Chapter 2

OK, the Apaches now knew that they were being stalked. My next move depended on how they reacted. I had made no effort to hide my trail, and I hoped that they would chase me. My plan was to set up an ambush and try to pick off the last man in line as they rode into the ambush. If they followed the normal Apache mindset, they would be out to capture me and make my last hours on Earth as miserable as possible. That's what I was counting on!

With that plan in mind, I ran for the hills off to my right. My idea was to find a good place for an ambush, but to keep going so that they would follow me through the ambush site. Once I had gone far enough, I planned to ride in a wide arc back to the ambush site and wait for the Apaches to come to me. I was pretty sure that they would not be expecting anything like that, so I would be able to kill at least one of them before making my escape.

I rode for at least an hour before I found the spot I was looking for. I marked it in my mind as I rode by. I didn't want to stop as that might be enough to give some warning to the Apaches about what I had in mind. I rode another half-mile before making my swing about to return to the ambush site from the side.

I knew that the Apaches were following me because I could see the dust cloud that they were creating as they rode after me. The amount of dust suggested that they were moving at a moderate speed, but not so fast that they would lose my trail. I figured that it would take 15-20 minutes for them to reach the ambush site, so I needed to hurry to get set up.

I hitched my horse to a bush lightly enough so that he could escape if my luck ran out, and the Indians caught me. I did not want him to die by being abandoned in the desert where he had no chance to help himself. When that had been done, I took my rifle, some extra ammunition, my water canteen, and a bag of pemmican. It took 10 minutes to get to the ambush site, and I began to worry that I had cut the time too close.

Luckily for me, I was in position before the first Apache showed up. I was ready with my finger on the trigger guard as the Apaches rode past me. I counted them to be sure that I was going after the last man in line. I drew a bead on the 18^th man in line and carefully squeezed the trigger. My shot was perfect! The bullet entered his pelvis just above his hip.

It was as if I were seeing the action in slow motion. I swear that I could see the bullet enter his flesh and crush the bone just above the hip joint. That was the effect that I was looking for, and the Apache screamed loud and hard enough I hoped that it would rupture his vocal cords. He didn't tumble or fall from his horse; rather, he slid off as if his damaged hip had turned to liquid.

Obviously, he had not damaged his vocal cords because he continued to scream as he lay on the ground. If I had wanted to, I could have put him out of his misery by shooting him in the head, but I had no intention of being that merciful to him.

I was destined to get a two-for-one out of this ambush. Apache #17 heard the noise of the shot and the screams of his companion, so he turned to look. Even if there had been no compassion in him, his curiosity would have forced his actions, and that set his shoulder up for the perfect angle. I put a bullet into his shoulder that accomplished about as much as had the bullet in the hip to Apache #18.

That was enough for now. The gang was now down to 16 able bodied Apaches, and it was time for me to leave. I still had much to accomplish before I could allow them to capture me, so I gathered up my things and ran for my horse. I stowed my gear and rode away before any Apaches appeared on the scene.

As I was riding away, I tried to conceal my trail this time, and I must have succeeded. I didn't see any sign of me being followed, so I rode back to check out what was going on. The Apaches were gone by now, but I did see what they had done for their wounded companions.

There were a few trees in the vicinity, so they had rigged a travois for the man with the hip wound. They had laid him out on the travois that they had fastened to his horse. His companion with the wounded shoulder was riding his own horse and leading the other horse. I was happy because both men would be in excruciating pain by that evening. I idly wondered if either man would ever make it back to their village.

Oh, well, I could not dwell on the fate of these two men. I still had 16 more Apaches to take care of. Yes, it looked like they had lost me. I could see a lot of stirred up sand where they had ridden around trying to find my tracks leading away from the ambush. I probably had been luckier than I really deserved, but they had not found my tracks and had eventually ridden off in a direction opposite to the one I had followed. I had expected them to be more professional about searching for my tracks, but maybe this group was relatively inexperienced in war. If that were so, I should be able to pick every one of them off before my luck gave out. I had been a scout for 18 years, so I figured that I was more than equal to my task. No Indian had ever been able to follow me when I didn't want him to, and no Indian had ever been able to escape me when I set myself to trailing him!

This had been a very busy day, and I was exhausted. Fortunately, I had the sense to shut down when I got this tired. I found a suitable place to hole up and lay down to sleep. I had plenty of water and pemmican from the supplies that I had picked up before I had left home. Home! Dammit, it hurt to say that word, but the pain only hardened me to continue my chase. I had two more day's worth of feed for my horse, but I would have to visit a store pretty soon to be able to keep him going.

The next morning came, and I realized that the one thing that I really missed was coffee at breakfast. I was afraid to start a fire to fix some, since I had no idea how far I was from the Apaches. Oh, well, I would just have to bear the loss.

I cleaned up the camp and resumed my chase. I wondered what was wrong with these Apaches. They were not making much effort to hide their trail. Dammit! Were they trying to sucker me into the same trap that I had set for them, yesterday? I had been idling along, just following the trail and waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, I realized that attitude was going to get me killed in short order. I reined in and considered my options.

In one respect, I had no choice. I had to follow the trail if I was going to find the Apaches I had condemned to death. On the other hand, following the trail the way I had been doing was just setting me up for a bullet! From now on, I was going to follow the trail with one eye continually searching for an ambush.

I only rode another 500 yards or so when I came to a place that would be ideal for the kind of ambush that I had pulled, yesterday. Shit, now what? It was certainly obvious that I could not afford to ride into that narrow gap in some rocks. The first question was how far would I have to ride to skirt around this place and resume the chase farther along? Hell, I had no idea, so I had to do things the hard way.

I ground-hitched my horse and pulled out my rifle from its scabbard. I took my water and pemmican. I made sure my pouch of spare ammunition was full before walking toward the rocks. I saw a place that looked like it was usable to climb the rocks and look down into the gap.

When I got to the top of the rocks, I got the fright of my life! Not 10 feet away was one of the Apaches that I was chasing. Thank God, he was looking down into the gap instead of looking around as he should have been doing. Had he been looking my way, he could have alerted his companions to my presence, and I would have been in serious trouble, even had I killed this Indian.