“She ain’t really free,” Jug said. “It ain’t like she can go nowhere.”
“Yeah, but that’s good, ain’t it?” Poke said. “I mean as long as she can’t go nowhere, why, when we go back ’n tell the governor that she’s here, she’ll still be here when someone comes for her.”
“I suppose so,” Jug replied. “But I’m beginnin’ to think that comin’ here wasn’t such a good idea.”
“Why not?” Poke asked. “You’re the one that come up with the idea. You ain’t changin’ your mind now, are you?”
“No, I ain’t changin’ my mind. But we got to be real careful ’bout what we say.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that.”
“Hey, Poke, I just got me an idea. ’N it’s a good one, too.”
“What’s your idea?”
“Why don’t we take the girl to the governor ourselves?”
“How are we goin’ to do that?” Poke asked.
“It’ll be easy. You know the girl won’t give us no problem, if she thinks we’re takin’ her back to her daddy. ’N he might give us even more money if we was to show up with her.”
“Hey.” Poke was getting into the spirit of the conversation. “What if we was to do this? What if we was to take the girl, then hold her until the governor give us a lot of money? Maybe even ten thousand dollars!”
“Yeah,” Jug said. “She’ll think we’re takin’ ‘er back, ’n we will be, if the governor’s willin’ to pay for it.”
“When you want to do it?”
“We’ll do it tonight, when ever’one is either asleep or drunk,” Jug suggested.
At that moment, Kendrick pushed in through the swinging batwing doors.
“Damn, there’s Kendrick,” Poke said. “Wonder what he wants.”
“No tellin’,” Jug replied. “Just keep quiet ’n don’t say nothin’ to ’im at all, unless he says somethin’ first.”
Poke and Jug stared into their drinks as if by that action they could avoid any interaction with Kendrick. Their attempt to avoid him didn’t work, however. He walked right up to where they were standing and addressed them directly. “Hello, boys,” he said affably. “What are you two doin’ in Blowout?”
“Nothin’ much,” Jug said. “We come here from time to time. You know that.”
“Yes, I do know that. But I would think that now, given the circumstances, that Blowout would be the last place you would want to visit.”
“Why? What are you talking about?” Poke asked nervously.
“Oh, I’m sure you are quite aware of what I’m talking about. But tell me, did you two boys enjoy your visit with the governor?”
“The . . . the governor? W-what do you mean? W-why would we visit the governor?” Jug asked, stuttering in fear.
“Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps it was to give him some information that he wants . . . like where his daughter might be. I heard he was going to pay you boys five hundred dollars apiece.”
“Nothin’ of the kind. It ain’t nowhere near that much . . . uh . . . what I mean is, why should he pay us anything?” Poke replied, his voice reflecting as much fear as had Jug’s.
“Peabody, you and Cahill may come in now,” Kendrick said.
Two more men stepped into the saloon. They were holding pistols, and the pistols were pointed toward Poke and Jug.
“What’s this all about? W-why are you two boys pointin’ them guns at us? W-what are you a-plannin’ on doin’?” Jug asked.
“We’re going to put you in jail,” Kendrick replied. “Then we’re going to hold a public trial.”
“What? Now, hold on there,” Jug said, holding his hand out toward Kendrick as if, by that action, he could push him away. “What do you mean you’re a-goin’ to hold a public trial? This here town ain’t got no law. You don’t have the right to do nothin’ like that.”
“On the contrary, gentlemen, I do have the right. Oh, I will be the first to admit that I assumed that right when I usurped the leadership position of this town, but as surely as a king has civic and judicial authority over his realm, I have such authority over my domain. Blowout”—Kendrick made a circular motion with his hand—“is my own personal principality. I would be remiss in the responsibilities I have assumed if I did not deal with this act of treachery that the two of you have committed.”
“I don’t know what you think we done,” Poke said, “but if you want us to leave town ’n not never come back no more, why, we’ll do that. Won’t we, Jug?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jug said. “We won’t never come back. I can promise you that.”
“Mr. Peabody, these two gentlemen are under arrest. Please take them to jail.”
“Come on, you two,” Peabody said to Poke and Jug, waving the barrel of his pistol.
“Now, hold on there!” Jug said again. “There ain’t no need for you to do this. We done told you we’re willin’ to leave town ’n not never come back.”
“It’s too late for that,” Kendrick said. “You should never have come to town in the first place.”
Kendrick, Peabody, and Cahill left the saloon with their two prisoners and walked down the middle of the road. Kendrick wanted everyone in town to know that he was in charge, and being in charge meant that he was also the law.
Rosalie, who was out walking around, saw the five men, two of whom were holding their hands up, and she wondered what it was about.
“Miss Ireland, come here, please,” Kendrick called out when he saw her.
Rosalie hesitated.
“Please don’t make me send someone to bring you to me by force,” he said, his voice a little more resolute than had been his first summons.
Frightened at being called, she walked over toward Kendrick and the others, all of whom had stopped in the middle of the street.
“Jug, Poke, do you know who this young lady is?” Kendrick asked.
“No, I ain’t never seen her before in my life,” Jug replied.
“What about you, Poke? Do you recognize her?”
“No. Why should I?”
“Why should you? Because she is the reason you will have to pay the ultimate price for your betrayal. This is the governor’s daughter.”
“The governor’s daughter?” Poke asked.
“Yes. The one for whom you double-crossed all your friends when you told the governor where he could find her.”
“What are talkin’ about?” Jug asked. “We didn’t tell the governor nothin’ ’bout his daughter bein’ here.”
“That is only technically correct,” Kendrick said. “You didn’t tell him she was here, because you didn’t know it. But you did tell him that we were keeping her in the cabin at Miller Creek Draw. I know you told him, because I have an eyewitness who saw and heard you talking to him.”
“You’re just tellin’ us that to see if you can make us confess, but we ain’t a-goin’ to confess to somethin’ we didn’t do,” Poke said.
“Take them to jail,” Kendrick said, and at his urging, the men moved on.
* * *
Once Jug and Poke were put in jail, Kendrick called a meeting of the Fence Busters at the Rustic Rock restaurant. He had considered holding the meeting in the saloon, but decided there would be too many distractions if they met there, so after ordering the three diners and the employees out, he invited his men to take a seat.
“How many are here, in town?” Kendrick asked.
“There’s twenty-two of us,” Peabody said.
“Only twenty-two?”
“Well, I left Dooley and nine more back at the cabin where we was keepin’ the girl,” Peabody said. “And I expect that by now, they’ve already took care of this fella MacCallister ’n whoever he has with him. We got Shardeen ’n three more men with him a-movin’ some more cows to the Double D. And there’s ten or so out at the Blanco River camp.”
“So, at the moment, our total strength stands at just less than fifty,” Kendrick said, adding the numbers as Peabody laid them out.
�
�Yeah,” Peabody said.
“Very well. Let’s get the meeting started, shall we?” Kendrick said.
“You men all quiet down now,” Peabody said to the others. “Kendrick has some things he wants to talk to us about.”
With the men paying attention to him, Kendrick stood up to address them. To the casual observer it could have been anything from a prayer meeting to a political rally to a business meeting. It was the latter, but the business was cattle rustling and murder.
“When we took the girl, I sent the governor a message, telling him that I wanted him to take back the bill he got passed that made it a felony to cut fences on public property.”
“Hell, Kendrick, what difference does it make whether it’s ag’in the law to cut fences on public property or not?” one of the men asked. “It’s already ag’in the law to cut fences on private property, but that ain’t stopped us none.”
Some of the other men laughed.
“It’s not the same thing,” Kendrick said. “We’re representing the New York and Texas Land Company. They are a legitimate organization, paying us to find public land that they can claim and sell. It is good that they are paying us, but what is even more important is the fact that they are providing us with the cover we need for conducting our own operations.”
“Which is stealin’ cattle, ’n even I know that ain’t legal,” a man named Harris said.
“I prefer to say that we are acquiring cattle that have been freed as a result of the fencing being cut. And right now, gentlemen, we have freed more than ten thousand head of cattle, which are gathered at the Double D Ranch. At the moment, the price of cattle at the Kansas City Market is averaging fifty dollars a head. Now for any of you who may not be all that proficient in math, I can tell you that means that we have a net worth of half a million dollars.”
A few low whistles sounded in the room.
“I intend to get another twenty thousand head before we market them, at which time our little organization will have assets of a million and a half dollars. At that point, we will cease to do business, and divide up the money in accordance with the agreed-upon arrangement. I will take half that sum, and the remaining funds will be divided equally among you. That should come out to approximately fifteen thousand dollars,” he concluded with a smile.
“Fifteen thousand! You mean, fifteen thousand apiece?”
“I do indeed mean that.”
“Damn! I didn’t have no idea there was that much money in the whole world!” someone said, and the others laughed nervously.
“But, as you can see, it’s all tied together. In order to do this, we must have the cover of the legitimate business of the New York and Texas Land Company, and if the law against cutting fences on public land isn’t rescinded, I fear the New York and Texas Land Company might stop doing business. If they stop, we’ll have no option but to stop as well. That’s why it is absolutely imperative to have this law against fence cutting repealed. And at the moment, keeping the governor’s daughter is our only way of ensuring this.”
“How come she’s here in town?” someone asked. “How come she ain’t still up at the cabin?”
“In the message I sent to the governor, I warned him not to get the Texas Rangers involved. He hasn’t, but he has hired MacCallister, as Peabody just pointed out, to lead a posse of private citizens.”
“How many in the posse?” Taylor asked.
“According to my sources, there were five of them,” Kendrick said. “Six, if you count the Chinaman, but I am informed that he doesn’t carry a gun.”
“It don’t really matter whether the Chinaman carries a gun or not,” Peabody said. “He can kill you just as dead without a gun as he can with a gun. You might remember that he was the one that kilt Perkins when we run into ’im at the Slash Bell.”
“Yeah, but they was only three of ’em then. You said they was six of ’em now. Where did they get the other three?” Taylor asked.
Kendrick smiled. “You may find this hard to believe, but they got the other three from prison.”
“From prison?”
“Yes. Governor Ireland signed the pardons.”
“Who did they get?” Muley asked.
“Right now, the only name that I know is Roy Kelly,” Kendrick replied.
“Roy Kelly? I ain’t never heard of him,” Peabody said.
“I’ve heard of ’im,” Muley said. “During the war, he rode with Bill Anderson.”
“Bill Anderson? Bloody Bill Anderson? Well, I’ve sure heard of him,” Peabody said.
“Who ain’t heard of him? Bloody Bill Anderson was one mean sumbitch,” Taylor said. “And that means that if this feller, Kelly, rode with him then he’s more ’n likely just as mean.”
“Yes, well, the last I heard Quantrill and Anderson are both dead,” Kendrick said. “And it is more than likely that MacCallister, Gleason, the Chinaman, and the three pardoned prisoners are dead as well.”
“What makes you think that?” Taylor asked.
“Mr. Peabody, I’ll let you tell of the plans we made for them,” Kendrick said.
Peabody chuckled. “We don’t have to worry no more about MacCallister ’n his bunch. I left Dooley ’n nine others back at the cabin. Good men they are, too, ’n ever’ one of had ’em a good place to wait for the ones comin’ to rescue the girl. I expect MacCallister and the ones with him was all shot down in the first minute or so.”
“How do you know?”
“They’s only one way to approach the cabin, ’n that’s to come right up alongside Miller Creek. The draw there is no more ’n forty feet wide, ’n it’s got steep walls on either side of it. Dooley ’n his men have a natural fort, what with the rocks ’n all. Once the shootin’ started, MacCallister ’n that bunch with him wouldn’t have had no place to go. Hell, it woulda been like shootin’ cows in a slaughter pen.”
“So you see, gentlemen, we no longer have to worry about Mr. MacCallister,” Kendrick concluded.
“Yeah, but didn’t we think the same thing with Jaco ’n Dawson?” Taylor asked.
Kendrick chuckled. “It is said that a smart man learns from his mistakes, a brilliant man learns from the mistakes of others. I have learned from the mistake made by Jaco and Martell. They failed to use overwhelming force. This time, we made certain that maximum force was used. I am satisfied that we will have no more difficulty from MacCallister.”
“Yeah, well, I know I sure feel better with him gone,” Peabody said.
“Now, gentlemen, let’s get on with the subject of this meeting,” Kendrick said. “I plan to organize a trial for Poke and Jug.”
“Why are you goin’ to do that?” Muley asked. “Whyn’t we just kill ’em, ’n be done with it?”
Muley didn’t say anything about it, but he was quite nervous over the prospect of a trial. He recalled talking about the governor’s daughter with Jug, and he was sure that was how Jug and Poke got the information. If there was a trial, and it was learned that he had been talking to them, he feared he might wind up alongside Poke and Jug.
“No, we will have a trial,” Kendrick said. “A trial will serve two purposes. One, it will present a semblance of organization and authority in the town, with me at its head, and two, it will serve as an object lesson and a warning to anyone in town who might get it in their head to try and overthrow the government I have established. A trial is very necessary.”
“Yeah,” Muley said, feeling a weakness in his stomach. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
While the meeting was going on in the Rustic Rock, Rosalie Ireland, who, as Kendrick had promised, had the freedom to go anywhere she wanted in town, stepped into the Pair of Kings Saloon. She had never before been in a saloon and had always been curious about them, so, she asked herself, why not? There was nothing “normal” about her life right now, anyway.
Her appearance so startled the customers that all conversation came to a halt, and everyone turned to look at her. She im
mediately wished that she hadn’t come in, but it was too late. Four or five women were already in the saloon, all wearing dresses so scandalously revealing that Rosalie couldn’t help but wonder how they were even able to keep their dresses on.
One of the girls walked over to her. The girl was young, and Rosalie decided she was probably pretty behind all the garish makeup.
“Honey, we have all heard that as long as you are in Blowout, you are free to go anywhere you want,” the girl said gently, “but I don’t think you want to come in here. This isn’t a place for your kind.”
“My kind? And what, may I inquire, do you mean by my kind?” Rosalie asked, a little piqued by the comment.
“Why, your kind. You know. You are a lady.” The girl smile. “And you are so beautiful, fine, elegant, and decent and all,” she added genuinely. “You ain’t nothin’ at all like none of us.” She looked down as if embarrassed to say so. “We’re prostitutes, ever’ one of us. ’Course, we call ourselves soiled doves, but that ain’t nothin’ more than another word for the same thing.”
Despite the fact that she had been brought to Blowout against her wishes and had been told that any attempt to escape would be futile, Rosalie couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for this young woman. Rosalie realized that the woman might even be younger than she was.
“What is your name?” Rosalie asked.
“My name is Glitter,” the girl replied. “Glitter Bright.”
“Oh, what a lovely name,” Rosalie said.
“You like it?” Glitter asked.
“Yes, I think it is a very nice name.”
“I’m glad you like it. I made it up my ownself,” Glitter said with a broad smile. “My real name is Melba Rittenhouse, but that ain’t a very pretty name, ’n in this business, you need to have a pretty name.”
“Glitter, do you know who I am?”
“Why, yes, ma’am. Ever’one in Blowout knows who you are, Miss Ireland. We know you are the governor’s daughter.”
“And do you also know that I was brought to this town against my will? That I am being held prisoner here?”
“Yes, ma’am. We know that, too.”
Ten Guns from Texas Page 20
