by J. Lee Butts
On a bridge just outside the hamlet of Celina, a party of heavily armed men blocked our way. Leader of the group rode the biggest horse in Texas. He needed every bit of that animal. Just like Magruder, he dressed in black and carried a Bible in his right hand and a shotgun in his left. Although the others in the group didn’t appear to be the handiest lot with firearms, the man in black looked fully capable of holding his own with just about anyone, armed or otherwise.
We checked up on the north side of the bridge and he let us know real fast how determined they were. He bellowed like a lion and waved at the men behind him. “Gentlemen, I am the Reverend Jeremiah Cobb. These men are a deputation from the Church of the Everlasting Redeemer of Celina, Texas. We were informed this morning by our brother-in-faith, the Right Reverend Robert Magruder, dangerous men were determined to kill him. We’ve come here to make certain your nefarious plans do not come to fruition.”
Old Bear looked at me like he couldn’t believe what was happening. “What now, Hayden? Big man that one. Good target.”
“I don’t want to shoot a bunch of real honest-to-God, Bible-thumping, churchgoing Texians. But I’ll do what I have to.” Pulled the Winchester and rested it across my left arm. “Sir, I am Deputy U.S. Marshal Hayden Tilden on the business of Judge Isaac C. Parker’s court in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Gentleman on my right is my scout and also an officer of the court. We seek the arrest and return to Fort Smith of the outlaw Saginaw Bob Magruder. If he’s the man you mentioned, then you should know that he is a killer, rapist, and thief of the first water. We aim to kill him or carry him back to Arkansas for trial and hanging.”
Let that one set on them for a bit. The reverend turned in his saddle and got an earful from some of his deacons. Figured I had them going. So I forged ahead. “If you attempt to stop us, I will see to it that you are brought before local magistrates on the charge of obstructing a federal officer in performance of his duty. If you threaten us, you will be dealt with in a much more severe manner.” Turned back to Old Bear and whispered, “Sound tough enough?” He smiled, pulled his rifle, and took a pose just like mine.
Some of the Reverend Cobb’s congregation evidently didn’t care for what they’d just heard. Two of them snatched at his sleeves and gestured wildly. The argument got fairly heated before he pushed back to the front of the group.
“Reverend Magruder told me you would try to lie your way around this. We will not be swayed from our duty as we see it. I cannot allow you to continue the pursuit and persecution of a devout member of our brotherhood-in-faith.”
Old Bear turned in the saddle. “Want me to shoot the preacher man, Hayden?”
“No. I’ve had enough of this. I don’t want things to get out of hand.” Stood as high in the stirrups as I could and yelled, “Mr. Cobb, would you come forward and speak with me in private?”
“Careful, my friend.” Old Bear pulled the hammer back on his rifle as I moved to the center of the bridge.
Cobb approached with some degree of unease and stopped a little more than a few feet away. He came up so close I noticed his old shotgun appeared on the verge of falling apart. Most of his company seemed similarly equipped. His black suit, so imposing at a distance, suffered from years of hard use. Most of the other men were dressed in the garb of farmers. They had no idea how dangerous a situation now confronted them.
I slowly raised my right hand. “May I reach into the pocket of my coat, sir?” Flattery never hurts, and it doesn’t cost much.
“Of course,” he replied.
I pulled a warrant I’d had Judge Parker’s clerk specially prepare for me. Rather than the pencil-scribbled John Doe that appeared on most of my documents, this one was carefully lettered in a beautiful inked script. Saginaw Bob Magruder’s name looked like it belonged at the bottom the Declaration of Independence. Inside the writ rested the letter Judge Parker sent me after the killings at Minco Springs.
“I think you should take a careful look at these documents, Mr. Cobb.”
He accepted the papers and eyeballed me for several seconds before beginning his examination. He scratched his gray beard while reading, and eventually removed his hat and hung it on the saddle horn. His ability at deciphering the documents appeared sorely limited, but he got the gist.
Eventually, he handed everything back to me and glanced at the nervous men he’d left behind. “Robert attended our church here in Celina two, three times a year. Always donated heavily in gold when he came. Money he gave has been invaluable to us in the continuance of our ministry. I must tell you, sir, the charges listed on those papers are beyond my comprehension. That is not the man we know. As I said, he passed our way this morning and begged for our help. We had to come, Marshal. You do understand, don’t you?” His shoulders sagged with the realization of how wrong he’d been and how badly he’d been duped.
“Will you and your friends move aside, Reverend Cobb?”
“Of course, Marshal Tilden. Please accept my apology for the harsh consequences of our meeting. Godspeed and good luck to you and your friend, sir.”
The preacher stopped his horse in the midst of Magruder’s most recent group of protectors. Found myself amazed at the number of people willing to stand between Saginaw Bob and those, like me, who would bring him to justice. Solution to that puzzle completely eluded me.
After some moments of grumbling and a few raised voices, the Cobb party moved away from the bridge and melted back into their drab surroundings. Kept an eye on them the entire time. Given my past experience with Magruder’s followers, I didn’t trust the self-proclaimed Bible-beaters any further than I could throw Booger.
Old Bear and I arrived at the Empress Hotel just as it got dark. I went to the front desk and told the clerk to fetch the owner. Missy swept into the room on a cloud of silk carried by a swirl of perfume so light it just kind of tickled the edges of a man’s nose and made him aware something wild and expensive approached.
“Hayden, you do turn up at the most amazingly unexpected moments. I’m so glad to see you again, dear man.” She slathered on the southern charm and brushed my cheek with a kiss. “My private parlor will be more comfortable. Do come in.”
We followed her down the hallway and into a brightly lit room. Overstuffed chairs and a huge sofa dominated it. I’d barely got seated when a man in a dress coat offered me a drink on a tray. Felt almost like we’d been expected.
“Missy, Saginaw Bob Magruder is here in Dallas. I’m fairly certain he’s at Gertie’s visiting the twins or soon will be. Old Bear and I’ll go there and take him or kill him. If Carter Caine’s word is any good, he’ll help. Should anything go amiss, I want you to promise you’ll get in touch with Elizabeth and let her know what took place.”
She looked absolutely thunderstruck as she slowly lowered herself onto the sofa beside me. “Of course, Hayden. I’ll do anything you ask. But let’s take a bit more positive view of this and make up our minds that I won’t have to deliver such a terrible message.”
“We’ve chased the man all over Arkansas, Texas, the Nations, Kansas, and back again. At first, he didn’t have any idea we were after him. Now he does. Most likely he’s on the second floor of Gertie’s waiting for me to show up. But I just might have a surprise for ole Bob. I want you to go to Gertie’s with us and bring Carter Caine out so I can talk with him. He’s the key to ending this, once and for all.”
She smiled and kissed me again. Old Bear looked away and tried to pretend he wasn’t there. “I’ll help you any way I can.”
“Have Samson get the barouche ready. We don’t want to attract any more attention than necessary.”
No griping or discussion from her that time. “Clarise. We’re going out immediately. Have Samson bring the carriage around.”
13
“CUT HIM DOWN, SHOOT HIM, AND BURY HIM”
THE THREE OF us sat in Missy’s carriage across the street from Gertie’s and watched the front of the building. I described the interior in detail for Old Bear. He a
greed his best position would be just left of the main doorway in a corner created by the pillars that decorated the building’s face. I would go to the back of the house and wait for Missy to bring Caine out.
I’d barely had time to check all my weapons when the back door popped open and a dapper Carter Caine danced down the steps. “Most pleasant to see you again, Marshal Tilden.” He extended his hand and shook mine warmly.
“Where’s Missy?”
“Don’t trouble yourself, sir. I escorted her back to the carriage and Samson’s very capable protection. She told me why you’re here. Didn’t really have to. Knew you’d be along. Magruder came stormin’ in late yesterday afternoon. Man threw enough money on the table to keep me’n the girls eatin’ high on the hog for at least two years.”
“Is he upstairs now?”
“Yes, but he’s edgier than a cornered wildcat. Gonna have to be careful, or we might all end up gettin’ dead before this night ends.”
“Last time I visited, you just kind of appeared in the corner of the twins’ room. Figure you have a way in that most people don’t know about.”
“You are a smart one, Tilden. Didn’t think you noticed that.” He smiled, motioned me toward the door and spoke in a low, conspiratorial manner. “Come with me. I’ll show you something no one else in Dallas has ever seen or even suspects.”
I hung my spurs on the back of a chair just inside the doorway of the long screened porch. We entered the house through the kitchen. Caine went directly to what appeared to be a blank wall on the far side of the room.
“Fairly wealthy family built this house. But the neighborhood went south faster than they expected.” He pushed on the wall, and it swung out like a door. “Servants used these back stairs to go about their work without being seen.” He motioned for me to follow. “I had the original doors removed and put up false walls all over the second floor.”
The staircase twisted upward and opened onto several different landings. He picked one that placed us in a room that contained a chair, crude table, and narrow bed.
He turned and whispered, “When the girls have overnight visitors, I sleep here.” He pointed to a little hole in the far wall and said, “Take a peek.”
Being half a foot taller than the stocky sporting man, I had to bend over to see through his secret viewer. The room looked exactly the way I remembered. On the bed farthest from us, Magruder and the girls rolled about in a tangle of arms and legs. Muffled squeals, laughter and giggles filtered through the heavy wall. A chair decorated with piles of weapons sat next to the head of the bed, within Magruder’s reaching distance.
Caine leaned close and whispered, “I’ve been waiting for the girls to move away from him. But he’s been holding on pretty tight. Cagey scoundrel knows I won’t let anything happen while they’re close by. Sent in a bottle of laudanum-spiked bourbon ’bout an hour ago. He’s been hittin’ it pretty hard. Won’t be long ’fore he’ll be right where we want him. Once he starts to fade, the girls will sneak out, and we’ll take him.”
“What if he can taste the laudanum?”
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, Marshal Tilden. I know just how much to use.” He pulled his pocket watch out and looked at it. “He should start to wither in about another thirty minutes or so. Trust me on this, we’ll have him in cuffs within the hour.”
Sure as cows in Kansas, I’d just taken a break from the peephole when Caine slapped me on the arm. “Now’s the time.” He stepped to the far end of the bed and pushed on the wall. Five seconds later, we stood in the corner where he’d suddenly appeared on my last visit.
Girls had vanished, but the air still dripped with the scent of whiskey, tobacco, and sweaty bodies. Magruder was sprawled across the bed in his drawers and breathing heavily. Caine’s right hand dipped into the collar of his coat and snapped forward like a whip. A gleaming bowie flashed into his fingers. Its twin sprang from the top of his left boot. He motioned me to the right side of the room while he moved to the left. We crept across the floor like church mice with sore feet.
Truth of it is, to this very moment I’m still not exactly sure what happened next. It all went so fast and so slow at the same time. But near as I can remember, we’d managed to get less than two steps away from Magruder when he sat up in the bed and shot Carter Caine. The sporting man grabbed his head and dropped like a felled tree.
In the dying flash of that pistol’s fire—a span of less than half a second—I had to decide whether to kill the most evil man I’d ever encountered outright or try to take him alive. Everything I knew of him screamed from the deepest part of my soul for the end of his sorry life. It would’ve been so easy. The Winchester had him dead center. A single trigger pull and a cavern the size of my hand would’ve exploded from his back. An eye for an eye—a tooth for a tooth—blood for blood. But a vision of him hanging from Maledon’s Gates of Hell popped into my brain as he swung his pistol my direction. I stepped into him, brought the rifle butt around, and swatted the little pocket gun out of his hand.
He came off the bed like a panther with a red-hot poker up its behind. I didn’t even have time to blink before he grabbed my wrist and jerked so hard the rifle went flying across the room. Tried for the pistol on my hip, but he latched onto my right arm with a grip that felt like it could have stripped bark off a green Texas cottonwood limb.
We were near nose to nose. “So nice to finally see you again, plow pusher.” He hissed so loud spit sprayed all over my face. “Say hi to yore stupid, clod-kicking daddy for me when I finish with you.” He smiled and winked. But the sneer on his lips started to fade as arms that had busted Kentucky sod from the age of seven slowly forced his hands up till my fingers wrapped around his throat.
His right hand darted down between us and snatched at the pistol hanging against my belly. We grappled around the room for some seconds before the gun slipped from his sweaty grip and landed on one of the feather pillows from the bed. Ragged fingernails sliced across my face and left bloody cuts. I came down on him with a wicked lick that caught him between the eyes. Blow like that should have been enough to fell a Montana antelope.
He stumbled backward and dropped to his right knee. I grabbed a bar stool and caught him a glancing blow across his left shoulder. Splintered wood shot up the wall and destroyed an oil painting of one of the Hunter sisters. Men from all over the West must have admired that picture for its ability to arouse them. Naked, that red-haired gal was something to see.
Magruder screeched like a wounded wildcat and bounced off the floor like he had springs in his feet. I went down under the weight of him. Sweat and blood and spit flew in every direction. We rolled around on the floor for so long not a stick of furniture got spared. I finally bulldogged him onto his back. Hit him at least a dozen times with a closed fist that bounced off his head and sent flames of pain up through my hand to my elbow. He went limp for a second, and I hesitated. Then he came off the floor with another burst of screaming, bloodthirsty power. Sent us ricocheting off the walls from one side of the room to the other.
Just when I’d about given up any hope of success and begun to actually fear for my life, I caught him with an awesome right to the jaw. Put him on his knees again. Things got real quiet.
Then, out of thin air, Old Bear appeared beside me. Held a piece of corner post from one of the beds. “You havin’ too much fun, Hayden. Rest, my friend.” Never expected to see a man get a beating with a piece of furniture. But, calm as a cow in clover, my old friend went at Magruder with all the skill of a watchmaker. Started at his feet and worked his way up. Ended it all with a shattering blow to the head. Magruder went down like a hog in a slaughterhouse.
Old Bear pitched his club into the corner and let out a long, ragged breath. “Feel much better now, Hayden. When I see him dead, think the spirits of Waxon and his family will leave me in peace.”
We pulled Carter Caine to his feet and discovered Magruder’s bullet had put a nice dent in his skull, but left his brains i
ntact. ’Course, he bled all over hell and yonder. Old Bear wiped him off with a piece of rag while I cuffed and shackled our bloodied killer.
Caine grabbed me by the sleeve. “Hayden, get him away from Dallas . . . quick as you can. He has friends here. If they find out he’s been taken, could be trouble aplenty. Go down the back way. I’ll cover for you when the local law arrives. Take ’em a few minutes, but, trust me, they’re coming.”
We snatched up everything that looked like it might belong to Magruder. Caine and I dragged him down the stairs and threw him over my extra mount. Old Bear followed with all the clothes and weapons he could carry. He did an ingenious rope trick on the outlaw. Said he’d packed mules for the cavalry for a time. “This way, possible for us to run hard for home. Not worry ’bout losin’ him.”
Caine slapped me on the back and shooed us away. “Go, go . . . go now. The girls and I’ll take care of everything. Get ole Bob to Fort Smith and hang him. Then, cut him down, shoot him, and bury him.”
I jumped on Booger, then leaned down and took Caine’s hand in mine. “I’m forever in your debt, sir. Should you need help in any way, just send word. I’ll come to you as fast as horses can run. Be sure and tell Missy what happened and apologize for my hasty departure.” He smiled and slapped Booger’s enormous rump.
We left town like tomcats shot with a bootjack. Didn’t stop running for two days. No sleep. No rest. Ride nearly killed Magruder. When we pulled him off that horse, he was black and blue from the roots of his hair to his ankles and could barely move. Had to keep a watchful eye on Old Bear the whole time. Kept remembering what he’d said about taking Magruder’s heart.
We ran hard from Dallas all the way to Durant. Caught the M.K.&T. to Vinita. One time on the train I went to sleep. Magruder was all bloody again when I woke up. Old Bear smiled for hours.
