Sanderson's Hill

by Nancy Howard

  “It could've been. But I don't think it was, because whoever did this killed the livestock. If it was Indians they wouldn't have done that. Also both of the bodies still have hair, they weren't scalped. So no I don't think it was Apaches, even renegades.”

  As everyone in the room turns their attention to the girls, Logan wants their attention too, she still wants to find out what happened here. So she walks over to them and starts to question the girls. One of the ladies again begins to protest Logan wanting to question them. But Libby intercedes, and tells her it was okay for Logan to ask them about what happened. That she and her sister, wanted her to know about the people who did this.

  The girls told Logan that she was right, this was not Indians as she suspected. They told her it was the work of five men. Four white men, and one Indian. Libby said they came onto the farm yesterday, and asked their father if they could water their horses. When their dad said it was okay, and their parents followed them and were standing close by. When one of them dismounted and pulled his scatter gun and shot them without warning, as they tried to run away. Then he took the butt end of the gun and beat their dead bodies with it. It was horrible to watch, they said through their tears. They told everyone that the other men just sat on their horses and laughed, while he did this.

  After Libby told Logan this, the same woman again, tried to get her to stop questioning them, trying to protect the girls. Libby completely ignored her pleas this time, and continued to tell Logan what she and Connie saw. She told Logan, that they had stayed hidden in the grove of trees and tall grass behind the house, while this was going on. Libby said that the men laughed, as they did bad things to their mother, after they killed her. They said that the men went into the house and broke up things, they set fire to the barn, and shot and killed all of the livestock, before riding away.

  Libby said she and Connie stayed out back until it was dark, before they came back into the house for safety. They were afraid the men would come back. They've been to frightened to leave, until Logan should up.

  “Did you happen to get a look at any of them.” Logan asked? Not sure, if they'd remember any details about the men.

  “The one that did the killing, he had a patch over his eye, and he wore all black,” Connie said. “He was really mean.”

  “Do you remember which eye,” Logan asked her?

  “Left.” They both said, at the same time.

  She smiled at them, then asks, “can you remember anything else about them?”

  “The one that was an Indian, he was riding a pinto horse,” Libby said, still crying.

  “One more question. Did you perhaps see which way they went, when they rode away?” They both pointed west.

  Logan thanked and hugged each of the girls, “I should be able to locate them based on that information. One more thing girls,” Logan said, looking at them. “If and when I do find them, and bring them to justice. I will comeback and tell you, and I will bring you any reward money they might have on their heads. You have that coming to you.”

  Then she stood up looked at the two women, turned away and went outside, to ready herself to leave. She's followed closely by the two men.

  “You goin' after these animals alone Logan,” Dillon asked?

  “I guess I will. I ain't doin' nothin' else right now. Besides I owe it to those to young ladies in there to catch them, for what those bastards did here. I'm sure it's not the first time they've killed like this.”

  “Logan the men who did this are just plain vile and mean. What will you be able to do by yourself, if you do find them.” Donaldson ask her?

  “I don't rightly know for sure. I'll have to think on it for a spell.”

  “You do that Logan, don't you go and get yourself killed girl. You do be careful,” he said.

  “I'll do my best to try and not let that happen. Trust me,” Logan said to them.

  “Good luck Logan and God speed to you.”

  She smiled at both men and mounted Warrior to leave. The women and the girls were now on the porch too, as Logan tipped her hat to all of them, and rode away.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Logan Kincaid is a bounty hunter. A nomad. A loner. She has no friends except fellow bounty hunter and lover Gavin Sloan, and as she rides she wonders where he is. The last time she saw him was a year ago, he told her he was heading for west Texas, and she figures that's where he went. He wanted her to go with him, but she declined, telling him she wanted to stay in New Mexico. She smiles as she thinks of him. She hopes he's okay, and she would like to see him. Logan has known all along that they love each other, but are not ready to settle down, not just yet. It is just not their time she figures, but she thinks that she'd like for that to change between them.

  Logan like Gavin wanders from place to place, hunting bounty. She knows that what she is doing, and has been doing for the past six years is very dangerous for her. Even though three of those six years she was riding with Gavin. Logan wants to quit doing this. She has too, she thinks, before she gets killed. She doesn't want that to happen, not just yet anyway. She's only twenty-six years old.

  Logan is a tough, strong, and independent young woman, with an attitude and stubborn streak, born out of having to fend for herself all of her life. She's a fighter and a warrior who doesn't show frailty because of the reputation she has. She's an anomaly in her own time and she knows it. She doesn't sow, and gather like other women her age, though she'd like to find the time to do all of that someday. Right now she is what she is; a bounty hunter. Still what she really wants is a stable life like that, where she gets respect for being a solid ordinary citizen. But so far that life has eluded her, and she wonders if she will ever have an opportunity like that. She knows that if opportunity comes her way, she will not let it slip through her fingers.

  Gavin Sloan is the only one she has let see her softer side, for now. They are lovers, and as the two of them rode together for three years, they had become very close. Until about a year ago when he got the idea he wanted to go to West Texas. He's been gone from her life a year now, and she misses him and would like to see him, along with all the other things she desires.

  IT'S NOW GETTING TO be past six in the evening, as Logan leaves the Johnson place. She still needs to find a place to camp for the night. As she rides, she knows that the men who killed the Johnsons had a full day or more head start on her. Yet based on what she knows about them, she will eventually find them. But like that man Dillon asked her, what will she be able to do against them by herself? If she does find them. How does she by herself, bring such violent men to justice, without getting killed herself? Which is where she is now, with being a bounty hunter in the first place. She thinks, “why not just leave, and let this go? Why go after the vile men who did this, and possibly get myself killed? It's because Logan knows she must do her best to catch them, sooner or later. She must do it for Libby, and for Connie.

  Logan doesn't know if they have a bounty on their heads, but it wouldn't surprise her if they didn't. She doesn't know who they are, their names or anything. She's never heard of them, she only has the description that the Johnson girls gave her, and that's what she's going on.

  The girls told Logan, that the men headed west after they killed their parents, leaving their farm in ruin. But Logan knows that men as violent as this, live entirely by their wits. So they could have changed their minds in an instant, and gone off in any direction.

  After riding a little longer, Logan comes upon a clump of trees, and discovers that it is near a small stream for water. She decides that this is as good a place as any to stop and make camp. The trees and the few rock outcroppings around them will provide good cover for the night, if danger should approach her.

  Logan's camp fire is going, and she's made coffee, and opened a can of beans that she cooked for her dinner. It is good to stop she thinks to herself, as she sets quietly against the big rock that is behind her bedroll. She just wants to set and to enjoy her meal, and take her time eating
. She wants to try and relax, it has been a very eventful day. She watches as the sun sets, and begins too play peek-a-boo with the storm clouds that have gathered to the west. She eats slowly, trying to relax and get the terrible images of death and destruction she saw today, out of her mind.

  Full and finished eating, she gets up and heads over to the small stream near-by, to wash her pan and utensils. Looking up and all around her it is very dark, she's outside the safety the light her campfire provides. However Warrior is quiet, and Logan knows that if someone or something was in the area, he'd be making all sorts of racket. Warning her of any danger in the area, that might be near them.

  Near the stream, she only has the moonlight to see by, and all it does is create deep ghostly shadows in the darkness. It has become intermittent with the passing clouds, created from a dying thunderstorm in the distance.

  She quickly cleans her utensils and returns to her campfire, and the light that it provides. Logan is just beat, and exhausted. She looks at her pocket watch and it's well past nine. She lays down on her bed roll, wanting to sleep, pulling her blanket up over her. She draws her pistol out of the holster and lays it next to her head, for protection. Her carbine leans next to the big rock behind her. Warrior is quiet, that's a good sign, she can get a good nights sleep.

  But sleep doesn't come quickly like she wants it too. She just lays there on the cold hard ground, eyes wide open, as she tries to shut off the thoughts in her head.

  She has to sleep, she thinks, so she turns over to her right side facing the fire. And she begins to think about, how nice it would be to sleep in a nice big soft bed. One that she can call her own. Not one that is in some flea bag hotel. No, a nice big soft bed that is in her own house, and in her own room. “Someday I will have those things,” she affirms to herself. “Someday.”

  She lays there a few more minutes and begins to close her eyes, but sleep still does not come. She just can't shut her head off. She can't for the life of her, get the images of the horrified and crying faces of the Johnson girls, out of her mind. She can still see their sad, sobbing faces. They're just kids after all. She thinks of how horrific it must have been, for them to watch the murders of their parents, at the hands of those killers. It must have been equally terrifying for them to spend time alone, inside the house. They must have been frightened by every sigh of the wind, and that constant banging of front door against the house. That damn thing gave Logan the goose bumps and spooked Warrior, every time he heard it.

  Logan would like to bring these psychotic murderers in, but then again what about all the thought she's given to stop being a bounty hunter. She does owes their capture to Libby and Connie. Still she doesn't really want to go out and chase them around, and after being witness to their destructive behavior, she is already leery of doing that alone.

  Having seen what these murderers can do, and the results of their violence against the Johnsons, Logan knows someone has to stop them. Which takes her back to what Mr. Dillon asked her earlier, as she was preparing to leave the Johnson place. He asked her, “what can she do alone against violent men like this, if she does find them?” His words ring loud and clear in her head. He's right and she knows it. “I'm good with my gun,” she thinks, “but how do I take down all five of them? I could probably kill two, maybe three of them in a gun fight. But I would in all likelihood get killed too. Thus ending my dream for myself, of a better life.”

  Logan lays there for a few more minutes trying to quiet her mind, as the rhythm of the fire begins to let her drift off. Then she hears Warrior stir. She sets up quickly, like she's heard gunshots go off. She grabs her pistol and sets there in her bed roll, not sure what he has heard. But something spooked him, and has made him skittish. He may have just heard a small animal, but it could have been a mountain lion. He quickly gets quiet again, and she relaxes and lays back down. She lays there and listens herself, straining her ears for a sound, any sound, that might arouse him again. But all she can hear is the breeze that has come up from the dying storms that she saw earlier, causing the wind to blow and rustle the leaves in the trees.

  She lays there just long enough to start to drift off again, when she hears the sound of hoofs on the ground. She's not sure but thinks she only hears one rider. She wonders why Warrior is quiet? She quickly get up this time, grabbing her pistol and carbine, then jumps behind the big rock that is in back of her bedroll, taking cover.

  As the rider gets closer to her, she calls out into the darkness, “you there. Who are you?”

  The rider calls back to her, “that you Logan? It's me Gavin, don't shoot.”

  She quickly recognizes the voice of Gavin Sloan. She relaxes and is relieved to hear his voice.

  “You're back.”

  “I am,” he says, as he rides into Logan's camp. “Mind some company?”

  “Yeah and since it's you, it would be real nice. I was just getting ready to turn in,” she says, setting down on her bedroll.

  Gavin dismounts and asks, “any coffee left in that pot?”

  “Some. Help yourself.” Logan tries not to show it, but she's really happy to see Gavin.

  He reaches into his saddle bag feeling around for his coffee cup. He quickly finds it and comes over to the fire, and reaches down for the pot and pours himself a cup. Draining the last drop.

  “I been wonderin' about you. Did you go to West Texas?”

  “Yeah that's where I was Logan. I been trackin' after five of the meanest sons a bitches I've ever tried to track down, with you, or alone. Been huntin' em for almost five months now. They kill everybody they come it contact with. Have you come across em?”

  “No not directly. Though, I think I've seen their handy work. So tell me Gavin, who the hell are we dealing with here?'

  “Mean, bad men Logan, with no conscious, and no soul. They kill just for the hell of it. They make Cutter Hargrove look like a choirboy.”

  Logan is quiet, wondering again, what she could have done if she'd found them, and had tried to take them alone. And she remembers Cutter and how damn mean he was.

  “You're lookin' for them too, I take it?”

  “I wasn't until today, but I am now, I guess.”

  He shakes his head and is quiet for a few seconds then says, “You know Logan, we should team up to go after this bunch together. They're real badasses, I'm not sure what I could do if I found them by myself. I'm good but not that good.”

  “Yeah, yeah you know that might be a good thing. I was laying here thinking, about that very same thing before you showed up,” she says. He shakes his head in agreement.

  “How'd you come across em,” he asks?

  Logan then tells him about the Johnsons, and the murder, death, and destruction that they left at their farm. As he listens to what she's telling him, he looks at the ground, shaking his head in sorrow. He squats down in front of the fire, Logan is laying down again.

  “That's them alright,” he comments.

  “Do they have a reward on their heads,” she asked him? Yawning.

  “Yeah fifteen hundred on each of them. The U. S. Marshall in Lubbock put that out on them, along with Pinkerton. There may be more, but that's the only bounty I've heard tell of on em.”

  Upon hearing the amount of the bounty, Logan's ears perk up when Gavin tells her how much the bounty is on them. She sets up in her bed roll again, running the fingers of her right hand through her hair, and says, “keep talking. That's thirty seven-fifty apiece. What do you know about them?”

  “There lead by a real mean sonofabitch, named Bailey Hogg. There's five of them all together, one is a half-breed. They are all deserters of the Confederacy, except the half breed. I've heard that they're from Georgia, and they're doin' all this killin' to get get revenge.”

  “Yeah, revenge for what?” She asks.

  “For the way Generals Sherman and Sheridan, burned and killed everything and everyone in Georgia during the war, on their march to the sea. They hate Yankees.”

  “Well i
f they hate Yankees so much, then why are they out here in the west? Why didn't they go north?”

  “I can't answer that one Logan. You got me. You know as well as I do, men like these don't think like other men.”

  “Yeah if well if you ask me. The way these bastards kill, I would say they don't think at all.”

  They're both quiet for a few seconds.

  “So Logan, you want to go after them together?” He asks her again, breaking the brief silence between them, and sipping on his coffee.

  Logan is still setting up in her bed roll and is looking at him, pausing briefly before she answers him. Even in her tired worn out state of mind, she's staring at Gavin, and thinks to herself, “He's so damn hot. I want too...” Then she catches herself. Her thoughts quickly shifting back to the picture in her mind, of the carnage that Hogg and his gang had left at the Johnsons.

  “Yeah, yeah, we should. Like you said, how could I or you do anything about them once we found them? I mean, by ourselves.”

  “That's what I'm thinkin' too. I figure, that the two of us stand a better chance of bringing them in, together.”

  “Yeah that's for sure,” she says and lays back down, her head down on her saddle, with her thoughts going back to Gavin. She lays there and stares at him, trying her best to have him not notice.

  “Then its settled, we'll go after Hogg and his butchers together.” Gavin grins to himself, knowing that she can't take her eyes off of him.

  “Yep. Right now I just want to sleep Gavin,” she says. “It has been a very long and trying day, and I'm exhausted.”

  “One more thing.”

  “What's that,” she asks quietly?

  “I guess, that since you say you're gonna join up with me to catch Hogg and his gang, that you're not gonna quit bein' a bounty hunter? Like you talked about when I left a year ago.”

  “Yeah I guess that is what it will be for right now Gavin, but this is gonna be my last one. I ain't given up the thought of quitting at all. I'm doin' this to help you, cause I care about you, and because I owe it to two little girls, to catch them,” she pauses. “So how'd you find me?”