through the smoke that drifted from his teeth. ‘You’d have done the same for me, I reckon. What’s your name, mister?’ ‘ Iron Eyes,’ came the reply. Tucker’s expression altered. He had heard of this man and knew that he was reputed to kill without pity. This was the bounty hunter who was feared throughout the West. A man whom no outlaw wanted to be within a hundred miles of. ‘ How come you’re down here in Mexico?’ Iron Eyes exhaled heavily. ‘I was hunting something or someone, mister.’ ‘ Who?’ Tucker sucked on the tip of the cigar and watched the face of the seated bounty hunter. The fog that filled his mind suddenly cleared and Iron Eyes looked up at the outlaw above him. ‘You!’ he replied quietly. ‘It was you! ’ ‘ If I had my guns, you’d be dead by now, Black Ben.’ Iron Eyes growled at the train-robber who stood over him. Tucker lowered his chin until it rested on his shirt. ‘Do you always kill men who save your life, Iron Eyes?’ ‘ I kill men who are wanted dead or alive.’ ‘ You ain’t answered my question.’ Tucker paced slowly around the room with Iron Eyes’ gaze tracking his every step. ‘Is it your custom to kill men who’ve saved your life?’ The bounty hunter’s gaze flashed around the room as if he were trying to find an answer to the direct question: a question that he did not have an answer for. At least not one that satisfied himself. ‘ You’re a mighty odd character, Iron Eyes.’ Tucker paused at the small dresser and opened the top drawer. ‘ Because I hunt vermin?’ ‘Nope. Because you can’t seem to recognize a friend when you meet one.’ Black Ben Tucker fumbled in the drawer and pulled out the pair of matched Navy Colts. He turned and faced the hunter and then tossed the guns on to the bed next to him. It was the biggest gamble Tucker had ever taken, and one he prayed he would not regret. Iron Eyes stared at his weapons. He picked up one and checked it. It was loaded. ‘ You loco or something, Black Ben?’ The train-robber exhaled a long line of smoke. ‘I must be, Iron Eyes. To give a pair of loaded .36s to a man who says that he’s here to kill me, sounds darn crazy.’ Iron Eyes cocked the hammer of the pistol and aimed it at the smiling man. The train-robber swallowed hard and walked slowly to the open doorway. ‘ I’m gonna get some vittles. You want some, Iron Eyes?’ Iron Eyes lowered the lethal weapon and released its hammer before placing it back on the bed. For a reason that he could not fully comprehend, he had no desire to kill this man, however much bounty there was on his head. ‘ I could eat a bowl of that chili that’s stinking up the place, right about now, Black Ben.’ ‘ Two bowls of chili coming up.’ Tucker walked out into the cantina and headed for the cooking range. He removed the cigar from his mouth and stared at his hand. It was shaking.
Chapter Sixteen Tom Hardin drove his horse through the night at a speed he had never managed to achieve before. He had checked outside Jed Smith’s home before setting out for the border and the country that lay beyond. The sheriff had noticed the deep tracks of the wagon that had been used by the bandits. He had noted that the wagon tracks went south along the trail which led to Mexico. Only the coming of night had obscured the tracks as he had thundered across the wide shallow river. Hardin had not come this way for more than five years but knew exactly the fastest route to the isolated town of Sanora. The lawman spurred his mount on and used the moon above him as his guide. For a man who had become almost as broad in the beam as his horse over the years of sitting behind a desk shuffling papers, Hardin rode with a skill not found in many younger men. Forcing the faithful sorrel onward with all his strength, he cleared a sandy rise and then hauled the reins to his chest. The whitewashed buildings stood out in the moonlight below him like the