Bayou Trackdown

20

Fargo drew his Colt and started to turn toward the door, but just like that the Mad Indian was gone, melted into the willows like the ghost some thought him to be.

Lowering the curtains, Fargo went to the door anyway. Instead of going out, he lifted a heavy bar propped against the wall and slid it into the two slots on the back of the door, then gave the bar a shake. It would take a battering ram to get through—or a razorback as big as a buffalo.

Namo had slumped in his chair and the blanket had fallen off. Fargo pressed a palm to the Cajun’s forehead and it was the same as before—burning hot. Since Namo was out to the world, he couldn’t object to Fargo carrying him to the bedroom and putting him on the big bed. There were no windows, only the thick walls. Fargo covered him and went out.

The storm had broken in all its elemental fury.

Cradling the Sharps, Fargo took up his position at the window. Large drops splashed the pane in a liquid deluge. The wind howled, bending the trees as if they were so many blades of grass. The glimpse he had of the bayou showed it being frothed into a fury.

Would the razorback be out on a night like this? Fargo wondered. Or would it do as most animals did and seek cover?

The blaze of bolts and the crash of thunder were continuous. Fargo hadn’t seen a storm this violent since he left the mountains. Some of the lightning was so close, the thunder shook the cabin.

And somewhere in that tempest, plotting to kill them, was the Mad Indian.

Fargo was glad there was only the one window and door. He was also glad about the rain. For as long as it lasted, and until the logs dried, the Mad Indian couldn’t set the cabin on fire.

The chirp of the coffeepot brought Fargo to the fireplace. The coffee was ready, the stew was piping hot. He found bowls in the cupboard and a wooden ladle to fill them with, and spoons. He took one of the bowls to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Namo?”

Heuse didn’t stir.

“Namo?” Fargo was averse to waking him but the man needed nourishment. He shook Namo’s shoulder a few times. “Time to eat.”

Eyelids fluttering, Namo Heuse rolled onto his back and slowly sat up, his head and shoulders propped against the headboard. “How long was I out?”

“A while.”

More thunder shook the cabin to its foundation. Namo glanced sharply at the ceiling. “I seem to remember you saying something about a storm.”

Fargo dipped the spoon in the soup. “Open up.”

“I will feed myself, thank you very much.”

Fargo placed the bowl in Namo’s lap and gave him the spoon. “If you were any more pigheaded, you’d be a razorback.”

Namo dipped the spoon and raised it to his mouth, his teeth gritting with the effort.

“There’s plenty more where this came from so if you want seconds give me a holler.”

“I can’t tell you how good it is. I’m starved.”

“It will help with the fever.” Fargo stood. “If you’re sure that you can do it yourself—?”

“I am. Thank you.” Namo let him get as far as the doorway before asking, “Is something the matter?”

“No.”

“Is it the Mad Indian? Did he come after us?”

Fargo grimly nodded.

“I expected as much. We have been a thorn in his side. He wants us dead more than anyone. This is good.”

“You think so?”

“We can end this once and for all. As soon as I gather my strength, I will be out to help you.”

“You get out of that bed and I’ll throw you back in again,” Fargo promised. “Leave everything to me.” He made it a point to close the bedroom door behind him.

Fargo added a log to the fire. He filled a bowl with soup and went to the window. It didn’t look as if the storm would end any time soon. Fine by him. It bought them time to rest, to recuperate. The soup made him drowsy so he filled a cup with bubbling coffee. It wasn’t enough. He drank two more.

Fargo didn’t like being cooped up. He prowled the room like a caged panther. Once he thought he heard a thump against the side of the cabin. It wasn’t repeated, and he figured a tree limb was to blame.

Namo called out that he was done so Fargo went in. He offered to bring a second bowl but the Cajun declined.

“It might make me sick. I need sleep more than anything. As it is, I can’t hold my head up.”

“Then don’t.” Fargo backed out. “If you need anything, anything at all, give a holler.”

“You will make some woman a fine husband one day.”

“Go to hell.”

Namo chuckled.

The storm was finally slackening. The lightning strikes were fewer and the boom of thunder less.

Fargo looked out the window. As best he could tell, by some miracle the pirogue was still tied to the landing. On an impulse he went to the door, removed the bar, and opened it. Drops wet his face. Wind fanned his cheeks. Everything was drenched—the ground, the thickets, the trees.

Silhouetted as he was in the doorway, Fargo only stood there a few seconds. Just long enough to scan the vicinity. Then he stepped back and started to close the door.

That was when he heard it, from out of the willows, the bleat of a small animal. A bleat he had heard on several occasions now. The bleat of a rabbit tied to a stake.

Fargo slammed the door and replaced the bar. It wouldn’t be long. He took to pacing until he noticed an axe in the corner. He placed it on the table. He added a butcher knife and a meat cleaver. Casting about for more weapons, his gaze alighted on the wood bin. Several of the logs were thin enough that they sparked an idea. He selected three, sat at the chair, and used the butcher knife to whittle. When he had three sharp points, he placed them next to the axe.

Was there anything else he could use? A lantern suggested an idea. He lit it and turned the wick low and placed the lantern in the middle of the table, not for the extra light but as a possible weapon.

There was nothing else, not unless Fargo counted table knives in a drawer, and a broom.

The cries of the rabbit seemed louder.

The rain had stopped and the wind had died.

Fargo went to the window. Remembering the Mad Indian’s bow, he was careful not to show himself. The night was still and silent save for the bait. He was about to turn away when another cry, from out of the dark heart of the swamp, caused his pulse to quicken.

The razorback had heard the rabbit.

It was on its way.

Fargo tried to swallow in a mouth gone suddenly dry. He crossed to the bedroom. Namo was sound asleep. Loathe to disturb him, Fargo closed the bedroom door. The cabin walls were thick enough that Namo should be safe. Not even the boar could break them down. Still, on second thought, Fargo left the door open a crack.

A squeal sounded uncomfortably near.

Fargo hefted the Sharps and moved to the window. It was the weak spot, the cabin’s Achilles heel. Would the razorback sense that? He backed up until he bumped against the table. It would be soon. He could feel it in his bones. He heard a cackle, and the loudest squeal yet.

The side of the cabin was struck a resounding blow. Dust particles gleamed, sifting slowly to the floor.

Fargo wedged the heavy Sharps to his shoulder and thumbed back the hammer. More blows thudded, each closer to the window than the last. The razorback squealed in baffled rage. It wanted in but Namo had built too well. The walls were too sturdy.

Suddenly its porcine face filled the window, its tusks curved like twin sabers. Its dark eyes glowed red.

Fargo knew it saw him. He fired and the glass pane dissolved in a shower of shards. Blood spurted, and in a twinkling the boar was gone, squealing and screeching.

Fargo fed in a new cartridge and set himself. “Don’t keep me waiting, you bastard.”

It didn’t.

With an ear-splitting squeal the razorback slammed into the window. What was left of the glass showered down and the frame buckled. Fargo fired, reloaded, raised the rifle to fire again.

The boar was stuck! Its head was wedged fast.

Fargo squeezed off another shot. He should have killed it; he had the thing dead to rights. But the razorback, in its wild thrashing, moved its head just as he fired and the slug intended for the creature’s brain-pan cored a shoulder instead. The razorback was beside itself. Wood cracked and splintered as the window gave way. But the opening still wasn’t wide enough. The razorback couldn’t get inside. Squealing in frustration, it bounded into the night.

Fargo girded for the next onslaught. He stayed focused on the window. That was the only reason he caught the blur of motion and sprang aside with a hair to spare. A feather shaft imbedded itself next to the fireplace, quivering.

The Mad Indian cackled.

Fargo had to remember he was up against two adversaries, not just one. He squatted, hoping the crazed warrior would show himself.

There was another thud. The front wall, this time. Twice more the razorback slammed into the cabin. And then the inevitable happened—the boar rammed into the door. The bar held but the jamb cracked. The beast struck the door again, nearly tearing it off its hinges.

The heavy bar held but it wouldn’t for long. Fargo trained the Sharps on the center of the door. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the window, too, and when a thin figure filled it, an arrow notched to a sinew string, he threw himself flat. The string twanged and the shaft whizzed over his head.

Simultaneously, the living engine of destruction attacked the door. Again the bar held but cracks appeared.

The Mad Indian sprang out of sight.

Fargo swung the Sharps from the door to the window and back again. Hooves drummed, and the door burst as the window had done, bits and slivers flying. Part of the bar flew past Fargo’s head. He took swift aim and fired.

The razorback was framed in the opening. At the shot, its dark eyes locked on Fargo and it hurtled toward him, squealing and tucking its chin to rake with its tusks. Fargo threw himself to the right and the boar pounded past. He inadvertently put his back to the window, and a chill rippled down his spine at a cackle from the Mad Indian.

Fargo didn’t look; he scrambled toward the table. An arrow with a discolored bone tip thunked into the floorboards inches from his arm.

Letting go of the Sharps, Fargo rolled, palming the Colt as he turned. The Mad Indian was at the window, nocking another arrow. Flat on his back, Fargo fanned off two swift shots and was rewarded with a yelp. The Mad Indian disappeared.

Across the room, the razorback had wheeled to come at him again but its hooves were finding slick purchase on the smooth boards.

Fargo fanned two shots so quickly they sounded as one. Then he was under the table and the boar was pounding past but as it went by it hooked the table with a tusk and upended it. Fargo felt a pain across his shoulders. The table had landed on top of him. Shoving it off, he gained his knees. The axe was only a few feet away. He grabbed it up, and stood.

The razorback came at him yet again, squealing, its beady eyes ablaze. Its tusks swept up and in.

Fargo sidestepped. He put all he had into swinging the axe and the edge bit deep into the razorback’s neck. He tried to jerk it free but the handle was torn from his grasp.

Once more the boar wheeled. It paused, wheezing, blood misting from the new wound.

At Fargo’s feet lay the meat cleaver and one of the logs he had sharpened. He scooped them up.

The razorback stood there, glaring. In the confines of the cabin it seemed enormous beyond belief.

The boar tensed to spring forward.

And that was when the bedroom door opened. Namo Heuse, caked in sweat, blanket over his shoulders, blinked and said in dazed confusion, “Fargo? I thought I heard a noise.”

The razorback spun.

And Fargo flew, taking the gamble of his life. He stabbed the stake into the razorback’s eye. Out of instinct the razorback jerked away, and collided with the wall. It stumbled, then righted itself just as Fargo brought the meat cleaver down. Again and again and again Fargo swung. His life was in the balance.

The terror of the Atchafalaya squealed. With the axe sticking from its neck and the stake jutting from its eyes, it took a step toward him—and died. The crash of its great body rattled dishes in the cupboard.

“You did it!” Namo marveled.

Fargo dashed to the Sharps. Reloading on the fly, he raced out the front door and around the corner. But he needn’t have worried.

The stick figure in the mud was as still as death could make it, the eyes, even in oblivion, twin mirrors of madness.

Namo appeared at the window. “Is he—?”

“He is.”

“Then it’s over? It’s really and truly over?”

“Except for getting you to the healer in the settlement.” Suddenly so weary he could barely stand, Fargo leaned against the cabin.

“There’s no rush, my friend. The meal and the rest did wonders. I think my fever broke. We can wait until daylight.”

Fargo smiled for the first time in days. “I can use some rest myself. And something more to eat.”

Namo Heuse glanced over his shoulder. “How would you like roast boar?”