by Jane Toombs
“I’ll catch up,” Ezra promised.
* * *
Tessa breathed a thankful sigh when she saw Ezra returning with Jules. She’d been terrified he’d go off with some of the men trying to avenge John’s death. Go off with Billy.
“I told you he’d come back,” Calvin Rutledge said, walking over to stand beside her,” I’ll speak to the boy if you like, about protecting you. Dolan’s men are totally unscrupulous and since I can’t be in Lincoln all the time, Ezra must understand it’s necessary for him to be here to protect you.”
“Thank you, but no,” she said hastily. Ezra didn’t take to Calvin for some reason she couldn’t understand and would resent anything Calvin told him.
Calvin reached for her hand. “You know I’m ready to take care of you permanently any time you wish, Tessa. More than ready.” He pressed her fingers.
Tessa smiled at him, but eased her hand from his. She’d been in a whirl of confusion and guilt ever since John’s death. How could she have made love with Mark while others of Dolan’s men were riding on their way to shoot John down in cold blood?
She felt as though she never wanted to see Mark again, no matter what had passed between them. Color crept into her face as she thought of her wanton behavior. How could she have taken leave of her senses as she had? And with John’s enemy, as any Dolan hand must be.
“Ah, you’re blushing,” Calvin said. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, my dear.” He stepped back and picked up his hat.
Ezra flung open the door, scowling. He barely returned Calvin’s greeting as the man went out. Jules, tagging at Ezra’s heels, was sniffling, his face dirt-streaked where he’d rubbed away tears. Tessa directed him into the kitchen.
“You shouldn’t have sent Jules after me,” Ezra told her.
“He’s afraid,” Tessa said, “and so am I. You’ve got to promise me you won’t do something reckless.”
“I can’t make promises like that.”
Tessa put her hand on her hips. “Your first duty is to take care of your brother. I can’t protect him with this--this war going on in Lincoln County. Who knows what will happen next? Every day there’s a new threat. We both know Dolan’s men are trying to drive Alex out of the Territory.”
Ezra glowered at her.
She held out her hands. “We Nesbitt’s must stick together. Oh, Ezra, you and Jules are all I have. If anything happened to either of you, I couldn’t bear it!”
His face lost its sulky look and he sighed. “All right.” I won’t go off with the Regulators to the Pecos.”
In the next few days Tessa became better acquainted with Susan Gates, the young teacher Dr. Ealy and his wife had brought with them to Lincoln, as she helped Susan move from the McSween house next door to rooms in Tunstall’s store. The Ealy’s and their five children also moved into the store.
“There’s a sore need in Lincoln for a Christian influence,” Susan said to Tessa who was helping carry Susan’s gowns across the field to the store’s side entrance. “I hope we’ll be able to set up the church and school as planned.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t look promising. Folks seem to feel since it was Mr. McSween who requested a minister be sent to Lincoln County, that we must be for him and against his enemies.”
“I’m certainly against his enemies,” Tessa replied.
“Jesus admonished us to love our enemies,” Susan reminded her. “It’s difficult, I know, when someone you love has been killed and you yourself night be in danger,”
Tessa’s mouth set in a straight line. “It’s impossible!”
As they neared the side door Tessa recognized the man approaching her and stumbled. She regained her footing, breathless, her heart pounding.
“Tessa,” Mark said.
She couldn’t speak for a moment, staring at him, her emotions jumbled and chaotic. Susan stood looking from one to the other. With great effort, Tessa gathered her wits.
“Susan,” she said, “ I can’t introduce you to this person since I intend to have no dealings with the enemy.” Then she pushed at Susan, forcing her ahead toward the door. Susan opened it and went inside. Before Tessa could follow, Mark’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“Tessa,” he said, “you know better. I don’t condone--”
She struck at his hand and hissed, “Don’t speak to me!”
“You’ve got to listen to me. I want to take you and the boys away from Lincoln. It’s not safe for you to--”
“Leave me alone!” she cried.
“Is he annoying you, Tessa?”
She started. Calvin had come out of the store without her seeing him and now stood glaring at Mark.
“He certainly is!” she snapped.
“We don’t need your sort here, Halloran,” Calvin said, stepping in front of Tessa. “If I find you anywhere near these premises again, you’d better be ready to defend yourself.”
Mark gazed past him to Tessa, who was peering around Calvin’s shoulder. She saw muscles bunch in Mark’s jaw.
“This is none of your business, Rutledge,” he growled.
Tessa felt Calvin stiffen and caught her breath. She didn’t want them to fight over her; there’d been too many killings already. She heard ominous muttering from men watching them from the store porch, men she knew were guarding the store. She suddenly realized that Mark was in danger, a lone Dolan man facing McSween supporters.
She didn’t want anything to happen to him.
“Get out of here, Mark!” she cried.
Tessa pulled on Calvin’s arm with all her might. Off guard, he stumbled with her as she headed for the store porch. She strode directly at the armed men, forcing them to make way for her. Stopped.
“Let him go,” she said to them.
“You’d best stay out of this, miss. We’re aiming to teach that Dolan bastard a lesson he won’t forget,” a sandy-haired man said, starting to push past her.
She held out her hand. “He wasn’t with the posse—you know he wasn’t.”
“Men!” Dr. Ealy’s voice held a note of command, Everyone turned to look at him. “Your friend and mine, Alexander McSween has told us time and again he intends to deal with Mr. Dolan and his supporters by legal means. We must respect his wishes and not add to the violence that’s already occurred. Defense, yes, but not attack.”
For an instant Tessa thought the sandy-haired man would defy the minister, but finally he shrugged and turned away. Calvin gently urged Tessa toward the front door of the store and she realized she was still carrying Susan’s gowns.
“I heard Mr. Halloran offer to take you out of Lincoln,” he said as they went inside.
“I’ve no intention of going anywhere with him. Ever.”
“Of course not. But his point is sound enough. You shouldn’t be in the midst of this violence. As you know, I have friends in Santa Fe. They would welcome--”
“I’m not leaving. The McSween’s offered me help and friendship when I need it desperately. I certainly won’t desert Alex and Susie.”
“You know Susie’s in St Louis.”
“All the more reason to stay here. If I leave, Elizabeth Shield will be the lone woman in the McSween house. Besides I’m not sure Ezra would leave Lincoln under any circumstances. He’s growing up, Calvin, but he’s not yet a man. He needs me. I’d never leave him behind.”
A week later Alex came to Tessa about exactly the same matter. “Dick Brewer brought me unsettling news last night, he told her. “The Regulators have gotten themselves into trouble-and me with them, I’m afraid. It would be prudent for me to stay with John Chisum at his Roswell ranch for a while. You and your brothers must come with me.”
“But what about the Shield’s?”
“They prefer to stay here. You must not, I feel responsible for you and I believe you’ll be safer at Chisum’s. Susie plans to join me there and I know she’ll be much happier if you’re with us at Chisum’s.”
Tessa didn’t argue further, but hurried to tell the boys to pack.
“Billy and some of the other Regulators did for Morton and Baker,” Ezra said. “That’s why we’re leaving town”
“You mean they killed two men?”
“Three. Someone named McCloskey, too. I never heard of him. But Morton and Baker were in that posse. They sure as hell needed killing.”
“Ezra!”
“Well, they did. Don’t you want to see John avenged?”
“All these killings can’t be right.”
“You just don’t understand. Sheriff Brady’s the law and he’s on Dolan’s side. Billy knew if they brought Morton and Baker into town like Brewer wanted to, Brady wouldn’t so much as lock them up. So he and the others handed out a little gunpowder justice, that’s all.”
“I don’t like it.” Tess put her hand on Ezra’s arm and looked into his eyes. It seemed strange to be gazing up at this boy she’d raised from the time he was going on eight. “You must promise me to stay away from Billy Bonney,” she said,
Ezra jerked away. “He’s my friend!”
“I don’t want you to ride with a man who sets himself up as judge and executioner. Billy has a wild streak--he’s dangerous. Stay away from him.”
Ezra looked steadily back at her. “Billy’s my friend,” he repeated.
The trip to Roswell and their stay at Chisum’s ranch was uneventful. Ezra, restless and eager to be where there was more going on, was delighted when, near the end of March, Billy and Fred Waite rode in to see McSween.
Ezra knew that Alex, Susie, Chisum and three of their friends from the East planned to head back to Lincoln in a day or two because Alex wanted to be in town for the April first court session. Tessa and Jules would be in their party and, with armed Chisum men as outriders, they’d be well protected. He wouldn’t be needed.
When Billy and Waite rode out the day after they’d visited Alex, heading for Lincoln,
Ezra left a note for Tessa and rode with them. Near San Patricio, south of Lincoln, some of the Regulators joined them. They rode into town the last day of March, going at once to Tunstall’s store where they meant to spend the night.
After eating, the talk turned to Dolan.
“Them sons-of-bitches,” Waite said. “They gun a man down and mash out his brains and Brady don’t do nothing. Who did he throw in the calabozo after Tunstall got shot? Me and the Kid, that’s who. And what for? Cause we tried to come after the murderers all legal like. Brady’s no damn good except to empty Dolan’s shit-pot.” There was a chorus of agreement.
“We got three of them anyway,” Billy said.
“Damn good thing,” Middleton told him. “Too bad Brady wasn’t along with ‘em.”
The tension in the room made Ezra’s scalp tingle. Something would happen, he was sure
of it.
“I’d give ten bucks to see Brady eating dust,” Waite said. “And that smart-ass deputy of his, Peppin.”
“You’re a piker. I’d give a hundred.” Middleton told him.
“The day you see a hundred bucks, hell will freeze over and we’ll all go ice-skating.”‘
Everyone laughed and Ezra relaxed a little, feeling the tension ease. He was both relieved and disappointed when the men laid out their bedrolls. Nothing was going to happen tonight, after all.
Ezra crawled into his own blankets. Tessa was probably mad as the devil at him, but she had to realize he wasn’t a little boy any more. Nothing in the world was going to keep him from being Billy’s friend, and the sooner she knew it, the better.
He was awake at dawn. Billy was already standing by a front window, looking toward the plaza. Ezra hastened to join him.
“You going into court this morning?” Ezra asked in a low tone.
He knew Billy and the others were supposed to be present for the court session, either as witnesses or because they’d been accused of crimes. Wrongfully, as far as he was concerned.
“I was thinking about Brady,” Billy said. “He put me down that hole once, but he ain’t going to again.”
That’s all the jail was, a hole in the ground with a watch tower built over it. Ezra wonder how any man could stand being shut up there.
“He’s aiming to get me,” Billy went on, “and I don’t fancy being got.”
As the others began to roll out of their blankets, Washington burst in from the rear of the store.
“There’s talk Brady’s carrying handcuffs for McSween,” he said. “He’s been bragging that when McSween shows up for court, he’s gonna put him in the hole and run enough water in to drown him.
The Regulators cursed Brady as they pulled on boots and buckled on gun belts.
“What are we going to do about it?” Ezra asked Billy.
“Why, it just ain’t going to happen,” Billy said.
They ate a quick breakfast. Then Billy drew McNab, French, Waite, Brown and Middleton aside. Ezra trailed after them.
“Reckon we better spy out the land,” Billy said. “If we use the back way, we can get into
the corral without anyone seeing us on account of the adobe wall. If we ease up quiet-like to that plank gate that faces on the road, we ought to be able to see what’s going on. If we’re careful, no one will spot us.”
Billy glanced from one to another of the men. Ezra’s pulse quickened. Billy was the youngest of them all, except for him, and yet he was the leader. What a man!
“What’re you aiming to do, Kid?” Waite asked.
“We’ll wait and see what Brady’s up to. But better make damn sure there ain’t nothing the matter with your rifles or your Colts.”
Ezra spun the chambers of his Colt, saw Billy was watching him. “All loaded and ready,” Ezra said, stammering in his excitement.
“I was thinking your sister’s going to be down on me if I let you come with us,” Billy said.
Ezra straightened his shoulders. “I do what I want to. I don’t have to ask Tess.”
Billy shrugged. “Come then.”
One by one, the seven of them slipped into the corral. The sun was up, the day promising to be mild. Doves cooed mournfully from the cottonwoods near the river in back of the corral.
The men took positions near the gate. The jut of the store hid the road from the west, but they could see along it to the east past the courthouse which was cater-corner across the road.
After what seemed like hours, Billy whispered, “Brady”
The men started to bring their rifles to their shoulders but Billy’s raised hand stopped them. They waited, crouching to be out of sight, peering through the gaps in the planks of the gate.
Five men appeared on the road, walking toward the courthouse from the west. Brady. Hindman, Mathews, Long, Peppin, his deputies.
Ezra tensed, waiting for Billy’s next order. Across the street near the courthouse, men had begun to gather. Jurors, Ezra decided.
The five men passed by, none even glancing at the gate, and approached the courthouse. They stopped to talk to the men waiting there. In a few moments the jurors dispersed.
“Ain’t going to be holding a court session,” Billy muttered. “Figured as much. They want blood, not law. Get ready, boys.”
The five lawmen started back the way they’d come. Brady paused for a moment to call a greeting to a woman near the courthouse, then hurried to catch up to his deputies.
Six men leveled their rifles. Ezra tried to get his into position, but his hands were shaking so badly he could hardly hold the Winchester, much less aim.
Six rifles cracked.
Brady fell in his tracks. Didn’t move.
Hindman staggered back toward the courthouse. Fell. Began to crawl. “Water!” he cried.
Long stumbled, recovered and ran with Mathews and Peppin to take cover.
A man rushed from the saloon next to the courthouse and knelt beside Hindman. A moment later he raced back to the saloon. Hindman lay motionless, a tin cup beside him.
Brady’s and Hindman’s Winchesters lay in the road.
“Damn, that looks like
the one he took from me,” Billy said.
Before Ezra realized what was happening, Billy pushed the gate open and dashed into the road, stooping to pick up one of the rifles. Bullets from the deputies hidden across the street kicked up dirt around Billy. Ezra held his breath.
Billy lurched to one side, dropping the rifle. He stumbled back inside the gate, blood
oozing from a bullet hole in his left thigh. Ezra hurried to help him.
“Not into the store,” Billy said. ‘That’s the first place they’ll look.”
With Ezra supporting him, Billy limped through the west gate of the corral and across the field to the opening in the tall picket fence on the side of the McSween house. They came into the east wing by a back door and Ezra left Billy to find Dr. Ealy who was staying in the house.
“It’s only a flesh wound,” the doctor assured Billy minutes later, wiping away the blood on Billy’s left thigh.
Taking a white silk handkerchief and a metal probe, the doctor pushed the handkerchief into the bullet hole, Ezra swallowed hard as he watched him push until the handkerchief, covered with blood, emerged from the bullet’s exit hole. He pulled the cloth all the way out, then bound up the wound.
“Clean through,” Dr. Ealy said. “Ought to heal nicely. Though I don’t think you’re going to do much riding for a few days.”
“I can’t stay here,” Billy said.
A McSween man, Sam Corbett, who’d watched the doctor treat Billy, spoke up. “I got me an idea. You come on with me.”
Ezra helped Billy along a corridor and into a bedroom, following Corbett who’d stopped to pick up a pry iron. In the room, he shoved the bed aside and pried at the floorboards, easing three of the wide planks up. He tossed Ezra a blanket.
“Put it underneath there.” he said.
Ezra lay on his stomach and pushed the blanket into the hole. He smoothed it out onto the dirt not more than two feet below.
“There’s your hidey-hole.” Corbett told Billy.
Billy grinned at Ezra. “Guess I’m bound to fit into a hole today, one way or the other. At least Brady ain’t shoving me in this one.” He eased down and stretched out on the blanket.
