by Joe Corso
Judy came to visit one evening and he noticed that her face was red as if she had been crying. She still had misty eyes and it looked as if at any moment she would burst into tears.
“What’s the matter, Judy, why’re you so sad?”
“Oh Charlie, the wagon train will be leaving El Paso the last week in January, and we’ll be leaving with it. I don’t want to go, I really don’t. Tell me to stay here with you and I’ll stay. Please, Charlie, I don’t want to leave you.”
Judy began crying again and Charlie could feel her pain. He had gotten used to seeing her every day and, to tell the truth, he was becoming emotionally involved with her. He loved being with her, but he didn’t know if that meant he was in love with her, because he didn’t rightly know what love was. But he liked the feeling he had when he was with her. When she left him to return to her parents, it was as if Jesse or Cole or any of the guys he liked had up and left him. And then he thought about Abby. What about her? How could he think of Judy when he had promised Abby he would marry her?
He decided to send a telegram to his brother to find out about Abby. For all he knew she could be married to someone else by now. If she was, he could go on with his life and Judy would fill that void and become an important part of his life. But if she wasn’t married he had a problem, because he realized now that he really cared for both women.
Charlie gave the boy a silver dollar for delivering the return telegram. When the door closed Charlie ripped open the envelope and eagerly read what his brother Bob had to say.
Tried repeatedly to reach you STOP Abby married Horace Bean the owner of Bean’s mill said she couldn’t wait for you any longer STOP Everything fine in VC safe to come back STOP We miss you STOP When can we expect you STOP Please answer STOP Your loving brother Bob
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. Abby marrying someone else took care of the first problem. Now he had Judy to think of. Was he ready to settle down? He didn’t rightly know. What he did know was he liked being with her. He decided to let time settle the matter. If marrying her was meant to be then it would happen, and if they were just meant to be friends then time would settle that also.
Chapter 21
Charlie and Percy remained in El Paso for the months of December and January, when the temperatures once fell to below freezing which brought with it two inches of snow on the city. It wasn’t so much the temperatures in El Paso that worried them. The higher elevation of New Mexico was problematic. The snows could get heavy there in the winter and Charlie didn’t want to get stuck traveling somewhere in New Mexico and freeze to death. Even now it was a gamble. The wagon master would take his train via a southern route through Texas where it wasn’t likely to snow, but Charlie knew they might have to hole up in another town until spring came. And that was something he didn’t want to do if at all possible. He felt it was time to get back on the road and head to Tucson. By taking the southern route, Charlie was confident they wouldn’t run into snow, but one could never be sure. Look at the snow that fell in El Paso, where the temperatures hardly ever fell below fifty degrees.
Charlie put himself in the minds of the two men they were tracking, trying to determine which of the two roads they would have taken when they left El Paso. They could have taken the southern route, which was warmer with little chance of snow. Or they could have taken the other road and swung up to Santa Fe. The problem was that Santa Fe sat at a much higher elevation, and snow fell heavily on the little town. Traveling on the old stage route to Tucson it was a safe bet that snow wouldn’t fall between here and there. So, if Charlie guessed right, Clem Sanders and Luke Watson would be on the road to Tucson. So he decided to take the southern road.
Judy was sad about Charlie leaving, and the only thing that consoled her was that Charlie asked her to take his wolf pup’s bed in her wagon. Knowing that Charlie would pick it up from her when they arrived in Tucson lifted her spirits. Her father was part of the wagon train that left El Paso on the last weekend in January. Charlie and Percy left a few days later on the first of February.
The wolf pups frolicked and were having the time of their life as they ran playfully behind the horses, stopping at times to investigate an unfamiliar scent, only to find the horses had traveled farther than they anticipated. Which meant the pups had to run hard to catch up. When Charlie and Percy stopped to make camp for the night the pups were exhausted and couldn’t wait to find a good spot to lie down and sleep. Ban-Chu’s spot was beside Charlie. Lobo slept at Percy’s feet.
The following day, late in the afternoon, the two men caught up to the wagon train as it made camp for the night beside a stream at the edge of a thick strand of scrubby pines. They rode around the circle of wagons until they found the Miller’s wagon, where they found Doris Miller busy preparing dinner with Judy’s help. Judy’s face lit up when she saw Charlie.
“You boys must have smelled my dinner cooking because you timed your arrival perfectly.” Doris was happy to see the boys, welcoming them with a big smile.
Judy wanted to jump into Charlie’s arms but held back because her father and mother were watching her reaction. Even their son, Sam, smiled when he saw the boys pull up.
“Well, look what we have here. Sam is on his feet and he ’ s smiling at us. He must be feeling pretty good. Am I right about that Sam?”
Sam grinned. “Yes sir, Mr. Longstreet, I’m feeling real good now. My arm doesn’t hurt any more, and I can use it now. Isn’t that right, Ma?”
“Yes it is, little Sam.”
“I’m not little any more, Ma. I’ve been shot with an Indian arrow and that makes me a man. Isn’t that right, Mr. Longstreet?”
“Well I’ll tell ya, partner. If I was in a shootout with some wild Indians, why I’d feel a lot better knowin’ I had you beside me to watch my back.”
The little guy smiled proudly, knowing it came from the Lone Jack Kid himself.
Doris Miller took hold of Charlie’s arm and looked at him with glistening eyes. “That was very nice of you, Charlie. Little Sam looks up to you, you know.”
“I didn’t know, but I sorta felt it. You have a nice boy there, Mrs. Miller, and I’m sure glad he’s recover ed from his wound.”
“Thanks to you boys he’ll be all right and we’ll be all right. If you hadn’t rescued us from those savages we’d all be dead now.”
The weather remained temperate, but Charlie would glance every so often at the nine thousand foot, snow-capped Catalina mountains. He was glad he was traveling at a lower elevation where there was no snow, rather than on the road to Santa Fe.
Charlie was riding point with wagon master Chuck Masters, a tough, knowledgeable, but honest task master.
“Look!” Masters pointed. “There’s smoke up ahead, around the next bend, behind those rocks.”
“Come on, let’s have a look.” Charlie nudged Sable into a gallop with his heel and sped toward the smoke. A wagon was burning and a man and a women, who appeared to be dead, were lying beside it. Charlie hopped off his horse and ran to check whether they were still alive, but it was no use. They had been dead for a while and animals had been feasting on them.
“We have to bury these two poor souls,” Masters said in a quiet voice, almost to himself. Then he looked up at Charlie and spoke louder. “We have to bury these people before the animals eat what’s left of them, or there’ll be nothing left to bury.”
They buried the man and woman in a clearing near their wagon. Charlie looked around for signs of who might have killed them. He found a billfold lying open on the ground and picked it up. When he got to a town he’d give it to the sheriff to notify their next of kin.
Masters pointed to a series of tracks. “These are Indian pony tracks. Looks like there were about eight of them. Probably Pascua Yaqui Indians, from the looks of it.”
“Yeah,” Charlie agree d , “We’re in Pascua Yaqui territory so these are most likely Yaqui tracks, but they didn’t kill those people. Two white men did.”
“How ca
n you tell?
“Look over there.” Charlie pointed to a path leading back to the main road to Tucson. “These tracks are from shoed horses, and there are two sets of tracks leading away from here. I think two men, probably the same ones who bushwhacked me, surprised the man and woman, killed them and took all of their valuables, including their lives. It most likely happened seven , eight days ago. Then the Yaqui Indians must have stumbled upon the wagon; or maybe they smelled the smoke and were curious. The two killers wouldn’t have been interested in their victims’ clothing and toilet articles, but the Indians would. So they probably took what was scattered around then lit the wagon again, and that’s the smoke we saw.”
Charlie looked around warily. “Come on, we better be getting back to the wagon train. The Yaqui Indians hate the Spanish and they’ve always been at war with them. They might think we’re leading a wagon train of Spaniards through their territory and attack us.”
They met the wagon train on the road and Chuck Masters spread the word quickly to keep the train moving at a steady pace, because there were signs they were being tracked by the Pascua Yaqui Indians. Sure enough, about a mile down the road a group of approximately twenty Indians stood in the road, waiting for the train to advance. Charlie rode up and stopped before the Indians, making the peace sign. Ban-Shu stopped alongside him. It didn’t go unnoticed by the Indians, who watched the young wolf standing protectively beside Charlie. Charlie hid a smile, because he hadn’t expected Ban-Shu to react protectively in this manner. At least not at this young age.
“Does anyone in your tribe speak English?”
An Indian wearing the headdress of a chief turned and motioned one of his braves forward. “I speak English, white man. Why you ride through Yaqui land?”
“I lead a wagon train of pilgrims to California. I am blood brother to Wild Eagle, Chief of the K aw, and I ’ m a member of the Shawnee tribe. Their chief Black Elk is my friend. Look at the bracelet he gave me for protection, so that other tribes would know I am a friend to the Indians.”
“You ever kill Indian, white man?”
“Yes. I won’t lie to you. But only when the Indian tried to kill me.”
The English-speaking brave spoke to his chief, explaining what Charlie had told him. Their talk lasted about five minutes. Then the chief nodded and raised his lance horizontally above his head. The English-speaking brave nudged his horse closer to Charlie.
“Chief meet Wild Eagle in tribal meeting and chief say you may go in peace, white man. He say beware of Comanche. They no honor K aw chief. Kill everyone in train. Go now.”
Charlie gave a sign of both thanks and peace. “Thank your chief for me. Tell him the Lone Jack Kid hopes that someday he can repay your great chief for his kindness and respect today.”
Charlie’s message was relayed to the chief and he grunted in approval as he spun around with a war whoop, leading his men away with an impressive display of horsemanship.
Chapter 22
Masters pulled his horse alongside Charlie. “What did you say to them, Kid? I mean they just rode away when they could have killed every living soul in this train.”
Charlie showed Masters his necklace and bracelet, explaining how he got them and what they meant to these Indians.
“We may not be so lucky if we run into a Comanche war party.”
Masters nodded. “Well all I can say is the good Lord put you in our path so you could save us from being slaughtered, and we’ll worry about the Comanche if and when we run into them. I ain’t forgetting what you did for us today, Kid.” He spun his horse, rode back to the train and took the lead again, while Charlie rode point.
As he rode along the road Charlie got an idea. He knew that since he reached an agreement with the Pascua Yaqui Indians the wagon train would not be harassed by them. He turned his horse and rode over to Judy’s wagon, asking if she’d like to take a ride with him. She loved the idea, so Charlie borrowed a pony from the wagon master, put a saddle on him and brought him over to Judy.
A few minutes later the two young people rode away from the train to a point a few miles ahead, then hid in the rocks and canyons of the Catalina Mountains. Charlie reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a blanket, which he spread on a flat slate of rocky land. Charlie lay down on the blanket and used his saddle as a pillow, with Judy snuggling up against him comfortably, with her head on his shoulder.
“I missed being with you, Charlie. I’m so glad you suggested this ride. Maybe we can do it more often now.”
“I’d like that, but only when I know it’s safe.”
He reached over and began unbuttoning her blouse.
“I’ll do that,” she said, “because we’ll be here all day if you do it.”
Charlie laughed. “Well, I won’t deny you have a point there.”
When her blouse and dress were off she began unbuttoning Charlie’s pants. Charlie was teaching her the finer points of lovemaking and she was taking to his instructions like a fish to water. Not just careless sex, but how to enjoy all aspects of the act, and especially how to please your partner. She was a quick learner, always eager to try new and different techniques, and never refusing any of Charlie’s requests. There was nothing Charlie could ask her to do sexually that she didn’t enjoy as well.
The days passed slowly as the wagon train moved toward Tucson. Two weeks passed before they approached the Tucson city limits. Charlie and Chuck Masters rode ahead to determine where in Tucson the wagon train would be required to stay while they remained in town.
“I’m heading back to the train, Kid, you coming?”
“No. I’ve got to let the sheriff know about the people we buried back on the trail. Maybe he could locate their next of kin.”
“All right then. I’ll see you later, Charlie.”
Charlie walked into the sheriff’s office while the sheriff was looking through some wanted posters. He dropped the posters on his desk and looked up at Charlie. “What can I help you with, stranger?”
“I was point man in the wagon train that’ll be arriving here sometime today, and me and our wagon master, Chuck Masters, spotted smoke. We rode over to see what caused the smoke and found two people murdered.”
“Indians?”
“No, there were Indian tracks but I don’t believe it was Indians that killed them.”
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “There were Indian track at the scene of the crime and yet you don’t think they killed those folks. Please explain why.”
“Well, for one thing I’m tracking two men who, along with another man bushwhacked me, while I slept. They robbed me and then shot me in my hand when I raised it defensively. Blood splattered all over my face and they thought they had killed me with a shot to the head. Here, look at my hand.”
The sheriff examined it and shook his head. “Man, you were lucky.”
“Yeah, well I caught up with one of them. A man named Jeb Sorter. Take a look at these wanted posters, Sheriff, and tell me if they’ve been here recently.”
The sheriff put out his hand and Charlie shook it. “My name is Cal Brady. What’s your name, son?”
“Charles Longstreet, but my friends call me Charlie.”
“Well, Charlie, let’s have a look at the wanted posters.” He opened the bottom draw on his desk, pulled out a wad of posters and began looking through them. “There may be an updated poster on these fellows.” He got through about half of them before he said, “Well, look at what I found. I was right. The rewards been raised to $500 each; and you were correct, they’re wanted for murder in every state they passed through. I hope you get them.”
“Don’t worry about that, Sheriff, I’ll get them all right. I just hope it’s before they murder any one else.”
The sheriff looked at him as if remembering something. “You said your name was Charlie?”
“Yes.”
“I seem to have forgotten your last name. What was it again?” he said suspiciously.
“Longstreet, sir. C
harlie Longstreet.”
“Damn, I knew I heard that name before. You’re the Lone Jack Kid, the one in the dime novels, aren’t you?”
“No sense lying to you about it, Sheriff. I’m guilty of being that person.”
“What are you doing so far from New York and Virginia City?”
“I still have the wandering bug, Sheriff, so after my Broadway show ended I decided to travel and see the country. I had intended to travel to Nevada, and maybe even California, but those three bushwhackers forced me to change my plans. Now I’m down here in Tucson trailing them, and I know I’m close to catching up to them.”
The sheriff took a keen interest in what Charlie told him. “Look, Kid, there are some pretty rough characters in Tucson at the moment and they’re all trouble with a capital T. Watch out for Tex Buchanan, Robby Jensen, who goes by the name of RJ, and Spur Thomas. All three are gunfighters and they’re always looking to prove themselves, except to each other.”
“Could you write those names on a piece of paper for me, Sheriff?”
“Sure, Kid.”
“Are these men wanted for anything, Cal?”
“Not in Tucson, but I’ll send a wire to El Paso, Colorado City, Yuma, San Bernardino and San Diego and we’ll see what we get back.”
“Thanks, Sheriff, I appreciate it.”
When Charlie left his office the sheriff sat down and opened the drawer to put the posters back. He noticed the special bottle of whiskey he’d been saving. He picked it up and poured three fingers into a glass. Before putting it to his lips he raised his glass. “Here’s to you, Kid.” And downed the whiskey in one gulp.
Chapter 23
The following morning Charlie tied a leash around Ban-Chu’s neck, which the wolf cub hated. Then he left his room at the Oriental Hotel and headed downstairs for breakfast. He walked across the lobby past the front desk and down the hall to the dining room, where he was confronted by three men.
