What if Buck was really sick? He shivered, both from fear and the bitter cold. He stared out in the darkness. The only sound he heard was the noise from the horses grazing below. The men seemed to have gone to sleep, although they might have one man keeping watch. He looked for his horse, but it must be where he left it, hidden by a small grove not far from the men's camp. Strange that they hadn't found it. Then an idea struck him. Maybe he could get them out of this mess after all.
Buck stirred in his sleep, trying to escape the cold. Failing miserably, he slowly woke up, for a moment wondering where he was. Realising that he was cold to the bone, he sat up, wrapping Cody's blanket tighter around him. Then he looked at Cody, who was staring outside with a curious expression on his face. Buck frowned. He had seen that look before, and he wasn't sure he liked it. A cough shook through his lungs and Cody turned around.
"You're awake," he noticed.
"No, I'm still sleeping," Buck answered coldly. "It's perishing cold," he added and shivered.
"You're telling me," Cody said. "I think I've got an idea how we can get out of here."
"An idea?" Buck looked suspiciously at the blonde rider. He just hadn't much faith in Cody's ideas.
"They haven't found my horse. That means it's still behind that grove."
"There's no way we can get to it without being noticed. And beside, the horse would have to carry both of us. We can't outrun them."
"It's not going to carry both of us. It's only going to carry you."
"Me? What about you? How are you going to get away?"
"They have horses." Cody nodded in the direction of the men.
"And you think that we can steal a horse from them, find your horse and get away without them noticing?" Buck was now openly sarcastic. "You're crazier than I thought."
"Will you let me finish?"
"If you must."
"There's only one man on watch as far as I can see. They don't expect any trouble, so I don't think they're keeping that good a watch over the horses. I think I can sneak down there and get hold of one of their horses."
"They'll see you."
"Not until I'm on my way."
"They'll get after you, unless you scare the rest of the horses away."
"I have no intention of scaring the horses."
"They'll hunt you." Buck looked at Cody. "Did the whiskey damage your head or something?
"No. That's the point, I want them to hunt me."
"The whiskey did damage your head, right?"
"Will you stop talking about whiskey! When they notice one of their horses gone, they'll go after me. That leaves the field open for you to get hold of my horse and head the other way."
"And what about you?"
"I'll be all right. It's dark and I should be able to out-ride them. Then I'll double-back and meet up with you in Litchfield."
"Why Litchfield?"
"It's the closest town, and you need a doctor."
"No."
"No what!?"
"There are too many risks. What if you can't outrun them? They'll kill you for sure. Let's wait until they leave."
"We don't know for how long they're staying. " Cody did his best to keep his voice down, so the men below wouldn't hear him. "You can't stay here."
"I'll be fine."
Cody clenched his teeth and turned away. Of all the stubborn... Then he turned to face Buck again.
"Damn it, Buck," he said seriously. "You're not well. If you stay another night in the open you'll get really sick, and you know it. So stop arguing with me. You need to get back. Now, I brought us into this mess, and I'm going to get us out."
Buck looked at his friend, knowing that he was right. He couldn't take much more of the cold. But he couldn't let Cody do this either.
"Cody," he started, when Cody interrupted him.
"I know, I know. I'm the craziest person you know, and if I don't get back you'll kill me. Right?"
Buck smiled faintly at him. "Take care", he said simply.
"Don't I always?" Cody said. "Here." He handed over his gun. "You better take this."
"What about you?"
"I got this." Cody held up his rifle and tapped it. "Now, as soon as they're out of the way, you get down and get hold of my horse. It's standing just behind the grove, in a small valley. You can't miss it."
"You really think that this will work?" Buck looked dubiously at Cody. "Why not?" he said with a surity he didn't feel. "After all, they aren't expecting any trouble, so before they get to their horses, I'll have a pretty good head start."
"Wait a moment. If you take one of their horses, they'll have to leave one man."
"You don't think you could handle that?" Cody asked jokingly, then became serious. "I notice they've a pack-horse. They'll probably use that." He smiled at Buck's doubtful face. "All right, maybe then wont use that. Leave it to me, I'll see to it that all of them leave."
He rose before Buck could object further. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and quietly stepped out of the cave.
"See you in Litchfield," he smiled at Buck and the crept down behind the bushes. Buck sighed and placed himself near the cave's opening where he could see the campfire below.
Cody slowly made his way towards the camp. Moving on the rocky ground without making any noise was harder than he had expected, and he had to stop on several occasions,lest the sound of falling stones had been heard by the men. To his relief they didn't appear to notice. He gradually crept closer, hidden by some bushes.
Slowly he lifted his head so he could see the camp. With dismay he noticed that there were more men than he had estimated. He counted nine men sleeping and one on guard. Oh, well, one more or less wouldn't make that much difference, he thought, looking around for the horses. They were standing on the other side of the camp, tied together with a rope, eleven of them.
He smiled to himself. Then he had been right, they had brought a spare as a pack-horse. All he had to do now was to get around the men to reach the horses. That was going to be the hard part, he decided. The man on watch was sitting close to the horses and was more agile than Cody had hoped for. But he had to try it.
With his rifle ready he slowly edged himself closer to the horses. How was he going to get hold of one, he wondered as he came closer. It hadn't appeared to be difficult back in the cave. But on the spot it seemed impossible. He sat down trying to figure out what he should do. For a moment he considered heading back to the cave, but the thought of Buck's weary face changed his mind and he decided that he must take the chance.
Crouching behind the bushes, he gradually made his way over to the horses. He looked them over and choose the one that looked fastest. To his joy, it was one of the horses tied furthest from the guard. Looking towards the guard., he saw that the man was sitting idly looking out over the camp. For the moment he wasn't keeping an eye on the horses.
It's now or never, Cody decided and flung himself on the ground. He crawled towards the horses, trying hard not to upset them. One of the animals stirred, and he saw in the corner of his eye how the guard looked in his direction. Pressing his face to the ground he tried to make himself as invisible as possible. He must have succeeded, for the guard merely stared out over the horses for a couple of minutes, then resumed his original position.
Cody exhaled and sighed with relief. That was a close call. He rose to his feet, being hidden by the horse and gently reached for the saddle placed on a fallen tree in front of the horse. Quickly he pitched the saddle on the mount and released the reins from the rope. Then he stood still. What was he going to do? He must make sure that all of the men left, but he had no idea how. Torn by indecision and his own doubts, he spotted the solution. It was right there in front of him. By the edge of the camp was a wooden box with the new rifles leaning on it. The men must have had them out to check on them or something.
He'd seen a rifle like that before. They cost a fortune, and if he could get his hands on three of them, that would make the men angry enough to chase after him, even if they didn't care about the horse. He dropped the reins and crept towards the rifles. The guard had begun to yawn, so Cody concentrated on getting over to the box. His largest problem was that the box was close to one of the men sleeping and he had to stand out in the open to get hold of the rifles. Swallowing hard a couple of times, he stepped into the camp, reached for the rifles and quickly stepped back. The rifles clinked as he lifted them and for one terrifying moment he thought the man closest to him was going to wake up, but the man simply stirred in his sleep.
He glanced at the guard, but the guard was now yawning more often and hadn't noticed a thing. With the rifles in one hand and the rein in the other he retraced his footsteps back to the bushes. He breathed more easily as soon he was in more cover. All he had to do now was to make sure he got the camp's attention. He tied the three new rifles to the saddle after watching them fondly. For a moment he was tempted to exchange his own for one of them, but thought better of it. He was used to his own rifle and it was probably better than the fancy ones.
Mounting, he charged the horse forward. Then he aimed his rifle towards the camp and started to fire as fast as he could, taking care that the shots would go over the men's heads. When he saw the men rise and head for their horses he slammed his heels into the mount's side and turning around he urged the animal forward, towards the west.
He crouched over his horse's neck as the bullets started to hit the trees and the bushes around him. Some of them whistled past him uncomfortably close. Somehow he managed to stay clear and as the men had to saddle up before following him it gave him some respite. A shout told him they had discovered that the rifles were gone, and he smiled to himself. He was sure that all of the men would follow him now, which meant that Buck would get away safely.
He urged his horse forward, straining his eyes trying to see any obstacles before he rode into them in the darkness. A small gorge appeared before him and he leaned back in the saddle trying to halt his horse. Too late, they more or less slid down the side. By a miracle the horse managed to stay up. Panting from the shock, Cody urged the horse forward keeping in the gorge. He hoped there would be somewhere he could get back on higher ground further on. Or else he might be in trouble. He had no idea where the hell this gorge ended, or even if there was an end to it. It might just end in a canyon and then he would be stuck. He heard the men coming behind him and realised that they weren't far behind. Now it all depended on what was in store for him at the end of the gorge.
Buck sat in silence, trying to figure out what was going on down there. He clenched his hands every time a sound of rolling stones suggested that Cody had slipped on his way down. Finally the noise ended and he realised that Cody must be down by the camp. He wondered what Cody had planned to do. He coughed again and he knew that something was seriously wrong with him. Never having been sick, the fact that something was wrong merely served to irritate him, when another attack of coughing caused him to gasp for breath. Cody was right, he thought. He needed to get back.
A few minutes later the silence were shattered by several shots, and Buck leaned forward, trying to see what had happened and fearing that Cody was in trouble. But all he could see was a lot of commotion and he couldn't find Cody anywhere. He bit his lip, considering trying to get down there, when he heard a horse head off in high speed. Voices called out and he could vaguely hear them.
"He got one of 'em horses, boss!"
"And the rifles!"
"Then what are you waiting for? Let's get after him!"
More shots were fired after the rider, and Buck held his breath fearing that Cody might be hit. Nothing of that sort seemed to be the case and soon the men had their horses ready and set out after Cody.
Stunned by the speed of it all, Buck stayed motionless, not really believing that Cody's plan had worked. He soon came to his senses and sat quietly for a while to be sure that the men were away before he went down. When everything stayed silent he slowly rose and started his descent. Halfway down he heard the sound that he had hoped he wouldn't hear. Horses approaching! He quickly went up the hill again and crawled into the cave. Exhausted, he turned and peered down the hill. Three men of the party that had set out after Cody was returning.
That's it, Buck thought. There's no way I could get hold of Cody's horse now. He hoped they had just returned to gather their things, but when they settled in for the night, he knew he had hoped for too much. He sighed and crept back into the cave. It looked like he would have to spend one more night in the cave after all. He just hoped that Cody had more luck. Tired as he was, he didn't even try to stay awake. Soon he was curled up in a fitful sleep between two rocks.
