“Mr. MacCallister!” the governor greeted them effusively when they stepped into his office.
“Pardon us for just barging in like that, Governor,” Duff said, “but your man wasn’t at his desk.”
“Yes, I sent him after Captain Brooks. You two have chosen a most propitious time to visit me. I have just learned where Rosalie is being kept.”
“We thought you might have heard,” Duff said.
“Oh?” Governor Ireland was surprised by Duff’s pronouncement.
“The two men who just left your office? Wang overheard them talking, but they didn’t say where your daughter was. Did they tell you?”
“Yes. They said that she is being kept in a cabin that sits in Miller Creek Draw. Here, I’ll show you where that is.” Governor Ireland stepped up to a large map of Texas, which was attached to the wall behind his desk, then he pointed out the creek and the canyon. “I was going to send Captain Brooks and some of the Texas Rangers, but I think it might be best if you go.”
“You’re damn right, it’d be better to send us,” Elmer said. “They’ll be suspicious as soon as they see a Texas Ranger, but they won’t even recognize the Ten Guns from Texas.”
“Ten Guns from Texas?” Governor Ireland replied.
Duff chuckled. “Don’t ask, Governor. I’ll gather my men, and we’ll ride out to the draw tonight. We’ll sneak up on them and minimize the possibility of your daughter being hurt.”
“All right. I am going to appoint both of you as special deputies to the governor’s office, with authority that supersedes that of any sheriff in the state. That will also authorize you to deputize the men I pardoned. Elmer, Duff, Wang. Please bring my daughter back home safely,” the governor pleaded.
“Colonel, if she is there, I guarantee you, we will bring her back to you,” Elmer promised.
“Yes, if she is there,” the governor said.
Duff put his hand on Governor Ireland’s shoulder. “And if she isn’t there, we’ll find where she is. We’ll do all we can to bring the lass back home safely.”
Governor Ireland nodded. “Thank you.” He said the words barely louder than a mumble.
The cabin near Miller Creek Draw
Rosalie was lying on a pad on the blankets, staring up at the bare rafters on the underside of the roof. Kendrick had left the first day after she had arrived, and she’d been frightened to see him go. He’d seemed to go out of his way to see that she was treated well, perhaps because he knew it would give him a better bargaining position with her father. So far, none of the others had actually mistreated her, but the way Morris looked at her all the time did make her nervous.
Besides, being held against her will was mistreatment enough.
She was very concerned about her father. She knew he was worried to death about her, unsure whether she was alive or dead. In a way, her captivity was easier on her than it was on him. At least she knew what her condition was.
She heard some horses approaching from outside and wondered who it was and why they were arriving. She didn’t have to worry long.
Shortly after the horses arrived, a couple men came inside.
“Come on, girl,” Peabody said. “We’re goin’ for a ride.”
“Oh! Am I being released?” she asked, her heart soaring with hope.
“Naw, you ain’t bein’ turned a-loose. We’re just a-movin’ you to someplace else, is all.”
“Why am I being moved?”
“You’re bein’ moved on account a couple turncoats told the governor where you are at.” Peabody began tying her hands.
“Oh, must you do that?” Rosalie complained. Although they had kept her tied for a while after they first brought her there, for the last twenty-four hours, she had been allowed freedom to walk around the cabin and also outside. They were confident that she wouldn’t be able to get away from them, and their confidence was not misplaced.
“Yeah, I’m goin’ to have to blindfold you, too.”
A moment later, blindfolded and with her hands tied in front of her, Rosalie was led out of the cabin, then helped onto her horse.
“Dooley, you are in charge here,” Peabody said. “Get the ambush set up and kill ’em as soon as they come into range.”
Rosalie realized then that someone was coming to rescue her, and Peabody was arranging to have the men killed. She felt remorse, knowing that if they were killed, it would be because of her.
“Come on, girl, you’ve been through this before,” Peabody said as he hoisted her into the saddle, then slipped a noose around her neck.
She grabbed the saddle horn.
“Let’s ride.”
* * *
She had no idea how long they had been riding, but she knew it had been for several hours. She was blindfolded, so she tried to gauge her location from the ambient sounds, at one time hearing a babbling brook, and another time the sound of wind through some trees. She even tried to get clues from the sound of her horse’s hoofbeats, sometime the dull thuds of footfalls on dirt, sometimes the soft brush of grass or vegetation, and sometimes the dry click of horseshoes on rock.
After a ride of another hour or more, she realized they were no longer riding through the countryside. She could hear the roll of wagon wheels, the sound of a hammer, and a woman’s laughter. She felt a quick sense of elation as she realized they were in a town. Her first thought was that they wouldn’t bring her into a town unless they were about to release her. Would they?
Finally they stopped, the noose was taken from her neck, and she felt her hands being untied.
“You can take off your blindfold,” someone said.
With great relief, she did so. The first thing she did was look around the town, twisting in her saddle to observe everything that she could.
Peabody chuckled. “You ain’t goin’ to find one.”
“I’m not going to find what?”
“You ain’t a-goin’ to find a sheriff or a marshal’s office, ’cause we ain’t got one.”
“Nonsense. Who enforces the law if you don’t have a sheriff or a marshal?” Rosalie said.
“Well that’s just it, missy. There ain’t no one to enforce the law, on account of we ain’t got no law in Blowout.”
“Blowout? We’re in a town called Blowout?”
Peabody nodded. “That we are,” Peabody said.
“Have we left Texas?”
“No, we’re still in Texas.”
“But I’ve never heard of a town named Blowout. And my father has a map of Texas on the wall behind his desk. Surely if there were such a town, I would have heard of it.”
“Well, you see, missy, you might say that we are a town that don’t want nobody to know anythin’ about us. We’re what you might call an outlaw town.”
“You can’t mean that everyone in this entire town is an outlaw?” Rosalie asked incredulously.
“No, I wouldn’t say that at all,” Kendrick said, coming out of the building in front of them. “On the contrary, the good citizens of this town are quite law-abiding. It’s just that the laws they abide are laws that I have established.”
Rosalie was confused. “What do you mean, laws you have established?”
“When we arrived here several months ago, the sheriff and the deputy met with a rather unfortunate . . . oh, shall we say . . . accident? Because of that tragic circumstance, the town of Blowout found itself without law. Therefore, as the preamble to our constitution says, in order to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, and promote the general welfare of the community of Blowout, I assumed leadership, acting as mayor and as the sheriff.
“And now, as a result of my providing peace, everyone in town works for me. Everyone,” Kendrick said, emphasizing the word. “So, even though I’m going to give you the freedom to walk around, it’s not going to do you any good to go to anyone to ask for help, because nobody is going to help you. And if you manage, somehow, to escape, you’ll wind up wandering around on your own and we’ll find you. When we b
ring you back, your stay with us won’t be so pleasant.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Along Miller Creek
Duff, Elmer, Wang, Kelly, Simmons, and Decker rode through the night, following the creek as it flowed through loamy soil and rock outcroppings, past grasslands and stands of live oak, mesquite, and Ashe juniper. It babbled as it broke over the rocks, resulting in little whitecaps that were somewhat fluorescent in the moonlight.
Wang returned from riding ahead.
“Did you see anything?” Duff asked.
“Shi. The cabin is near. There are men outside.”
“They have men outside standing guard?” Duff asked.
“I don’t think they are standing guard,” Wang said. “I think they are waiting to attack us. I think they know we are coming.”
“Now how ’n the hell could they possibly know that we’re comin’?” Elmer asked. “Are you sure about that?”
“Shi. The men are in positions so that they will be able to shoot at us as we approach.”
“Damn. That means someone has told them we were comin’,” Elmer said. “But who would have done that? Who could have known?”
“In that case, lads, ’tis my suggestion that we dismount and tie our horses here,” Duff said. “We’re less likely to be seen if we approach on foot.”
“Yeah,” Elmer agreed. “That’s a good idea.”
“Wang, since you aren’t armed, I’m going to ask you to stay here with the horses. I’m afraid we would be in a great deal of trouble if our horses were to run off.”
“Shi. I will stay,” Wang agreed.
“Take your rifles, men,” Duff said. “With Rosalie in the cabin, we need to shoot as accurately as we can.”
The cabin near Miller Creek Draw
Clyde Dooley and eight more men were waiting for the expected attempt to rescue the governor’s daughter. They were all in good defensive positions, which provided cover and concealment. A tenth man materialized from the dark, and because he was expected, his appearance caused no alarm.
“What you doin’ back here, Beans?” Dooley asked. “Have you seen somethin’?”
“They’s a-comin’, just like you said they would,” Beans replied. “I seen ’em.”
“How many are there?” Dooley asked.
“Five of ’em. And that MacCallister feller is with ’em.”
Dooley smiled. “Yeah, well, he don’t have no idee we’re here, so we can kill ’im easy. ’N more ’n likely, Kendrick will give us a reward for that, seein’ as he’s been a-wantin’ that one kilt from the beginnin’. Get ready, men. We’ll start shootin’ soon as they ride up.”
“They ain’t ridin’,” Beans said. “They’re afoot now, so we won’t hear ’em all that easy.”
“Where are their horses?”
“They left their horses down at the first bend.”
“Morris?” Dooley called in a harsh whisper.
“Yeah?”
“Go up on the ridgeline and follow the creek back to the first bend. Their horses is there. Run ’em off.”
“What if they’s someone watchin’ the horses?”
“Kill ’im.”
“Dooley, if them five men ain’t got to us yet, they’ll hear the shootin’ ’n likely know somethin’ is up,” one of the other men said.
“You’re right. Tell you what. Peters, you go with Morris. That’ll be two of you agin whoever it is they left there. The two of you ought to be able to kill ’im without makin’ no noise. ’N that’ll still leave us with eight men. Eight of us ought to be able to handle five, most ’specially if they don’t know we’re here.”
“All right.”
* * *
Duff, Elmer, Kelly, Dawkins, and Simmons had closed to approximately five hundred yards of the cabin when Duff held up his hand.
“What is it?” Kelly asked. “Why are we a-stoppin’?”
“’Tis thinkin’ I am that perhaps we should wait for first light,” Duff said. “In the daylight, there will be less chance that the wee lass would be hit by a stray bullet.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Elmer agreed. “I figure it’ll be daylight in another hour, so we may as well wait.”
* * *
Wang was sitting down with his back against a tree when he heard something . . . a sharp snap that stood out against the sound of rushing water and wind-pushed leaves. Standing, he moved back into the darkest shadow, kept his eye on the horses, and waited.
“What the hell? There ain’t nobody here,” Peters said in a harsh whisper. “I thought you said someone was here.”
“I said there might be someone here,” Morris said.
“Maybe they figured if they tied the horses, they wouldn’t run off on ’em. This’ll be easy. We’ll just let the horses go.”
Wang stepped out of the shadows just as the two men approached the horses. “I will not allow you to untie the horses.”
“What the hell?” Morris shouted as he reached for his pistol.
Peters stopped him. “Dooley don’t want no shootin’, remember?”
Morris nodded. “You got a knife?”
“Yeah,” Peters said.
“Pull it. The two of us ought to be able to handle one Chinaman.”
As the two men approached Wang, Peters made a low swipe with his knife. Wang avoided it easily, then hit Peters in the neck with the edge of his hand, collapsing the trachea. Peters dropped his knife and put both hands to his neck, struggling for breath before he died.
The interaction happened so quickly that Peters was dying before Morris even knew what was happening. Realizing that the odds had changed, Morris dropped the knife and reached for his pistol. Using the heel of his hand, Wang broke Morris’s nose, sending bone fragments into his brain, killing him instantly.
Wang had done his job so efficiently and silently, neither Dooley and the men who were arrayed in their ambush positions nor the Ten Guns from Texas were aware of the drama that had already taken place with the horses.
* * *
Duff and the others gradually approached the cabin until they heard someone call out, “There they are!”
A ripple of gunfire came from the Fence Busters, all of whom enjoyed a superior defensive position.
Duff withheld fire until he located the position of everyone who was firing at him and his men. He counted eight flame patterns scattered across a long row of rather large rocks, none of which were in front of the cabin. He was reasonably certain that the men who had opened fire could be engaged without putting anyone inside the cabin in significant danger.
Aiming just over the top of one of the rocks where he had last seen a muzzle flash, he held the aim until he saw what he was looking for. A head came up just far enough for the shooter to take aim. Duff squeezed the trigger and saw the man’s rifle slide down in front of the rock. He didn’t see the body, but he had seen a little spray of blood fly up above the rock.
The guns continued to roar and the sky was soon filled with birds, who, frightened by the noise, were flying away. The intensity of the shooting, the rising cloud of gun smoke, and the acrid smell of spent powder filled the air.
Bullets whizzed by overhead, most of them sounding like angry bees as they passed by. The very close ones made a popping noise as they fried the air. There was also the high keening shriek of a bullet hitting a rock, then careening off, its whine echoing and echoing back from the nearby bluffs. In addition, there were the shouts and curses of anger and defiance between the two lines as the men who were engaged in the desperate battle were trying their best to kill each other.
Duff killed a second man, while out of the corner of his eye, he saw a third go down. As one Fence Buster tried to improve his position, Duff shifted his rifle to aim at him, but before he could get his shot lined up, he heard a shot from his right, and that man went down, as well.
“Dooley?” someone shouted. “Dooley, they done kilt four of us! We need to get the hell outta here.”
“What about Morris and Peters?” Dooley replied.
“They didn’t come back, did they? Hell, it’s more ’n likely they’re both dead, too.”
The man had just finished pleading his case when Duff heard a shot coming from Elmer’s rifle. The result was another Fence Buster who had abandoned his position and tried to run, only to be brought down. He stumbled forward a few steps before falling.
“Sumbitch, Dooley! Now Marvin is dead! They’s only three of us left!”
“Give us the girl!” Duff shouted. “Give us the girl, and we’ll quit shooting!”
“The girl ain’t here,” a frightened voice called back.
“Where is she?” Duff asked.
“I don’t know where she is! We got word you was comin’, and they moved her someplace else. We was supposed to set up an ambush ’n kill you when you come after her.”
“Come out with your hands up,” Duff ordered.
Two of the men did come out, both of them holding their hands in the air . . . though both of them were still grasping their rifles.
“That’s only two of you. Where’s the third?” Duff asked.
“There ain’t no third man. They’s just the two of us. I’m Beans, he’s Rand.”
“I heard you call out to a man named Dooley,” Duff said. “Where would he be?”
“I . . . uh . . . don’t know,” Rand said.
“Elmer, if Mr. Dooley does nae come out by the time I count to five, I intend to kill the man on the left, and I’ll be for askin’ you to kill the one on the right. Then we can look for the wee lass ourselves.”
“All right. Start a-countin’,” Elmer replied, raising the rifle to his shoulder.
“Dooley, come out, now!” Rand shouted in a frightened voice. “Come out now, you yellow coward! Don’t you dare stay back there ’n let me ’n Beans get kilt!”
“I’m comin’ out,” a voice said from behind the most distant rock.
“Come out with your hands in the air,” Duff ordered.
Dooley stepped out, holding both hands over his head. One hand still clasped a rifle, though he was holding it in one hand by the forestock.
Ten Guns from Texas Page 18
