unarmed, a few were shooting back at us with pistols so that they became the nexus points of all our senses, Hart and I firing simultaneously at a dirty long-haired Anglo who might have been the one we saw on top of Celine outside the window. He pitched back into a slim side table which shattered beneath his weight and fired wild into the ceiling, raining the others with crystal glass from the chandelier.
Mother shot a man who looked like a gambler from the way he dressed and who fired at him with a four-barrel pepperbox even after it was empty.
The woman Maria had two men standing in front of her, presumably both guards, one whose pistol remained holstered, his hands already in the air and one firing at me in panic and missing wide. Mother blew him back to where Maria would have stood had she not been on the move already, throwing open the rolltop desk behind her, snatching up the pistol inside and firing at Elena. I could hear the bullet pass like a mosquito in flight and saw Elena's cheek sprout a sudden line of blood as she sighted the woman down and fired.
Men were falling all around us, only a few left standing and none of them armed by now but for the guard with his hands in the air. I shot one of them twice in the back as he made for the front window to my left. I saw Maria stumbling trying to stand and firing at Elena though by then she was shot in each thigh. Elena sighted once again and squeezed and her face disappeared beneath a bright red flower of blood and bone.
Mother shot the guard who'd surrendered.
The bullet shattered a thin china vase behind him.
Elena and Hart walked to where a dirty young Mexican man was cowering crying and praying in short breathy gasps beneath the long narrow table in the center of the room and Hart shoved away the table with the sole of his boot and Elena pointed her rifle down and shot him at the base of the neck.
And then for a moment there were only the moans of the dying and the echoes of our rifles like waves pounding a nearby shore and gunpowder drifting thick on the still air, watering our eyes and tasting of copper and brimstone in our mouths.
Then the window shattered. Bullets slammed into the wall behind us.
Mother was reloading and so was I, frantically. My hands were shaking and I couldn't seem to grip the bullets and feed them into the chamber. We heard footfalls coming toward us on the steps outside and men cursing. Hart drew his pistol and stepped past the bodies to the room's front door. He turned to Elena. Go! now! he shouted and stepped out into the hallway and his Peacemaker roared as she turned and ran.
A moment later Mother and I were beside him.
TWELVE
I became a ghost , she said.
I watched in the shadows between the two outbuildings to the left of the hacienda as the men stumbled out the doorway and down the steps under your fire and Paddy Ryan in his death mask strapped on a pistol and gave the order to pull a wagon between the window and front doorway on the left and another to the windows on the right for cover. Drunk or not, stupid or not they did this quickly and by then you were firing through the front windows and I knew I had little time, that it would not be long before Ryan sent some of his men to the rear door to cut off your retreat. When he did they would have no trouble seeing me here.
Celine and the others were on their knees or trying to crawl away but hobbled close together as they were there was nowhere they could really go. To get to them I needed to cross twenty yards of open space past a bonfire still burning low but there was no help for that so I pulled the soldado 's good sharp knife from my belt and made my run.
I knelt in front of her and all she said was sister! startled, as I cut through the ropes at her feet and all I said was come, hurry! as I drew her to her feet and pushed her out ahead of me toward the mouth of the canyon and handed the knife to the Anglo girl beside her and perhaps that was my mistake. Perhaps
Mother shot a man who looked like a gambler from the way he dressed and who fired at him with a four-barrel pepperbox even after it was empty.
The woman Maria had two men standing in front of her, presumably both guards, one whose pistol remained holstered, his hands already in the air and one firing at me in panic and missing wide. Mother blew him back to where Maria would have stood had she not been on the move already, throwing open the rolltop desk behind her, snatching up the pistol inside and firing at Elena. I could hear the bullet pass like a mosquito in flight and saw Elena's cheek sprout a sudden line of blood as she sighted the woman down and fired.
Men were falling all around us, only a few left standing and none of them armed by now but for the guard with his hands in the air. I shot one of them twice in the back as he made for the front window to my left. I saw Maria stumbling trying to stand and firing at Elena though by then she was shot in each thigh. Elena sighted once again and squeezed and her face disappeared beneath a bright red flower of blood and bone.
Mother shot the guard who'd surrendered.
The bullet shattered a thin china vase behind him.
Elena and Hart walked to where a dirty young Mexican man was cowering crying and praying in short breathy gasps beneath the long narrow table in the center of the room and Hart shoved away the table with the sole of his boot and Elena pointed her rifle down and shot him at the base of the neck.
And then for a moment there were only the moans of the dying and the echoes of our rifles like waves pounding a nearby shore and gunpowder drifting thick on the still air, watering our eyes and tasting of copper and brimstone in our mouths.
Then the window shattered. Bullets slammed into the wall behind us.
Mother was reloading and so was I, frantically. My hands were shaking and I couldn't seem to grip the bullets and feed them into the chamber. We heard footfalls coming toward us on the steps outside and men cursing. Hart drew his pistol and stepped past the bodies to the room's front door. He turned to Elena. Go! now! he shouted and stepped out into the hallway and his Peacemaker roared as she turned and ran.
A moment later Mother and I were beside him.
TWELVE
I became a ghost , she said.
I watched in the shadows between the two outbuildings to the left of the hacienda as the men stumbled out the doorway and down the steps under your fire and Paddy Ryan in his death mask strapped on a pistol and gave the order to pull a wagon between the window and front doorway on the left and another to the windows on the right for cover. Drunk or not, stupid or not they did this quickly and by then you were firing through the front windows and I knew I had little time, that it would not be long before Ryan sent some of his men to the rear door to cut off your retreat. When he did they would have no trouble seeing me here.
Celine and the others were on their knees or trying to crawl away but hobbled close together as they were there was nowhere they could really go. To get to them I needed to cross twenty yards of open space past a bonfire still burning low but there was no help for that so I pulled the soldado 's good sharp knife from my belt and made my run.
I knelt in front of her and all she said was sister! startled, as I cut through the ropes at her feet and all I said was come, hurry! as I drew her to her feet and pushed her out ahead of me toward the mouth of the canyon and handed the knife to the Anglo girl beside her and perhaps that was my mistake. Perhaps
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