by Saran Essex
The rope that Burdett had used to drag Leroy along the ground behind his horse was lying a few feet away, and Leroy limped over to it. He assumed that he and Lonzo would be taking the four Cottonwood men back to the ranch for Caleb to deal with.
Lonzo tossed him a knife, and Leroy cut the rope into several long strips. The painful gashes on his hands made him wince a few times as he did so. He then tied the hands of Roebuck, Slater and Gooch behind their backs using the strips of rope, but he found it difficult to tie them securely because of the cuts on his hands.
Lonzo noticed this and strode over to him. He handed Leroy his gun, telling him to watch the men while he checked their bonds, and to keep an eye on the unconscious Burdett. In fact he tightened the ropes binding their wrists much more than was really necessary, causing them to gasp.
Leroy watched Lonzo with some curiosity. He knew there was no need to tighten the ropes so excessively, and then suddenly realized that somewhere deep inside Lonzo there was a ruthless streak.
The wounded Bill Gooch and Eli Slater started to protest about the ropes being too tight, but Lonzo ignored them. He went over to where Burdett was lying, turned him over on to his stomach and began tying his wrists. The Cottonwood foreman groaned and regained consciousness as Lonzo did so, and tried to put up a struggle as he became aware of what was happening, but Lonzo tied him securely, and again, unnecessarily tightly. He pulled Burdett to his feet, and dragged him over beside his three cohorts. Burdett was angry with them for not getting the better of Leroy and Lonzo, and glared at each of them in turn.
Lonzo took back his gun from Leroy and holstered it, at the same time giving Leroy a close look, silently checking that he was not about to pass out.
Burdett turned his angry glower on Leroy and Lonzo, and growled out, ‘I guess you’ll be taking us to Baxter now.’
Leroy nodded. Lonzo, however, gave Burdett a faint grin. He said with frightening, icy calmness, ‘Well, maybe not . . . we might just hang you – most rustlers are hanged when they’re caught, aren’t they?’
The four Cottonwood men were used to being in a position to intimidate other men, and did not like to admit to, or display fear – but there was something in Lonzo’s calm manner that brought a trace of fear to the faces of all four prisoners. Lonzo’s real intention was to take the four men back to the ranch for Caleb to deal with, but he hoped that by threatening to hang them, that he might be able to get them to admit that they had been rustling Caleb’s cattle, and on the orders of their boss, Bart Jarvis.
‘You’re bluffing!’ Burdett scoffed, trying to fight his rising panic, ‘You can’t prove we’ve been doing any rustling!’
Lonzo grinned icily, ‘We don’t have to prove it. We need only hang you.’
His words caused some alarmed muttering between Roebuck, Slater and Gooch, and Archie Burdett’s face paled considerably. He felt an emotion similar to terror – an emotion he wasn’t used to feeling, though he tried not to show it – and gave a loud snort. Leroy wasn’t happy at the thought of hanging the four men, but he sensed that Lonzo was bluffing, and didn’t say anything.
Seth Roebuck was the first of the four Cottonwood men to give way to his fear. He knew of Leroy’s friendly nature, and began frantically to beg him not to hang them. Leroy felt very disturbed by Roebuck’s frantic pleas, but he kept his faith in Lonzo and said nothing. Roebuck’s desperate pleading to Leroy exacerbated the fear that his three cohorts were already feeling, and Burdett told him angrily to shut up.
Roebuck went quiet, but only for a moment. He then began to tremble uncontrollably, and cried out, ‘You gotta show us some mercy!’
Roebuck’s display of fear and trembling gave Lonzo an idea: maybe if he threatened to hang Roebuck before the other three men, he might be able to terrify him enough to confess to the rustling, and to also implicate his boss, Bart Jarvis.
Lonzo said coldly to the quivering Roebuck, ‘All I gotta do is hang the four of you, and because I’m sick of listening to your pathetic voice, you’ll hang first!’
Roebuck began to wail and stepped away to the side, and Leroy had to grab hold of his arm to stop him from running away. While Leroy kept hold of Roebuck, Lonzo turned his attention to the other three Cottonwood men. In what seemed like one lightning fast movement, Lonzo pushed Burdett, Slater and Gooch one after the other to the ground by shoving them hard in the chest area.
The three men landed on their backs with cries of surprise and pain. Lonzo swooped down next to them, and using some of the strips of rope that Leroy had left lying on the ground, tied their feet tightly together. He then told them it would be their turn to be strung up after he and Leroy had finished hanging Roebuck.
Lonzo straightened up, and caught hold of Roebuck’s other arm in a powerful grasp. He looked for a moment into Leroy’s eyes, and a kind of understanding passed between them: Lonzo knew that Leroy would go along with his pretence to hang Seth Roebuck.
Roebuck howled and struggled in the grip of the two men. Leroy glanced to the right of him at the cottonwood trees where Slater and Gooch had previously been firing from.
‘We can hang Roebuck in those trees,’ he said to Lonzo, adding that the horses belonging to three of the Cottonwood men were most likely still tethered there.
Roebuck’s frantic cries got louder as he writhed in the hold of Leroy and Lonzo, and he looked down at his three trussed-up companions as though begging them to do something. His three friends squirmed and wriggled in their bonds and tried to heave themselves up into a sitting position, but they couldn’t manage it, so lay on their backs and sneered up at Leroy and Lonzo, trying to mask their obvious fear.
Holding Roebuck’s arms tightly, Leroy and Lonzo began to drag him over to the trees. Roebuck’s wailing became so loud that it almost drowned out the sound of approaching hoofbeats. Lonzo drew out his gun as three riders came into sight, galloping towards them along the rock-strewn trail.
Seth Roebuck went silent, and all four Cottonwood men felt a sudden and frenzied surge of hope that maybe the oncoming riders might intervene in the hanging. The riders galloped closer, and the desperate hope of the Cottonwood men turned to despair as the riders were soon recognized as Caleb Baxter, Marvin Kilbey and another of Caleb’s ranch hands, red-haired Cain Jago. Cain was the brother of Trent Jago, the sheriff of the town of Vernal, which was the nearest town to Caleb’s ranch.
Lonzo put his gun away, and Caleb, Kilbey and Jago pulled their horses to a stop near to Leroy, Lonzo and their four captives, and dismounted. Caleb was beaming with delight as he looked down at Burdett, Slater and Gooch, who lay on their backs tied up and unable to move, and at Seth Roebuck who was held in the grip of Leroy and Lonzo.
‘So you caught them!’ he shouted excitedly to Leroy and Lonzo. He was too elated at the capture of the Cottonwood men to notice Leroy’s wounds.
‘You gott’a help me, Baxter!’ a desperate Seth Roebuck suddenly cried out to the ranch owner, ‘They’re gonn’a hang me!’
‘Is that right?’ Caleb asked of Leroy and Lonzo, ‘Are you going to hang him?’
‘We sure are,’ Lonzo answered firmly, ‘These men were trespassing on your land, and they were probably going to steal some more of your cattle,’ and he pointed to the nearby cottonwood trees: ‘They got their horses in those trees, and that’s where we’re taking Roebuck – we was aiming to hang him first and then the others. . . .’
‘You can’t let them do it, Baxter!’ Roebuck begged him, ‘You gott’a stop them!’
Burdett, Slater and Gooch again tried in vain to heave themselves up into a sitting position. They no longer tried to hide their fear as they, too, implored Caleb to save them from being hanged.
Caleb smiled again with much enjoyment. It amused him to see the four usually tough and menacing Cottonwood men in such a helpless position, and to hear them begging him to save their lives.
But Caleb knew Leroy and Lonzo well, and he guessed they were bluffing about hanging the four men, and that th
eir plan was to frighten them into confessing to the rustling. So rubbing his hands together he said enthusiastically to Leroy and Lonzo, ‘Well then men, let’s get on with it!’
Roebuck began to wail hysterically, and cried in desperation to Caleb, ‘You can’t hang me! You can’t hang any of us, we were only doing what Jarvis wanted us to do. He ordered us to rustle your cattle!’
Caleb felt a flutter of excitement when Roebuck mentioned Bart Jarvis. He was very eager to see the end of Jarvis and his ranch hands, and their countless terrifying activities at Brown Hole.
‘Are you saying that you were acting on your boss’s orders?’ Caleb asked the wailing Roebuck.
‘Yes, yes!’ Roebuck sobbed. He sagged to his knees as Leroy and Lonzo held on to him.
‘And’, Caleb asked, ‘are you willing to admit that fact to Sheriff Jago in Vernal if I take you there instead of hanging you?’
‘Yes!’ Roebuck sobbed again.
Caleb looked down at Burdett, Slater and Gooch, ‘Are you three also willing to admit that you were acting on Jarvis’s orders?’
The three men did not answer him straightaway. They knew that Bart Jarvis would not take kindly to being betrayed, but after Caleb threatened to hang them on the spot, Slater and Gooch, and finally Archie Burdett, grudgingly assured him that they would admit to the sheriff in Vernal that they were acting on Jarvis’s orders.
Smiles of satisfaction passed between Leroy, Lonzo and Caleb Baxter. They had got what they wanted, a confession to the rustling, and a confession that implicated Bart Jarvis, the Cottonwood ranch owner. However, Caleb’s smile turned to a frown as he noticed Leroy’s torn and blood-stained clothes, and his numerous cuts and gashes. ‘What happened to you?’ he asked his ranch hand.
Leroy started to answer him, but then went quiet as suddenly he felt very weak, and he had to let go of Roebuck’s arm.
Lonzo spoke up and said to Caleb, ‘Maybe you should ask Burdett about what he did to Leroy.’ Lonzo didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t have to. Caleb realized from what little he had said, that Burdett must have done something really bad to Leroy, and he almost changed his mind about hanging the four Cottonwood men.
Around ten minutes later, the four had been hoisted up into the saddles of their horses. Their hands were still tied, and their feet were tied together under the bellies of their horses. Caleb and his two ranch hands, Kilbey and Jago, were taking the four men to Jago’s brother, Sheriff Trent Jago in Vernal.
As the four scared-looking men sat helpless on their horses, Caleb asked Burdett about what he had done to Leroy. Burdett would not tell him, but Roebuck, who was still feeling quite terrified of being hanged, blurted out to Caleb about how Burdett had tried to kill Leroy by dragging him along the ground behind his horse, and how Lonzo had suddenly galloped on to the scene and saved Leroy with his amazing shooting skills.
Caleb was outraged at what Burdett had done to Leroy, and he burst out furiously to the four men, ‘If any one of you four fails to admit to Sheriff Jago in Vernal that Bart Jarvis ordered you to rustle my cattle, then me and my ranch hands will break into the jail and lynch you, and I don’t think Sheriff Jago will try to stop us!’
Caleb then left Kilbey and Jago to guard the four men. He was still feeling irate as he walked over to speak to Leroy, who was sitting on a boulder at the side of the trail. Lonzo had gone to look for Leroy’s horse, which seemed to have strayed. Caleb stared anxiously at Leroy. He looked weak and in pain, and his wounds needed to be cleaned up.
It was quite obvious to the ranch owner that Leroy wasn’t fit enough to ride back to the ranch, and that he would probably have to stay at the line shack for several days to rest and recuperate, and he did not want Leroy to stay at the shack alone. Caleb felt sure that Leroy wouldn’t object to Lonzo’s company for another week or more. The astute rancher had noticed that the two men seemed to have formed a kind of friendship. He was also equally sure that the aloof but capable Lonzo would look after Leroy and his cattle.
Caleb waited for Lonzo to come back with Leroy’s horse, and then he told the two men to stay at the shack until Leroy felt well enough to ride back to the ranch. He also told Lonzo to get word to him if Leroy started to feel worse, and he would send for a doctor. Lonzo gave him a curt nod.
Caleb started to walk away, but turned back as he remembered something that Roebuck had said to him. He looked thoughtfully at Lonzo for a second, and then said, ‘Roebuck told me about your fast and impressive shooting when you galloped up to save Leroy. I never knew you could shoot like that. . . .’
Lonzo cursed to himself. He did not want Caleb or anyone else at Browns Hole to find out that he was the Sundance Kid. The last thing he wanted was a reputation as a gunman. His face was expressionless as he said to Caleb with a shrug, ‘I ain’t nothing special with a gun, they were just lucky shots. . . .’
‘Oh, really!’ Caleb said, but looking as though he didn’t believe him. Leroy was barely able to stay conscious, but he knew how badly Lonzo wanted to keep secret both his skill with a gun, and the fact that he was known as the Sundance Kid. Although he could only weakly mumble the words, he took Caleb’s attention off Lonzo by asking what would happen to the four Cottonwood men when Caleb had handed them over to the sheriff at Vernal.
Caleb said with a sudden grin, ‘I’ll let Sheriff Jago deal with them, and with Bart Jarvis. They won’t be able to go back on their confessions, since the sheriff’s own brother heard them confess.’
He cast another thoughtful, almost suspicious look at Lonzo, then turned and strode over to join Kilbey, Jago and his four prisoners.
Lonzo watched his boss walk away; he still felt anxious at what Caleb might be thinking, and then he turned to look at Leroy a little uneasily, wondering how much Leroy had seen of his shooting skills. But Leroy was struggling to stay conscious.
Lonzo sighed, and said, ‘Let’s get back to the shack before you pass out,’ and reached down to help Leroy to his feet.
On the ride back to the shack, Lonzo rode close beside Leroy and had to reach out a few times to hold him steady in the saddle and to lead his horse.
CHAPTER 9
During the next four days, Leroy rested for most of the time. Lonzo did all the cooking, and looked after Leroy very efficiently, as well as riding out regularly on the range to check on the herds of cattle. On the fifth day, Leroy felt recovered enough to ride out for short spells with Lonzo checking over the scattered herds; he was also starting to talk a lot more.
They spent over six more days at the shack before starting the ride back to Caleb’s ranch on a very warm afternoon. They did not urge their horses into a gallop, but just trotted along steadily. For the first mile or so while riding along the trail through the grassland, Leroy did not talk much. He was actually doing some thinking. He knew that Lonzo had a restless nature, just like his own, and that he could, at any time – and probably sooner, rather than later – suddenly decide to leave Caleb’s ranch without a word to anyone, excepting Caleb.
That thought troubled Leroy, for although he had previously said to Lonzo (and not that long ago) that a partnership between them would be a disaster, he had since changed his mind. He could not deny that he liked Lonzo and felt a unique kindred spirit with him, and he now felt eager to ask him to join into a partnership with himself and Emmett – but first he would have to speak to Emmett.
He felt Lonzo’s eyes on him – Lonzo was wondering why he was so unusually quiet.
Leroy turned to look at him and asked, ‘How long do you reckon you’ll stay working for Caleb?’
Lonzo shrugged, ‘I ain’t really thought about it.’
Leroy sensed that Lonzo was lying, but he said no more about it.
They had ridden out of the grassland and were trotting their horses through the meadows when Leroy asked Lonzo: ‘Do you have any thoughts on what you’ll be doing in the future?’
Lonzo grunted, ‘I never waste time thinking about the future.’
Leroy laughed. He said cheerily, ‘When I think about the future, all I know is that I don’t want an ordinary life. Settling down with a wife and kids is not for me . . .’ but he stopped speaking as he remembered Amy, the girl he had grown up with and loved.
Lonzo noticed a flicker of sadness in Leroy’s eyes, and he remembered seeing it once before, when he said, ‘I’m guessing you had a girl at one time . . .’
Leroy smiled, quickly getting over his brief sad moment, ‘I did have once, but that was in the past . . . it’s like I just said, I don’t want a life of settling down with a wife and kids, or of staying in one place and doing the same boring job day after day, I like taking risks and living close to the edge, I want some excitement and danger in my life, even if it means breaking the law at times. . . .’
Lonzo gave a half-smile, and said ‘Sounds good to me!’
They rode in silence for a few miles, and were about five miles away from Caleb’s ranch when a thought suddenly occurred to Leroy. He looked across at Lonzo with gratitude in his eyes, and said, ‘Those so-called lucky shots of yours saved my life, and I want. . . .’
‘Forget it!’ Lonzo sharply cut him off, ‘I don’t want any thanks!’ he lowered his voice and said, ‘Besides, I reckon we’re even – I owe you for warning me about Gooch and Slater hiding in the trees, and for drawing their fire away from me.’
Leroy smiled, ‘Maybe so. . . .’ he began – but Lonzo cut him off again, saying ‘What did you mean by so-called lucky shots?’ he asked curtly, ‘They were lucky shots – I ain’t no gunman!’
Leroy smiled at him again, ‘Don’t worry’, he said calmly, ‘Your secret’s safe with me, I already know you’re a wizard with a gun, I saw you shoot down those oil lamps at the dance in Jeremiah’s eating house.’
Lonzo pulled his horse to a sudden stop, and stared at Leroy with surprise showing in his eyes.
Leroy reined his horse in also, and said quietly, ‘I’ve also guessed that you’re the one known as the Sundance Kid . . . .’
