The Ghost of Apache Creek

Chapter 38

“What do you mean the horses are gone?” Sam Pace demanded.

Lake’s voice revealed his irritation.

“How many ways do you want me to say it, Sam? The horses are gone. Departed, skedaddled, vanished, vamoosed.”

“Mash,” Jess said, “did the Peacocks take them?

Lake shook his head. “It was Apaches. Lifted them horses as nice as you please in the fog.”

“Are you sure?” Pace said.

“Sure of what, Sam? That the horses are gone?”

Annoyed, Pace said, “Hell no. I mean that they were stolen by Apaches.”

“Moccasin sign all over the place. Judging by the tracks, I’d say White Mountain, but I could be wrong.”

His anger growing, Pace said, “An Apache is an Apache. Don’t make a hill o’ beans difference what kind he is.”

“Maybe you’re right, Sam,” Lake said. “When a man’s got his feet to the fire, it don’t matter a damn what kind of Injun’s holding on to his ankles.”

The three fell silent, Pace and Jess having it in their heads that Lake’s news had brought them no pleasure and considerable worry.

“Will they attack us, Mash?” Jess said finally.

“Apaches are notional,” Lake said. “You can never tell what they’ll do from one minute to the next. But I reckon this was a horse raid and they ain’t lookin’ fer a fight, at least not yet and not with us.”

“The army?” Jess said.

“Seems likely enough. They’ve broken out, and they know the horse so’jers will be after them.”

Jess looked at Pace. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Well, what do we do now, Sammy? Hoof it?”

“We won’t get far on foot. The Peacocks will ride us down and hit us when we least expect it.”

“And the Apaches are painted for war,” Lake said. “Another mighty good reason for staying right where we’re at.”

“You talking about that damned bell tower again?” Pace said.

“Unless you can think of a better place,” Lake said.

“I’m studying on it.”

“Don’t study on it too long, Sam. We’re within spittin’ distance of death right now.”

“The graveyard,” Pace said, as though he’d had a sudden burst of intuition. “Apaches won’t go near a place where folks are buried.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Lake said. “But the Peacocks will.”

“All right, then, we could just head out of town, hole up in the hills someplace,” Pace said.

“If the Apaches are around, they’d find us fer sure,” Lake said.

“Oh, for God’s sake, you two!” Jess said, her cheekbones flaring red. “The Apaches, the Peacocks, the deacon—they’ll all be here sooner than you think. We’ll hide in the bell tower. It’s our only chance.”

“Like rats,” Pace said.

“Live rats,” Jess said.

“The lady makes sense, Sam,” Lake said. “I think we’ve fresh run out of options.”

“Damn the Apaches, and damn this bad-luck town,” Pace said.

“Now you sound almost sane, boy,” Lake said. “And that’s surely an encouragement to all of us.”

The church had been a hurried afterthought by a few of the more pious residents of Requiem, but it had still not attracted a preacher before the cholera epidemic hit.

It was a rickety timber structure, shoddily and quickly built as the town sought instant respectability.

During its twelve months of existence, it had been pushed into service as a dance hall, a storage place for winter ice and beer barrels, and latterly a makeshift morgue for the cholera dead.

The top of the bell tower was accessed by a ladder that ascended to an open rectangle about four feet wide on all sides. Much of the space was taken up by a rusty iron bell that hung from an oak beam, and a wooden railing, as high as a man’s waist, enclosed the area.

The tower was cramped, smelled of rotten wood, and was known to sway alarmingly in a high wind, but on a clear day it gave a good view of the town and the surrounding area.

But all Pace could see as he moodily stared into the distance was a gray lake of fog that stretched in all directions.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” he said. “We could up be here for quite a spell.”

Lake sounded grumpy. “Hey, suppose I have to take a piss?”

“Over the side, Mash,” Jess said.

“And what about you?” Lake said.

“Over the side.”

“Hell, I’d like to see that.”

“If we’re here long enough, you will,” Jess said.

“We don’t have enough water stored up here for that to be a problem,” Pace said.