Bob\u2019s out there among those big boulders over there Howie. I saw him get shot, run over there, and go down with the gold. Hear that? That\u2019s him moaning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t hear anything but these goddamn bullets ricocheting all around us and those God damn bandidos yelling at each other in Spanish. They got us pinned down here pretty good Fred. We gotta get out of here before they get us completely surrounded. Let\u2019s mount up and make a break for it. Forget the gold. It\u2019s over there with Bob and we\u2019re never going to be able to get it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowie, I can\u2019t just leave Bob out there suffering like that. That ain\u2019t right. I got to find out how bad he\u2019s hurt. Got to see if there\u2019s anything that I can do for him. Listen, hear that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the pile of boulders that Fred had pointed out came unearthly eerie moaning, indescribable sounds of pain and agony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI heard \u2018em but there\u2019s nothing we can do. We best make a break for it when we get a chance. And for God sake keep your head down. Stop popping up to look over there every few seconds. One of those Mexicans sure as hell will blow it off and then where in the hell would I be, dead that\u2019s where. Christ sakes Fred , let’s take our chances and run for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowie I got to know if I can do anything to stop his suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat, like putting him out of his misery?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYah if I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell worry instead about putting those god damn Mexicans out of our misery. You take the ones on the right. I\u2019ll take the ones on the left. Besides, if the Mexicans get to him first they\u2019ll shoot him anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can\u2019t let that happen, Howie. Listen, you hear those weird sounds he\u2019s making? They\u2019re ghastly. I owe it to him. We\u2019ve been through alot together these last five years. If he could speak now, he\u2019d want me to be the one to do it, not some god damn Mexican.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Howie ignored him and said nothing as he continued returning fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook,\u201d Fred continued. \u201cI don\u2019t care what you say. One of us has got to run over there and bring back our hard earned gold. We\u2019ve spent months scratching and digging for that gold. Then to have it stolen from us last night while we slept, and all the trouble we went through to get it back this morning, and now this. We\u2019re not leaving without it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStolen by your no good cousins I might add, who you insisted that we let camp with us last night. For God’s sake Fred I told you those two were no good. I should have never let you talk me into letting them stay with us. We were darn lucky in being able to track down those two pieces of horse dung and get our gold back this morning. Let the Mexicans have it as long as we can get out of here with our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo I made a mistake letting them stay with us but they\u2019re basically good boys and I ain\u2019t going to let us get robbed a second time Howie, no way. I am sure as hell not giving up now after all we\u2019ve been through. I\u2019m going for the gold and you can\u2019t stop me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOkay. okay. Enough already Fred! We\u2019ll get the gold then get out of here fast because sure as hell those no good cousins of yours probably told the sheriff that we robbed them and they\u2019ll have him get a posse up to come and arrest us. We should have never let them get away. We should have finished them off when we had the chance even if they are your kin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Howie then hesitated as the wheels turned in his head. \u201cOn second thought let\u2019s just forget it Fred. The odds aren\u2019t in our favor. We\u2019re greatly numbered. Maybe we should just holler at these guys that the gold\u2019s over there with Bob and let them take it. They\u2019ll be so busy fighting among themselves over it that we could make our escape then, escape from them and from the sheriff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat about Bob?\u201d pleaded Fred again. \u201cI ain\u2019t gonna just leave him there like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor Christ sake\u2019s Fred. For the umpteeth time forget about Bob. Look, they’ve been getting closer while we been a palavering.\u201d Shots whizzed by their heads as the Mexicans\u2019 fire intensified. \u201cIt\u2019s decision time mi amigo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m going out there, get our packs of gold and put Bob out of his misery and run back, you\u2019re going to cover me and then we\u2019ll make our escape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s crazy. There\u2019s at least six of them, it\u2019s too far, there\u2019s not enough big rocks out there for you to hide behind, and sure as hell they\u2019ll shoot you a dozen times before you ever get there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell I\u2019m going on the count of three and that\u2019s final. It would be in your best interest Howie to cover me and have the horses ready when I get back. One, two,\u201d Fred took off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat happened to three,\u201d hollered Howie as he laid down a barrage of fire forcing the Mexicans to keep their heads down as Fred made it to the first grouping of boulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mexicans popped up and fired a dozen rounds at both men. But Howie returned their fire and they dropped back behind cover. Fred bolted forward again. As the Mexican heads reappeared Howie set forth another burst of gunfire and Fred jumped over the final boulders to Bob and the gold. His luck had held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJesus Bob old pal looks like you been shot up but good,\u201d were the first words that came out of his mouth when he saw Bob lying there all crumpled up in a pool of blood. \u201cLooks like you\u2019ve been gut shot my friend. You\u2019re a goner Bob and I ain\u2019t a going to let you suffer one second more, no sir. I know if you could speak that you\u2019d want me to do this, not some goddamn Mexican,\u201d said Fred as he fired a bullet into Bob\u2019s brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cComing back now. Cover me,\u201d hollered Fred as he picked up the two heavy bags loaded with nuggets and started to jump over the rocks. A bullet crashed into his leg causing him to fall back down into the boulders. Fred felt the pain and knew in an instant that he couldn\u2019t walk, his leg bone was shattered. \u201cYou might as well make a run for it, Howie. I\u2019m shot in the leg. I can\u2019t stand let alone run back to you. I\u2019ll cover you. Make a break for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m coming to you Fred. A man just doesn\u2019t abandon his partner to a bunch of thieving murdering Mexicans now does he. Cover me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Howie leapt forward and began running towards Fred but to his surprise the Mexicans\u2019 guns were silent. They never fired a shot. Howie looked in their direction and saw that they were too busy mounting up and riding off to be concerned about him. Then he saw why. There up on the ridge was the reason for their hurried departure. A dozen men were thundering down upon them, the posse that had come to arrest him and Fred just as he had predicted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Howie ran over to Fred and helped him to his feet while the sheriff dismounted and came up unbeknownst behind them. He stood there in silence, his gun drawn and pointed at their backs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew you\u2019d do it. I knew you\u2019d shoot Bob. Would you have put me out of my misery if it had been me, Fred?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNah Howie I\u2019d have let you suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d he responded incredulously. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause you\u2019re a bigger jackass than Bob. That\u2019s why.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell if that don\u2019t beat all. You\u2019d shoot your mule, an animal, but me, your partner, a human being, you\u2019d let suffer. What kind of a man would do that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But before Fred could come back with a snappy answer, the sheriff cut him off. \u201cWell it looks like I just caught me a pair of live jackasses and one dead one. Hands up boys. Or should I say hooves up,\u201d chuckled the sheriff. \u201cOh you ain\u2019t under arrest put them down. Those cousins of yours Fred ran into those Mexican bandidos when fleeing from you two this morning and knew that you would be needing some help. Kind of their way of redeeming themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fred got in Howie\u2019s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSee didn\u2019t I tell you that they were good boys. And you said they were no good. That just proves that you ARE the bigger jackass Howie.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bob\u2019s out there among those big boulders over there Howie. I saw him get shot, run over there, and go down with the gold. Hear that? That\u2019s him moaning.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t hear anything but these goddamn bullets ricocheting all around us and those God damn bandidos yelling at each other in Spanish. They got … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/wilhelm-gunkel-0TO6MY7_mw4-unsplash.jpg?fit=640%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":924,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions\/924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Bryan Grafton is a retired attorney. His latest book is Willard Wigleaf: West Texas Attorney.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"