Chapter 5

Abi finally calmed down, but she said, "I swan, Mike, ifen them Injuns wuzn't out there and ready ta kill us, I'd have to have a go at ya. I had no idea that fighting was such a pusher fer sex."

I grinned and said, "OK, Abi, we'll make an extra effort tonight, but right now we have work to do."

We reloaded our weapons and led our horses out of the arroyo. We still had plenty of territory to cover, so we got right to it. There were still several places we had not covered that I wanted to look at. The records back in my time had indicated that there were three other prime locations and seven more that were marginal. Frankly, I didn't think that Hudson would waste time on the marginal sites, so I wanted to stick with the three main ones I knew about.

The place we were headed for was not served by a nice trail like the first two had been, so I wondered what had been done about making a wagon road. Since there was no regular trail leading to the probable mining site, I figured that the pattern followed with guards at the first two places would not be followed with this one. That meant that we had to be even more careful in our approach.

We rode to within a mile of where I suspected the mine to be before we dismounted. We took our carbines and began a careful approach to where I hoped the mine would be. I was carrying the water canteens, and Abi carried the food. We got to where I expected to find the mine and we found nothing. Well, hell!!! I was really pissed, but Abi was much more pragmatic about the whole thing. She pulled out the food, and we had our burritos and tamales while sitting in the shade. This was much, much better than sandwiches, and Abi was now officially in charge of lunch! It wasn't until we finished eating that I realized that I had eaten Mexican food fully charged with spices and peppers. Now I was really happy, and no longer concerned about the missing mine.

We looked around some more, but concluded that there was no mine here, and there never had been a mine here. We relaxed and walked back to our horses. The sensible thing to do was to look at the next logical site, and we rode to its vicinity. This place had no road for a wagon, either, so I was willing to bet that we would not find a mine. I was correct, dammit.

OK, we still had time to check out that last place if we hurried. We did hurry, and we came to the logical place to stash our horses without seeing anybody. There was a trail here wide enough for a wagon, so I was expecting a guard pretty near.

We had gone about a hundred yards up a switchback almost too steep for a loaded wagon when I caught sight of a man leaning against a rock and drinking from a canteen. I pulled Abi into cover and pointed out the guard. At that moment, Abi pointed out another guard up higher at the next switchback. Shit, things are never easy. Since I was the most experienced shooter, I took the guard who was farther away. He was over 200 yards away, but I didn't think that we had a choice.

Both of us set for automatic and aimed at our personal target. Abi was to fire first, and I was to shoot as quickly as possible right after her. We both fired a burst of four shots. Abi's range was close enough that I wasn't worried about bullet penetration for her, and she proved me right. Three red splotches appeared on her target's chest, and we could right off that man.

On the other hand, my target did not show a single sign of a hit. He dropped down out of sight, so there was nothing else to do but to attack him directly. The topography was such that, even afoot, we had to follow the road as it twisted and turned in its switchbacks. We trotted up the road, and the trip was exhausting. We were both breathing hard by the time we got to the site of the second guard.

He wasn't there, but there were two big blood stains on the rocks. I wondered where I could have hit him to produce so much blood, yet not be visible from down below. I looked around, and I got the answer to my question. It looked like I had missed him, but had hit the rock right behind him. This must have knocked splinters of rock off the back wall which dug big gouges in the back of the man they hit. The blood left a trail leading farther up the hill.

The man looked to be badly wounded, judging from the amount of blood on the ground. He had only gone about 20-25 feet before he dropped his Mississippi Rifle. Well, that was a help, but he surely still had his revolver. That meant five more bullets that we had to be careful of.

Again, the topography forced him out into the road, so that probably kept him from hiding among the rocks and taking a pot shot at us. We had just started around a bend in this switchback when Abi caught sight of him as he struggled up the road. She snapped off a short burst and announced in triumph, "I got the bastard!"

That was good news, but surely the men working the mine had heard shots by now and would be waiting for us. Dammit, why did I have to be right so often? At last, we were coming to the end of the road. There was a glint of sunlight reflecting off a piece of metal and right into my eye. That was all of the warning I needed! I grabbed Abi's arm and pulled her into the rocks beside the road just a moment before a volley was fired from several men hiding behind a barricade.

We had at least 10 seconds before they could reload, so I ran as far as I could while I counted off the seconds. I am no world class runner, besides I was a bit winded from our struggle up the hill, so I barely made it to the barricade. It was not the kind of barricade an experienced soldier would have built, so I had no trouble leaping over it, even as tired as I was.

As soon as I appeared out of the smoke cloud from their volley, several of the men tried to draw their pistols. They were much too late. I emptied the nearly full clip, at least 20 rounds, into the men who were bunched much too closely together. That carbine was no 23^rd Century assault rifle, but its rate of fire was plenty fast enough for this job. Every one of the men at the barricade took at least two bullets in the chest, so none of them were a problem now.

Abi joined me as I counted six dead men at the barricade. I reloaded a fresh clip and suggested that Abi do the same. That might be everybody, but we couldn't be sure. We looked around and saw that there were no more men out in front of the mine. I was certain that any more workers must be inside the mine. This mine had to be a heavy producer if it was the only other mine currently operating. Furthermore, if it was a heavy producer of ore, then there just had to be more workers.

I was of two minds about it, but Abi wanted to join me in my investigation of the mine. She had never been in a mine, so her curiosity was about to overcome her. I didn't see how I could discourage her, but I did warn her to be sure to stay several steps behind me, as there was the danger of booby traps triggered by tripwires. I had told her about the booby trapped shotgun in that first mine, so she knew what I was talking about.

She agreed to stay a few paces back, so we entered the mine after we sprayed a few rounds into the entrance to discourage anybody from trying to ambush us there. We went in, and she was immediately impressed by the gloom, even though there were torches along the wall.

We waited 15 minutes to let our eyes adjust before we went very far into the mine. Hudson appeared to be a creature of habit, because every mining operation was organized the same way. We soon came to the living quarters, and I was amused at the way Abi reacted to the odor. Yes, the air circulation was nothing to brag about, so the odor of stale sweat and farts was enough to get anyone's attention.

We pushed our way into the mine, but slowly, so that I could use my flashlight to check for tripwires. Son ... of ... a ... bitch! There were two tripwires almost side by side. I flashed the light around and saw two shotguns set up to point across the tunnel, one high and the other low. As before, I went back and took a section of bunk to trip the booby traps.