“One damn peep out of either of you Strawbridges, and I’ll shut you up proper,” he growled and threw the cell keys onto the desk top.
Red Traversi stopped at Blake Durant’s cell and eyed him curiously for a moment before he said, “Comfortable, drifter?”
Blake returned his look but didn’t reply. Traversi chuckled and returned to the front door. He studied the street before he said, “Best stay here with them, Lem. I’ll do the rounds on my own.”
Outside, the sound of hammering echoed through the night’s peace. Traversi removed his hat and ruffled his hair with both hands before he went off, walking with the gait of a man who had experienced a hard day. Yet despite his evident tiredness, he found himself thinking again of the Adamson woman and the intruder who’d knocked him out with a gun butt and left a gash in his scalp.
Traversi went down the street until he came to the cleared space between the livery stable entrance and the side of the saloon. He stopped to watch three men putting up the gallows. They regarded him calmly while they kept working. Traversi gave them a nod of approval before he went on to the saloon. He climbed the outside stairs and walked along the back verandah until he came to the room Joyce Adamson had used for the last three months. Traversi opened the door, walked in and lit the lamp. It took him only a few minutes to discover that her travelling bag and some clothes were missing.
He rummaged through the bottles on her dressing table, sniffing a few of them appreciatively. The perfumes and rouge reminded him of her and he could remember the roundness of her body. He didn’t for a moment doubt that he would soon claim her. But what the hell would he do with her father? If Adamson bucked him and put up a fight over his cattle, then drastic measures would have to be taken. He expected that this would complicate his association with the girl, but very few affairs in Red Traversi’s life hadn’t been complicated.
He was confident that he could handle the matter. Going out, he locked the door behind him and put Joyce’s key into his shirt pocket. He returned to the yard and was walking back in the direction of the main street when he heard a shot.
Five – The Trouble With Womenfolk
Dane Cherry waited until Red Traversi disappeared into the saloon laneway before he urged Ben Adamson to hurry along the opposite boardwalk. Leading the way, Cherry moved stealthily through the street’s shadows until he was directly opposite the jailhouse. He stopped and made a deep study of the building before he decided on his plan of attack.
“Edey’s a careful jasper, Adamson. And he isn’t lacking in fight when somebody stands on his toes. Blood might have to be spilled.”
Adamson nodded. “But they’re gonna hang an innocent man, aren’t they? That makes them murderers.”
“Guess it does. First thing we’ve got to do is draw him out of there. See the window?”
Adamson nodded grimly while he brought his gun out of his holster.
“Get under it,” Cherry said. “I’ll work up to the other side of the building. When I fire a shot, be ready to rush Edey as he comes out. If he goes out the back way, you’ll have to tackle him on your own. Don’t think of him as a lawman or it’ll be the last thought you’ll ever have.”
Cherry ran a hand across his face. His eyes took on a cold, brutal gleam which surprised Adamson. He now realized that Cherry was in no way worried about having to kill.
He said, “Maybe we can stop him without having to kill him. I’d prefer it that way.”
“Give him a blink’s start and you’ll be left with lead in you,” Cherry said and went off, walking faster now. When he crossed the street farther up, Adamson shuffled to the other side himself and slid into the shadows of the jailhouse laneway. His heart was pounding and sweat glistened on his heavily lined face. His hands were shaking. He cursed himself for a fool and tried to gain some measure of control over himself. But in the darkness, there seemed to be accusing eyes. He wiped the sweat from his face and bit on his bottom lip.
Time dragged, then Ben Adamson began to hear distant noises and his nervousness increased. When Cherry’s shot broke into the stillness, he jolted upright, feeling relief rush into him. The door of the jailhouse opened and Adamson heard the thump of boots on the boardwalk.
Then a voice which he took to be Cherry’s startled him. “Here, Deputy, quick!”
Ben Adamson waited for Edey to hurry off but no further sound disturbed the night. A full minute passed.
Then Adamson heard the stomp of footsteps down the boardwalk at the other end of town and he cursed to himself. Soon a whole army of Traversi supporters might appear and converge on them. Durant would remain a prisoner.
Ben Adamson stepped around the corner of the building beside the jailhouse, gun in hand. He saw Edey wheeling to confront him in the dark doorway.
“You damn old ...”
His words were cut off by the explosion of a gun up the boardwalk. Edey’s gun bucked and Adamson felt the graze of a bullet across his shoulder. Then Edey was staggering. He hit the wall with one shoulder and bounced back, turning to look for the person who’d shot him from behind. When he saw Dane Cherry coming on the run, Edey bucked upright. His gun was lifting when a second bullet slammed into his chest and punched him back into the doorway. He grabbed at the door edge, missed it and fell inside the office on his face.
Dane Cherry grabbed a horrified Ben Adamson and pushed him inside. He said, “Get Durant out and head for the back street.” Cherry remained in the doorway, watching the street. The sound of someone running grew louder. Adamson snatched up the keys and opened Durant’s cell, then hurried to the back door. Cherry was firing rapidly into the street and the sound of running footsteps died.
Blake Durant came out of his cell, crossed to the desk and picked up his gunbelt. He paused to look at Cherry, but Cherry, glancing back, snapped, “Move, damn you! We don’t have all night.”
Blake went on studying him. Then Bo Strawbridge called from his cell, “Durant, damn you, don’t leave us here. Give me the keys! Get this damn cell open!”
Blake eyed the big man. For the last hour he had been talking with Bo Strawbridge, while Bede, looking like he’d run into the front end of a moving freighter, had said nothing. Blake liked Bo Strawbridge. Strawbridge was what the frontier made of a lot of men, a cowhand always on the fringe of trouble, a man making his way as best he could, getting rid of his frustrations in saloon brawls and sometimes gunfights. He was the kind who would never amount to much because he had no ambition. Blake took the keys from Ben Adamson and tossed them through the bars to Bo.
By then Dane Cherry was running down the front street again, cursing the fact that the Strawbridge brothers had recognized him. It was clear to him now, thanks to Adamson and Durant, that this town was closed to him. He went into the street’s shadows with Red Traversi’s bullets seeking him out.
In the jailhouse, Ben Adamson was deeply troubled. Blake Durant, despite the threat over his head, seemed reluctant to quit the jailhouse and he appeared to be disturbed over the deputy’s death.
“Come on, Durant,” the old rancher urged. “It’s done now. It was them or you.”
The truth of this did nothing to relieve Durant’s feeling of guilt. Even while confined in the cell, listening to the hammering from the gallows platform, he had at no stage given up hope that the top men in town would come to their senses. The injustice of his jailing didn’t worry him unduly. By morning, the Judge’s feelings would certainly have cooled down. Commonsense would undoubtedly prevail, he was positive of that.
But now, with a lawman killed ...
He said, “You go on.”
“No, not without you, Durant. Maybe you haven’t learned all you should about this bunch. They’re killers and they’ve got the whole town under their control. Traversi is a killer, just as that deputy was.”
Footsteps sounded just down the street boardwalk and Ben Adamson’s imploring look finally forced Blake to walk to the back door. Bo Strawbridge had got the cell door open and was hurr
ying out with his brother. He stopped suddenly and turned to Blake.
“The old man’s right, Durant. You best get to hell outa here in a hurry. Don’t fret over Edey’s killing. That had to come sooner or later and nobody will mourn him, take my word for it—”
Bo and Bede Strawbridge went into the night. Blake closed the back door and jumped to the ground. He was following Ben Adamson into the depth of the yard when the sound of somebody pounding across the floor inside came clearly to them.
“Come on for hell’s sake,” Adamson said urgently. “You want to be hanged in the morning?”
Blake gave him no argument. The back door opened and room light slashed out. Then Red Traversi started to punch off shots in their direction. Blake broke into a run and went into the back street shadows. They had gone only fifty yards or so with shouts rising from the belly of the town, when Dane Cherry, hatless, appeared before them.
“Go ahead, Adamson,” Cherry said. “Wait at my place for me.”
Cherry pushed Ben Adamson down the street and went back to take a stand at the end of the jailhouse laneway. When Blake Durant walked on, he heard the tall, good-looking gambler firing off shots. Durant, reluctant to leave a man fighting for him, nevertheless responded to Adamson’s urging and followed the old man to Cherry’s cabin, where Joyce waited. Joyce had just been introduced to Durant and was regarding him curiously when Cherry returned.
“Lost my damned hat and couldn’t go back for it,” he mumbled. “That puts the finger on me.”
He stood outside, prodding bullets into his gun and muttering to himself. Then, straightening suddenly, he added, “We’d best clear out of here. There’s only one place for us to go now, until we can get horses and get to blazes out of this town. Wait outside.”
Blake Durant gave him no argument and Joyce moved out, her father following. Blake Durant studied the street, frowning. He was a man who shielded his loneliness as he did all his feelings. There had been moments in his life when he had been ruthless, with himself and with others. He heard boards being ripped up inside and a few moments later Cherry appeared, stuffing a leather pouch into his shirt. Cherry snapped a look at him and said:
“Okay, let’s get out of here. As soon as Traversi finds my hat, he’ll add up some facts and come for my hide. Damn me, I could do without this night.”
Cherry led the way into the front street. After carefully checking it out and seeing a crowd gathering outside the jailhouse, he stole off through the deep shadows at the end of town. It took them only three minutes to reach another slanted side street up which Cherry went at a half-run. They came to a small cottage set back in a well-kept yard. Cherry went straight to the door, tried the knob and found the door unlocked. Easing it open, he went in to find a tall, dark-haired slender woman turning slowly away from a wall cabinet, a glass in her hand. Her dark eyes flashed.
“What do you want, Cherry?” she asked sharply.
Dane Cherry showed his gun. “Take it easy, Marie, and nobody will worry you much.” He motioned for the others to enter the room. He closed the door behind them, then he pulled the curtains across both small windows and turned down the lamp. All the while Marie glared at the intruders.
“What do you want? Who are you? This is my home and I don’t want any of you here. Get out!”
Cherry walked to her and pushed her into a seat. “This is Marie,” he said. “Traversi has a claim on her and she’s always been satisfied with that, so don’t trust her.”
“You louse, Cherry!” Marie tried to get to her feet but Cherry kept her down, then he held the gun inches from her face.
“Marie, hear me out before you start making a noise. Edey’s dead. I killed him and in a short time Traversi will know it was me. So he’ll tear this whole town down, looking for me. Only he isn’t gonna find me, not tonight. This man is Ben Adamson. Traversi means to steal cattle from him. You know his daughter, Joyce.”
Marie looked scathingly at Joyce Adamson. “Yes, I know her all right, with her fine ways and pretences. And I know you, Cherry. So get out before I make enough noise to bring the whole town here.”
“No noise,” Cherry said, a heavy threat in his voice. Marie suddenly leaned back and tossed her drink into his face. Cherry merely grinned as he wiped the liquor away with his handkerchief.
“This fellow, Marie, is Blake Durant. He was being held for murder and was sentenced to hang in the morning.”
Marie’s gaze moved to take in Durant, as he said, “I don’t know that we should stay here, Cherry.”
Cherry waved a hand. “Don’t worry about Marie. She’ll do as I say or take the consequences.”
“There’ll be no consequences, Cherry,” Durant said and the gambler straightened, fixing him with a fierce look.
“Look, Durant, don’t try to ride herd on me. Thanks to you, I’m in about as much trouble as I feel inclined to handle. Adamson begged me to help him get you out of that jailhouse and if I hadn’t killed Edey he’d be a dead man himself right now. So settle down and let me handle this my way.”
Blake Durant glanced at Ben Adamson who stood tight-lipped and worried, looking across the room. Adamson nodded in agreement with Cherry’s words, adding, “I couldn’t see any other way for it, Durant. I won’t stand by and let them hang you in the morning. I’m sorry as I can be about the deputy, but Edey gave us no chance to talk. We meant to knock him out, no more.”
“He’s no loss,” Cherry put in. Marie suddenly lunged for him, but he caught her arms and pushed her back.
“Red will kill you for this!” Marie shouted. “No matter where you go, he’ll find you. Lem was his closest friend.”
“Sure. Lem kept good men from putting a bullet in Red,” Dane Cherry said. “Now shut down. I need time to think.”
Durant moved closer to Marie and lounged against the wall. Dane Cherry frowned a little, then he turned from Durant and took Joyce to the other side of the room. After studying her thoughtfully for some time, he said:
“I’ve done what you asked and now I’m holding you to your word, Joyce. We’ll get out of this somehow, then I’m washing my hands of these other two. You and me—we’ll go together. Right?”
Joyce couldn’t hide her disturbed feelings. She looked quickly at her father who frowned but said nothing. Joyce’s gaze went to Blake Durant then, the man who had caused all this trouble. Earlier she had decided that he looked like a man capable of handling his own affairs confidently. There was a strangeness about him. He was different from other men and she didn’t understand the feelings he aroused in her. She was confused. He wasn’t nearly as handsome as Dane Cherry, but there was a clean-cut ruggedness about him that was appealing.
“But what about Pa?” she asked.
“What about him? You left him a year ago and he came to town riding on the back of trouble. To hell with him. I’ve helped him all I feel obliged to do. Now it’s you and me I’ve got to think about, plus getting us both out of this town in one piece.”
Ben Adamson regarded Cherry sourly. “Nobody asked you to do more than what you’ve already done, Cherry,” he said. “I’m obliged for the help and I don’t intend to stand in my daughter’s way in any regard. But don’t try to ride me down any more. I’ve never let any man do that.”
Cherry waved the old man’s words away and moved to the door. He pressed his ear against the timber and listened intently. Despite his air of calmness, Blake Durant saw a shadow of deep concern move across the gambler’s face. Then Durant watched the Adamson girl, remembering what Adamson had told him about her ... a young woman who had lost her mother and had been unable to get the right kind of guidance in her maturing years from a father who, because of pressure of work and business, had too little time to devote to her.
He found Joyce disturbingly attractive.
Cherry began to pace the room thoughtfully. Blake decided, for the moment at least, to fall into line with anything Cherry suggested. It was evident that Cherry knew this town and enough tricks of th
e trade to be able to make the right moves. But once he was out of this mess, Blake Durant meant to make his own decisions.
Suddenly Blake and Cherry swung around as they heard a noise outside. Cherry strode to the lamp and turned down the wick. He then went to the window, drew back the curtains and looked out. Durant dropped his hand onto his gun and in the murky light Marie studied him intently.
Cherry grunted something, dropped the curtains back in place, drew his gun. He said, “There’s a bunch of men at the top of this lane. Everybody stay quiet. This is the last place Traversi should come, but you never know with him.”
Marie dropped her gaze when Cherry looked her way. Cherry, distracted again by a louder noise from outside, hurried back to the window. As he pulled the curtain back, Marie jumped to her feet and hurled the glass. The glass hit the middle of the window and smashed it.
Cherry wheeled about, his face savage with anger, his gun leveling on her.
Marie threw back her head and shouted, “Red! They’re here, Red!”
Cherry took two quick steps towards her but Blake Durant stepped in front of him and shouldered him back. “Leave her be, Cherry. She didn’t invite us here so she owes us nothing.”
Cherry scowled at him. “Damn you, Durant, do you think we’re playing games with that crowd? Traversi’s a killer. He won’t show any mercy if he gets his hands on us.”
“Then we’ll fight like men, mister. And that means we leave womenfolk be.”
“To hell with you!” Cherry tried to sweep Blake Durant aside, but the drifter stood his ground, his bulk too much for Cherry to budge. The gun in Durant’s hand, plus the fierce defiance in his eyes, caused Cherry to have second thoughts. Before either of them could take it further, Traversi’s voice boomed out.
“Get down, Marie!”
Bullets began to smash into the side of the cottage. Ben Adamson grabbed Joyce and forced her down to the floor. Marie rushed for the door but Cherry dived at her and knocked her to the side. After a brief struggle he subdued her and although the young woman continued to lash out furiously at him, Cherry finally pinned her and kept her face pushed against the dusty floorboards.
The Loner 6 Page 5
