The Western Adventures of Cade McCall Box Set

by Robert Vaughan

  “There he is,” Billy Tyler yelled. “He’s the one that told them bluebellies they was stoled horses here. Let’s get him.” Billy Tyler dove for Chapman, but James Hanrahan pulled Chapman behind the bar.

  “Now what’s this all about?” Hanrahan asked, raising his hand. “You all know Amos Chapman. He scouts for the army.”

  “Sure, he does,” Mike Welch said, “and how’d he know to tell ‘em to look for stolen horses here?”

  “Cause he’s a no-good spy,” Bermuda Carlisle said. “He ain’t no scout; he’s spyin’ for the army.”

  “Or worse, for the Injuns; he’s a half-breed son of a bitch. How do we know it ain’t the Injuns he’s spyin’ for?” Billy Tyler asked.

  “Seems to me like we might ought to have us a little necktie party tonight,” Carlisle suggested.

  “Yeah. Let’s hang ‘im from the stockade down at the corral.” Tyler said.

  “I think I should be going down to Rath’s place,” Chapman said as he headed for the door. “But I’ll be back after all this calms down.”

  Cade saw Hanrahan dart his eyes in the opposite direction from Rath’s store. Chapman nodded, and Cade knew he was heading for John Mooar’s wagon.

  “All right, boys, now that that’s over, how about all of you stepping up to the bar for a drink, on the house? Who’s gonna be first?”

  With a cheer, all the patrons in the saloon pushed forward, with beer sloshing out of their mugs, in an attempt to be the first one to get a free drink.

  Soon they had forgotten about Amos Chapman and his charge of horse stealing, but after a few hours someone brought it up that he hadn’t come back to the saloon. To a man, they all filed out, but Amos Chapman seemed to have disappeared.

  The next morning, Cade and Jacob were sleeping under their wagon when John Mooar awakened them.

  “You are not gonna believe this,” John Mooar said. “Last night that half-breed snuck into my wagon. He didn’t know I was sleepin’ there and I almost shot him, but what he told me—if it’s true, we’re all goners.”

  “What’d he say?” Cade asked as he sat up.

  “He said he was sent here by W.M.D. Lee at the trading post at the Cheyenne Agency. Some of the peaceful Indians who live there have been tellin’ that a whole bunch of Indians are ready to go on the warpath. And guess where they’re a comin’?”

  “Here?” Cade asked.

  “Yes, that’s it. Chapman said they plan to take out ever white man they can find, especially those that are killin’ their buffalo.”

  “Do you believe him?” Jacob asked.

  “Sure I do,” Mooar said. “That explains all them bucks trainin’ with a bugler. You know, the ones Mort Galloway saw over on the Sweetwater.”

  “Did he give you any idea when this might take place?” Cade asked.

  “That’s the scary part. He told me the day. It’ll be the first morning after the full moon.”

  “Damn, that’s three days from now,” Jacob said.

  “And Rath and Myers know,” Cade said.

  “And Hanrahan, too. They all know.” Mooar said.

  “But they aren’t going to tell us,” Cade said. “That’s the secret they’re going to keep just between themselves.”

  “Now that we know, what should we do?” Jacob asked. “Should we leave or stay?”

  “I have a favor to ask,” John Mooar said. “If the Indians are coming from the Sweetwater, they’ll be passing my brother’s camp, and if they’re gonna kill ever white man they can find, they’ll all be dead. Since your wagon isn’t loaded, would you mind going back with me to bring ‘em in?”

  “Sure,” Jacob said. “We can do that.”

  “If you don’t mind, Jacob, I’d like to stay here,” Cade said. “I want to keep my eyes and ears open and just see what I can find out.”

  Chapter 21

  The Quahadi Village of Quanah Parker:

  “The Great Spirit has spoken,” White Eagle said. “My brothers, The Great Spirit will give you power. We will kill the white hunters, and The Great Spirit will bring back the buffalo.”

  “That is good,” Quanah said. “The Great Spirit will protect his chosen people. And now Silver Knife and Wolf Tongue have brought good news. They have watched the white men who stay by the Canadian. They drink much whiskey. Then they sleep without tipis until the sun rises high in the sky.”

  “But they have bullets that go a long way,” Mean To His Horses said.

  “If Mean To His Horses is afraid, he can stay behind,” Quanah suggested.

  “I am not afraid!” Mean To His Horses insisted.

  “Do not worry, my brothers,” White Eagle said. “I will cast my medicine upon you; the bullets of the white men cannot harm you. And I will make my medicine upon the white men; when we attack, all white men will be asleep. I say we will club them like sleeping children.”

  “The whites will leave our land!” Quanah said, thrusting his fist high into the air. “And the People will once again be masters of the plains.”

  “Ayee, this is so!” Wild Horse shouted, and all the other Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne cheered loudly.

  “But first we much prepare.”

  Adobe Walls:

  When Cade awakened, he was surprised to see that the Harrison and McCall wagon and the Mooar wagon were standing down by the river, with the animals still in their harnesses. He was bothered that he had not heard them approach. If Indians were going to attack, he would have to be aware of anything that went on around him.

  Everyone at the Walls seemed to be going about their usual activities—playing cards, having horse races, target shooting, and of course drinking whiskey.

  None of the three shopkeepers had breathed a word to anyone of the impending attack by the Indians, and Cade had kept his council. If he told someone, and then nothing did happen, he would be ridiculed for spreading the tale of Amos Chapman; a tale from a man who had tried to convince the hunters not to come in the first place.

  He had tried to introduce into the saloon’s conversation, the possibility that the hunters may want to leave, but to a man, everyone was against the idea. The men could see the handwriting on the wall. They knew that if they exterminated the herd, the days of buffalo hunting would soon be over. They also knew what they had done to the herd north of the Cimarron.

  But this season, the summer of 1874, was shaping up to be the best season ever. The herd was large, and it was close by. All the hunters were primed to kill as many buffalos as possible, and then to take their riches and move on to something else.

  That very motivation had been the reason Cade had stayed at Adobe Walls when the wagon hub had split. After losing the hides in the river, his plan for making a lot of money was curtailed.

  And now Cade was torn between staying to hunt with Billy, and going back to Dodge City with Jacob as he had promised. The money from the 592 hides they had brought in would barely be enough to outfit Billy again, especially if Cade took his half. He would talk to both men, but he would wait to make his decision until after “the morning after the full moon.”

  How he hoped what Amos Chapman had said was all a rumor.

  With much on his mind, he walked down to the river to talk to Jacob.

  “This is real. The Indians are coming,” Jacob said.

  “How do you know?” Cade asked.

  “One of Wright Mooar’s camps was ambushed by a column of bucks. They were riding two by two just like they were in the cavalry.”

  “Was anyone killed?”

  “No, not Wright’s men, but they did take out at least a half-dozen Indians. They got their big .50’s out and kept shooting at the lead horses. When they went down, the ones following started piling up on top of them, and that gave Philip Sisk and his crew time to get away,” Jacob said. “They left a lot of money on the ground, and Sisk wanted to go back and get his hides, but Wright said no.”

  “What are you going to do?” Cade asked.

  “I’m heading for Dodge
City this morning, and I thought you were coming with me. Have you changed your mind?”

  Cade looked down, avoiding Jacob’s direct gaze. “I don’t know. I think I owe it to Billy to help him get an outfit put together again, and yet I owe it to you to do my part in the freighting business.”

  “All right, if that’s how you feel,” Jacob said. “You stay out, and when you get back to Dodge, we’ll settle up. That is if you get back to Dodge, at all.”

  Cade laughed. “You really do think this raid is going to happen.”

  “I do, with every fiber in my being, but I sort of thought you’d want to stay.” Jacob walked over to the wagon. “That’s why I bargained with Wright Mooar for hauling his gear. This is for you.” He pulled out a Sharps big .50 and handed it to Cade. “Now, let’s hope it keeps you alive.”

  Cade accepted the gun, and then shook Jacob’s hand. “You’re the best partner I’ve ever had.”

  Jacob chuckled. “Don’t say that around Jeter Willis.”

  Cade watched as the two wagons pulled away from Adobe Walls. Close behind were several smaller wagons that were all loaded with hides. By lunchtime, Charles Rath and Charlie Myers were seen riding out on the finest horseflesh that could be found in the corral.

  Had Cade made a big mistake?

  Comanche Village near the Sweetwater:

  The smell of smoke from the campfires from the day before, as well as the aroma of cooked meat hung in the air. The black-white soldier, who had joined the Indians, blew the bugle call for Assembly, and all the warriors gathered in the pre-dawn darkness.

  Nobody in the village had ever seen such a magnificent procession of warriors. Close to 700 mounted men gathered in what the army would call a regimental formation. The old men who stayed behind and the women and children watched with pride as they rode from the encampment.

  Quanah, with He Bear and White Eagle rode in front of the column, followed by Red Moon and Stone Calf of the Cheyenne, and Lone Wolf and Woman’s Heart of the Kiowa.

  “We will be victorious,” White Eagle insisted. “The spirits will make us strong, and those who slaughter the buffalo and leave the meat to rot, will be gone.”

  The People, the Kiowa, and the Cheyenne rode leisurely across the Texas Panhandle dispatching at least four white hunters in route. The scalps were carefully dressed and attached to those bridles of the warriors who had made the kills.

  They continued toward their target, each man making his own medicine as they rode. The silence was broken only by the rumble of the unshod hooves of the horses. As they followed the river through some low hills, the sound of the approaching horses frightened some of the smaller creatures who lived in the grass. One of the creatures was black, with a white stripe running down his back.

  Adobe Walls

  The noise from Hanrahan’s was not as boisterous as usual, as Old Man Keeler had brought out his mouth harp. Several of the men were singing along as he played Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground.

  As the evening was quite sultry, Cade had taken his beer and was sitting with his back leaned up against O’Keefe’s blacksmith shop. James Hanrahan stepped outside and looked up at the sky. When he saw Cade, he came to join him.

  “Why aren’t you inside enjoying the music?” Hanrahan asked.

  “During the war we had different words to that song,” Cade said. “Dying tonight, dying tonight, dying on the old campground.”

  Hanrahan didn’t have a comment. He slid down beside Cade, and taking out a paper and some tobacco, he rolled a cigarette and lit it. When the smoke was finished he flipped it into the dirt and watched the flickers die.

  “You know, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do,” Cade said. “Jacob said Chapman told John Mooar the real reason he came here.”

  “Then why didn’t you leave when the wagons pulled out of here?”

  “I have to say I was torn,” Cade said. “Right now, I see Billy Dixon, who is a truly honorable man, without an outfit. If I left, he would insist that I take my part of the hides we brought in, and if I did, that wouldn’t leave him with enough capital to get started again.”

  “He could work for somebody else,” Hanrahan said.

  “Maybe, but I don’t see it,” Cade said.

  “Have you told anybody what’s coming in the morning?”

  “No, I have not,” Cade said. “Does anybody else know about this?”

  Hanrahan shook his head, and once again rolled a cigarette.

  “I’ve sunk ever’ dime I got in this place. I have to stay here and defend it, and if these roughnecks knowed what’s comin’ you know they’d head for the high hills. A half dozen men can’t hold on by themselves, that’s for sure.”

  “How many are here now?”

  “By my count, we got twenty-eight men and Sybil. That ain’t very many, but it’s better’n Shepard and me trying to hold off a whole passel of Indians,” Hanrahan said.

  “Well, it looks like the number is going to swell a little bit. Isn’t that Ike Shadler’s wagon pulling up over by Leonard’s store?” Cade asked.

  “I think so,” Hanrahan said as he got up and headed for the wagon.

  “James, ain’t you heard,” Shorty Shadler said as he jumped off the wagon. “We run into Wright Mooar’s bunch on the way down and he said that half-breed Chapman told ‘em Indians are on the warpath, and they’re comin’ this way.”

  “And you believed him?”

  “I guess so. That’s why they was a high-tailin’ it to Dodge,” Ike said. “And we’re gonna do that, too. We’re gonna unload and then take on some hides and get out of here first thing in the morning.”

  “What you got there?” Fred Leonard said as he came out of the store.

  “For one thing, guns and ammunition,” Shorty said, “and by damn, you’re gonna need ‘em.”

  “Of course, we need guns and ammunition,” Hanrahan said. “You can’t be runnin’ no tradin’ post for buffalo hunters without guns and ammunition. When you get unloaded come on up to my place and you can get a drink on me.”

  “We’ll be there right quick,” Ike said.

  As he was speaking, the Shadler’s big brown dog jumped out of the wagon and ran toward Cade.

  “Buster,” Cade said as the dog began to shower him with kisses. “I’ve not seen you for a while.” Cade rubbed the dog behind his ears, and soon the dog was curled up beside Cade with his head resting on his knee.

  He sat there for a long time, just thinking. What would tomorrow bring? He wasn’t afraid, because he had been through this before. During the war, there had been times when he had known the next day he was going into battle. But then there had been an entire army around him. Now, by Hanrahan’s count, there were but twenty-eight. He assumed that number included him, but Hanrahan hadn’t said.

  He thought of Chantal, as he absently rubbed the dog behind his ears. If he happened to be killed tomorrow, she was too young to really understand. Besides, he had never been much of a father to her anyway. Magnolia would see to it that she was raised properly.

  And then there was Stone. Again, Magnolia would take care of him.

  He had his brother, Adam, and of course, Melinda, but he hadn’t been a part of their lives for close to nine years. Sure, they might feel a twinge of sadness, but there would be no real loss.

  The funny thing was, Jeter would probably feel the greatest sense of loss, and even that relationship had taken a turn. Jeter was settled with a prosperous business and a wonderful family. He would soon forget about Cade.

  And Jacob? At this point, because of Cade, their partnership was in a state of limbo. Hadn’t Jacob said, “when you get back to Dodge, we’ll settle up”? That implied that the partnership was dissolving.

  He watched the setting sun, and thought the red smear in the western sky was particularly pretty this evening. Would he see the sunset tomorrow evening? It was funny, in a way, because whether he was here or not, the sun would set tomorrow.

  He watched some an
ts crawling over the leavings of Hanrahan’s cigarette.

  “Ha,” he said, quietly. “You fellas will be here tomorrow night, won’t you? Doesn’t make any difference to you what’s going to happen.”

  Cade closed his eyes and tried to push such thoughts out of his mind.

  “What the hell?” he said. “Everybody’s goin’ to die sometime, and once you’re dead, it doesn’t make any difference when it happened. It’ll be the same for everyone.”

  He heard footsteps coming his way and for a moment he was embarrassed that someone might have overheard him.

  “Here you are,” Billy Dixon said.

  “Hi, Billy.”

  “How come you aren’t inside singin’? Old Man Keeler’s really wound up in there.”

  Cade laughed. “I’ve had a drink or two tonight, but not near enough to forget what a bad singer I am.”

  “I’ve just been talking with James Hanrahan.”

  “Oh?” Cade wondered if Hanrahan had told Billy about the impending Indian attack.

  “It’s good news. He’s offered to go into partnership with us. He’ll outfit us, and give us a new wagon and team, then split the profits for all the hides we can take.” Billy smiled broadly. “What do you think about that?”

  “Sounds good. When does he want you to head out?”

  “In the morning. He’s anxious to get some more hides in here,” Billy said.

  “Billy, I think I’m going back into Dodge.”

  “Are you sure you want to do that? Hell, I thought you liked buffin’. For sure, you like the money.”

  “I do like it, and yes, I like the money, but there’s Jacob to consider. He’s right, I haven’t been holding up my end of the partnership.”

  Billy nodded. “Well, just so you know, you can come back anytime. I’m goin’ to miss havin’ you around. When do you think you’ll be headin’ out?”