When he lowered the bottle it was all but empty. He sucked in air and looked at the man but the man was looking at the girl. She’d stood and was looking toward the trees. They could feel the ground shudder. The man rose and turned. Behind him the second man had stepped away from the fire and went trotting holding up his arms in silent exhortation. He was trying to head the horses where they came out of the trees tossing their heads and trotting sideways to keep from treading on the trailing stakeropes.
Demonios, said the man. Billy dropped the bottle and pitched the cob stopper into the fire and reached and grabbed the girl by the hand.
Vámonos, he said.
She bent and scooped up her bundle. Boyd came out of the trees at a gallop. He was bent low over Keno’s neck and he was holding the bridlereins of Billy’s horse in one hand and the shotgun in the other and he carried the reins of his own horse in his teeth like a circus rider.
Vámonos, hissed Billy, but she was already clutching his arm.
Boyd rode the horses almost through the fire and pulled Keno up stamping and wild‑eyed. He caught the reins in his teeth again and pitched the shotgun to Billy. Billy caught it and took the girl by the elbow and swung her toward the horse. The other two horses had vanished out on the darkened plain to the south of the camp and the man who’d pitched him the bottle of mescal was coming back out of the darkness carrying in his left hand a long thin knife. Other than the sound of the horses blowing and stamping all was silence. No one spoke. The dog circled nervously behind the horses. Vámonos, said Billy. When he looked the girl was already seated on the horse’s crupper behind saddle and blanketroll. He grabbed the reins from Boyd and swung them over the horse’s head and cocked the shotgun in one hand like a pistol. He didnt know whether it was loaded or not. The mescal sat in his stomach like some unholy incubus. He stepped into the stirrup and the girl flattened herself expertly along the horse’s flank and he swung his leg over her and sawed the horse around. The man was already upon him and he pointed the shotgun at the man’s chest. The man made a lunge for the bridle but the horse shied and Billy shucked his boot out of the stirrup and kicked at the man and the man ducked and passed the blade of the knife across the outside of Billy’s leg cutting through his boot and trouser both. He hauled the horse around and dug his heels in and the man lunged at the girl and got a handful of her dress but the cloth ripped away and then they were pounding out across the low grass swale and out onto the roadway where Boyd sat his stamping horse in the starlight waiting for them. He pulled the horse up squatting and tossing its head and spoke to the girl over his shoulder. Está bien? he said.
Sí, sí, she whispered. She was leaning forward over her bundle with both arms around his waist.
Let’s go, said Boyd.
They set out south down the road side by side at a hard gallop with the dog behind them losing ground by the yard. There was no moon but the stars in that country were so many that the riders cast shadows on the road anyway. Ten minutes later Boyd sat holding Billy’s horse by the reins while Billy stood at the roadside and gripped his knees and vomited into the roadside grass. The dog came wheezing up out of the dark and the horses looked at Billy and stamped in the road. Billy, looked up and wiped his weeping eyes. He looked at the girl. She sat the horse half naked, her bare legs hanging down the side of the horse’s haunches. He spat and wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve and looked at his boot. Then he sat in the road and pulled the boot off and looked at his leg. He pulled the boot back on again and got up and picked the shotgun up out of the road and walked back to the horses. The leg of his jeans flapped about his ankle.
We need to get off this road, he said. It aint goin to take them all that long to catch their horses.
Are you cut?
I’m all right. Let’s go.
Let’s listen a minute.
They listened.
You caint hear nothin for the damn dog pantin.
Listen a minute.
Billy took the reins and raised them over the horse’s head and put his boot in the stirrup and the girl ducked and he swung up into the saddle. A crazy man, he said. I got a crazy man for a brother.
Mánde? said the girl.
Listen a minute, Boyd said.
What do you hear?
Nothin. How do you feel?
About like you’d expect.
She dont speak no english, does she?
Hell no. How would she speak english?
Boyd sat looking off up the road into the darkness. You know they’re goin to follow us.
Billy jammed the shotgun into the scabbard. Hell yes I know it, he said.
Dont be cussin in front of her.
What?
I said dont be cussin in front of her.