"TAGGART" - читать интересную книгу автора (L'Amour Louis)

lee of cliffs, but otherwise it was a red-brown-pink monotony.
Something ... there was something. Very distant, very faint, there was dust. A stirring
of dust that was not a dustdevil, but someone, somebody coming.
So they were still behind him. They were still coming.
27
THREE
T he sky was faintly gray when Miriam Stark climbed the thread of trail to the top
of Rockinstraw Mountain, a single
rose-tinted cloud above the horizon giving only a suggestion of the glory to come
with sunrise. Yet there was enough light to see the web of faint trails, each leading
to some vantage point from which the country could be observed.
She loved this place, for even on the hottest day there was a faint stirring of wind,
and always there was silence, an unbelievable silence that left the mind free to
wander without interruption.
Taking her station behind a juniper, Miriam began the methodical search of the terrain,
using the system taught her by Adam. First a quick, sharp survey of the area closest
to the mountain, in case somebody had approached during the darker hours, and then
the eyes lifted to the farthest horizon and searched with infinite care every canyon,
every possible route, every place where men might camp or hide.
She knew what to look for. Any movement, any chance in the pattern of shadows, any
flickering, any alteration of any kind at all in the familiar terrain. She had learned
to distinguish smoke from dust, and to tell after a brief glance whether dust was
caused by a dust-devil, a flurry of wind, or the passage of mounted men ... or man.
This study of the terrain, this careful search for any traveler, this continual awareness
was not a matter of diversion, but was a matter of life and death. They existed here
in a precarious situation, and a careless movement, a careless track, or a chance
sighting by some Apache or drifting white man could mean the end of everything; it
could even mean death.
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28
24 Louis L'AMOUR
Twice each day one or the other of them came to this place and studied the country
around. As there were only three of them, there was no way they could continually
keep one person on lookout, and the study of the country at dawn and sunset represented
the closest alternative.
Rough as the country was, by now they knew it well. Due south and north were the
areas of greatest danger. There were canyons and arroyos and considerable cover,
but long ago, when they first arrived, each of them had ridden these canyons, studied
them, and knew where the cover was to be found.
On the west the only danger lay in the openings between the mesas, for no one would
come across the tops. On this side the descent was gradual, but on the far side they
fell steeply away to Pinal Creek.
This morning, after a brief survey, Miriam directed all her attention to the north.
Two creeks entered the Salt River from the north in this vicinity-Coon Creek and
Cherry Creek. Her view up the basin of each was nearly perfect, but only a tenderfoot
would chance coming along such a route.
Red arrows shot sunlight into the heavens, and the ridges to the east were crowned
with gold and rose. Crushing some cedar foliage in her hands, she sniffed their aromatic
smell. Nowhere in all that vast expanse did anything move ... the air was astonishingly
clear, and from where she stood she could see miles upon miles.