by Alan David
‘Everything going all right, Stella?’ he asked casually.
‘Yes. But I’ve got some news for you and I don’t know if it will affect our plans.’
‘Is it good or bad?’ He was immediately interested. ‘How can it affect our plans? I’ve got to get out of this place, no matter what.’
‘It’s Ginny Ridge. She rode into town twenty minutes ago?’
‘What?’ Lobo winced when pain shot through his wounds as he jerked up. ‘Did Page turn her loose?’
‘No. It seems she got hold of the gun of the man Page left to guard her. She was a prisoner in an old line cabin. She said Page was going to force her to marry him. Then her father was to be killed.’
‘Well I’m glad to hear that she’s all right.’ He grinned. ‘But why should this affect us?’
‘I thought your attitude to Ginny was too friendly,’ Stella said soberly. ‘She’s a lovely girl. Her father is rich. She said she was in love with you. What more could a man on the dodge ask for?’
‘You’re right. I guess lots of men would have jumped at that. But I’ve always been notorious for missing opportunities. I admit that I was tempted. But Ginny is only eighteen, I’m twice her age, and that’s only one consideration. No, Stella. I’m glad Ridge has got his daughter back, but that’s as far as it goes. I just hope she won’t come in here today to see me. I did lead her on a bit, but that was only to have an ally on the Big R.’
‘I’m glad to hear that,’ Stella said. ‘Now I’ll be going. There are one or two more things I’ve got to get. I’ll call in again before sundown. Don’t worry. I’m carrying out your orders.’
‘We’ve both had it rough, Stella. Maybe we can give each other a little comfort. When we get clear I figure we ought to see a preacher and get hitched. How do you feel about that?’
‘I think it’s a wonderful idea, Lobo.’ Her eyes shone. ‘Please, God, may you get away safely tonight. I think you deserve a little happiness.’
Lobo held her close with his long right arm and they clung together for an instant until the weight of his body on his wounded leg became unbearable. He released her with a sigh and sat down on the bunk.
‘This darned peg ain’t right by a long mark,’ he complained. ‘I know it’s early days yet, but I hope it’ll stand up to long riding. We’ll have to travel fast when we leave this town.’
‘Have you decided where we’re going?’
‘West. That’s the only direction we can go. Maybe we can get lost somewhere between here and the Pacific Ocean.’
‘We’ll be happy, wherever we settle.’ She kissed him and went out.
He sat and mused about Stella for a long time, and thought he had done the right thing in planning to marry her. He would have to find himself some sort of a job. She wouldn’t want to use the stolen money, although he didn’t feel too badly about it himself. His musing was interrupted by Barr coming in from the office.
‘Ridge and his daughter are outside. They’d like to talk to you. Do you want to see them?’
‘Yes. I’d like to know how Ridge is making out.’
Ginny came in alone. She walked close to the bars and pressed herself against them, reaching through for Lobo’s free hand.
‘You didn’t come looking for me,’ she complained huskily. ‘I thought you loved me, Lobo.’
‘I didn’t have the chance to come. I got your father off the Big R, and when I rode into town Barr slapped me in here. I suppose your father has told you what happened.’
‘Yes. You’ve had a close call. How are you feeling? I’m going to get you out of here, you know. They’re not sending you to prison. I want you. I’ll get you out of here and we’ll go far away.’
Ridge came in, saving Lobo from the decision of whether or not he should tell Ginny that he planned to run with Stella.
‘I’m glad to see you looking better, Lobo,’ Ridge greeted. ‘As you can see,’ he patted Ginny’s shoulder, ‘I’m all right now.’
‘I’m glad she’s back with you, Ridge. Had any luck with your hiring?’
‘There are some men coming in on the six o’clock train. We’ll have you out of here tonight. Ginny said she’s going to take you on the range. She knows better than anyone where to hide away.’
‘It’s good of you to take the trouble now you’ve got her back. But you’re likely to pick up a load of grief by trying to help me. I haven’t done that much for you.’
‘Nonsense.’ Ridge kissed his daughter on the forehead. ‘Do you know what I’ve done, Lobo? I’ve signed half my ranch over to you. You and Ginny own it equal shares. That beats Page, doesn’t it? When one of you two dies the other gets all the ranch. I’ve taken a great liking to you, Lobo, the way you butted in on this range against all the odds and started cleaning up. Like I said, you’ll take good care of Ginny for me. I never had a son, though that was my dearest wish, but you are the pattern I would have taken had I got one. Money talks a lot, you know, and friends can help. I’ve sent off a wire to the state capital. I’m trying to get you pardoned. I think I can swing it too. Does that prove I’m trying to square matters all round?’
‘Sounds pretty good to me,’ Lobo declared. ‘But let’s get back to the present. Do you think you’re safe in town? There’s not much protection from the law, and Page won’t take things easy when he finds that Ginny has run out on him. She was his ace in the hole.’
‘I’ll face Page through gunsmoke when I clap eyes on him,’ Ridge said grimly. ‘He’s had his day in Pommel. And I’m the man who should try and stop him. I brought him here. When I get a new crew behind me I’m going out to the Big R. Page has seen nothing yet. I owe him something for taking Ginny away.’
‘Well you’ll get your chance at him now,’ said Barr, coming in from the office. The deputy held a shotgun in his big right hand. ‘I’ve just heard that Page and three sidekicks rode along Main Street ten minutes ago. Page has gone into the hotel, after publicly giving orders for Ginny to be taken again and Ridge and Lobo Johnson to be killed. He’s come to town to do just that, and there ain’t a man, woman or child on the street. How d’you like that?’
‘Where’s Gruber?’ Lobo demanded. ‘If he lets me out of here for ten minutes I’ll do for Page.’
‘I’ve sent for him.’ Barr handled the shotgun. ‘No one is going to walk in here shooting again.’
‘Stay here, Ginny,’ Ridge ordered. ‘You’ll be safe here. I’m going after Page. It’s my play. I’ll shoot him on sight. Promise me you’ll stay here, girl, until the shooting is over.’
‘I’ll stay, but please be careful.’
Ridge nodded. He was past words now. He nodded nervously to Lobo, then went out. Ginny turned to Barr.
‘Why don’t you let Lobo out?’ she demanded. ‘He’d soon put Page on his back. He wouldn’t skulk in here with a shotgun in his hands.’
‘I’m not skulking,’ said Barr heatedly. ‘I’m on duty, and I’m guarding my prisoner. Gruber will be here in a minute, and if he tells me to go along the street after Page I’ll go.’
There was a noise at the back window of the jail and Barr stepped along the passage to look. A Colt banged and a slug ricocheted through the cells. Barr lifted the muzzle of the shotgun and rocked the building with a thunderous report as he fired. Buckshot screamed through the bars, and a loud voice howled agony on the echoes of the detonation.
‘Third time unlucky for someone,’ Barr remarked, reloading his gun. ‘That takes care of one of them.’ The deputy came back chuckling along the passage. ‘I guess Page ordered that trick once too often.’
Barr cut off his speech then, and stood stock still with the gun in his hands still broken open. He held the weapon by the barrel in his left hand, a fresh cartridge in his right hand. Lobo followed the direction of Barr’s surprised glance, and saw another gunman standing in the doorway of the law office. The man held a levelled sixgun. Lobo put his right hand into his pocket and his eager fingers closed on the two-shot derringer.
; ‘Well, well,’ said the gunman, stepping into the passage. ‘So I get the great Lobo Johnson and the girl. Page has offered two hundred dollars to the man who brings the girl back to him. Looks like I’m lucky. You,’ he directed Barr, ‘drop that gun and your gunbelt. Do it slow and maybe you’ll live.’
Barr had inserted the fresh cartridge, but the shotgun was still broken open in his hands. Lobo watched closely. He dared not fire the derringer while Ginny, half para-lysed with fear, stood under the gunman’s weapon.
‘Come over here out of the way, Ginny,’ Lobo called, and the girl moved out of the line of fire, but she stepped between Lobo and the gunman.
It was then Barr made a desperate play for mastery. The deputy dropped the shotgun from his left hand, and while the gunman’s eyes instinctively followed the weapon to the ground, Barr’s right hand snaked for the Colt at his hip. Gunfire crashed and smoke filtered through the cells. The gunman fired rapidly, and two shots struck Barr in the chest. The big deputy staggered backwards, fighting to bring his Colt into action. But he was dead before the echoes of the shots faded. His big body thudded to the ground.
Lobo stepped close to the bars. He brought out the derringer, thrust his gunhand through the bars and snapped off one tiny shot. Blood spurted from the gunman’s throat. The man uttered a gurgling sound and threw down his gun. He dropped to his knees and clutched his torn throat. He fell upon his face and kicked out his life with convulsive movements.
‘Quick,’ Lobo said to Ginny. ‘Get the cell keys off Barr and let me out. I may be in time to save your father. Hurry it up, girl. This shooting will bring half the town in here.’
White faced and shaking, Ginny stumbled to where Barr lay spreadeagled upon his back. She averted her sickened gaze from the lawman’s contorted face, shuddering at the gory mess that had been his chest. She took the keys from Barr’s pocket and returned to Lobo, unlocking the cell door with trembling fingers.
Lobo bent and picked up the gunman’s Colt. He reloaded the fire chambers, then removed the gunbelt from the man’s waist and made Ginny buckle it around his own. He slid the Colt into leather, then eased it in the holster. The weight at his hip made him feel happier.
‘Now stay here, Ginny. This won’t take long. I’ll come back for you as soon as Page is finished. I want to catch your father. He’s no match for Page.’
Lobo stepped into the law office then froze. Sheriff Gruber sat his wheelchair in the street doorway, and the old lawman held a Colt in his right hand.
‘Where are you going, Lobo?’
‘To get Page. I’ll come back when it’s over.’
‘Page has just gunned down Reuben Ridge. The big man faced Page and a sidekick, and went for the sidekick first. He got the gunnie, but Page knocked him off. I’ve come for a shotgun.’
There was a gasp behind Lobo and Ginny Ridge brushed past him. Lobo felt her hand at his waist as she passed, and the gun at his hip slid out of the holster.
‘I’ll kill Page if he has hurt my father,’ the girl screamed wildly. She ran across the office with the big Colt in her hand, seized Gruber’s wheelchair and thrust it out of her way.
Lobo made a dash forward, unmindful of his wounded leg, as the girl’s footsteps thumped outside. But Gruber in his chair came hurtling towards him. His bad leg prevented Lobo from jumping clear and the chair collided with him. He sprawled with an agonised shout. The chair careened on its side and Gruber was flung across the office.
Lobo dragged himself to his feet. Sweat stood out on his forehead. Sickness lay in the pit of his stomach and blackness gathered at the extremes of his consciousness and threatened to swoop in and swamp him. Stabs of agony laced through his shoulder and leg.
Gruber lay cursing half under his desk, helpless as a baby. Lobo grasped the sheriff with a shaky right hand and dragged the lawman upright.
‘Barr is lying dead in the cells,’ Lobo panted, ‘and there’s a gunman with him. Another one is out at the back window. Are you going to try and stop me taking after Page?’
‘No.’ Gruber almost shouted in his urgency. ‘Take my gun and go after that killer. You’re a free man, Lobo. I’ve never intended handing you over to anyone as Lobo Johnson. I never wired Dry Ford County, and I tore up that wanted notice. You’ve done a lot for this town, and this is one way we can repay you. I’ve only kept you in the cells these last few days because it was the safest place while you were off your feet.’
‘Thanks, Gruber. I’ll never forget this.’ Lobo righted the wheelchair and helped the sheriff into it. He picked up the sheriff’s Colt and checked the weapon. He thrust it into his empty holster. ‘Now I’ll go settle with Page.’
‘Wait.’ Gruber wheeled himself to the desk and picked up a piece of shiny metal. ‘Your badge, Ben,’ he said. ‘Do this one with the law’s blessing.’
Lobo smiled as he pinned the badge to his vest front. He limped to the door and stomped on to the sidewalk, favouring his right leg as he hobbled along.
A man came out of a store as he passed.
‘Be careful,’ he was warned. ‘Page is up there near Ridge’s body.’
The man ducked into the store and Lobo went on. He saw the huge figure of Reuben Ridge stretched out by the hitchrail in front of the hotel, and Ginny Ridge was bent over her father. Lobo tried to hurry his pace.
He was still a dozen yards away from the hotel when Buck Page emerged and started down the steps to the street. Ginny Ridge came upright like an uncoiling spring, and she was still holding the gun she had taken from Lobo’s holster. Page halted on the bottom step of the sidewalk.
‘You’ve killed my father,’ Ginny screamed hysterically. ‘You cold-blooded murderer. You’ve done your last killing.’
Lobo stepped off the sidewalk and emerged from the shadows. He felt the bright sunlight warm him. He kicked through the thick dust to the centre of the street; half a dozen yards behind Ginny and well to the girl’s left.
‘Leave this to me, Ginny,’ he called.
The girl flashed a quick glance over her shoulder. Her eyes were wild. She swung back to face Page, who stood immobile on the bottom step, his feet a scant inch above the dust of the street. The big gun in Ginny’s hand flashed and cracked, and a window in the hotel behind Page tinkled and shattered. Page smiled. He ignored the girl. His left hand lifted his coat, exposing the black butt of the gun in his waistband.
‘I knew it would come to this, Lobo,’ Page shouted. ‘Make your play.’
Ginny fired two more shots, both of which missed Page by feet. Then the girl started running towards the gunman, screaming and cursing at him. She moved between Lobo and Page, directly in their line of fire. Lobo saw Page’s elbow move as the man went after his gun. He palmed his own Colt, and all he could see of Page was the man’s head and shoulders above Ginny.
Page’s gun hammered once and Ginny cartwheeled in the street. Lobo thumbed off a single shot as Page turned his weapon and lifted the muzzle. Gunsmoke drifted. Lobo’s bullet took Page squarely in the stomach. Page rocked backwards, then pitched forward flat upon his face in the dust. Lobo paced forward. Page scrabbled in the dust. His clawing fingers caught up his gun and he tried with all his fast waning strength to level the weapon at the advancing Lobo. Lobo thumbed off another shot which took Page between the eyes. Page’s skull split wide under the battering slug and its gory contents splattered over the wooden steps behind him.
For a long moment Lobo stood listening to the fading echoes. The sunlight glinted on the silver badge on his chest. Tension was built up to suffocation inside him. He expelled it with a shuddering sigh.
Stella came running up to him as he bent over Ginny. The girl was dead with Page’s bullet through the heart. Lobo eased the girl’s head in the dust. He closed her staring eyes with a gentle thumb. Then he stood up and went to Reuben Ridge. The rancher was dead, his head twisted to one side, his eyes glassy and staring and his jaw slack.
Stella helped Lobo on to the sidewalk and he dropped wearily down o
n a seat, his strength gone. People streamed by. Gruber stopped beside them. There were tears in the old man’s eyes.
‘You all right, Ben?’ the sheriff queried, and Lobo nodded. ‘Good. Now I think we’re all square. I kept your identity secret while you were in jail. It was difficult to keep Barr’s mouth shut, but I did. You’re free and you can always count on me, anything you want.’
‘Thanks, sheriff.’ Lobo straightened himself. ‘Will you take care of the bodies?’
‘I always have,’ Gruber replied. ‘Ever since you rode into town.’ The sheriff propelled himself towards the scene of the shooting.
‘Well, at last it is over,’ Stella said. ‘I hope you won’t have to draw a gun on another man as long as you live. Come on, let’s get you to a hotel. You are going to spend a week in bed.’
Lobo did not feel like arguing. He stood up, feeling strange inside, clean washed like a steer climbing up and out at a river crossing. He leaned heavily on Stella as she helped him towards the hotel. A man came up on Lobo’s left side. It was the lawyer.
‘I’d like to serve you if I may,’ the man said. ‘I took great care of Reuben Ridge’s affairs.’
‘I’ve got nothing for you to handle,’ Lobo said tiredly. ‘I’m pulling out of this neck of the woods next week.’
‘What about the Big R?’ the lawyer asked. ‘Will you sell it?’
‘Me ! Sell it?’ Lobo stopped short. ‘Me?’
‘You’re the new owner now.’ The lawyer smiled ingratiatingly. ‘Both the Ridges are dead so the property passes over to you like Ridge wished it. I’ll get the affairs in order and have a statement prepared. Will you go out to the ranch or stay here in town?’
Lobo looked at Stella. He shrugged his one good shoulder. Fate had finally overwhelmed him. He felt too ill to care now. He waved an unsteady hand at the lawyer.
‘I’ll be staying in town until I can get on my feet again. There’ll be some cowboys coming in on the six o’clock train. Make the most experienced one of them the foreman and send them out to the Big R. Come and see me tomorrow for orders. I’ll need plenty of assistance. Cattle ranching is one business I’ve never dabbled in before.’
