It wasn’t but a short ride.
A short ride but a significant stop, he suspected.
That was the feel of things.
He’d just been in Salida. That’s where he’d caught the train to Fairplay.
Looking back, even then, he could feel something in the air.
Had he sensed Toole and his men? Had they already holed up in the mine at that point?
Perhaps.
He didn’t hold onto any of these notions. He just let them pass through his mind, a thing he had learned to do after years of hunting bad men.
He turned a full circle, taking in the whole of the Blake farm.
A nice place. Neat and tidy. He liked that. He liked neat and tidy things very much.
Unconsciously, he brushed at the sleeve of his black jacket, whisking away a spot of dust.
Yes, he would take that short ride to Poncha Springs.
Of course, Conn Sullivan would get there first.
Which was all right.
Let them have at it.
Never hurry, never worry.
He would deal with whoever was left when he got down there.
34
After reaching Poncha Springs, Conn and Sheffield easily located the Sierra Perdida Mine, the mouth of which yawned at the base of a hillside that formed the end of a small ravine.
They stayed back. Even from their vantage point in the trees above the ravine, they could see fresh tracks coming and going from the mine.
They had ridden this way, dipped down into the ravine, and gone straight to the opening of the mine. Other tracks went up the hill and out of sight.
Conn guessed they were stashing their horses back there.
“Keep watch,” Conn whispered. “I’m gonna go see if their horses are over yonder.”
Sheffield nodded. He’d tied his horse out of sight and crawled up to a tree that had fallen at the edge of the slope. He had his rifle handy.
Conn swept wide, staying out of view in case the men came out of the mine. There was a lot of stuff down there in the ravine—piles of wood and debris, boulders, old stumps from fallen trees that had probably been cut up and burned when this wasa working mine—lots of places for Toole and his men to hunker down and fight if they spotted him.
Conn rode back and sure enough, there were the horses. Four of them. Which meant all four men were likely in the mine now.
This was it. His chance to kill the men most directly responsible for the murder of his brother. Toole and Duncan and the other two, Turpin and the one they called Dog.
Once he killed them, it would be nine down and two to go.
He rode back to Sheffield and explained his discovery.
“What do you want to do?” Sheffield said. “Sit here and wait for them to come out or go in after them?”
