Sharpshooter

by Dusty Richards

  “Yes. Very real. Those are yours for guarding the house.”

  Tom laughed and shook his head at his wife’s reaction. “I’d say you got top wages.”

  “But—but they are real—not glass?”

  “The very real thing.”

  Jesus and Cole were taking the loot to the bank with the rest of the men except for Hampt, who they shook hands with since he planned to ride home to join May and his children.

  That all settled, Chet took the rest of them back into the house and explained what they found and the one incident with Logan. When he completed the story, Tom shook his head. “It was all in a cave in the face of a towering cliff over the Grand Canyon?”

  “Yes. They left a diary. Jesus translated it. Two died in the cave when no one came back for them. The other committed suicide.”

  “Wonder why they didn’t come back for them and the gold?”

  “I figure an Indian bunch wiped them out—somewhere up there. So they never got back to get the live ones or the treasure out of there.”

  “Helluva a deal, and it happened in the seventeen hundreds?”

  “Yes. A long time ago. I never went over the cliff. Your man Salty and Cole went down on ropes and loaded the things and we pulled them up. It made a great hideout but also a death trap for the ones left there when they did not come back for them.”

  “Where did they get the rubies?” Millie asked.

  “Somewhere up there I imagine there is maybe a caved-in mine. A prospector may someday trail the mine up. But we never saw any gems laying around any source on the ground. We didn’t do much gold panning. There simply was not that much looking-around time and, let me tell you, I don’t think you could walk all over that entire portion of Arizona in a lifetime. It is a dry land with few rivers or streams.

  “They tell me the emeralds we brought back came from a different vein than the rubies. The Spaniards found gold, rubies, and emeralds up there. We found skeletons, metal uniforms, old, old guns, books, and letters. There’s some bands of outlaws, at least one, anyway, who run roughshod over the citizens up there. They need to be removed but that is a job for the territorial law to handle, not the ranch folks.”

  “Were there any pure Spanish horses?” someone asked.

  “Not that I observed. Those colts are my wife’s and she will decide their fate. I made a deal with the men that went along with me. I will share half the treasure profits with them.”

  The gathered folks clapped and approved the deal. He also told them he had no plans to run a ranch on the north side of the Grand Canyon. They applauded again. He hugged his wife by the shoulders. “Thanks. This ranch looks wonderful and a better site to be at than the whole north part of Arizona above the Grand Canyon.”

  He waved good-bye to Tom and Millie. Cole’s wife, Valerie, was there, in a buckboard, by then. Standing before the spring seat she shouted, “Chet Byrnes, thank you again for bringing him back to me. You’ve saved my life several times.”

  He agreed and waved at her.

  He and Lisa went into the house.

  “They have baths for us drawn upstairs. I will bring our meal up, all right?”

  “Sounds wonderful.”

  “I am not rushing you, am I?”

  He shook his head. “I am really bushed. Be good to sit down finally. Thanks, honey.”

  Bathed and full, they went to bed early.

  CHAPTER 6

  The alarm bell in the ranch center was ringing. Chet sat straight up in bed. It was still night dark outside. Something bad had happened. He went to the open window to shout at the bell ringer. “What’s wrong?”

  “Mr. Byrnes, they’ve stolen several horses over at our ranch tonight. Hampt has his arm broken. He tried to stop them. Louis told me to come get you and more men.”

  “I am coming down. Vance, send word to Jesus and Cole for them to come at once.

  “Messenger?” Chet asked the man.

  “My name is Hal, sir.”

  “Didn’t recognize you in the dark. Hal, come to the back door. My wife and I’ll be down there after we dress. I want to hear the whole story.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Busy dressing in the lighted bedroom by the bedside lamp, Lisa shook her head. “You aren’t home ten minutes and all hell breaks loose.”

  “Glad I am here.”

  “Oh, I am not complaining. Where would they go with stolen horses?”

  “I’d say south. Not much market anywhere else.”

  She nodded that she heard him and finished buttoning up her dress. “Just be careful, all right?”

  “I intend to be that.” He kissed her quickly and dropped his rump on the bed to pull on his boots. “Sorry, this will be too tough for you to go along.”

  “I understand and I really appreciated the trip north. What shall I do about all this treasure business?”

  “If it sounds like a good offer, accept it.”

  “No. I have no idea about the value. It can wait until you return.”

  “Fine. Tanner at the bank knows the gold’s value. Have him sell it.”

  “I will do that, then.”

  He hugged her, thanked her, and they went downstairs. Hal rose when he saw Chet’s wife. “These girls let me in.”

  “Fine. Sit down. And tell me the story from the start.”

  “I was asleep in the bunkhouse when the dogs went to raising hell. Earlier we had a big welcome home for Hampt getting back from your trip. I jumped out of bed, put on my boots, and grabbed my gun before going out the door. But the horses they drove had already gone by the bunkhouse door.”

  “What happened next?”

  “One of the rustlers whirled his horse around to come back to help a rustler that Hampt had ahold of. I guess he ran out of the house, caught this last one, and jerked him off his horse. The outlaw who rode back crashed his horse into Hampt. That sent him and the one he had hold of down on the ground and broke Hampt’s arm in the wreck.

  “The rider shot at Hampt but the horse he rode was all upset so he missed—the rustler that Hampt had hold of jumped on the other one’s horse behind him and they skedaddled. I shot at them, but in the dark, you can’t hit anything except by luck.”

  “How many horses did they get?”

  “Last count I heard was two dozen. May sent me to get you. Walt Stroud and two others were going after them when they found horses to ride. I caught this old horse and rode fast as I could over here.”

  “How is Hampt?”

  “Hell—sorry, ladies—he was ready to go after them, broken arm and all.”

  Chet knew Hampt would be upset. He hoped May could hold him until they got the arm set, anyway.

  “These were the horses that Hampt’s stepson broke for him?”

  “Oh yes, sir. They were the best horses to steal.”

  Lisa brought them both a cup of hot coffee.

  Boy, he knew how mad Hampt must be. He’d bragged on the new addition to his remuda up on the North Rim, and to have rustlers take them was not an easy thing to swallow, especially for a man like Hampt.

  The house girls and Lisa fixed them breakfast. Vance came to the house and reported how he’d sent for both Jesus and Cole. His men were loading the packhorses with supplies.

  His ranch foreman asked if they needed a horse wrangler to keep up with them.

  Chet nodded.

  Chet thanked the girl who delivered his plate heaped with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits in gravy.

  “Wow, you girls are fattening me.”

  “Eat up,” Lisa said. “There will not be any kitchens where you’ll be camping.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Vance, to come back to your question. Yes, a good man like Vic wouldn’t hurt to have along, and another man to manage the horses.”

  “Vic will be proud to serve.”

  “Yes. He’d be good.”

  “Pick that boy who went north with us. He’s up here,” Lisa said. “His name was Eldon Grimes.”

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sp; Chet nodded and told Vance to stay there and eat—it would take a while for Cole and Jesus to get there.

  Vance did as he was told.

  “It is a shame that Salty isn’t up here,” Lisa said.

  “By the time he got up here we’d be long gone.”

  She agreed.

  “I can send a word to him,” Vance said. “He’d be up here in four hours and grab a fresh horse here. He’d catch you pretty quick on the trail.”

  “There won’t be anyone to look after things if we all go. Send word for him to help you while we are gone. We are taking some of your men as it is.”

  Cole arrived in a buckboard with Valerie and Chet’s son Rocky, who came on the run to the house.

  “Is Hampt all right?” Val shouted at him.

  Chet went over and hugged Cole’s wife, Valerie, and tousled his son’s hair. “We think so. How are you two?”

  “Fine. How bad off is Hampt?” she asked.

  “I figure by now he’s on his way to Preskitt to have the bone set. And mad as hell about the whole thing.”

  “You have many details?”

  “Hampt got hold of one of them and jerked him off his horse. Another rustler came back and that guy ran over them with his horse. In the wreck, they say Hampt broke his arm and the second one got on and rode off with that other rustler.”

  “Boy, if Hampt had got hold of one of them he’d have pumped the information about who they were out of that outlaw.”

  Chet agreed. “Have some breakfast. Rocky, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. I like Hampt. I hope he gets all right.”

  “So do I. You need to see Lisa’s new horses we brought home with us.”

  “I will be sure to look at them.”

  “How long before Jesus gets here?” Cole asked.

  “Maybe an hour. Vance is sending Vic and the horse wrangler Billy Bob, who went to the North Rim.”

  “That’s good. Any idea who the rustlers are?”

  “No. But they must be well organized to slip in and take only the good horses.”

  Cole nodded. “Didn’t horse rustlers take some valuable horses from this ranch before you married Marge?”

  “My first wife. Yes. They went through Bloody Basin and some damn rough country.”

  “They ambushed the ranch’s foreman and his man?”

  Chet nodded. “I made Raphael stay with their bodies and rode on after them. Our deal was for Raphael to come after me when they got there.”

  Cole nodded. “That old man never forgot the sheriff’s deputy. When he got there he wouldn’t let him go on and help you.”

  “He always told me that.”

  Jesus arrived by buckboard about the time daylight lightened the eastern sky. He handed over a bedroll and war bag with a rifle. “How is Hampt?”

  “I imagine he’s had his arm set by now,” Chet said.

  Shaking his head, his aide said, “I hope he’s all right. The boy said they stole those good horses that May’s son broke for him.”

  “I’d say they had a spy over there, or someone knew those horses were broke and ready for when they got there. It was well planned.”

  “They going to Bloody Basin this time?”

  Chet smiled. “Most rustlers use that route. Is your wife all right?”

  “She’s fine.”

  “Thanks for answering my call. Cole’s here and two ranch men are going along—Vic and the horse wrangler Billy Bob, who we used on the North Rim.”

  “Good. I will be ready shortly. I want to check on the supplies they have loaded.”

  “Fine. We are also taking along a few extra horses.”

  “Good.”

  Jesus shook his head in disbelief. “It is a wonder Hampt is alive.”

  “I thought the same thing.” They both laughed.

  “How many head taken?”

  “No one had a count of how many got away. He originally bought twenty head. We’d hoped to start out with some real good horses for him to have for roundup next spring.”

  “These supplies will work,” Jesus said, telling the hands standing by to replace the diamond hitches over the panniers.

  “I think the others are here. Mount up!”

  Chet took the reins to the stout roan mountain horse they called Gilacarty and swung into the saddle. His boot soles set in the stirrups, he smiled at Lisa. “I’ll be back.”

  “You better or I’ll haunt you to hell.”

  “I believe you’d do that.”

  She moved in and slapped his leg. “Wear chaps in the brush. It will save you needles in your legs.”

  “I promise. I get down there, I’ll wear them. Love you.”

  She shook her head, her lashes wet. Parting was hard on him, too.

  The horse the vaquero Vic chose bucked some going under the gate bar. The others shouted him on but the gelding quickly broke into a lope and he led the procession to where the highway turned southeast.

  “How far will we get today?” Cole asked Chet.

  “We should make the turnoff to Bloody Basin by sundown.”

  “They have a half-day’s start on us?”

  Chet nodded. “Unless they pour it on hard today.”

  Cole agreed. “Oh, thanks for inviting me.”

  Chet found that funny and laughed.

  Before sundown they located water off the Black Canyon Road at the Bloody Basin cutoff. There was no doubt in Chet’s mind the rustlers had gone into the wilderness with the stolen horses. It was a long ways to any civilization, crossing this way, and there were not many folks to say they’d rode by. He wondered what their plans were to sell the horses and where?

  They made camp and the stopover was well organized. Where would they land? He sat cross-legged on an Indian rug and flipped pebbles out in the short dry grass while they set up camp. There had to be an answer to his question. Maybe he’d ask a raven how far ahead they were.

  That amused him—talking to birds. Wouldn’t work. But then the next day he needed that information to continue after them. Lisa, I am thinking of you . . .

  CHAPTER 7

  They were up before sunup so that when the pink lighted the eastern sky the fires for breakfast were flaming. They began loading the packhorses and saddling the riding ones. Bedrolls were tied on behind cantles and the men came into camp to sip too-hot coffee and fill their plates with cooked food out of iron kettles.

  Everything packed, they set out. No doubt the fresh-shod ranch horses were going ahead of them. Chet rode up on some rises to see if there was any dust boiling up. Nothing. They reached a long-abandoned ranch to water the herd and could see that the rustlers had been there earlier in this densely crowded juniper brush–clad rolling country.

  Many buck mule deer stiff-legged bounded away at their appearance. Their antlers in the velvet they soon disappeared in the vegetation. It would have been a great place to hunt deer, Chet decided when a near-blue-coated male snorted at him and left the area in a bounding run.

  At noon they took a short break and ate some leftover breakfast. Chet told them they’d find some water midafternoon and might consider camping there since the next water he knew about was the Verde River and it was a day’s drive past that place.

  They agreed.

  “How far away are we from where they were hung?” Cole asked. He referred to the place where Chet had lynched the last two of the killers of the two ranch foremen.

  “I’d say we’re four to five hours from the Verde now. That lynching was at Rye and it is way the hell over there,” Chet replied, pointing in the direction it all happened.

  “Will they go there?”

  “Best horse market is Tombstone.”

  “You think they’ll go there?”

  “I have no idea, but there’s money there and horses come high priced.”

  “Who hung them killers, Mr. Byrnes?” Billy Bob asked.

  “A man who followed the bloody trail close behind them.”

  “You did?”
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  “Those men had murdered both the Preskitt Valley ranch foreman and his number one man. They raped two women as well. I trailed the killers down here and then way over there to Rye and decided the world didn’t need them any longer. Today I would drag them back to be hung—law is better than that—but then I didn’t.”

  Billy Bob nodded that he understood.

  Chet began to unsaddle his horse.

  “Sir, let me do that. That is my job.”

  “Not today. But thanks.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jesus and Cole soon were at his side.

  Cole began with authority in his voice, “We have four hours of sunlight left. Let’s take fresh horses and ride like hell and maybe catch this bunch.”

  “The three of us,” Jesus said. “Two of us already think we are really close to them from the signs of things.”

  “The rest of our crew and the packhorses can come on in the morning if we don’t catch them,” Cole said.

  Chet nodded. “I’m game.”

  “Guys, saddle us the toughest fresh horses we have. The boss man, Jesus, and I are making a hard rush this afternoon to catch these thieves and if we don’t, so what. You all come in the morning and bring the packhorses.”

  The crew rushed to get them mounted. Jesus got them some jerky and in no time the three of them were ready to race off after the rustlers. Chet had put on his chaps to save his legs, since he knew rushing like this would get them in some fixes in the brush or even a pancake cactus bed.

  Mounted, they saluted the men, left, and charged away. Cole took the lead and they wasted no time going from hill to the next hill on the faded wagon track through the dry washes and up the other side. Hooves drumming, saddle leather creaking, the determined threesome crossed lots of country.

  Coming off a long grade, Chet stopped them and dug out his field glasses after he saw what he thought looked like the flash of a dark bay horse farther down the mountain. Glasses to his eyes, he adjusted them and he saw another horse through the openings.

  He handed the glasses to Cole. “They are half a mile downhill from here.”

  “Reckon they’ve heard us?” Jesus asked.

  Chet shook his head and fought his heated horse to be still. “Not herding their own horses.”

  “Yes, it’s them. Range horses don’t shine like those horses do.”