Moe Jedd: Part Four. Flagg's Peak

On to Flagg's Peak.

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 At first glance it looked like a tall pile of rocks sitting in the middle of a small forest of various Cacti, there were organ pipe, saguaro, and cereus surrounding it, it wasn't until they rounded the top of the hill that they saw the small outhouse sitting out by itself that they realized that the structure was indeed man made, and when they saw the strange looking animal sitting alone twenty feet away they knew for certain that there was a Harvester nearby. Preacher rode around the back of the small building while Moe Jedd opted for the more direct approach, he got off the horse and approached the opened front door, when he looked inside he saw a dead body lying on the floor face down, and over in the corner was the Harvester bent over what Moe could only guess was the dead persons belongings. Outside, Preacher wondered to himself while he rode back around to the front of the building how would Moe Jedd react when he saw a live Harvester for the very first time, and as he rounded the corner of the front of the building he could hear the roar of Moe's army colts come to life, the body of the Harvester came flying out the front door turning to dust as it landed. Moe Jedd appeared in the doorway with both colts drawn, the smoke still rolling from the barrels. Moe turned to look at the animal as it walked toward them, he raised the Army colts once again and fired two rounds into it's skull, it slowly keeled to the side and fell to dust. he replaced the colts into his holsters and turned to face Preacher.

"Well, if there was someone living here there has to water nearby, I'm going to go find it, we'll bury that feller inside when I get back, this will give us some shelter for the night, and give the horse a chance to rest." 

He set out to find some water while Preacher unpacked the horse's for the night, once he found the spring some fifty yards away, he went back to the rock cabin where they found some wooden buckets to retrieve water with. They rested through the night with Moe Jedd sleeping off and on keeping an ear out for other Harvesters. They both woke before dawn and returned to the trail before sunrise. The sun began to pull up over the horizon as the sky began to glow gold and red, they came to within six miles of Flaggs Peak when Moe picked up the trail remnants of three different sets of horse tracks headed due west, the tracks were old, Moe figured them to be at least three weeks old, Preacher rode up behind him and dismounted.

"You think it's them Moe Jedd?"

Moe rose to his feet, staring off into the desert.

"These tracks are more than three weeks old, the winds coming out of Dry Gulch should have blown them away by now." Moe said.

Preacher looked down at the tracks.

"So why didn't they?"

"Because the tracks have turned almost glass like." Moe answered.

Moe climbed back up into his saddle and removed the field glasses from their leather case and began to lookout over the sands. there were no signs of movement save for the wind which was beginning to pick up. Moe Jedd put the field glasses back in their case, he turned to Preacher, there was a look of concern on his face. They would have to ride hard and fast across a part of the Desolation Sands called the Narrows, or they were going to get caught in the middle of a severe sandstorm, they pushed their animals almost to the point of dropping dead, when they'd reached the shelter of Blood Rock Canyon the sand was blowing so hard they couldn't see two feet in front of them, they took the animals into a natural rock cave above the creek bed that flowed down from the Timberlines. In the shelter between the narrow canyon walls they were spared from the worst of the sandstorm, the wind was still whipping through, but there wasn't as much sand so it was safe for the horses to drink from the creek. Meanwhile, both Moe and Preacher weren't convinced they were completely alone in the canyon, in fact Moe was more convinced that two riders going full out trying to outrun a Sandstorm had attracted the wrong kind of attention. Moe had his back up against the eastern wall of the cave while Preacher was across from him, both had their weapons drawn.  

The first shot ricocheted off the entrance of the cave, the second grazed preacher in the left thigh, Moe raised the army colts hesitating until the right time his first two shots tore through the chest of the first Harvester the second came walking through the sand and wind like death itself, it was the tallest one Preacher had seen to date, well over six foot tall, the flesh falling off its skull, it's long brown leather coat had blood stains all over it, it's first two shots tore chunks of stone and rock out of the cave wall, undeterred, Moe Jedd's next shot hit it right between the eyes, it reeled backward and let out a blood-curdling shriek, it turned to dust before its body hit the ground. Moe put the neckerchief over the bottom of his face and stepped out of the cave, the first one that he took out was lying on the ground, its body still intact, he turned to face Preacher.

"I only hit it in the chest, you got any rope left?" He shook his head no.

"Well, we're going to have to try something else then."

He gathered sagebrush and dried twigs and made a deathbed on the other side of the creek in a long hole in the side of the canyon wall, he drugged the Harvesters body across the creek and lay it on the dried sagebrush and twigs he lit a match out of the wind and ignited it, within minutes the Harvesters body was engulfed in flames. They watched from across the creek in the mouth of the cave as the blaze slowly turned the body to ash. Preacher's wound turned out to be nothing serious, the shot had barely grazed his thigh, just barely breaking the skin

.

"Do you reckon those two fellers were the ones we're looking for?"

"Naw, their animals left different tracks. Slackjaw and his boys are still out there somewhere. And if we're within five miles of him he'll be on our scent real soon." 

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