Slocum and the Cow Camp Killers

by Jake Logan

  He slapped the rifle in the scabbard and nodded to her. “Take ’em to Chouteau.”

  He had tied the first one’s reins to the piebald’s tail and the second one to the other prisoner’s horse’s tail. They left in a column with Bates grumbling under his breath. Slocum ignored him, riding beside the two in case they tried anything, and he thought about gagging the one to shut his mouth.

  They bought a meal from two squaws at a crossroads. It was some kinda stew and tasted good. He had to untie the prisoners so they could eat. The meal was served in tortoiseshells, and the older women told Slocum and Katy they’d make them some fry bread, but the prisoners didn’t get any.

  The short one said, pointing at Yarby, “He raped me one night at a stomp dance. I’m not giving him a gawdamn thing.”

  “Did he get you drunk?” Slocum asked.

  “It was bad-tasting whiskey too.” She shook her head and sneered at Yarby. “I hope your weeny pecker shrivels up when Parker hangs you too.”

  Her partner giggled enough that her ample belly and large breasts jiggled under her thin dress. She shook a large, dried gourd dipper to threaten them. “No gawdamn fry bread for either of you.” Then both women laughed.

  The big one shook her head. “We know all these worthless peckerwoods that hang around here. I’m glad you got them.”

  4

  They rode on to Chouteau with their prisoners. Slocum got off at the train depot and went inside to send Judge Parker a wire about where he was, who he had as prisoners, and that he should send a deputy up there to get them, along with his warrants for capturing them. No telling when the federal court warrants could be redeemed, but he would be promised two hundred bucks when the funds were available for those numbered warrants. He could always discount them 25 percent and get some of his money. Fort Smith barbers, bartenders, and others bought them discounted and made good money, waiting when folks needed their dough right then.

  When he came outside, Katy was squatted on the weathered wood platform. “They coming after them soon?”

  He dropped down and looked across the waving new grass prairie. “We’ll get an answer pretty quick, if they want them two bad enough.”

  “What will we do till then?”

  “Lock them up in the city jail. I used to know the town marshal.”

  She winked at him and said in a soft voice, “And we can diddle till they come?”

  “Ain’t a bad idea.”

  “Damn, you’re horny, and I love it.”

  “So do I.” In fact, he could hardly wait, simply thinking about doing it with her. Meanwhile, it wasn’t so bad, chasing the Hudson brothers across the face of the earth with a tight pussy like hers on hand at all times.

  She checked the sun’s clock. “We going to put them in jail and go find us something to eat?”

  “Let’s give them time to answer us.”

  “Sure, I ain’t in a big hurry.”

  He got up and moved around to sit on the flooring around the corner of the depot in the shade. The two prisoners sat on their hipshot horses looking downfallen and depressed. She joined him, seated on the edge, kicking her legs back and forth like she was on a swing.

  A woman in an expensive dress showed up in a buggy. “Has the eleven-ten gotten here yet?”

  “No, ma’am. It hasn’t come in the past hour.” He decided she was in her thirties. But looking at her clothes and matched team, he figured she or her husband had enough money to burn a wet mule carcass on a rainy day.

  “My name’s Janet Holstein, Mrs., of course.”

  “That’s Katy Howard—Mrs. Howard—and I’m John,” Slocum said.

  “Good to meet you two. My husband, Alex, is coming back from Kansas City. You must be a lawman?” She indicated the two tied up men on horseback.

  “Those two tramps are waiting for word from Fort Smith about when the deputy U.S. marshal is coming up here for them.”

  “Will Judge Parker hang them?” She looked down her nose at them.

  “Fuck, no, he ain’t.” Yarby said. “We ain’t done nothing.”

  “Shut your filthy mouth or I’ll gag you.”

  “He can’t help it. That’s how he was raised,” Bates said.

  “I can help him if he don’t stop cussing around women.”

  “Shut up, Gunner. You’ve got him mad now.”

  The operator of the wire service came out with a message for Slocum. In the wind the thin paper blew all over in his hand. “Mr. Howard, here’s your answer.”

  “That was quick,” Katy said and bounced to her feet, brushing off her butt. “What’s it say?”

  J. HOWARD. DEPUTY WILL BE THERE TOMORROW TO GET THEM. PLEASE HOLD THEM FOR HIM. TRAIN ARRIVES NINE A.M. TOMORROW. HE WILL HAVE WARRANTS. CHIEF MARSHAL TOM HANKS.

  “Now what?” Katy asked.

  “Get the town law to lock and chain them up.”

  “Chain them too?”

  “Right. I don’t trust these small-town jails. Mrs. Holstein, have a nice day.”

  In the distance, the engine coming from the north made a wailing crossing hoot and was headed for Chouteau. He figured that would be Mrs. Holstein’s husband’s.

  “I trust he’ll be on it,” the woman said and arranged her skirt with her expensive black leather gloves, no doubt made of doeskin.

  Slocum waved good-bye to the Mrs. as his hatchet-assed companion swung onto her horse and they led their prisoners off to jail. The town streets and lots were laid out with weathered wooden stakes, but most of the village lots were empty, save for a few with small houses on them here and there. Two street blocks down on the grassy prairie, Slocum found the wooden jail, and a sleepy-eyed marshal came out.

  “Howdy.”

  “John Howard,” he said to the man. “My wife, Katy.”

  The marshal’s jaw sagged at the sight of her and then he smiled. “Nice ta meet’cha, ma’am. My name’s Simp.”

  “I’ve got two prisoners to hold for the U.S. marshal out of Fort Smith coming tomorrow for them.” He handed him the telegram and knew he couldn’t read ’cause he held it upside down to act like he could.

  “You see that?”

  “Yeah.”

  Slocum took it back. “I’m paying you five dollars to feed them, then be sure the deputy marshal has them, and you hold my warrants until I send for them or come back by for them.”

  “I kin sure do that fur ya, Howard.”

  “Good. I’m looking for the Hudson brothers. You know them?”

  “Yeah, they was here the other day. After they left I then seen their posters on my desk. I kicked myself in the ass all the rest of the day for not arresting them.”

  “Chain these two up in the jail. I don’t want them escaping.”

  “No problem, I can do that.”

  Slocum leaned over. “You can sell their horses and stuff. When I come back you can pay me half.”

  “You’ve got a deal. What about her?” He gave Slocum a big knowing grin and a head toss toward Katy.

  “She ain’t in the deal.”

  “Shit fire, that would be the icing on the cake of a deal. I’ll take care of it all. Bring them kind by more often.” He scratched his nuts. “She sure is good-looking.”

  “We’ll see you. Be sure to chain them up.”

  “Oh, I will. Get your asses off them horses,” he said to the pair of prisoners.

  Slocum and Katy rode on north. They made camp under a small grove of walnut trees. The sky was clear so he thought they could sleep out in the fresh air.

  She wrinkled her nose. “That ole Simp looked like a lot of them bear guys. Bet he’s got a dong big as a stud horse and he would smash you to death under him.”

  Slocum laughed at her impression of the man. “But he’s always been honest with me.”

  “Glad you didn’t owe him a favor and he asked for me to repay him.” She hugged him. “Why, he’d’ve given you a fortune to have let him do that. I could see it in his eyes. I’d bet he ain’t had a bath since
last fall either.” She shuddered in Slocum’s arms.

  “We can take one in the creek tonight.”

  “Good. Maybe I could get rid of the stink I got off of them last two.”

  He closed his eyes. “I know I let them in the barn.”

  “I ain’t blaming you. There ain’t many coming down this road that are that underhanded. Let’s go wash up before we eat.”

  “No problem.”

  They bathed in the small stream behind the cover of some brush and afterward he carried her up the bank and laid her down on a blanket as the last rays of daylight dropped into a fiery sundown. When they were dried off by two towels from among his things, they made love and then ate under the stars.

  When it was time for bed, she reached over and pumped his tool up again. “One more time, please?”

  He laughed and answered her plea.

  The next morning she snuggled up to him in the cool air under their blankets. The sun barely lighting the eastern sky, he was back to pile driving her butt into the ground. Afterward they ate the last of their sausage and bread. With their horses saddled, they headed north to look for the Hudson brothers. He was anxious to find them, but all he heard was talk about them being a day or so ahead of them. Hitting the small communities, he found a word or two out about them.

  An Indian woman in her early thirties named Hoosie, who fed them their supper at a crossroads, told Slocum the brothers had been by there two days before. One of them rode a gray horse, she said, and Slocum wondered if they were even the men he was after.

  “Are you sure that was them?”

  “Oh, it was the Hudson brothers all right,” she said. “I know them well. They’ve been up here before. Some whore years ago got mad at Ulysses and about bit his dick off. He has a ring around it from her damage when he gets hard. I saw the mark.”

  “You saw that, huh?” Slocum asked.

  She nodded like that was nothing.

  “The other one has a dick like a pig?” Katy asked.

  “Yeah.” Hoosie grinned big and showed her missing tooth. “You must have had them too.”

  Katy nodded. “They pay you much?”

  She nodded. “A dollar for the both of them, but I don’t have much cash business up here.”

  “You were lucky. I know some they only paid fifty cents to.”

  Hoosie nodded. “I know them well.”

  Slocum and Katy kept heading north the next day, and at midday, after getting some information from an old man, they decided that the brothers must have gone west to Vinita. But from there Slocum lost the two brothers’ trail. No one had seen them pass through or anything. His pursuit had turned into a dead end.

  Jake Austin, a Texan and a big cattleman, ran into Slocum on the streets of Vinita.

  “What are you doing up here?” he asked Slocum. He tipped his hat at Katy.

  “Looking for a pair that killed a friend of mine down in Texas. They’re the Hudson brothers. You know them?”

  “I know them lowlifes, but I ain’t seen them. I’ve got a big set of steers up here—over three thousand—grazing on a grass lease. My foreman, Teddy Hart, was killed in a horse wreck last week. I think he was chasing some rustlers. Could you ramrod my outfit till frost?”

  “How many men you got working up here?”

  “Ten, but I need five more.” Austin acted upset.

  “Is help available?”

  “Yeah, there’s always cowboys around up here. Why?”

  “I figure as many cattle as you’ve got up here you’d need two dozen.”

  Austin shook his head, then indicated Katy. “Put her on the payroll. She looks like she can ride.”

  The three laughed.

  “Will you hire a few more?” Slocum asked.

  “Hire what you need when you figure it out. You know men and you know the business. I’ve got lots of money up here and I sure need to be back in Texas. I’ve got a new wife at home.”

  “What have you got for headquarters?”

  “It’s over on Honeycutt Creek. I’m sending supplies out there tomorrow.”

  “Who’s cooking?”

  “Ward O’Hare. You know him?”

  “I think so. Is he a good hand?”

  “Fair.”

  That meant he was lazy and piss-poor at cooking. The same one Slocum knew by that name. “I might run his ass off if he ain’t any good.”

  “You might have to cook yourself.”

  “Trying to keep boys up here ain’t easy if you don’t have a special cook.”

  “All right, you can fire him if you don’t like his work.”

  Slocum mused about Austin. He knew the man was too tightfisted, but if he expected to keep his cattle, he needed plenty of cowboys ’cause there weren’t any fences, and a good cook was the answer to keeping the cowboys around. He suspected the cook wasn’t the best.

  “We could go out with the supply wagon and look it over.”

  “What will it take to get you to say yes?” Austin pushed the gray hat on the back of his head.

  “Three hundred a month and enough hands to keep the cattle in control. Plus Katy here gets fifty a month to keep camp or whatever I need for her to do.”

  “Hired. Let’s go over to the bank and I’ll set you up with them for payroll and expenses.”

  5

  The entire job of changing the business over took them two hours. They had lunch late. He met Austin’s hauler, Walking Bird, in Mary’s Café. He was a burly Cherokee who raised his eyebrows at the sight of Katy, then nodded. Slocum had picked up a list of the supplies that Bird was hauling out there the next day from Laremore’s store.

  “I may get some more things this evening that I’ll need, if you can go by and get them before you go out to the camp.”

  Bird agreed and then he spoke to Katy in Cherokee. Slocum and his new boss found a table and she soon joined them.

  “Bird knows my mother,” she said, sitting down with them.

  Slocum nodded, and they each ordered a lunch plate. Mary’s Café looked clean and the waitress experienced. Soon they had coffee and the food followed. Austin complained about several things, but appeared to be in high spirits on account of he was going home to his new bride. At that point, Slocum would have bet Austin’s new woman wouldn’t match his own current companion.

  After the meal, they parted with Austin. Then Slocum took Katy to a room in the King’s Best Hotel and they studied the list of supplies.

  She read it out loud and stopped along the way. “More canned tomatoes and peaches are needed, and I don’t see any dried apples.”

  He wrote them down.

  “You need some tonic. I’d bet he ain’t got any out there. Belly medicine and laudanum, bandages and iodine. More sugar too.”

  When they finished, she looked over at him. “What are they cooking with?”

  “Cow chips, I imagine.”

  She shook her head in disapproval. “We need a wood supplier. There’s surely some Indian who would deliver oak wood out there who needs the money.”

  “I’ll ask Bird?”

  She agreed. “He’s a good one. I think years ago he would have married my mother, but she’d been free too long to stand being married to a blood.”

  They used the bed a lot that night and before the sun came up, they were up eating in the café. Bird told them he’d have the storekeeper load the other supplies they wanted, and he gave them an “Indian” set of directions on how to get out there. He also agreed that split wood would be better fuel than cow chips. He’d be back with a load of oak for them when he got back from this trip or he would send a man up there with some.

  Bird told Slocum there was a dugout for the foreman and a soddy for the hands to eat in. Most of the hands slept outside unless it rained. Slocum didn’t ask him any more about O’ Hare. He’d learn soon enough about the man’s cooking.

  They made it to the cow camp midmorning by pushing their horses. Katy told Slocum it damn sure wasn’t close to town an
d they both laughed. A grubby-whiskered, potbellied man came out of the soddy wearing a filthy stained apron and asked if they’d seen his supplies.

  Slocum introduced himself as the new boss and promised him the supplies were coming but it might be late in the evening.

  O’Hare shook his hand and told Slocum he had to get back to his fixing. Slocum could tell already that Katy wasn’t pleased with him and almost laughed aloud over her responses. There were three graves on the hill above the sod house. One was fresh and Slocum figured that was the last foreman’s gravesite. The other two were recent as well. He’d have to find out who they belonged to.

  The dugout wasn’t bad. There was an old carpet on the floor and an iron bedstead. Katy took all the bedding outside to air it on some wire clotheslines. The last man’s gear was in there, and Slocum found some mail that had been sent to him.

  Dear Darling Husband Teddy,

  I’ve stopped having the plight of Eve each month, so you better think of a new name when you come home late this fall ’cause we’re going to have another young-un. Clair, I expect, is going to run off with the Anderson boy, Cliff, just any day. I know you don’t like to hear that since she’s your oldest. But when a girl that age gets an itch for a man you better cut the strings or you’ll have some little bastard crawling around on your living room rug. Then she’ll be scarred for life, so I told her to think hard on doing it. Like that would do some good.

  I sure miss you.

  Love, Reba

  After he finished reading it aloud, Slocum looked over at Katy.

  She smirked. “That woman knows all about it.”

  “I reckon. The next few days, I’m going to meet the men and figure this situation out. Jake simply wanted to get back to his new wife and their bed real bad. I could tell that.”

  They both laughed.

  “What should I do?”

  “Quietly keep an eye on the cooking deal. Figure out what that character needs to do besides take a bath. He can’t do that, we’ll run him off. All these cowboys have to do is eat and chase cattle. So the eating part has to be good.”