Kid Wolf of Texas

by Paul S. Powers

  CHAPTER XVIII

  ON BLACKSNAKE'S TRAIL

  At first, they could see little, for not much light filtered throughthe small door and window. Then details of the interior began to growmore distinct in the hut's one room. A tarp had been tacked over thedirt ceiling to keep scorpions and centipedes from dropping down on thebunks below. There was only a little furniture, and that of a crudesort. Some of it was smashed, as if in a scuffle.

  These things, however, were not noticed until later. What the visitorssaw was the form of a man with legs and arms outstretched at queerangles.

  Kid Wolf was accustomed to horrible sights, but he remembered this oneever afterward. The scene was stamped on his mind like a fragment ofsome wild nightmare.

  The body was that of a man a few years older than Red Morton, and thefeatures, though set and twisted, were the same. A rope had been tiedto one wrist and fastened to one wall; another rope had been knottedabout his other wrist and secured to the opposite side of the hut. Thelegs had been served the same way at the ankles. On the body of thesuspended figure rocks had been piled. They were of many sizes,varying from a few pounds to several hundred. It was easy to see howthe unhappy man had met his end--by slow torture. One by one, therocks had been placed on his chest and middle, the combined weight ofthem first slowly pulling his limbs from their sockets and thencrushing out the life that remained.

  Red, after his first outcry of agony, took it bravely. The Kid threwhis arm sympathetically around the youth's shoulders and drew him away,while the others cut the ropes that held the victim of the rustlergang's cruelty. In a few minutes, Red got a grip on himself and couldtalk in a steady voice.

  "Reckon I'm alone now, Kid," he blurted. "Joe was all I had--and theygot him! I swear I'll bring those hounds to justice, or die a-tryin'!"

  "Yo're not alone, Red," said the Texan grimly. "I'm takin' a hand inthis game."

  Near the body they found a piece of paper--a significant document, forit explained the motive for the crime. Kid Wolf read it andunderstood. It was written in straggling handwriting:

  I, Joe Morton, do hereby sell and turn over all interest in the DiamondD Ranch property, for value received. My signature is below, andtestifies that I have sold said ranch to Gentleman John, of Skull, NewMexico.

  There was, however, no signature at the space left at the bottom of thepaper. Joe Morton had died game!

  "He refused to sign," said The Kid quietly, "and that means that yo'rethe lawful heir to the Diamond D. Yo' have a man's job to do now, Red."

  "But I don't savvy this," burst out the red-haired youth. "Surely thisGentleman John isn't----"

  "He's the man behind it all, mah boy," the Texan told him. And in afew words, he related how he had been approached by the self-styledcattle king, and something of his shady dealings. "He wanted to buyme," he concluded, "not knowin' that I had nevah abused the powah ofthe Colt fo' mah own gain. Blacksnake is his chief gunman, actin' byGentleman John's ordahs."

  "Where's the other men--the two riders on duty with Joe?" Lefty Warrenwanted to know.

  It did not take much of a search to find them. One had fallen near thelittle corral, shot through the heart. The other lay a few hundredyards away, at the river bank. He, too, was dead.

  "Mo' murdah," snapped the Texan grimly. "Well, we must make ouahplans."

  In this sudden crisis, the other three left most of the planning to KidWolf himself. First of all, the bodies were buried. Rocks were piledon the hastily made graves to keep the coyotes out, and they were readyto go again.

  The Texan decided to follow the trails left by the stolen cattle, forboth herds were gone now, driven off the Diamond D range. Failing intheir attempt to get Joe Morton's signature, the outlaws had evidentlydecided to take what they could get.

  There was one big reason why Gentleman John wished to get his hands onthe Diamond D. Although land was plentiful in that early day, Red'sfather had obtained a land grant from a Spanish governor--a grant thatstill held good and kept other herds from the rich grazing land andample water along Blue-bottle Creek.

  As they started down the trail again toward the broken, mountainouscountry to the southwest, The Kid sent Red a quick glance.

  "Are yo' all right, son?" he asked.

  "Fine," said young Morton, now sole owner of the Diamond D.

  The Texan was glad to see that he had braced himself. Like hisbrother, Red was a man.

  "We'll soon overtake 'em," old Mike Train muttered, savagely twirlingthe cylinder of his ancient .45. "Blacksnake's gang can't make fasttime with those steers. He's probably drivin' 'em to Gentleman John'sheadquarters at Agua Frio."

  "Why," asked Kid Wolf slowly, "do they call that hombre 'Blacksnake'?"

  "Because he carries one with him--that's how he got his name," spoke upLefty Warren. "He's a whipper. He's beaten more'n one Mex to deathwith it, and they say a white man or two. He can handle a blacksnakelike a demon."

  Kid Wolf smiled grimly. To have Blacksnake McCoy for an enemy was byno means a pleasant thing to think about, especially when the desperadowas backed by all the power that his employer--GentlemanJohn--possessed. And yet The Kid was afraid of neither of them.

  "It's shore great of yuh to help us this way," Red told him. "But I'mafraid we haven't a chance. If Gentleman John is behind all this,we're buckin' mighty big odds."

  "I like a game like that," said The Kid. "Unlike pokah, it's perfectlylegitimate to scratch the aces with yo' fingah nail."

  They were soon off the limits of the Diamond D and on the CasasAmarillas--a ranch owned by Gentleman John and taking its Spanish namefrom two yellow houses of adobe several miles distant. They sawscattered cattle branded with a Lazy J--one of Gentleman John's manybrands--but discovered no stragglers from the stolen Morton herds.

  Following the trail was easy, and they struck a hot pace down throughand out of the grassy valley, climbing through a pass and up on arolling mesa dotted with thirsty-looking sage. For two full hours theyrode, while the sun crept toward the west. Their horses were beginningto tire. A line of cedar-sprinkled hills loomed up ahead of them, butby keeping to the plateau they could circle them.

  "I think we'd bettah keep to the mesa," The Kid advised.

  "But we're about on 'em," put in Red. "They'll see us comin', milesaway. If we cut down through those hills, we'll gain time, too, andkeep hid."

  "It's a fine place to be trapped in," mused the Texan. "Well, Red, yo'know this country, an' I don't, so use yo' own judgment."

  Against the far horizon they could make out a faint yellow haze--dustfrom the trampling hoofs of many cattle. They could cut off a fullmile by riding down into the cedars, and Red decided to do so. The Kidwas dubious, but said nothing more. If Blacksnake had a rear guard ofany kind, they might have been sighted. In that case, they would runinto trouble--ambushed trouble.

  Kid Wolf rode in the lead, the three others drumming along behind him.He was grimly wary. A chill gust of wind hit them, as they entered thedepths of the notch between the hills. The straggling growth of cedarsand stumpy evergreens loomed up ahead of them, and they crashedthrough. For several hundred yards they tore their way and found theirpace slowed by the difficult going. The trees began to thin out. Thenthey heard a spring tinkling down among the red rocks, and the cedarsbegan to thicken again, as the little canyon narrowed and climbedsteeply.

  "Stick 'em up!"

  Kid Wolf fired at the sound of the voice while the loud shout was stillechoing. His double draw was lightning fast. Before the others knewwhat was taking place, his two guns had flashed. At the dull boom ofthe twin explosions, a crashing sound was heard in the brush, as ifsomething was wildly threshing about. Then bullets began to rip andsmash their way through the undergrowth. Cedar twigs flew.

  With a yell, Mike Train slumped down over his saddle pommel and rolledoff his horse. At the same instant, the two others--Lefty Warren andRed Morton--reached for their guns. The thing had happ
ened so quicklythat until now they had not thought of drawing their weapons.

  But Kid Wolf stopped them.

  "Don't pull 'em, boys!" he cried. And at the same time, he droppedboth his own guns. It was a surprising thing for the Texan to do, buthis mind had worked quickly. His sharp eyes had taken in thesituation. They were covered, and from all sides. His first quickshots had brought one man down, but there were at least six others, andall were behind shelter and had a deadly drop. If The Kid had beenalone, he would, no doubt, have shot it out there and then, using hisown peculiar tactics. But he had the others to think of. If theytouched their guns, they would be killed instantly.

  The Texan's doubts had been well founded. They should have kept to themesa top. They had jumped into a trap. Surrender was the only thingto do now, for while there was life, there was hope. The Kid hadslipped from tight situations before.

  Lefty Warren, Red Morton, and The Kid elevated their hands. A lowlaugh came from behind the cedar thicket, and a group of desperadoes onfoot slipped through, holding drawn and leveled Colts. In the lead wasBlacksnake McCoy. His eyes fell on Kid Wolf and widened with surprise.Then his teeth showed through his close-cropped beard in a snarl ofhate.

  "Well, if it ain't the gamblin' Cotton-picker!" he ejaculated. "Ididn't know I was goin' to have such luck as this! Keep yore mitts up,the three of yuh. Pedro, collect their guns!"

  A grinning desperado disarmed Lefty and Red and picked up The Kid's twoColts.

  "It'd 'a' been better fer yuh if yuh'd shot it out," sneeredBlacksnake, "because Gentleman John will have somethin' in store feryuh that yuh won't like. Wait till he sets eyes on yuh, Cotton-picker!Boilin' alive will seem like a picnic! I knew we'd get yuh sooner orlater, if yuh kept stickin' yore nose in other folks' business."

  "Blacksnake," said The Kid softly, "yo're a cheap, fo'-flushin' bully."

  Blacksnake's evil eyes went hard. His face reddened with anger, thenpaled. He was trembling with fury and deadly hate. He turned to hismen.

  "Take the others up to the Yellow Houses and wait for me there," herasped. "Pedro, my whip's on my pony; bring it to me. I'm havin' thisout with Cotton-picker, alone! When I'm through with him, I'll bringhim on up. One of yuh ride up to the herd and tell Slim to letGentleman John know we've got 'em. He'll finish with Cotton-pickerwhen I'm done with him. Savvy?"

  A blacksnake was brought to McCoy, and the others roughly surroundedLefty and Red, herding them through the timber and out of sight.

  "Take the skin offn him, Black!" an outlaw yelled back.

  The others laughed. And then Kid Wolf and his captor were left alone.