by Neil Hunter
Through the first few days they talked and laughed against the oppressive silence of the vast land. But the talk and the laughter faded, and they found that it was easier to just concentrate on the job in hand. The stifling heat made even talking an ordeal: it reached the point where they only talked when it was absolutely required.
Jacob’s shoulder and Seth’s leg gave them trouble. The pain was not severe, just nagging, and it left them very touchy. Brigham and Nancy realised this and wisely left the pair to their silences.
On the fourth day, around mid-morning, Brigham called a halt. He indicated that he didn’t want anyone to speak.
The other three watched in silence as Brigham rode back part of the way they had come. He drew rein just below a ridge, dismounted, and made his way on foot to the crest of the ridge. He spent only a few moments gazing over the ridge’s crest before returning to his horse and riding back to join them.
‘How far off are they?’ Seth asked.
There was no need for any of them to ask who was beyond the ridge. They all knew, for they had all been waiting for this moment since they had ridden out of Youngtown; they had all been waiting for it to happen, yet all of them had been hoping that it never would.
Brigham tipped his dusty hat to the back of his head. ‘Two — maybe three hours.’
‘They must have been doing some hard riding,’ Seth said.
‘Eager to catch a bellyful of lead,’ Jacob said bitterly. He jerked his horse’s head around and spurred the animal away fiercely.
Nancy exchanged worried glances with Seth and Brigham. ‘He’s so tired he doesn’t know what he’s saying,’ she said, though inwardly she knew what both Seth and Brigham also knew — that Jacob was reaching the end of his patience. He was close to letting go, close to the moment when he would say to hell with law and everything else. If that happened Jacob would be deaf to all words, no matter who spoke them.
He would think only of killing before he was killed.
Watching Nancy ride after Jacob, Brigham said, ‘We’re going to have trouble, Seth. I can see it coming.’
‘Let’s hope we get to Blanco Station before Retford reaches us,’ Seth answered.
‘No disrespect, Seth, but your badge didn’t stop Retford. You think LeRoy’s will do any better?’
‘That drowning man who grabs a handful of straw doesn’t stop to figure whether or not they’ll do him any good,’ Seth said. ‘Brig, he just grabs.’
Seth’s words were still being tossed around in Brigham’s mind late in the afternoon of the next day when they rode into Blanco Station. They’d ridden all night and all the day, and they had gained some three hours on the Retford bunch who had pushed their horses too hard for too long.
The station was little more than a sprawling log and adobe cabin, corral and stable, along with a couple of outhouses. Before the station ran the shallow stream that gave the place its name — Blanco Creek. The creek originated high up in the San Juan Mountains, flowing down to the lowlands in the north, then curving off to the east to eventually join up with the Rio Grande just below Arroyo Hondo.
As they rode through the creek and up the dusty slope that fronted the station a door opened in the cabin. Two men stepped out; one moved out into the yard, the other stayed close by the cabin wall.
Noting the burnished badge on the shirt of the man who had stepped forward, Seth drew rein before him.
‘I’m Seth Tyler,’ he offered.
The other nodded. He was a tall man, with a strong-boned face. Dark eyes studied Seth closely. ‘LeRoy,’ he said finally. ‘I hear you’ve had some hard times up in Hope.’
‘It’s a hard place, but it’s coming along. It’ll take some taming. I don’t expect it to come easy.’
LeRoy glanced beyond Seth. His gaze settled on Jacob. ‘You the one all this fuss is about?’ he asked.
‘Depends which way you look at it,’ Jacob said testily.
‘Don’t you give me trouble, boy,’ LeRoy snapped.
‘Don’t give me cause,’ Jacob threw back.
Seth turned his horse sharply. ‘Jacob, ease off. Just sit calm.’
But Jacob wasn’t listening. His attention had been drawn to the man who had been standing in the shadow of the cabin wall. Now the man had moved forward into the open. He was slender, pale-faced, with blonde hair and very pale eyes. His hands were slim, womanlike, the fingers long.
‘Seth, what the hell is this?’ Jacob asked suddenly. ‘What’s he doing here?’
LeRoy inclined his head towards the man who had moved to stand at his side. ‘Boone is with me,’ he stated.
‘With you?’ Jacob repeated, anger rising in his voice.
‘As I said, Boone is with me. He’s my deputy.’
‘Goddamn it, Seth, you said they were sending help from Amarillo. Hell, you didn’t say anything about the kind of man they were taking on these days. Must be easy to get a badge these days. All you have to be is a lowdown, yellow-bellied back shooter like Virgil Boone.’
Nancy had moved in beside Brigham and she was the only one who heard him speak, though it was more to himself than to anyone around him, and she didn’t understand what he meant anyway.
‘Hell, Seth,’ Brigham sighed, ‘they went and set fire to that straw we grabbed ahold of.’
Chapter Fourteen
Alvin LeRoy followed Seth towards the corral. He watched silently while Seth put the wary animals into the enclosure, unsaddled and fed them, brought them water.
‘What’s this trouble between your brother and my deputy?’ LeRoy asked eventually. ‘I want to know, Tyler. I can’t have friction lousing up the works when the Retfords get here.’
Seth closed the corral. He wiped sweat from his face. ‘Goes back to the War,’ he said. ‘Something that happened between Jacob and Virgil Boone at the Battle of Shiloh. Jacob swears that Boone caused the death of six men through his own cowardice. They’d always had bad blood between them. Ever since Boone joined our unit. All we know is that six men did die. There were no witnesses. Just Jacob and Boone. After it happened we had to spend most of our time keeping them apart. If we’d let them they would have killed each other.’
‘If you don’t mind me saying so, Tyler, your brother seems to have a natural instinct for getting into trouble.’
Seth turned sharply, his face angry. ‘You hinting that maybe Jacob started all this mess with the Retfords? Maybe you think he’s gun-happy? Kill-crazy or something?’
‘I ain’t hinting anything. Just making an observation is all.’
Seth walked slowly back towards the cabin. The others were all inside, save for Virgil Boone. He was leaning against the cabin wall, a long thin cigar between his narrow lips. As Seth approached he eased away from the wall. There was a faint smile on his face. His coat was pulled back to show the short-barrelled Colt that was worn low in a plain, black holster. There was something in the way he wore it that said it was there for much more than just show.
‘I’d walk easy with LeRoy,’ Boone said softly. ‘He’s got a reputation that marks him as a real hard hombre. Get on his wrong side and you’ll wish you’d stayed out there with the Retfords.’
‘You think that badge he wears is big enough to hide you as well as that yellow-streak you carry?’
Boone’s face turned ashen, then burned fiercely with anger. ‘Now look, Tyler, no two-bit town lawman’s going to talk to me like that.’
‘You going to do something about it, Boone? Like maybe shoot me in the back?’ Seth tipped his stained hat to the back of his head. ‘You weren’t man enough to carry those sergeants stripes back at Shiloh. I don’t figure a U.S. marshal’s badge is going to make much difference.’
Boone took a hard step forward. For a moment Seth thought he’d pushed Boone too far. The deputy’s right hand was hovering over the smooth-worn butt of his Colt. A muscle trembled tautly in the drawn, pale skin of his left cheek.
‘Boone!’
LeRoy’s voice was a harsh whip cra
ck against the still silence. He was still standing by the corral.
‘Over here, Boone, I want you now.’ It was an order, not a request, and it worked like a release spring on Virgil Boone’s taut nerves. He relaxed visibly, his breath coming from him slowly as he straightened up.
‘Scoot, boy, the boss man’s calling,’ Seth said.
Boone bit down hard on his cigar and stepped around Seth, made his way across to where LeRoy stood.
Seth watched him for a moment, then turned and opened the cabin door and went inside.
As Seth entered the cabin Jacob glanced up from the mug of coffee he was nursing. There was still anger close to the surface and it showed in Jacob’s set face. The sudden confrontation with Virgil Boone had been bad for Jacob. The way things were right now, Virgil Boone was one man Jacob could do without. One patch of trouble was enough to clear up at one time.
Jacob swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee. He’d laced it with sugar but it still tasted bitter. He put the mug down and pushed it away from him.
‘Don’t let it bother you, Jacob.’
Jacob glanced up and smiled at Nancy. ‘I’m trying. Trouble is I just keep thinking how many people are getting involved in my troubles.’
‘You mean me? Seth? Brigham?’ Nancy sat down beside him. ‘Only because we want to. Because your troubles are ours. Surely you know that.’
‘Maybe. LeRoy’s not too sure.’
‘He’s working by the rulebook. He must see that this trouble isn’t of your making.’
‘And Boone?’
‘Is it so bad between you, Jacob?’
He gave her a wry smile. ‘If you knew,’ he said gently.
The station manager came through from the kitchen then.
‘Food’s ready,’ he said.
Chapter Fifteen
Darkness came swiftly, bringing with it the sudden chill of the desert country. Bright stars shone down from the vaulted sweep of the deep sky.
There had been no sign of the Retfords during the daylight hours. They were close by, but keeping out of sight. Only Jacob knew they were out there in the darkness, biding their time, waiting for the right moment.
It was close on midnight when it happened.
At first there was only the darkness beyond the soft glow thrown by the lamps of the way station. And then as if someone had opened a door the night was lighted up by the muzzle-flashes of a dozen guns and the silence was shattered by the crackling roar of exploding cartridges. Heavy bullets slammed into the cabin walls. Some came in through the open windows. A lamp burst into sudden flame as a bullet struck it and the oil ignited. Brig grabbed up a blanket and swiftly doused the flames.
The shooting lasted for a couple of minutes. Then it stopped as abruptly as it had started. Silence came again, deep and dark.
In the shadowed gloom of the cabin someone moved. Broken glass shattered underfoot.
‘You still figure to have a polite talk with the Retfords, Mister LeRoy?’ Jacob’s voice was deliberately measured. He felt a brief satisfaction at LeRoy’s discomfort.
‘You ain’t in the clear yet, boy,’ LeRoy said in clipped tones.
Jacob sat back on his heels in the darkness. Nancy was beside him. She was silent, but he felt the tension that gripped her and he reached out a big hand to her, felt her own touch it and grip it.
‘We’ll make it, Jacob,’ he heard her whisper.
I hope so, Jacob said silently to himself.
They kept a constant watch throughout the night, but there was no more from the Retfords. Jacob himself was at one of the windows as dawn broke. He watched with tired eyes as the sun rose and flooded the land with rosy light.
Just before full light Brigham and Seth slipped outside and brought the horses round to the rear of the cabin. They saddled them up and loose-tied them.
Coffee was ready when they got back inside. Seth brought a mug over to Jacob.
‘Ease off, Jacob,’ he said. ‘We’ll get this settled one way or another today.’
Jacob took a deep swallow of the hot brew. ‘Amen to that.’
The long black shadows of the dawn were still fading when a line of men appeared over a low ridge just beyond the corral. They were on foot. Jacob counted eleven of them. He turned from the window.
‘LeRoy, you feel like talking?’
LeRoy went to the window and looked out. ‘Which is Kyle?’
‘The big one in the black shirt,’ Jacob said.
LeRoy turned away from the window. ‘Boone, you stay in here. I don’t want Tyler out there under any circumstances.’ He glanced at Jacob. ‘You hear?’
Jacob opened his mouth to speak, but Seth stepped forward. ‘He’ll stay.’
LeRoy glanced again at Jacob, his eyes almost asking Jacob to argue, but Jacob had recognised the no-nonsense tone of Seth’s voice and remained silent.
Moving over to the window Jacob looked out. The Retford bunch had gathered just beyond the corral. They seemed to be waiting for something to happen. Watching them Jacob suddenly felt tired of the whole damned affair. Despite the fact that he didn’t particularly like LeRoy, he hoped that the man could bring an end to the mess. Jacob realised that all he wanted to do was to just ride out with his brothers and Nancy. He thought of Virgil Boone, the memory of that bloody day of death and treachery back at Shiloh, and even that failed to anger him as it had only a few hours back.
He heard the cabin door open and from his window he saw LeRoy step out into the early sunlight. Seth followed him. Both men carried rifles, both had their holstered guns clear. Jacob watched them as they began the long walk across the open yard.
Jacob levered a round into the breech of his rifle and rested it across the sill of the window.
‘Keep your finger off that trigger, Tyler,’ Virgil Boone’s voice came from close behind Jacob.
Jacob turned his head. ‘Boone, you back off, and fast. My brother is out there and I’m not giving anybody the chance to cold-deck him.’
‘You do as I say,’ Boone said. His face was dark with anger.
From across the room Brigham’s voice reached them. ‘Jacob, you just carry on with what you’re doing. Boone ain’t going to bother you. I got me a cocked .44-40 pointing at him that’ll guarantee it.’
Boone spun round, his finger pointing at Brigham. ‘I can have you arrested for this,’ he yelled. ‘Preventing an appointed U.S. lawman from doing his duty.’
‘Why, Boone, I’m not preventing you from doing anything. Just letting you know I’m going to shoot you if you do it.’
Before anyone could speak or move there came the sound of a shot from outside. Jacob turned back to the window in time to see Kyle Retford fall, a bright patch of blood staining the black shirt over his heart. In the same instant Seth took a quick step forward and laid his rifle-barrel across the skull of one of Retford’s men. The man went down on his knees, his handgun slipping from his fingers. Then Seth and LeRoy were advancing on the rest of Retford’s bunch who were milling about in an uncertain mass, leaderless and not too eager to get involved with the law.
Nancy joined Jacob at the window. She suddenly said, ‘Where’s Will? Will Retford. Jacob, he should be with them.’
Brigham had just left the cabin, making his way over to help Seth and LeRoy. Boone was standing in the center of the floor looking out through the open door.
From out at the back of the cabin a horse snorted, as if disturbed. Jacob raised his head. Will Retford.
‘Out back,’ he said to Nancy. He put his rifle down, drew his handgun and started for the cabin’s rear door.
‘Hey!’ Boone’s hand shot out, caught Jacob’s sleeve, pulling him round in a half circle. Without hesitation Jacob drove his left fist out, catching Boone across the jaw. The deputy stumbled back, going down on one knee, blood streaking his mouth.
Jacob reached the rear door, put his shoulder against it and went on through as the door burst open. As he stepped outside he came face to face with Will Retford. Will was
in the act of loosing the tethered horses, his hand reaching out for the tied reins, but the moment he set eyes on Jacob, recognising him, something made him back off. He turned away, as if to run, his hand clawing for his gun as he moved.
Seeing Will’s hand going for his gun, Jacob launched himself in a swift leap. He slammed into Will and the pair of them sprawled full-length in the dust. There was a moment of wild thrashing as each man tried to gain the upper hand. Then Will kicked himself clear, rolling frantically as he tried to escape from Jacob’s grasp. He got to his feet, aiming a savage kick at Jacob’s face. Jacob twisted his body to one side, but the toe of Will’s boot caught his shoulder. Pain engulfed his shoulder. Rolling in under Will’s boot Jacob pushed himself upright, smashing heavily into Will. Will gave a yell as he was knocked off his feet. He slammed hard down into the dust, and before he could move Jacob was standing over him. There was a moment of complete stillness, and then Jacob reached down with his left hand and grabbed Will’s collar, yanking him to his feet.
As Jacob lifted Will upright, Virgil Boone burst out of the cabin. His hair was streaked across his face and he had smeared the blood on his mouth with the back of his hand. He ran out into the open and stopped, his hand going for his holstered gun.
‘Tyler!’ His voice was a high scream of anger. ‘Let go of that man and throw down your gun. I aim to finish you this time, you bastard.’
As Jacob turned to face Boone he saw Nancy step out of the cabin. She took in the scene quickly, and before Jacob could speak she had stepped forward, reaching to restrain Boone’s gun hand.
