Shadow River Read Online Free PDF

seen.”
    â€œI want out of here,” Black said, with no pretense of courage. He started to jerk his horse’s reins, but Sam stopped him.
    â€œStand still,” he said to the frightened gunman. “This hilltop is the best we’ve got until everything settles down.”
    â€œHell, I guess I
know
that,” Black replied, his voice turning deeper, affecting a braver tone. He stopped and stood quietly.
    The sliding stone and scree waned on the hillside. Louder rumblings resounded farther back along the hill line behind them. In front of them miles ahead, peaks of the Blood Mountain Range stood jagged and endless against the purple sky.
    â€œOne thing,” Burke said, turning and looking back through the roiling dust of the dislocated hillside. “Nobody’s coming up behind us now.”
    â€œThat’s a fact,” Sam said, staring back at the roiling brown cloud of dust.
    â€œHow much gold are we talking about here?” Childers asked, trying to sound casual.
    â€œTalk to Clyde about it,” Sam said to Childers. He turned and led his two horses over to a rock. He took a canteen down from his saddle horn and sat down. Clamping the rope and reins to the ground with his boot, he sipped water and sat listening to the men talk back and forth among themselves. The dun stuck its muzzle in close and stretched its lip out, probing toward the open canteen. The spare horse stuck its muzzle in right beside it. Sam rubbed their muzzles and pushed them away gently.
    â€œI’m saving you boys a drink,” he said to the two horses.
    In moments the men walked over and stood in front of him.
    The Montana Kid stood closer than the others.
    â€œWhat now?” he asked Sam bluntly on all their behalf. “Like Burke said, there’s nobody behind us now.”
    Sam looked up at him in the pale moonlight as he capped the half-full canteen and held it on his lap.
    â€œI’ve learned there’s
somebody
behind
everybody
, Montana,” he replied. He wiped a hand across his mouth.
    â€œCome on, Jones,” said Montana. “You know what I mean. What’s to keep us from resting the night right here? Take up toward the ruins come morning?”
    â€œWho said we’re going through the ruins?” Sam asked.
    â€œWe all know there’s water around those ruins,” said Montana. He glanced around at the others, then back to Sam. “We’d be foolish not to go through there.”
    Sam only stared at him.
    â€œWater is all the more reason to push on tonight,” he said firmly. “We don’t know what shape the quake left this trail in ahead of us. It’ll be easier on thirsty horses traveling tonight while it’s cooled down.”
    â€œHe’s got a point, Montana,” Childers cut in, holding his wounded shoulder. “There might not be any more trail before us than there is behind us.”
    Montana looked at the men’s faces in the moonlight. Then he looked back down at Sam and let out a breath.
    â€œHave you been in any of these quakes before?” he asked.
    â€œA few,” Sam said. “It seemed like there was one every time we turned around a month back.” He kept his voice as civil as Montana’s. “Have you been in any?”
    â€œLast month, like you said,” Montana replied. “I was on flatland every time, though. What about you?”
    Sam gestured a nod toward the hill line, the looming brown-black dust. “My first time seeing it this bad,” he said. “So I can’t say what to expect between here and the ruins.”
    The Montana Kid nodded, appreciating the truth.
    â€œAll right, then,” he said. “We’re both on the same spot. None of us here knows any more than the other.”
    Sam stood and stretched and hung his canteen back on his saddle horn.
    â€œThat about the size of it,” he said. “I’m still pushing on. Make up your minds if