The Ballad Of Four Prisoners

(album: Fireside With Louis L'amour - 2021)

Inside the walls of an old Yuma prison
Four captives lie awake in their beds
An earthquake had toppled the old prison walls
And put dreams of escape in their heads

As if it was God, or maybe the devil
Had finally shown them the way
They took out the guards, mounted their horses
And left before light of the day

Four battered and desperate and dying men
Headed south in the glaring sun
Each one of them knowing that in the end
There could only be just one

The first stop they made was to dig up some gold
In the hills on the outside of the town
And one of them knew that his fate had been sealed
When his secret was pulled from the ground

The desert was hot and the canteens were empty
With water so hard to find
And the one who had shared up his secret of gold
Was the first one to get left behind

Three battered and desperate and dying men
Headed south in the glaring sun
Each one of them knowing that end the end
There could only be just one

When they came upon water they stopped there to rest
As one took his place in the shade
The others slept lightly and when he awoke
He knew the mistake he had made

He followed on foot, he went over the mountain
Determined to catch them again
And when he succeeded, a gun fight ensued
And brought one man's life to an end

Two battered and desperate and dying men
Headed south in the glaring sun
Each one of them knowing that end the end
There could only be just one

Seventy miles they rode in the summer
South through the Mexico line
They came to the bay, at the edge of the ocean
As bounty men followed behind

The trackers pursued them and one man lie wounded
He held up his gun in his hand
Said my time is up, you go on without me
It's time that I make my last stand

One battered and desperate and dying man
Headed south in the glaring sun
Out on the water a boat sets sail
A journey just begun