The Adventures of Tom Malley Vol. III
Finding His Way
“Tom had been kneeling beside a very large track of a mountain lion when Spud began shaking his head to warn him. He quickly leapt into the saddle and headed back toward his wife. When he came out of the brush, he immediately saw the Indians and pushed Spud to full speed. He pulled his musket up as he passed the two scared riders and fired the weapon. The ball shot out of the barrel and flew straight into the chest of one of the Indians knocking him right out of the saddle. Then he dropped the weapon back along the front of the saddle where he usually kept it since he didn’t have any way of reloading at such an all-out pace. But he kept closing with the Indians, reaching for his pistol when they got in range. He fired three rounds from the pistol and found the mark each time.
The bulk of the Apache raiding party had gone deep into Mexico for horses and slaves for trading, but this group had other intentions. They wanted to raid the whites to the east because their horses were better and they wanted to torture their white captives. They were surprised to see a white woman and a black man riding fine horses so far to the west. Immediately Sackto fired their only musket at the black man, but the distance was too great and he missed. They didn’t need to communicate, as they all knew they had to chase the two down and they already had a head start.
It was a shock to see a white man at full gallop coming right for them and shoot as a warrior might. They all expected him to turn at any moment and follow the woman and black man, but he just kept coming. Suddenly the man was close enough and began firing his pistol, hitting three braves.
Tom wasn’t finished as he directed Spud right into the lead Indian’s horse. Spud collided with the animal and stumbled but kept his footing while the Indian’s horse crumpled to the ground. The force of the collision caused him to drop the pistol, but he quickly managed to take out one of the throwing knives and send it into the neck of one of the hostiles, knocking him off his horse.
With only three Indians left to deal with, he turned Spud hard to stay in close contact with the fight. The Indian that had been thrown from his horse when Spud collided with him was quick to get to his feet and came with his lance. He lunged to pierce the animal through the heart, but Spud had turned and the lance went into his flesh right behind the left shoulder. The pain made Spud jump and kick with his hind legs. The quick reaction caught the Indian by surprise as one of the hoofs struck him right in the face, crushing it all the way to the back of his head.
Tom had also been caught off guard by the sudden and violent bucking, and was thrown hard to the ground. But he rolled then quickly got to his feet, as he pulled out his large knife to meet whatever was coming next. Another Indian tried to stab him with a lance, but he was fast and deflected the thrust, grabbed the shaft and pulled the man right off the horse’s back. As he fought with the struggling man, he drove the heavy blade deep into his chest.
Spud had managed to move between the last Indian and Tom. But the injured horse was now into the fight and directed several hard kicks to the horse the last Indian was riding, effectively knocking that animal off its feet. Sackto rolled free of the falling horse and was quick to regain his balance. In an instant, he was on the attack and closing with the white man, his knife at the ready.
Tom quickly turned and saw the Indian running for him and he went to meet the crazy man. The two collided much like the horses had done earlier; the only difference was Tom had driven his knife so deep into the Indian’s chest that it was protruding out his back. He still had a firm hold on the Indian’s wrist, keeping his knife away, as he allowed the man to slump to the ground. He didn’t have enough time to waste trying to extract his knife from the man, so he took the dying man’s knife out of his hand and turned to fight whoever was next.”
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