‘Goin’ to ride over?’ asked Sleepy.
‘It’s only a little ways,’ replied Hashknife.
‘Count me out. I wouldn’t walk a mile for all the coyotes in Arizona.’
Hashknife took Paul Lane’s thirty-thirty, and they walked up the road, while the buzzards still circled. It was a little over a mile to where they left the road, and about a quarter of a mile from where Ben Leach had been killed.
From the road they went cautiously through the brushy swale, circling the thickets of mesquite. Suddenly a coyote went streaking across the swale, almost invisible in the waning light. Hashknife stepped back, swinging up the Winchester, and as the animal started up the slope of the hill on the opposite side of the swale, the rifle cracked sharply and the coyote gave a convulsive sideways leap, landed in a Spanish dagger, from whence it went yipping along through the brush, telling the world in coyote language what it thought of a man who would drive a thirty-thirty bullet in front of the nose of any well-meaning coyote.
‘Led him too much,’ laughed Hashknife. ‘Didja see him set down in that dagger? Talk about anythin’ bein’ full of pins and needles! I had a hunch that some coyotes had chased them buzzards from their supper.’
They circled another clump of mesquite and found what had attracted the scavengers. It was what was left of a blue-roan horse, which was still wearing a saddle and bridle. The buzzards and coyotes had made a sorry mess of it, but the saddle and bridle were still intact.
With his pocket-knife, Hashknife cut the latigo, and drew the saddle away from the carcass. It was a good grade of stock saddle, with stamped seat and fenders. The skin of the animal had been literally torn to shreds, obliterating the brand, but leaving enough to identify its color.
Hashknife examined the head of the animal for possible bullet holes, but found none. Upon closer examination, however, he found that the horse’s shoulder had been broken. The bridle reins were tangled about the other leg, drawing the head of the animal sharply downward.
No doubt the coyotes had pulled the body about to some extent, but Hashknife was able to read the signs fairly plain.