Lone Jack Kid: The Return: A Western Adventure (Western Fiction, by Joe Corso Book 2) (The Lone Jack Kid)

by Joe Corso

  “Slow down, kid, we’re not going anywhere.”

  The lad was breathing hard. “Sorry, Mr. Longstreet, but Zeb told me to rush over here to tell you that your horse is saddled and your supplies are loaded on the burro.”

  “What’s your name, kid?” Charlie asked with a smile.

  “Arthur, sir.”

  “Well, Arthur, I think that someone as diligent as you deserves a reward.” Charlie opened a small leather pouch and flipped the kid a five-dollar gold piece.

  Arthur’s eyes widened as he caught the coin. “Wow. I never had so much money in all my life. Gee thanks, Mr. Longstreet. I’ll never forget this.”

  “Forget about it, Arthur. Good work deserves good pay. Now don’t spend it foolishly, okay?”

  “Don’t worry, Mr. Longstreet, I won’t. Boy, wait until I tell my ma about this.”

  Arthur walked out of the hotel, still looking at the coin as if it might somehow disappear on him.

  “That was nice of you, Charlie. You made that boy happy.”

  “I know. I just hope I made another boy happy today.”

  Percy grinned. “You sure did, partner. Say, I know what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna make you a silent partner in my medical practice.”

  Charlie frowned and shook his head. “You’re gonna do no such thing.”

  “Don’t you tell me what I can and can’t do. I’ll do whatever I decide is the right thing to do, and making you my partner is what I decided.”

  Charlie ground his teeth and just tilted his head toward the door. “All right, then. Come and take a walk with me.”

  “Where we going, Charlie?”

  “We’re gonna take a walk to the telegrapher and wire my brother for your money.”

  Charlie dictated the message to the telegraph operator and added the following: “Send $ 3 ,000 to Dr. Percy Williams of Yuma, Arizona, as soon as possible.”

  “Charlie, I told you I needed only $ 1 ,000 not $ 3 ,000.”

  “If you insist on making me a partner I want you to invest this money into a first class doctor’s office. Use the money for decorating, advertising and whatever else a doctor uses money for. I’ll be gone a while, but I’ll keep in touch. I don’t want to miss your wedding.”

  Percy was at a loss for words. He was so filled with emotion and love for Charlie that he hugged him in a manly way. “I don’t know how to thank you, Charlie.”

  Charlie dismissed it with a wave of his hand. “Friends don’t have to thank one another, they just know. Look, Percy, when I first met you I didn’t like you. I made a snap judgment and it really wasn’t very fair of me. You pissed me off so badly when I found out you were impersonating me that I struggled not to shoot you.”

  Percy could have sworn he saw Charlie’s eyes become misty for a brief moment before he caught himself. “I was wrong, Percy. You’re a good man and a good friend, but you are dumber than a mule and I just don’t know how you managed to live this long.”

  Percy laughed. “I was kind of naive wasn’t I?”

  “Yeah, that you were. But I have to give you credit. You sure grew up in a hurry. Well, I better be going. I have to make time while there’s still daylight. Give my love to Lorraine and tell her that maybe we’ll rekindle our friendship when I get back.”

  Percy walked with Charlie and Ban-Chu to the stables. When Charlie mounted Sable, Percy wished he was going with him.

  Charlie rode out into the street, but instead of riding on he turned and trotted back to Percy. “I almost forgot. I want you to do something for me.”

  “Sure, Charlie, what is it?”

  Charlie handed Percy a folded piece of paper. “Be very careful opening that paper, Percy. Take a careful look at what’s inside of it.”

  Percy opened the paper carefully and was surprised to see two diamonds glittering in the sunlight.

  “Take them to the jewelers and have them placed into settings. Give one to Janie as an engagement ring and give the other ring to Lorraine as a memento from me .”

  Percy looked at the diamonds as the rays of the sun made them glitter and sparkle. “These must be worth a fortune, Charlie.”

  “Maybe they are, but to me they’re just worthless pieces of glass. The ladies seem to like them though, so I keep a few of them with me at all times. That reminds me. When I get back, I have to have to tell Bob to send me ten more of them.”

  Charlie wheeled his horse around. As he rode away, he hollered to Percy, “You better go to the jeweler now and have him make those rings before you lose those little pieces of glass.”

  Chapter 31

  On the second day out on the trail Charlie felt that someone was trailing him. It was just a feeling, but he had learned from experience to pay attention to his feelings. He turned Sable’s reigns to the left and, with his burro following, rode up onto a mountain ledge where he couldn’t be seen. The ledge offered him a clear view of anyone who might be following him. He reached into his saddlebags for his military spy glasses and adjusted them. He didn’t see anyone following him, but that nagging feeling still persisted, so he decided to make camp there on the ledge.

  Fifteen minutes later he checked the trail again and this time he noticed a small cloud of dust kicking up behind a horse. He pulled his Winchester from its scabbard and waited patiently. Forty-five minutes later the rider came into view. As he passed beneath Charlie’s camp, Charlie stood on the ledge looking down on him. He called out a sharp warning.

  “If you don’t want to get shot, stop right where you are and p ut your hands where I can see them.”

  Charlie left his horse and burro where they were and, never taking his eye off the mounted figure, made his way down to where the man waited in the shadows with his hands still in the air. When Charlie drew closer the man smiled and said, “Can I put my hands down now? You better have hot coffee waiting for me after putting me through this.”

  Charlie was surprised as all get out to see the cherubic face of Ned Buntline looking down at him from atop his horse. “Ned what in hell are you doing dogging me?”

  “Hell I’m not dogging you. I’m joining you—is what I’m doing.”

  Charlie didn’t have hot coffee because he hadn’t wanted to chance a fire. But when the two men returned to the camp, Charlie built a fire, put a pot of coffee over it and took some beef jerky and a few hard biscuits for dinner. “Okay, Ned. Now why are you here?”

  “I told you, I’m coming with you. When I discovered you left Yuma without even a goodbye, why, that got me real angry. To think my friend, Charlie Longstreet, would leave without telling me, made me want to come after you to tell you what I thought of that.”

  Charlie smiled. “Okay, Ned. What did you think of that?”

  Ned’s lips curled up into a hidden smile under that bushy walrus mustache of his , but his tobacco stained teeth gave him away. “Well, the fact of the matter is I was worried about you.”

  Charlie raised an eyebrow and gave Ned a crooked smile. “You? You were worried about me?”

  “Hell yeah, I was worried about you. Someone’s got to watch your back. Now I’m gonna be brutally frank with you. As much as I like Percy he didn’t do a very good job of watching your back in that shootout in Yuma now, did he?” Ned didn’t wait for Charlie to answer. “No. That’s right, he didn’t. Now that I’m riding with you, you can relax because I’ll be watching your back. Now, be honest and tell me that doesn’t give you a calm, peaceful feeling in the back of your mind, knowing that you can relax when facing those two men you’re hunting?”

  Charlie laughed and almost choked on his coffee. “Ned, you are so full of shit that it spews out of your mouth.”

  Both men laughed. “Yeah, it does get that way sometimes doesn’t it.” Ned laughed loudly, with Charlie joining him.

  It took Charlie, Ned Buntline and Ban-Chu, who seemed to enjoy being outdoors and following the horses, eleven days, traveling almost twenty-five miles a day. Charlie was still under the impression that the two back-shooting
bastards were unaware he was on their trail. They crossed a bridge spanning the Los Angeles River and arrived in Los Angeles, the Queen of the Cow Counties, a little after noon. Los Angeles was so named because after the northern gold strikes Los Angeles, with the largest herds of any of the counties, supplied the beef and other food to the hungry gold miners in the northern part of the state.

  “What in hell is the contraption that man is riding?” Charlie asked Buntline.

  Buntline stroked his mustache and nodded. “Yeah, I heard about those things. It’s something new that just came out. It’s called a bi-cycle.”

  “A bi—what?”

  “A bi-cycle. You can ride those things instead of a horse.”

  Charlie mused upon that. “Yeah, but you won’t travel far with it that’s for sure.”

  They pulled up in front of a stable and called out to a man grooming a horse. He walked over to the men.

  “What can I do for you gents?”

  “I want the horses groomed and fed. Give them the best you have, understand? And do the same for my burro.”

  The man looked the animals over. “Mighty fine looking horse you have here. Care to sell him?”

  “No, I won’t part with Sable. I’m kinda fond of him.”

  “How long you expect to be in town Mr . . .? Mr . . .?”

  “Call me Charlie, and this is Ned. We’ll be here for a few days and then we’ll be back on the road.” Charlie took out the wanted posters and asked the man, “Have you seen either of these men lately?”

  The man studied the posters and nodded. “Yeah, they were here for quite a while. They may still be here for all I know.”

  Charlie looked over the man’s shoulder. “Are those their horses?”

  “No. They didn’t leave their horses with me. They took them to the Pico Stables. That’s located behind the Pico House.”

  “What’s the Pico House?” Ned asked.

  “The Pico House is the best hotel in all of Southern California, and if you’re gonna stay in town for a while, then the Pico House is where you should hang your hat. But a word of caution, fellas. We have very little law in this town and a lot of bad characters are migrating here. A white mob recently attacked the Chinese quarter and seventeen Chinese men and two Chinese boys were killed either by bullets, beatings or lynching.”

  “Anyone arrested for the murders?” Ned asked.

  “A hundred and fifty men were indicted but only six were convicted, and they were released on a technicality. It’s gotten so a man can’t leave his home at night for fear of being assaulted and maybe killed.”

  “Thanks for the warning, partner. Now where can we find the Pico House?”

  “It’s around the corner on Spring Street, right between Brodrick and Reilly’s Book Store and the post office.”

  Ned’s face lit up in a great big smile. “A book store you say?”

  “Yes, it just opened and they have all the new books from back east. They even have the latest Lone Jack Kid book written by that Ned Buntline fella.”

  “The Lone Jack Kid book written by that Ned Buntline character, eh?” Ned said, sparring with the proprietor’s words. “Say, what’s your name?” Ned asked.

  “Hank Whitfield.”

  “Well, Hank, how much do we owe you?”

  “That’ll be a dollar a day for each animal and that includes the best feed we have and the grooming.”

  Charlie reached into his leather pouch, pulled out a twenty-dollar gold piece and flipped it to Hank.

  As Ned was leaving he turned to Hank, who was busy studying his gold coin. “By the way, Hank, have you read that new Lone Jack Kid book you mentioned?”

  “Not yet. I just bought it and I’m only about three chapters in. But I can tell it’ll be a good book.”

  “How can you tell, Hank?”

  Hank smiled shyly. “Heck, any book about the Lone Jack Kid has to be good. Boy, I’d sure like to meet him.”

  Ned was just about to say something when Charlie pulled him abruptly by his arm. “Not now, Ned. Let’s go to the Pico House and get us a room, then we’ll get something to eat. I’m starved.”

  As they walked down the main street they witnessed all types of rude behavior. When the war ended the law was represented by men men represented the law from the recently disbanded New York Regiment, who were mostly thugs and brawlers. They were the men who were supposed to be maintaining law and order. Since there was a temporary absence of law and order, Los Angeles quickly descended into lawlessness. The streets were filled with prostitutes, gamblers, fugitives and desperados, who were driven out of San Francisco and the mining towns by vigilante groups who took the law into their own hands. Ironically, Los Angeles became more infamous than Santa Fe as the most lawless town on the west coast. Charlie knew that Los Angeles had more bad men per square foot than all the other towns he visited in the past. And if any of them knew that the Lone Jack Kid was in town, they would be lining up to challenge him.

  “Ned, we have to keep my identity quiet, because if these men knew who I was, I’d have to have a dance card to handle those looking to kill me.”

  Ned nodded somberly. “You’re right, Kid. No sense looking for trouble. Let’s just find out if those men you’re looking for are still in town. If they are we’ll take care of them and then hightail it out of here. We should get out of town even if they aren’t here. They may be heading to Santa Fe.”

  Charlie nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking the same. If they’re not here then they probably are heading to Santa Fe. But if that’s true then why didn’t they go directly there from Tucson instead of taking the long way around?”

  Buntline was quiet for a moment. “My guess is they figured that since Los Angeles is a wide open town they could maybe rob a few easy touches and get away with it, then head to Santa Fe.”

  “Could be you’re right, Ned. After we have something to eat we’ll take a look around town to check if they’re still here.”

  Chapter 32

  Charlie and Ned walked through the batwing doors of Clancy’s Saloon and went straight to the bar and ordered two beers. The place was filled with rowdy customers. Ned looked around and noticed the shifty looks on some of the patrons, like sharks about to eat their way through the place. It appeared to him as if every patron had an angle. Many men were high on drink and they laughed and slapped one another on the back. They were laughing, but not with their eyes. Their eyes were predatory, looking for the weakness in the person they were laughing and drinking with. A few of the more boisterous patrons noticed the two strangers standing at the bar sipping their beers.

  As he glanced in the bar’s mirror, Charlie noticed a man nudge his friend and tilt his head toward them. This was trouble with a capital “T.” He’d seen this in too many trail towns and he knew this wasn’t going to end well.

  “Come on, Ned. I’ve seen enough. It’s time to get out of here.”

  “But I just took a sip of my beer.” Then he noticed the look on Charlie’s face. “What is it, Charlie? What’s wrong?”

  “Trouble is coming. That’s what’s wrong. Let’s get out of here before it starts.”

  “Okay. If you say so, then I’m with you.”

  But before they could take two steps from the bar the two men stepped in front of them, blocking their way to the door. “Look what we have here, Clyde. He looks like a real desperado wearing two guns, doesn’t he?”

  “Yeah. Hee hee. He sure does. And look at his pal. What is he supposed to be, Mel? A mountain man?”

  Charlie didn’t show fear. That was the last signal he wanted to give to these two predators. Instead he smiled and said, “We’re not looking for trouble. We were just leaving.”

  Clyde took this peaceful gesture as a sign of weakness and became bolder. “You ain’t going anywhere, stranger. You’re gonna buy us a bottle. We sort of drank ours and we’re a little short on cash, ain’t we Mel.”

  “Yeah, we need another bottle and you’re gonna buy it for
us.”

  Charlie had had enough of their crap. If he bought them a bottle it would show weakness, and every hustler in town would see them as a soft touch. They’d be labeled as cowards by morning, and Charlie couldn’t let that happen. He smiled and looked each of them in the eye.

  “Look, Clyde and Mel. We’re leaving now, but if you try to stop us, why I’ll either have to slap you silly or I’ll be forced to kill the both of you. So step aside if you know what’s good for you.”

  The room was silent. Even though it appeared that it was business as usual, every person had one eye on the exchange taking place at the bar. Charlie wasn’t a big man and he probably wouldn’t fare well if it came to a fist fight fistfight , but he was unbeatable facing anyone with his guns. He took his beer from the bar with his left hand and took a sip, but his right hand rested on the handle of his gun in his hip holster. Clyde’s hand reached for his gun, but Charlie threw his beer in his face and slammed him hard in his head with the barrel of his gun. Mel took a step back and reached for his gun, but Ned stuck his gun in Mel’s gut.

  “I wouldn’t do that, partner, it could get you killed.”

  Three men in the middle of a card game stood and walked toward the bar, stopping about five feet from Charlie.

  “Mister, you just made a mistake. You roughed up our friends and we don’t cotton to anyone doing that, especially a stranger.”

  Everyone in the place moved to the side, attempting to get out of the way of the lead they knew would soon fly. It was too late for Charlie to try to be anonymous. Maybe if these thugs knew who they were messing with they might think twice before trying anything.

  “Stand back, fellas. Ned, you keep a bead on those two morons while I kill these three jerks.”

  The three men looked at one another. “Did he just call us jerks?”

  Charlie chuckled. “I surely did. I called those two troublemakers morons and now I’m calling you three jerks, jerks. Now if you’re gonna pull those smoke wagons then let’s get to doin’ it.”

  The three men gave one another a slight nod and went for their guns. Charlie was fast as lightning, killing two men while Ned shot the one closest to him. All three thugs were lying dead on the floor of Clancy’s bar when the bartender asked Charlie, “Who are you, stranger?”