[Texas Rangers 01] - The Buckskin Line Read Online Free PDF Page A

while Shannon lifted three frightened children into the bed of the wagon.
    The farmer pointed. "You'll find the Johnson family over that-away where you see that stand of trees. Old Man Blessing and his boys are a mile or so further on. They're the last ones I know of in that direction." He put his horse into a run, trying to catch up to the fast-moving wagon. The woman was applying the whip, and the children clung desperately to the wagon's sideboards to keep from being bounced out.
    The Johnsons required no persuasion. Webb had known the young family at camp meeting, and they accepted his word. Their only question was which direction they should run. They wasted little time gathering up a few possessions and quitting their place.
    Shannon watched them with regret. "Ain't apt to be much left here when they come back."
    "There'll be the land."
    Abner Blessing was a towering, rawboned farmer whose broad shoulders appeared to sag under their own weight. Webb had once heard him declare that he had "fit Injuns all over hell and half of Georgia" before coming to Texas. He was ready to take these on. The Blessings had built their cabin of stone, befitting a family of great strength. He pointed to his three grown sons, all rough-cut out of raw oak, in his image. "Me and my boys ain't givin' up our place. We'll take our stand behind them stone walls."
    Webb argued, "You'd just as well try to wipe out a hornet's nest with a sharp stick. I don't doubt your fightin' spirit, Mr. Blessing, but you know what happened at the Alamo."
    "Them fellers killed a heap of Mexicans."
    "But they lost the battle."
    "Me and the boys, we've worked hard to build what we've got here." Reluctantly Blessing turned to his sons. "Tom, Bert, Jim ... go gather the horses and mules. Them varmints may burn the house, but be damned if they'll add our stock to their string." The young men hastened to comply. Shannon moved to help them. Blessing said, "I hate to leave here without a fight. Where you reckon them red devils've been?"
    Webb could only shrug. "They were comin' from the direction of Linnville when we saw them."
    "Linnville." The farmer clenched his fists, his knuckles bulging like pine knots. "I've got a sister there, and her family. You don't reckon ...
    "I don't know."
    Misery came into the man's blue eyes, followed by a building anger. "Everybody can't just up and run. There's bound to be somebody with the guts to stand and fight."
    "Maybe, if the Comanches didn't leave everybody dead behind them."
    "Maybe me and the boys can put some fightin' men together. There's four of us to start."
    "Six. Mike and me, we'll go with you." Webb looked to Shannon for silent confirmation.
    They struck southward, driving the family's extra horses and mules several miles before they came upon a brush-lined creek. Blessing told his sons, "Scatter the stock down in there. I doubt the redskins'll come this far off of their line of march."
    That done, he said, "Let's be headin' for Linnville." He led off without waiting for argument. Webb offered none, and Shannon seemed as eager as Blessing for a fight.
    They pushed their horses into a lope for short distances, then slowed to a trot to conserve the mounts' strength. Webb could see the cloud of dust to the north, marking the location of the Comanche column.
    The oldest of the Blessing boys, Tom, drew up on the reins. "Listen. I think I hear shootin'."
    Webb first thought the Indians might have caught one of the families he and Shannon had warned. But he decided that was not the case; the sound indicated many guns.
    The elder Blessing said, "Somebody's done lit into them. Come on, boys, or we're liable to miss the fight." He spurred off toward the dust. His sons struggled to catch up.
    Webb gave Shannon a questioning glance. Shannon said, "Hell, Preacher, who wants to live to get old and decrepit?"
    They never managed to close the distance between themselves and the Blessings, but presently through the dust they could see a