THE GRAVE 20

blake trotted his new horse up to the corral at the sulphur springs frieght station. the corral was full of mules. not a horse in sight.this new mount wasnt exactly fresh. the cowboy he had taken him from was on his way to tombstone from willcox. but blake thought by getting another mount he would out didtance shug. he just didnt now the stamina the grulla possesed. while he sat there looking over the corral full of mules trying to decide his next move a teamster came walking up. " you want to water your horse mr?" he asked. "no i want another horse. dont you have anything here but thos mules?"blake was beligerant. the teamster looked up at him " no thats what we got and i dont think we need to do any trade. if you want to water your horse fine but move on when your done." blake started to turn his mount back to the trail without bennefit of a drink when he saw therider on the grulla comming across the playa at a steady trott. blake booted the bay horse under him into a awkward lope out the otherside of the compound headed for the three sister hills a mile away. shug saw the rider leave the corrals at the frieght station but just kept the grulla in a ground eating trott. he did pull his rifle from the boot under his left leg. he was almost in range. blake was whipping the bay down the hind leg as only a man fearing death could. looking back he could see shug come up out of the compound and take the frieght road following blake. at that point blake knew he wouldnt out run the indian. he drew up at a point of rocks that had at one time been a prehistoric indian ruin. all he had was the pistol he took when he broke jail. he settled down into the ruins of the pueblo to wait until shug came close enough. a quarter mile from the three sister hills shug could see the bay horse standing to one side of a point of rocks. he puled up. sat watching the horse and wondering just where blake would try to dry gulch him. turnning south he rode along the foot of the hills. he was out of sight of the shooter this way. blake would have to expose himself to see where he was. pulling his rifle he stepped down and put a big rock on top of his bridle reins then started quetly climbing the slope. blake ws sweating big drops of sweat that rolled down his cheek and his fore head. he was careful to crane his head around the end of the point of rocks. but he couldnt see shug. he cursed under his breath as he sat back. the air was still and hot, a fly buzzed around blakes head he swatted at it and cursed again. "stand up and drop the pistol blake, dont make me kill you." the voice came from behind and above him. blake knew going back to town was a small repreave before being hanged. he didnt drop the gun . he slowley stood shug had regained some semblance of good sense. he no longer wanted to kill this man. yes he was mad but not killing mad. he wanted to take him back to show people he wasnt a savage, a indian who killed for the sake of killing. blake stood with his back to shug" kill me injun i aint going back bury me here but i aint going back." " drop the gun blake. do as i say." shug pulled on the hammer of the rifle with his thumb to assure it was cocked. the pistol was in blakes right hand . he would have to turn and fire stepping among tumbled rock to do it. he raised his right hand and and started turning when the rifle bellowed and a cloud of white smoke covered blake up. when the slight breeze moved the cloud out of the line of sight sight of shug he saw blake sitting among the rocks shug jacked another round into the rifles chamber. blake slowley raised his head and looked at shug. " go ahead finish this." shug walked up slowley, he saw that blake had a red spot on his left side where the first round had passed through. shug picked up the pistol and tucked it behind his waist band" no i need you back in town , a dead man does me no good. get up!"