Yancy (The Landon Saga Book 5)

by Tell Cotten

  ***

  We checked our weapons and rode on. We had Henry rifles in our scabbards, and we both wore Colts.

  I was better with my Colt, but Cooper preferred his Henry. He had a special way of swinging it up, and he was almost as fast as I was with a Colt.

  We rode slow, with Cooper hanging out of the saddle, studying the tracks. I followed and watched the surrounding landscape for anything suspicious.

  Another half hour passed, and I spotted a dark object a long ways out in front of us.

  “Look,” I beckoned.

  Cooper pulled himself back into the saddle and squinted ahead.

  “Looks like the wagon,” Cooper said.

  “I don’t see any Injuns,” I commented.

  Cooper turned in his saddle, dug in his saddlebags, and pulled out a spyglass. He squinted through it, and his face turned grim.

  “It’s the wagon,” Cooper confirmed. “Somebody’s stretched out on the ground. I don’t see anybody else.”

  “Is it a ‘he’ or ‘she’?”

  “Looks like a ‘he’.”

  “Dead?”

  “He ain’t moving.”

  “Well,” I said. “Let’s go find out.”

  Chapter ten

  Cooper pulled out his Henry and held it ready while I grabbed my Colt.

  We kicked up our horses, and we were real watchful as we rode on.

  We stopped in front of the wagon. I searched the surrounding landscape once more, and then I looked around.

  The wagon had been looted, and there were pots and pans scattered all about. There was also a dead mule beside the wagon with several arrows in him.

  There were the remains of a small campfire, and a coffee pot had also been knocked over.

  A tall, slender man was lying facedown on the ground. His hand and sleeve were in the campfire, and his hand and arm had been badly burned. He had also been scalped. He had three arrows in him, and he was dead.

  “Is that Jack?” I asked.

  “That’s him,” Cooper nodded.

  We dismounted. We tied our horses to some nearby bushes, and then we looked around some more.

  “There was a woman and a boy,” Cooper told me.

  “They might have been taken,” I suggested.

  Cooper nodded, and he walked around the wagon while I studied the campfire. I felt the coals, and they were cold.

  “Yancy,” Cooper’s voice was sharp.

  I hurried around the wagon.

  Mrs. Walden was lying on her back, near the wagon wheel. She had been scalped. An arrow was in her shoulder, and another one was in her stomach. Cooper had knelt beside her, and he was checking for a pulse.

  “She’s alive,” Cooper said.

  Suddenly, Mrs. Walden opened her eyes. She was startled, and she looked up at Cooper through terrified eyes.

  “Take it easy, ma’am,” Cooper said gently. “It’s me, Cooper Landon. We met yesterday at Midway.”

  She stared at him for several seconds. She blinked, and then nodded.

  “Jack,” she said in a whisper.

  “He’s dead, ma’am.”

  “My boy, Wyatt.”

  “We haven’t found him yet,” Cooper said.

  “They took him,” she stammered. “I saw it. The big one. He took Wyatt.”

  Cooper glanced at me and looked back at Mrs. Walden.

  “The big one. He took Wyatt,” Mrs. Walden said again. “Please, please, get Wyatt back.”

  “You rest easy now,” Cooper said. “We’ll find him.”

  Mrs. Walden managed to nod, and Cooper stood and looked at me with a grim expression.

  “I’ll walk out a ways and look the tracks over,” Cooper said.

  I nodded. I looked at Mrs. Walden once more, and then I grabbed a shovel from the wagon.

  Chapter eleven

  Cooper and I had been around death for many years. We both knew there was no use trying to move Mrs. Walden.

  While Cooper studied the tracks, I dug a grave for Jack. By the time I finished, Mrs. Walden was gone. Cooper returned, and he helped me dig another grave.

  It took us an hour to get them buried. Afterwards, we sat in the shade of the wagon and sipped water from our canteens.

  “Which way are they headed?” I asked.

  “Northwest.”

  “Any chance we could overtake them?”

  Cooper shook his head.

  “Don’t think so. Tracks are at least ten, twelve hours old.”

  “So a horse race is out of the question.”

  “Yep. It’s going to be a long ride and take a lot of time to catch them.”

  “Well,” I said thoughtfully. “Long rides go better when you’re prepared. Reckon we’ll go back to Midway and get prepared.”

  Cooper shot me a surprised look.

  “You’re coming with me?”

  “You told Mrs. Walden we’d go after Wyatt.”

  “I did, but you didn’t,” Cooper replied. “What about the election?”

  I grunted in response, and asked, “Where do you reckon they’re headed?”

  “I’d say Valverde’s Pass.”

  “From there, they’ll go up into the mountains,” I figured.

  “Yep.”

  I sighed.

  “They won’t be easy to find in those mountains,” I said.

  “Josie will probably want to come along,” Cooper said thoughtfully. “She knows those mountains.”

  “That could be helpful,” I said.

  “Sure could.”

  I nodded and stood.

  “Well, we’d best be going,” I suggested.

  Cooper followed me to our horses. We untied them, climbed into the saddle, and rode back east. This time, Cooper led the mule.

  I glanced at Jug-head while we rode along.

  “Looks like you got your mule back,” I said solemnly.

  Cooper didn’t reply. Instead, he just grunted.

  Chapter twelve

  Darkness overtook us when we were about halfway back to Midway. But we knew the country, so we weren’t worried.

  “Mrs. Walden said that a big Injun took Wyatt,” Cooper recalled while we rode along.

  “Most Apaches are small,” I replied.

  “No Worries isn’t.”

  “No, he ain’t,” I said thoughtfully. “He’s about the same size as you.”

  “Reckon he’s the one who took Wyatt?”

  “Could be,” I said thoughtfully.

  We’d had dealings with No Worries before. He was a young war chief of the Apaches, and he led his growing band with a ruthless recklessness. His name was becoming a household name, right up there with Geronimo.

  “If it is him, they’ll probably go to their summer camp up in the mountains,” Cooper figured. “Josie knows where it is. She told me about it.”

  “That would be a good place to start,” I said.

  “It would be better if we had something to trade,” Cooper suggested.

  “You think No Worries would trade with us?”

  “Josie will know.”

  “We could trade Jug-head,” I suggested wryly, and Cooper smiled.

  We rode a bit further, and I glanced at Cooper.

  “No Worries would recognize me and Josie.”

  “That could be a problem.”

  “But, he might not remember you,” I reasoned.

  “Handsome as I am, would be hard to forget,” Cooper smiled wryly.

  “But you were wounded and looked awful,” I reminded. “And, No Worries was focused on counting coup against me. He probably didn’t even notice you.”

  “So I get to ride in alone?”

  “No,” I frowned. “We’ll bring someone else along.”

  “Who?”

  “Don’t know yet.”

  “And we’ll also need trade goods,” Cooper reminded.

  “We’ll think of something.”

  Cooper smiled faintly, and it fell silent.

  “I wonder who wo
n the election,” Cooper said after a while.

  This time, it was me that grunted in response.

  Chapter thirteen

  It was late by the time we got back. However, there were lights lit up and down the street, and the town was crowded and full of excitement.

  I spotted Judge Parker sitting on the porch at the jail, so we rode over to him. I also spotted Josie, walking up from our house.

  “Well, look who finally showed up,” Judge Parker said.

  I was about to reply when we heard a commotion behind us. We turned in the saddle and looked.

  Jason Wagons was walking towards us, and a huge crowd followed. As he got closer, I saw that there was a sheriff’s badge pinned on his vest’s pocket.

  “I don’t believe it,” I heard Cooper say softly.

  Wagons looked boastful as he stopped in front of us. Just like that, it got quiet and still.

  “Well, I won,” Wagons beamed.

  “I see that,” I said, and my face was emotionless. “Congratulations.”

  “I won in a landslide,” Wagons couldn’t help but add. “You did get a few votes, though.”

  I didn’t have an answer for that, so I was silent.

  “Everybody’s been wondering where you’ve been all day,” Wagons continued.

  “We ran into trouble.”

  “Oh?” Wagons looked interested. “Anything I need to know about?”

  I ignored Wagons and looked at Judge Parker.

  “A wagon was attacked by Injuns, about a half day’s ride from here. They killed a man and his wife and took their boy.”

  A nervous murmur went through the crowd, and Wagons got all excited looking.

  “This is sheriff’s business,” he declared. “You should have told me right away.”

  “There’s nothing you can do about it, Wagons,” I said sourly.

  “We can go after them,” Wagons replied, and several men in the crowd voiced their support. “I’ll raise a posse.”

  I sighed and looked at Cooper, and he cleared his throat.

  “They’re too far ahead,” he said. “You’d never catch them.”

  “But we can try,” Wagons protested.

  “Look. A white man will ride a horse until he’s tired, but then an Injun will come along and ride that horse another thirty miles, and then eat him,” Cooper explained patiently.

  “Well, we’ve got to do something,” Wagons insisted.

  “Yancy and I have already decided,” Cooper said. “We’re going after them, but it’s going to take time.”

  “You ain’t going without me,” Wagons declared.

  “A sheriff needs to stay in his town,” I spoke up.

  Wagons turned and glared at me.

  “I don’t take orders from you anymore, Yancy. You need to remember that.”

  I ignored Wagons and looked at Judge Parker.

  “Judge,” I said, “If I were a Texas Ranger, would I have authority over a local sheriff?”

  “Of course,” Judge Parker nodded.

  “Swear me in.”

  Chapter fourteen

  “Now hold on,” Wagons started to protest.

  “Sheriff Wagons,” Judge Parker interrupted.

  “Yes?” Wagons looked at him.

  “You are interfering with official business. As a Judge, I’m ordering you to drop this. Yancy and Cooper will take care of it.”

  “You want to do something,” I added, “You can ride out tomorrow and get the Walden’s wagon.”

  Wagons didn’t like it. His face was sullen as he turned and walked off, and his movements were jerky and abrupt.

  “The rest of you break up and go home,” Judge Parker spoke to the crowd.

  There were a few mumblings, but the crowd moved on down the street.

  Soon as they were gone, Josie walked up beside Cooper’s horse. She smiled at Cooper, and he returned the smile with one of his own.

  “You were gone, long time,” Josie said.

  “We didn’t mean to be,” Cooper said, and added, “Did you hear everything?”

  Josie nodded.

  “We’re getting that boy back,” Cooper declared.

  “I go with you?” Josie’s face looked hopeful.

  “Of course,” Cooper agreed. “We need you. Ain’t that right, Yancy?”

  “You know those mountains better than we do,” I said.

  Josie looked pleased, and she smiled.

  “How are you planning on getting that boy back?” Judge Parker asked from the porch.

  “Be more peaceful if we could trade for him,” Cooper replied, and he looked at Josie and asked, “Would that be possible, Josie?”

  “Have to be a good trade,” Josie replied.

  Cooper and I looked at each other and frowned.

  “Do you have any trade goods?” Judge Parker asked.

  “We’ve got this mule,” I beckoned.

  Judge Parker smiled and stood.

  “I have a thought,” he said. “Care to join me for supper?”

  “I could sure eat,” I replied.

  “I’ll meet you boys at the café then,” Judge Parker said.

  I nodded, but Josie spoke before I could reply.

  “I cooked supper. It is on the stove.”

  “What?” I looked at her.

  “There is plenty,” Josie said.

  “What is it?” I narrowed my eyes.

  “Indian stew.”

  I looked at Cooper and frowned, but he ignored me.

  “That sounds wonderful,” Cooper said, and he looked at Judge Parker. “Care to join us, Judge?”

  Judge Parker agreed, and they walked towards our house.

  I frowned thoughtfully and followed after them.

  Chapter fifteen

  Our front room was small, and our table filled the room. We squeezed into a chair, and Josie hustled about.

  “I made coffee,” she said, and she poured us all a cup. She also handed me the sugar bowl.

  I poured in my normal three spoonfuls, stirred, and took a swig.

  The coffee had a burnt taste to it. I swallowed and coughed and reached for the sugar bowl.

  Judge Parker took a swig, and his face was emotionless. I offered him the sugar bowl, and he didn’t say a word as he poured some in.

  Josie looked excited as she served us. She placed a bowl of stew in front of us, and I frowned as I studied it.

  I picked up my spoon and sampled it. It was bad. I couldn’t help but make a face as I swallowed.

  I glanced at Cooper and Judge Parker. Cooper showed no emotion, and Judge Parker looked thoughtful as they swallowed.

  “How is it?” Josie asked anxiously.

  “Fine, just fine,” Cooper said, and Judge Parker and I mumbled something and forced smiles.

  Josie looked pleased, and we returned to our stew.

  It was quiet and sober while we ate.

  Judge Parker’s bowl was halfway empty when he finally pushed his bowl back. I did the same and looked at Cooper. He was still eating, and I could tell by the look on his face that he was determined to finish it.

  “Thanks for supper, ma’am,” Judge Parker said.

  “More?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “Coffee?”

  “I’m good. Thank you, ma’am.”

  Josie smiled and grabbed our bowls. She carried them into the kitchen, and when she returned she sat beside Cooper.

  “I know somebody who has trade goods,” Judge Parker announced.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “Ike Nash.”

  Cooper and I glanced at each other, and I frowned.

  “I don’t follow,” I admitted.

  Judge Parker leaned forward in his chair.

  “I told you Ike has a new partner. His name is Morgan Gant. His brother, Boyle, rides with him.”

  “I’ve heard of ’em,” I said thoughtfully.

  “They do gun work?” Cooper asked me.

  “Yep.”

 
; “They good as us?”

  “They ain’t any worse.”

  Cooper frowned thoughtfully while Josie looked worried.

  “They’re bad men,” Judge Parker said. “Bank robberies, rustling, killing; they’ve done it all. Morgan is the interesting one.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “From what I hear, he’s very sophisticated. He even went to West Point before the war.”

  “One of them educated fellers,” I said.

  “Yes, very much so.”

  “And now he’s trading rifles to the Injuns,” I said.

  “Yes, and Ike is supplying the rifles.”

  “What do you have in mind?” I asked.

  “In six days, Ike is sending a man to Bronc, New Mexico, with two mules, packed with rifles. Morgan and Boyle are supposed to meet him there and pick up the rifles.”

  “And then they’ll go up into the mountains and trade with the Injuns,” I reasoned.

  “That is correct.”

  “Have Morgan and Boyle already made contact with the Injuns?”

  “My source didn’t know,” Judge Parker said.

  “So where do we come in?” Cooper spoke up.

  “I want you two to pose as Morgan and Boyle,” Judge Parker announced. “Meet Ike’s man in Bronc, pick up the rifles, and go get that boy back.”

  “What about Ike’s man?” I asked.

  “Leave him alone for now,” Judge Parker said. “We’ll get him next time.”

  “Next time?”

  “Once the routine starts, they’re supposed to meet every eight weeks,” Judge Parker explained.

  “A steady supply,” I said.

  Judge Parker nodded.

  “What about the real Morgan and Boyle?” Cooper spoke up. “We can’t all be showing up at Bronc at the same time.”

  “Last I heard, Morgan and Boyle were at Landry,” Judge Parker said.

  “We know the town,” I said.

  “I want you and Cooper to go up there and kill them,” Judge Parker announced abruptly.

  Cooper and I were startled.

  “Kill them?” Cooper asked distastefully.

  “There can’t be two sets of Gant brothers running around,” Judge Parker replied.