Saving Alice Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

Taking only a few moments to reach the horses, the two men could move more quickly now that they knew how far they were from their target. Chet, leading the way, took the reins of his horses and lead them and Matthew further west behind the tree line. He was cautious to pick a path that would make the least amount of noise. Arriving where he estimated to be the closest that they ought to get with the horses, he tied the horses to saplings.
When Matthew had finished his task, he moved to Chet’s side.
"Okay," said Chet, still using his soft whisper, "if we head straight that way, we is goin’ to be comin’ out by the water about a hundred yards down the beach from ‘em. We got to move very quiet like, so watch your step."
Again the two men entered the trees. Chet demonstrated his adeptness in moving through the trees with remarkable quietness, his feet seeming to be padded like the paws of cat. Matthew imitated Chet’s every move and took special care to try to place his feet in the exact location of his leader. This also proved to be a very quiet approach for Matthew, which further boosted Matthew’s confidence. Still Chet occasionally turned to Matthew with a look that said Be Quiet!
They came to edge of the trees. The sand of the riverbank sloped gently down to the water’s edge. They could also hear the muffled conversation of the two men as they discussed something, but they where too far away to still be able to make out the individual words.
Chet cautiously moved out to see their position. He had brought them to within about seventy-five yards from the men. He knew that they would need to get a little closer if they were to be effective in their surprise.
He methodically moved back to Matthew and put his mouth to Matthew’s ear and spoke lower than a whisper. "I want to move through the trees and get closer. You got to stay here."
Matthew nodded in agreement, and Chet turned to go. Matthew kept an eye on Chet as he whispered his way through the trees. He could see that Chet was moving even slower and more guardedly with his gun in hand.
Matthew adjusted his feet beneath him, making a step to his right. Before he knew what was happening, he had inadvertently stepped on a small branch, snapping it in two. In his own ears it sounded like a gunshot. Chet, who was about ten yards from Matthew, snapped his head around to Matthew. The voices of the men stopped. The songs of the birds in the trees ceased. All of time seemed to stop to listen.
The stillness was broken quit suddenly by the sound of Alice’s voice that had said something rather loudly, but indistinctly. Chet moved to the tree’s edge. Without further hesitation he stepped out and aimed his gun and fired two ineffective shots. The men had mounted their horses with Alice hanging unceremoniously over the horse in front of the burly rider and were moving into the trees, making themselves a difficult target.
Turning he ran back toward Matthew who had also stepped out of the trees. Without stopping he yelled at Matthew, "I should shoot you instead!" Matthew saw the anger in Chet’s face as Chet turned into the trees in a full run toward the horses.
Matthew had also felt like he needed to be shot as he raced behind Chet, trying to keep up.
Over his shoulder Chet yelled, "I told you to stay put!"
Matthew said nothing. He just put one humiliated foot in front of the other and made his dejected way behind Chet. As if to add injury to insult the same offending foot that had stepped on the branch caught itself on another branch just as they were about to the horses, causing him to stumble and spill himself across the ground.
Jumping to his feet, Matthew heard Chet, "I told him to be quiet! But can he be quiet for three minutes!"
He started to untie both of his horses, when Chet said, "Leave the other horse! We got to move fast." Chet was already in the saddle replacing the two expended bullets. Then he spurred his horse into motion, while Matthew was only halfway into his saddle. Matthew’s horse was anxious to get after Chet’s horse and started to move beneath Matthew, making him struggle to keep from falling from the saddle. Finally in place, Matthew gave the horse its head, while he took hold of the saddle horn.
They moved swiftly through the trees while ducking and swerving. Matthew was being raked by the branches that kept slapping and pulling at him and nearly unseating him, but he held tenaciously to the saddle horn. Exiting the trees Chet raced his horse in the direction that the thieves had moved, and easily found their path that went into the trees. The path didn’t go deep into the trees, just enough to provide a visual shield from the gunfire that Chet had sent their way.
It wasn’t long until the horse tracks returned back to the open shoreline and headed up river. It was obvious to Chet that once they knew they were not being immediately followed, they chose the path of the quickest travel. The river leaned to the north around a gentle bend and the trail left by the horses was as easy to read as a book. But sand is a poor friend to a horse. Though gentle on the hoof, it eats up energy when a horse is attempting speed because it gives so easily that there is little purchase allowed for the hooves. Chet knew that eventually they would either be forced to stop or head to more solid ground.
His estimation proved to be accurate. The trees thinned very suddenly as the bank grew steep where the river had been eating its way more deeply into the plain. Up the steep bank the tracks led, and Chet and Matthew followed.
Coming out of the riverbed, they suddenly saw whom they were seeking. The two thieves were racing their horses as parallel to the river as was possible. But they were much closer than Chet had imagined they would be- particularly the horse with only one rider. It became clear after a moment that that horse was struggling to keep itself moving. Though the rider kicked and whipped, the horse was visible slowing.
Suddenly the horse stumbled and pitched over. The rider proved to be ready for such a moment, for as the horse was falling, the rider kicked his feet from the stirrups, and threw himself off to the right. Dust and earth flew into the air as the horse tumbled to a stop.
The rider had timed his tumble so expertly that by the time his momentum had slowed enough, he had positioned his legs in front of himself so that he was able pop back up to his feet at a run, handgun to the ready. But instead of firing at Chet and Matthew, who were fast approaching, he ran straight to the horse and quickly leveled his gun at the horse’s head and pulled the trigger. The horse instantly thrashed its legs in the throws of death as its life escaped its body. In the next instant the man had flung his body down behind the horse and focused his attention on his approaching adversaries.
Though still out of effective handgun range, Chet now knew that he was going to make an easy target if he continued his direct approach to the gunman. Glancing quickly over his shoulder to Matthew, he waved his arm at Matthew to go left. Then he himself faded right. He wanted to make the man divide his attention between two locations. Hopefully Matthew would go far enough around to just be out of the way.
Matthew didn’t understand Chet’s gesticulation, nor did he have complete control of his horse. His horse skills, though better than two days previous, still bordered on the perilous, especially at these speeds. His basic approach at this speed of travel was bend low and hold on. If the horse wanted to go left because it understood Chet’s hand signals, then it went left. If it wanted to follow Chet’s horse and go right, then it followed Chet’s horse and went right. The horse followed Chet’s horse, and Matthew continued to hold on.
Chet’s slanting path to the right of the gunman was bringing him within shooting range, and now he realized that he might have made a mistake. He had faded in the direction of the river which was still on the curve that had cut into the high plain. There would be a sharp drop off here. He would be forced to cut his horse along the rim and bring himself closer to the gunman than he really wanted to be. Suddenly he saw a patch of ground just before him jump in a puff of dust, followed instantly by the crack of a gun.
His horse didn’t skip a beat, but continued in its path, unshaken. Chet reached for his own gun and raised it to return fire, though he knew shooting at this speed would be nothing more than making noise, especially with his target making himself small behind the horse carcass. He shot two quick shots, hitting nothing of significance.
Suddenly an idea flashed through his mind as quick as a heartbeat. He realized that this man was of no real consequence now that he was put to ground without a horse. All Chet had to do was veer far and wide out of his range and continue on after Jack and Alice.
But this was not the way to get around, for it would bring himself unnecessarily close to the gunman. Chet needed to stop and just retrace his steps and avoid anymore lead. Skillfully Chet put his horse into a full stop. Practically sitting on his haunches, throwing up a cloud of dust, the horse was just about to turn on its rear left hoof, when things went terribly wrong.
Matthew’s horse had been following closely behind and was also being hedged in by the rim of the drop off, which put the horse more directly behind Chet’s horse. Matthew was still laying low and holding on for dear life. His eyes popped wide open when he saw Chet coming to a sudden halt. He tried desperately to get control of the reins. Meanwhile, his horse had the idea of just trying to sidestep to the left of Chet. Matthew pulled back with all his might, and the horse pulled his head and stepped to the left while it also tried to respond to Matthew’s attempt at control. But all was done too late.
Both stopping and turning at the same time, the horse careened into the side of Chet’s horse. The impact completely unseated Matthew throwing him hard into Chet. Now Chet was unseated also as both men fell to the ground in a tumbling mess.
Neither man was hurt seriously, though Chet had had the wind knocked completely out him when some body part of Matthew had firmly planted itself in Chet’s stomach during the fall.
Gasping for air Chet searched for his gun that had been knocked from his hand, and with a rising passion he knew what he wanted to do to Matthew with the gun.
They were well within range of the other gunman, and the reality of this proximity was punctuated with a burst of ground popping just a foot from his head. Not readily seeing his own weapon, he spied Matthew’s still holstered gun just a few feet away. With no air yet in his lungs, he lurched towards Matthew, pawing for the gun. Another crack of a gun, and another. The dust was dancing around them when he finally got his hand on Matthew’s gun. He rolled over, flattening himself to the ground, forcing his body to work regardless of not having any air yet. Taking aim he began to return fire.
Meanwhile, the gunman had stood up during the unfolding horse crash in order to get a better view. Instead of settling back behind the relative safety of the horse, he had actually stepped out and was moving toward the two fallen riders. But he was shooting on the move, and his shots were not well aimed.
At Chet’s first shot, which tugged at the renegade’s left shirtsleeve, the man stopped his advance and threw himself to the right landing hard on his chest. He rolled fast, when a second shot pitched dirt up just inches from his face, filling his left eye with a burst of dirt. He got his gun in front of himself and pulled the trigger. He pulled again. Both times his gun roared with an evil laugh. Again he pulled his trigger, but the gun had lost its voice. He rolled to his back, his left eye pinched closed, and clawed at his belt for bullets.
Chet, his lungs finally remembering how to work, realized that his enemy was needing to reload, so he jumped to his feet and started to run toward the man who was now on his back, trying to get bullets. With his gun leveled, Chet yelled, "Stop! You ain’t got a chance!"
The man got two bullets in place and seeing the advance of Chet, he closed his gun and desperately started to take aim.
"Stop!" yelled Chet, but he could see that he was being ignored.
Chet fired.
The gunman went limp. It was over.