Then she slipped in herself, in the hour before dawn, and left a Colt wrapped in an old piece of sacking in the little outhouse behind the jail. When Billy was led down for his morning visit he found the gun, and as soon as he had his pants buckled again he stepped out and threw down on Snookie Brown, who misjudged his man and tried to run, rather than merely handing Billy the keys to the handcuffs and leg irons.

Of course, Billy shot him and took the keys, unburdened himself of the irons, and ran back into the jail to get his 10-gauge—he did like that shotgun.

I was across the street, downing my chilies and eggs; I heard the shot and then the thunder of hooves. By the time I got to the door, Katie and her caballeros were there; they had Billy’s horse, and he was soon mounted. As he swung into the saddle, Billy saw me and waved.

“You better grab your mule and come with us, Sippy,” he yelled. “When they find out I’m gone they’ll hang you for spite.”

Thing were happening very fast—just seeing the Guajolotes was a shock—but I knew that what Billy said was true, and I was not long in deciding to run.

It was then that the accident happened. Billy’s horse—the one Cecily Snow had chosen for him from the Whiskey Glass remuda—suddenly reared and fell backward, all so quickly no one could move. The horse had been perfectly reliable until that moment. I was close enough to see the look of shock on Billy’s face as he realized the horse was going over.

Billy almost jerked free—he twisted sideways and the horse didn’t crush him in the crash itself, but Billy lay stunned for a second longer than the horse, and as the horse fought to scramble up it pawed Billy once or twice and rolled across Billy’s right leg. The horse regained its feet and stood there calmly, but Billy Bone was not so lucky: he didn’t move.

Katie Garza recovered quickest. She yelled at the Guajolotes and they hastily lifted Billy and put him in the saddle of her white mare. Katie got up behind him, supporting Billy with her arms, and prepared to ride.

“Bring Billy’s horse!” she yelled at me as she turned the mare. “He might need it before we get to Mexico.”

16.

Billy Bone’s right leg was badly broken, and he had a deep gash across his back where the horse had pawed him. He recovered consciousness before we were a mile out of Lincoln, but soon fainted and proved too weak to ride by himself. Katie Garza held him in the saddle all afternoon.