Hell on the Prairie Read Online Free PDF Page B

out.”
    Again, Billy let Berry pick the way back to
where bullets from the big men had downed Reckon’s horse. And
again, Billy couldn’t make out the shape of the downed pony until
Berry stopped.
    There was no lump in the darkness. Instead,
dim whitish lattice of bare ribs showed. The dead horse had been
trampled flat on the hard ground. Only its ribcage stood proud.
    “ Here,” Billy said. “What’s left of
the horse is here.” He searched the heavily trodden ground for
signs that said Reckon had been trampled like the horse. “Don’t
seem that Reckon got tramped,” he said.
    “ Hey!” a faint cry came from off
toward the river. “Hey! It’s me, I reckon.”
    Billy and Brodrick turned to stare into the
darkness.
    “ Hang on. I’ll be there directly.” But
he didn’t show.
    Billy still peered into the black night,
searching for some sign of Reckon Willis, but all he saw was
nothing. Berry sidled around until she faced the way Reckon’s voice
came from.
    “ Take him back to the chuckwagon,”
Brodrick said. “We’ll come back for the saddle and stuff after
daybreak.” He reined the stallion around and spurred him away
toward the herd.
    “ Billy? Billy? That you,
kid?”
    “ I’m here, Reckon.”
    “ Cain’t walk. Could ya come
over?”
    “ Yep,” Billy said. He chucked Berry
toward the sound of Reckon’s voice.
    “ Watch out, man. Don’t let that clumsy
cayuse of yours step on me.”
    “ Reckon!” Billy could see Reckon now,
a darker shadow on the dark ground. “Can’t you git up?”
    “ Nope.”
    “ Jayzus,” Billy muttered. He
dismounted and dropped the reins on the ground. Berry knew not to
stray when she was ground-tied.
    Reckon Willis lay on his side with his knees
drawn up. “Glad to see ya, kid. Almost figured I was done in.”
    “ What’s hurting?”
    “ Purty much ever’thing.”
    “ Reckon you can ride?”
    “ Get me into the saddle. I’ll ride,”
Reckon said.
    Billy had seen men carry other men. He’d
never tried it himself. “Give me a hand,” he said.
    Reckon Willis lifted an arm. Billy took hold
of his wrist and squatted so he could bring the arm across his
shoulders. “You’re gonna have to do your part,” he said. “I’m gonna
try to stand up. You come alongside.”
    “ Go to it.”
    Billy worked to straighten his legs, heaving
Reckon to his feet as he rose.
    “ Aaaargh! Be
gentle, kid!”
    “ Ain’t no gentle way to do it, man,
unless you want to wait for daylight so I can get some of the boys
to help.”
    “ Just making conversation.”
    “ Hmmph. I’m going on up,” Billy said,
and again put all his muscle power into getting Reckon Willis to
his feet.
    Reckon moaned and screeched, but every time
Billy acted like he was going to give up, Reckon would tell him to
keep at it.
    Billy finally got Reckon all the way over to
Berry, to where he could hold the horn with his good left hand.
“You get a good grip, Reckon. I’ll put a shoulder under your butt
and see if we can’t get you up onto this here Berry mare.”
    Reckon said nothing, which Billy took for
assent. He squatted and put a shoulder under Reckon’s buttocks.
    “ Thanks for the horse, cowboys. Little
cracker ass that she is.”
    Shit.
    Billy froze, crouched, with his shoulder
under Reckon’s butt and no way to reach for his Remington. Then he
slid out from under Reckon so he could see over the saddle.
    A big shadow came up on Berry’s off side; a
man dressed all in black, a man with charcoal or something rubbed
on his face, a man who stood over six feet tall, if an inch, with
thick shoulders that stretched the fabric of his shirt. Up close,
Billy could see all that.
    “ Horse stealing and rustling’ll getchu
hung, mister,” Billy said. “’Sides, my compañero’s hurt, thanks to a bunch of
rustlers.”
    “ You’re awful small to be talking so
big. I’ll take the cracker-ass mare.”
    Reckon Willis said nothing. In fact, he went
almost completely limp, like he’d drawn his