Read Lawman from Nogales (9781101544747) for Free Online

to his right. Luckily, just before dark his horse had whinnied and veered away from a large bull rattler as the deadly reptile coiled up and let out its spine-chilling warning.
    Quickly getting his horse under control, Hector spotted the big snake as it continued making its presence known, its tail standing erect.
    â€œYou fat diablo , you!” Hector shouted, shaken by the snake’s sudden appearance. “I will pick my teeth with your fangs!”
    As the snake uncoiled and made its way toward deep rocks on the other side of the trail, Hector jerked the shotgun up from across his lap and fired, before the snake managed to slide out of sight.
    â€œThere,” he said in a spiteful tone as the blast sent the big snake flopping and falling limp on the ground. “That will teach you to frighten my caballo. ” He patted the settled horse’s withers and stepped down from his saddle. Retrieving the dead snake, he held it at arm’s length and looked all around the rugged terrain for a good place to make camp.
    â€œAnd now, to cook and eat you, you diablo gordo ,” he said aloud to the blood-dripping snake.
    By the time darkness set in, Hector had cleared himself a campsite amid a stand of tall rocks and built a fire of dried mesquite brush and downfall juniper. With the big rattler skinned and impaled on a long stick, he roasted it above the flames until it was ready to fall apart. Then he stripped the white meat off the stick onto a flat rock he’d dusted off with his palm.
    Sitting beneath a large, yellow, three-quarter moon, he ate half the snake, washing it down with tepid canteen water. Before he’d finished his meal, he heard the horse chuff nervously, and he eased up into a crouch and sidled over beside the animal.
    â€œWhat is it you hear out there, mi amigo ?” he whispered close to the horse’s muzzle. He rubbed its nose with a calming hand and examined the shadowy terrain.
    In a moment, he spotted a dark wispy silhouette moving slowly toward him beneath the purple starlit sky. Whoever it was, they were in no hurry and they didn’t mind showing themselves in the grainy night. Silently, he slipped over and picked up his freshly loaded shotgun, eased down beside a rock for cover and waited.
    When the silhouette was close enough, he rose slowly and raised his shotgun to his shoulder.
    â€œWhoever you are, you must be a fool, riding up on my camp this way without first announcing yourself!” he called out to the grainy darkness.
    He heard no reply, just the steady plop of slow-moving hooves, which turned eerie after a moment of tense listening.
    â€œI am warning you,” Hector called out, a chill tightening up his spine. “You do not want to fool with me. I am not afraid of you . . . even if you are some demon from below the desert floor.”
    A demon from beneath the desert floor? Santa Madre! he thought. Now even his own words spooked him.
    He crossed himself with a nervous hand. It dawned on him that he never liked being alone out in the desert at night. What in the name of God had ever made him offer to do this?
    The dark silhouette had stopped a few yards outside the circle of his campfire—he should never have built the fire, he reprimanded himself. But what else was he to do, eat cold raw snake? He didn’t think so, he reasoned. Beside him his horse chuffed and whinnied low under its breath toward the animal standing silently in the grainy purple night.
    â€œWhat is wrong with you! Why do you not answer me?” Hector shouted toward the dark apparition-like silhouette, seeing it look almost translucent through a wispy flicker of flames.
    Was it a ghost? Oh God! No! He heard the tremble in his voice, nearly a sob, he realized.
    â€œ Por favor , tell me something,” he said at length, sounding submissive, almost pleading. “I do not know who you are or what you—”
    His words stopped short as he felt the edge of a long