Thomas Eidson - The Last Ride

As Jones sat by the corpse, a large wolf spider scurried over Mannito’s body. Spiders were sacred beings and he felt this was an omen. ‘Hear, brother – attest my words. I will avenge this man.’ He hesitated for a moment, then said, ‘This friend.’ He stopped talking and stared off into the bright sunlight at the distant hills. He realized now what Mannito had wanted to say to him last night in front of the barn. That they were friends. Jones wiped his mouth in the palm of his hand, looking down at the little body. ‘I heard you,’ he said. Then he looked away again and continued his oath, ‘I will avenge this man. The earth hears me, the spider hears me.’ Jones blew smoke in the four directions.

Samuel Jones closed his eyes and tried to rest for a moment in the scant shade of a mesquite bush. He was thinking about Lily and her chances, when suddenly the image of the Indian face was before his eyes again, looking so real that he sat bolt upright, clutching at his pistol and squinting at the surrounding brush. Nothing. Jones trembled and stood and walked the scare off. He knew now that it was the face of the Lame One.

Looking down at Mannito’s body again, he wondered where the small man’s clothes were. Then it came to him: they had made Lily put them on. They were about the same size. It could mean only one thing. They didn’t plan on killing her, so they had dressed her to ride. Hopefully, they’d keep her alive long enough. For what? His powers had been fading over the months. He had no idea where to start. All he wanted was to lie down and rest. That was all he ever wanted any more. That, and Maggie’s love.

Samuel Jones tracked the rocky ground hard for an hour until he found Baldwin chest-shot and nearly dead a quarter mile from the tree. He rigged a travois to the gray, placed the wounded man on it, and started out of the mountains, Mannito’s corpse slung across the mule. Halfway down, he came upon an Apache sprawled in the dirt, nearly decapitated by Mannito’s machete. He had been right, the little man had fought hard to defend Lily. He had been a warrior to respect.

Maggie did not surprise him. She was dignified and under control, though he knew she was dying inside from the strain. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she pressed the compress hard against her husband’s wound and then wrapped the bandage tightly around his chest. He held the rancher upright on the bed, then together they laid him back carefully on the pillow.

Baldwin was unconscious. But he had a chance, Jones figured. Maggie had not acknowledged him. Not when he rode up to the porch, or even now as they worked side by side. The only word she’d spoken, she was again mouthing softly: ‘Lily.’ It was an old mantra of mourning that he had heard hundreds of times before in different tongues, but it was always the same. There was nothing he could do to console her.

He watched as she pulled a chair close beside the bed, dragging her medicine bag onto her lap, holding it as if willing its contents to save her husband. He wanted to hold her, comfort her. He had felt this same clawing urge for the past thirty years. But now with her near, it was almost overpowering. Sometimes when he had held one of the other children in his arms when they were small, he had closed his eyes and pretended he was holding her. It had been a self-deception that had made him cry.

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