Chapter Three
Red Cat headed generally north, keeping to the trails. Every once and a
while one of the enemy would get close enough for a shot, but the
bullets all went wild. Sometimes Red Cat would stop after some twist in
the trail, wait for the enemy to appear, and fire.
2 As the sun began to set, only six of the enemy still followed him.
"Time," he thought, "we put this to an end!" He came to a side trail,
ducked down it, withdrew the bullet from his rifle, and loaded with a
double load of shot.
3 When he heard the enemy pass, he came out behind them. The enemy
stopped, bewildered. In the failing light they knew they had lost their
quarry.
4 Suddenly HE found THEM. The shot downed three of them, before they
realized Red Cat was there. In a few moments his Speaker's Sword took
care of the rest.
5 When it was over, he stood back against a rock and rested. All was
silent until a low moan came from one of the enemy. He rolled over,
weakly tried to stand, then fell over, sideways.
6 "Damn!" cursed Red Cat, "Why couldn't you be dead like the rest of
them, boy? The LAST thing I need is a prisoner!"
7 But he threw off his kit, laid down his rifle, and knelt beside the
youth. He'd been hit by the ear, just a single piece of shot. There
wasn't much blood, but the shot hadn't done him much good.
8 Knowing the enemy had no field bandages, Red Cat pulled his from his
kit and did what he could then, grabbed a piece of cheese, some bread,
ate, emptied the enemy's canteens into his, gave the boy a drink, put
on his kit, swung his rifle, and threw the boy over his shoulder.