“Let’s go get the ranchers,” Gabe said. “We can haul them back in the wagon, and in that way serve as escort, should Marcum get word of our meeting and try to stop us.”
“I’ll harness the team and hook them to the wagon. It would be best if the women drive and you and I ride escort,” Ty suggested. “I’ll bring extra cartridges, just in case.”
While riding, Gabe told Ty about the events of the previous meeting at the Shay Ranch. Ty agreed that it would be a good idea to loan the ranchers enough money to pay off their notes, thereby eliminating that source of stress. Gabe explained his plan for proving that Marcum was rustling cattle.
“That’s a great idea,” Ty nodded. “If we can prove that he’s a cattle rustler, our troubles will be solved.”
Kate drove the team at a gallop, gathering the ranchers. When they arrived at the last ranch, the rancher suggested, “Why don’t we hold the meeting here? It’ll save time and travel.” His wife agreed. “Ladies, if you’ll help me, we’ll prepare supper.”
While the women fixed supper, the men got acquainted. Gabe watched the ranchers as they sized Ty up. He could tell by their expressions that they liked what they saw.
Ty stood and said, “If you’ll go with me to the bank tomorrow, I’ll loan each of you enough money to pay off your notes. Then, if you’ll assign them to Gabe, I’ll be happy, the banker will be happy, and you’ll have all the time you need. The only person who’ll be unhappy is the man who’s been trying to cheat you out of your ranches.”
“Where are you going to get all that money?” one of the ranchers asked skeptically.
“Gentlemen,” Gabe spoke up. “Ty is trying to help you. He hopes to buy a ranch, live here, and work among you. He’ll loan you enough money to pay off your mortgages, and I assure you the money has not been ill-gotten.”
Kate and Azalee overheard the conversation from the kitchen. They walked into the drawing room and Kate said, “Neighbors, you’ve known me for years. I know Ty. He is an honest man, and I’m sure he’ll understand if you choose not to accept his offer.”
“No offense meant—I was just curious,” the rancher squirmed.
“I understand your curiosity,” Ty volunteered. “For personal reasons, I decline to reveal the source of the money. Kate is right. I’ll take no offense if you decide not to accept my offer, but I do hope you’ll work with us and help us solve our problems.”
The hostess called from the dining room, “Supper’s ready.”
Gabe continued the discussion while they ate. He explained, “By purchasing the mortgages to your ranches, Ty will become the principal stockholder in the bank. The banker will no longer be beholden to Marcum, and we can have an honest banker. Now, if we select an honest sheriff, we can begin to bring this community back to where it will be a place we can all enjoy. We can post notices that we plan to select a new sheriff. Perhaps a qualified man will step forward. If no one does, we’ll have to hire a man from among us. Are there any questions?”
“Yes, I have a question. When do we meet at the bank?” a rancher asked eagerly. “This is the first breath of fresh air I’ve breathed since Marcum moved in.”
“If each of you will tell Gabe how much money you need, he and I will meet you at the bank tomorrow morning when the bank opens, and we’ll have the money with us,” Ty replied.
Gabe handed out slips of paper that he had prepared. “Write the amount you need on this piece of paper—you don’t have to sign it. By totaling the amounts, we’ll know how much it’ll take to do the job.”
Even the skeptic handed the paper back with an amount written on it.
“After we settle the finances at the bank, we’ll talk to the merchants of Long Bow. They helped appoint the current sheriff. We’ll get their help in firing him and in appointing a new sheriff who’ll represent the interests of all citizens.”
“Marcum is the head of that group, but the other merchants are unhappy that the sheriff is working for him. They’ll be glad to work with us to select a man more suited to the job. We represent all the ranchers, and the merchants depend on us to keep their businesses going,” Mr. Shay suggested.
“Perhaps they’ll know a man who would like to have the job. It’s a good job, if you can live long enough to draw your pay,” one of the ranchers remarked.
“I move we adjourn,” Kate said. “The wagon is ready when you are—we have a long ride home and a big day tomorrow.”
Gabe nodded and said to the ranchers, “We’ll see you at the bank in the morning.”
Chapter 22
Sitting on the makeshift seats, the ride home was long and dusty, but the mood of the ranchers was upbeat. One after the other, Kate dropped them off. The last couple was Mr. and Mrs. Shay.
“Mr. Shay,” Ty said. “Azalee told me that you might be willing to sell your ranch, and I’m interested in buying. Please give me a price.”
Mr. Shay replied, “We want to sell. My wife and I would like to return to Virginia. We still have family there. The ranch isn’t worth much now since the cattle have all been stolen, our workers have been driven off, and the buildings need repair.”
“I saw the ranch house,” Ty commented. “It’s old, but it’s built of stone. It’s a charming place and Azalee likes it. I can make it like new. The barns and corrals are old, and they’ll have to be rebuilt. I can see all that. I can also see that the land is good. Most of it is in the valley of Bitter Creek. I know that the bank holds the mortgage. I’m going to loan you the money to pay off the mortgage tomorrow. I’ll give you enough to pay for your transportation to Virginia, buy a new home, and leave you with extra money to live on. Just name your price.”
“Azalee, this almost sounds like a proposal,” Mrs. Shay said. “Are you going to be living in the ranch house?”
“I don’t know,” Azalee replied. “I haven’t been asked, but it sounds like a dream come true.” She looked at Ty and asked, “Am I going to be living here?”
Everyone was smiling and looking at Ty.
“I don’t know.” Ty tilted his hat, a little embarrassed by the attention. “There’s a lot of negotiation yet to be done. Mr. and Mrs. Shay haven’t agreed to sell the ranch to me yet. If they do, you’d have to agree to live in the ranch house with me. That means we’d have to get married.” Ty looked at Azalee with adoring eyes. “I’ve known since the first time I saw you that you’re the girl I want for my wife, but I’ve been too busy to propose. So, as you can see, there’s a lot of negotiating yet to be done. I was thinking that perhaps you and I could go for a walk after we get back to the ranch, and maybe we can get our part of this negotiating done. That will give Mr. and Mrs. Shay time to decide on a price for their ranch.”
“Let’s hurry back so we can go for that walk,” Azalee said. “Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Shay.” She hugged them hurriedly and walked to the wagon.
About a mile before they reached the ranch house, Ty said, “Stop the wagon—Azalee and I will get off here.”
Gabe pulled back on the reins, grinned, and said, “Whoa! You kids don’t be late now.”
A big harvest moon hung in the sky, and the air was crisp with the smell of autumn. Ty took Azalee in his arms and said, “I didn’t know it was possible to love someone so much. Will you be my wife?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! I would have died if you hadn’t asked. Thank you for buying the Shay Ranch. I’ve always liked it, and now it will be our home.”
“I’ll fix it up anyway you want,” Ty said. “We can be married as soon as I get this mess straightened out with Marcum.”
“Oh, that horrible man again. I don’t want to wait, I want you now.”
“I want you so much that it hurts, but we have to give the Shays time to move, and I want to get the ranch all fixed up for you. You’re very special to me, and I want everything to be just right.”
Ty and Azalee walked home in the moonlight, their feet making shuffling sounds in the leaves as they passed under the trees, leaving no doubt that summer
was drawing to a close. Everything Ty wanted was right here, but as Gabe had said, he was going to have to fight for it.
Chapter 23
The next morning, the ranchers and their wives were having coffee in the restaurant when Ty and Gabe rode into town with the girls, each carrying gold coins in their saddlebags.
Being discreet, Gabe took each rancher aside and gave him enough money to pay off his mortgage. Then, one by one, the ranchers went into the bank and returned with their notes signed, ‘Paid in Full.’ They then signed them over to Gabe who placed the notes in a leather folder he had brought with him for that purpose.
Ty and Gabe then went to see the banker. Mr. Stinson was seated at his desk looking bewildered.
Gabe said, “Now I hold those ranchers’ notes. My partner and I would like to do business with this bank. The ranchers would like to continue doing business with you, but none of us wants to do business with a man who takes orders from Rolph Marcum. Do you want our business?”
“Of course I want your business,” Mr. Stinson answered. “Those ranchers have been the major source of business for this whole town. It used to be a good town, but times have changed. Marcum runs things now. He’s going to be raving mad when he hears that the ranchers have paid off their notes. He wants those ranches, and he wants them bad. He had them, until you came along. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”
“You let us worry about our shoes, "Ty said. "All we want to know is, are you with us, or are you going to continue taking orders from Marcum?”
One of the bank employees stuck his head through the door and said, “The teller talked to the sheriff, and the sheriff rode outta town in the direction of Marcum’s ranch.”
“See what I mean?” Stinson said. “Marcum will be here in no time and there’s going to be hell to pay. I don’t want to be caught in the crossfire. If I was you, I’d get out of town while the getting’s good.”
“We’re going to have to face him sooner or later,” Ty remarked, “so let’s make it sooner. If you’re going to continue doing banking business in this town, you’re going to have to make up your mind. Do you want to be a banker, or do you want to be a flunky?”
“Sorry, men,” Stinson answered, “but I’ll have to see how the dust settles. Besides, where else will the ranchers go to do their banking? This is the only bank in town.”
“That can change,” Gabe said as he and Ty walked out. When they got to the restaurant, the ranchers were all excited. They had seen the sheriff ride out and, like the banker, they figured the sheriff was going to get Marcum.
“What are you going to do?” Kate asked Gabe.
“Let’s have lunch while we’re waiting, and then we’ll get you women safely settled in rooms at the hotel.”
“I’ll do what you ask, but there’s bound to be gunplay, and I don’t want to lose you. Can’t we ride back to the ranch?” Kate asked with a worried look.
“We’ve got to face him, Kate,” Ty said. “If we cave in now, he has won. Don’t worry; this will turn out all right.”
Azalee grasped Ty’s arm. “Ty, can I stay with you? I can shoot.”
“I’m sure you can,” Ty said, “and you’re as brave as you’re beautiful. We’ll go to the hotel and wait until Marcum gets here. Gabe and I will do what we have to do.”
They finished their lunches and walked to the hotel. An hour passed. Gabe and Ty waited with Kate and Azalee in the hotel lobby. Most of the ranchers’ wives were anxiously waiting in their rooms while their husbands waited with Ty. The ranchers talked quietly among themselves. Their concern showed in their faces.
“Ty, would you like a drink?” Mr. Shay asked. “Marcum is going to be here in about another hour. No telling how many men he’ll bring with him.”
“No, thank you, Mr. Shay, I’m not a drinker,” Ty answered. “I don’t know why. I just never started, I reckon. It doesn’t matter how many men Marcum has with him; he’s only one man.”
Ty turned to Azalee and said, “I’d like to continue telling you about my home in Tennessee.”
“I’d like to hear about it,” Azalee responded.
For Ty, the telling helped pass the time and to reaffirm his determination to never again let bullies harm the woman he loved. Some of the seasoned old ranchers who were listening had tears in their eyes. They understood this young man now, and they knew that Marcum was in for a fight. Azalee wept. She wanted to take Ty in her arms and comfort him, but she couldn’t, with the old ranchers watching.
Gabe walked to the front door of the hotel. “They’ll be coming anytime, now,” he said, as he checked his revolver to make sure it wasn’t stuck in his holster.
Gabe had said that he was not as gifted with his gun as Ty, but Ty had seen him in action and knew that Gabe was a good man to have on his side in a fight. Ty knew that Gabe had been an officer in the Confederate Army, where he led men in battle and he knew he could depend upon Gabe.
One of the ranchers standing by the window shouted, “Here they come! He has those two back shooters and the gun-hand with him. About ten of Marcum’s riders are backing them up. They’re going to the bank. He’s sure going to be surprised when he finds out that he can’t foreclose on our ranches.”
The gunfighter named Slade went into the bank with Marcum, and the rest of his men went to the saloon. The banker would tell them that Ty and Gabe were at the hotel with the ranchers. Ty knew that Marcum and Slade would be going to the saloon when they left the bank. Ty decided to wait. He was going to let Marcum call the shots.
Gabe said to the ranchers, “Men, get your rifles ready and barricade these windows. They’ll be coming here next. Leave Marcum and the gunmen to Ty and me. Do what you want to with the back shooters, but we don’t want to kill any of Marcum’s other riders if we don’t have to—they’re poor, dumb cowboys working for a greedy tyrant. The gunfighter is a killer; the back shooters have proven that they’re killers. Marcum is the worst of the bunch. He hires men to do his killing, so he’s a killer and a coward. They’re here to kill us, so let’s deal with them accordingly.”
“Has anyone seen the sheriff?” Azalee asked. “He was last seen riding to tell Marcum about what was happening at the bank.”
“No, I haven’t seen him,” Kate affirmed. “I wonder where he might be.”
A voice from the top of the stairway answered. “The sheriff’s up here with me and my partner. We’re holding your wives hostage.”
Everyone looked up and saw a lantern-jawed man wearing two guns, standing at the top of the stairs holding one of his guns to Mrs. Shay’s head.
“If you want to keep your wives healthy, you’ll take them and leave. We’ll dispose of the two newcomers and the two women with them, and we will do it in our own way,” the man said.
A rancher said, “You wouldn’t hurt those ladies. They’ve done you no harm.”
“Oh, wouldn’t I. Me and my partner got rid of the owner of the Covington Ranch, and as soon as you ranchers leave, we’ll get rid of the others standing in our way also. When you ride outta here, don’t go to your ranches. Paying off your mortgages won’t save you. We’ve driven off your cattle and run off all your workers. We gave you a chance to leave, and you wouldn’t take it. If you don’t leave now, we’ll burn you out.”
“I’m coming up to get my wife!” Mr. Shay hollered.
“You can come up, but if you want her alive, leave your guns at the bottom of the stairs. That goes for the rest of you ranchers.”
“What shall we do, Kate?” a rancher asked. “We’ve got to go to our wives.”
Making sure Gabe was watching, Kate hid a small revolver in the pocket of her dress and said to Mr. Shay, “I’ll come with you.” She turned to whisper to Gabe, “While I attract his attention, you go up the backstairs.” Gabe nodded, more with his eyes than with his head.
“Nobody said anything about you coming, Mrs. Covington!” the man at the top of the stairs yelled.
“You’re a fine specimen of a man. You
shoot men in the back, and now you’re afraid of an unarmed woman!” Kate exclaimed.
“Okay, come on up. I shot your husband, and I won’t hesitate to shoot you. Hold your hands in the air and turn around so I can see that you are unarmed.”
After complying, Kate started up the stairs with Mr. Shay following her. When Kate reached the top of the stairs, she took the sobbing Mrs. Shay in her arms and moved back into the hallway that led to the rooms, forcing the shooter to follow. As the man who had been holding Mrs. Shay turned to keep an eye on Kate, Gabe dashed up the backstairs. When he reached the door at the top, a shot rang out from a small-caliber pistol.
Gabe opened the rear door of the room; the sheriff was looking through the front door, trying to see who had fired the shot. The sheriff then turned to see who had entered the back door and saw Gabe. He fired at Gabe without taking the time to aim, and he missed. He leaped from the second story window to the street and ran away limping. The assassin, who was with the sheriff, looked into the room to see what had happened. Too late, he saw Gabe—Gabe fired. The impact of Gabe’s bullet knocked the assassin backwards into the hallway, where he dropped and lay still. Gabe ran through the hallway and saw Kate looking down at the man she had shot. Gabe ran to her and took her in his arms; she clung to him sobbing with relief. She had killed the man who had shot her husband.
Ty dashed up the stairs, looked first at Gabe and then at Kate. “You two are a formidable fighting force; that happened so fast I didn’t even get in on it.”
The ranchers’ wives rushed down to their husbands.
Azalee looked out the window and said, “Ty, here comes Marcum and his whole band.”
Ty pulled his hat down low over his eyes, checked his gun, and said, “I’ve had about enough of this nonsense.” He walked through the hotel door to face Marcum. Marcum wasn’t fifty paces away.
Man Called Ty Page 14
