by Jake Logan
As the laughter was dying down, Myrtle came out to serve coffee all around. She started with Julia. “Thanks, Myrtle,” Julia said.
“Sounds like I missed some fun,” Myrtle said.
“I’ll tell you all about it later,” Julia said, “but you’re just in time to hear about John.”
Myrtle finished serving. “If you want any more,” she said in a loud voice, “you can get it yourself. You’ll find a pot on in the kitchen.” Then she turned to Julia. “Now tell me about John,” she said. “Why didn’t he come back with you?”
“I can tell you that much,” Thurman said. “When we met up with Charlie and Julia and Slocum on the road this morning, we loaded Charlie into our wagon, and Pete over there told them as how he had overheard in town that Harman was sending his man Jelly up north somewhere to round up some more gunhands. Slocum rode out to stop Jelly. We come on here. That’s all we know.”
“Then he wasn’t hurt?” Myrtle said.
“Not when we last seen him,” Thurman said.
“All right then,” said Myrtle. “If he’s just gone after one man, he’ll be all right. He can handle himself.”
Joiner came back out just then, wearing fresh jeans and a clean red shirt. Julia jumped up and ran to him to give him a hug. “You’re looking somewhat better,” Thurman said. “Get you a chair, son, and let’s get down to business here.”
Bobby drew up a chair next to Julia’s for Joiner to sit in, and then stepped back out of the way. Someone handed Joiner a cup of coffee. “Thanks,” he said. “And thank all of you for coming. I don’t need to waste any time on the background of this situation. All of you know how Harman got this ranch away from me, and you all know by now that I’ve got the proof he was rustling all this time. You know why I’ve come back too. I wish John Slocum was here for all of you to meet, because if it hadn’t been for John, we wouldn’t likely even be sitting here talking. Most of what we’ve been successful at so far has been because of his ideas and what he’s done. It was his idea to call this meeting, but I’ll try to carry on the way I reckon he would have, ’cause some of you has come from a good ways off, and besides, we ain’t got time to waste.
“Well, you know, Harman had himself a small army. Now, thanks to Slocum, we’ve got it cut down to nine, and that includes Harman himself. By the time Slocum gets back here, it’ll most likely be down to eight. Seems like we ain’t got too much of a problem left, but Slocum said we can’t just go riding into Rat’s Nest like a bunch of outlaws and attack Harman’s Hi De Ho. It wouldn’t look right, and some citizens might take it wrong and actual jump over to Harman’s side before they figured out what it was all about.
“But the only law left for us is Eddie Cobb here, and if he was to go try to arrest any of them, they’d gun him down, sure as hell. That’s what they done to Bud. So it seems that we have to go take them by force. We have to call them out and face them down. The reason for this meeting is that we want you all and everyone you know to be aware of what’s going on. We ain’t asking you to join us in the fight, just to stay to the side and help keep anyone else informed about it and out of it too.
“I figure we’ll ride on in there, me and Slocum and Bobby and Eddie, and we’ll call them out of the Hi De Ho and give them a chance to surrender to the law—to Eddie here. If they do, that’ll be it. But I expect they’ll fight first. We’ll be ready for that. And we can take them too.”
“Charlie,” said Thurman, “what you said so far makes good sense, but when it’s all over and done, how you going to get back your ranch legal-like? It’s recorded now in Harman’s name.”
“I figure I’ll do it just the way he done me,” Joiner said.
Eddie Cobb stood up. “All Harman done is he paid the taxes when they come due,” he said. “Charlie was hiding out in Mexico, and no one around here was bold enough to challenge Harman. We all just let him get away with it. It was that easy. Well, I don’t believe anyone around here will challenge Charlie’s right.”
“They better not,” McCulley shouted. “We’d skin them alive, by God.”
“Anyhow, if anyone should challenge Charlie, in my capacity as the law, I’ll just drag my feet about it till tax time comes up,” Cobb said, “and then we’ll let Charlie pay the taxes and he’ll get it back in his name.”
“That makes sense to me,” Thurman said, and there were murmurs and some shouts of agreement from throughout the crowd.
“Only thing that don’t make no sense to me at all,” old McCulley said, “is why the hell you want to go in there after them just the four of you. Whyn’t you let us all go in there? If that sleazy lizard Harman looks out on the street and sees all of us armed to the teeth a-challenging him, and him with only seven or eight men, he’ll likely just come skulking out with his tail betwixt his legs. Then we can string them all up.”
“I don’t know about that,” Joiner said. “I don’t want no one getting hurt or killed over my problem. Besides, this was all Slocum’s idea, and I don’t want to say nothing more about it till he gets back.”
Myrtle stood up and waved her arms for silence and attention. “Does that take care of all the business for right now?” she asked Joiner.
“I reckon so,” he said.
“Then some of you men set up those long planks yonder to make a table out here in the yard,” she said. “I’ve got enough food in the kitchen for an army.”
“All right,” Pete said, and he headed for the stack of planks.
“I ain’t et no cooking ’cept my own for a hell of a long time,” McCulley said. “By gum, I’m ready for some good eats.”
“If you think you’re ready,” Hindman said, “what do you think about me? I’m sick nigh to death of your cooking.”
Julia, Mrs. Thurman, and McCulley got up to follow Myrtle into the kitchen to help bring out the meal just as Slocum rode up leading the pinto. Bobby followed him to the corral and unsaddled the pinto while Slocum saw to his own Appaloosa. “Glad to see you back safe, Slocum,” Bobby said. “Guess the other side’s down to eight now.”
Slocum said, “That’s right. Hand me those saddlebags there, will you?” Bobby picked up the saddlebags from the pinto and held them out to Slocum. Then the two of them walked together toward the crowd, which was now seating itself along the makeshift table on the benches.
“Y’all,” Bobby shouted as they approached the table, “this here’s John Slocum.”
Slocum nodded as he received howdies from all around the table. He walked over to Joiner where he was sitting and handed the saddlebags to him. “Hang on to this,” he said. Then he looked at Bobby. “All these people and horses around suddenly made me nervous,” he said. “We ain’t never dug up all that dynamite we buried out there. You know, that stuff gets unstable after a while.”
“You want me to dig it up now?” Bobby said.
“I don’t think we need it anymore,” Slocum said. “Get a couple of fellows to help you.”
Bobby made his way over to the crowd of Thurman cowboys and said something to them. Pete and one other man got up and followed Bobby to the shed, where they got themselves some shovels. Soon the three of them were digging at each of the remaining short flags in the yard. McCulley and the three women started coming out of the house with trays and platters and bowls. Slocum took a place at the end of one of the benches. He watched as the cowhands pulled the bundles of dynamite sticks out of the holes and headed back toward the shed with them.
Bobby led the way into the shed. Pete went in next. As Bobby and Pete were headed back toward the table, the third cowboy went into the shed with his bundles. Alone in the shed, he looked over his shoulder. He was by himself. No one was watching. He pulled up his trouser leg and tucked a dynamite stick into his boot. Then the other leg. He tucked two more sticks inside his shirt, then walked out and back toward the table.
It took several trips back and forth between the table and the kitchen, but at last everyone was seated and eating. Myrtle had prepared a sump
tuous feast, and as she had said, it was enough for an army. Everyone was well fed. The meal done at last, Brick Thurman stood up and called for attention.
“Mr. Slocum,” he said, “we have a question to put to you.”
Slocum said, “All right.”
“Before you arrived,” Thurman said, “we, this whole group here, volunteered to ride into Rat’s Nest armed to back up your play when you call out Harman. Charlie said you didn’t want us to do that. Will you tell us how come?”
“Mr. Thurman,” Slocum said, “I believe that when me and Chuckie last discussed the possibility of such a thing, Harman still had a considerable number of gunmen backing him up. It didn’t seem to me a good idea to cause a small war in town. Also, we didn’t really know what to expect from all of you, so it seemed like the best plan to just tell you what our intentions was and how come. It seemed like it might be a more reasonable request than if we was to ask you to go get shot at.
“But the situation has changed, and if you all are actually volunteering to ride in with us, I for one would be just tickled to death.”
A general cheer went up around the table. When it at last died down, Slocum said, “The real good part of this new approach is that it just might be the best way to avoid a fight. No one with half a brain would try to stand off this bunch with only eight men.”
With the final step in the plan at last decided on, everyone seemed to relax. It was settled, and it looked like it was going to be easy. Myrtle finally got Julia to tell her tale of the events of the night before, and Slocum got Joiner off to one side to tell him about the cash in the saddlebags. Joiner, having had the law on his side for a change for a while now, thought that he’d better talk it over with Eddie Cobb before claiming the cash as his own. Cobb said that he agreed with Slocum. The money was Joiner’s. “Let’s try to keep things as simple as we can,” the deputy said.
The meeting was called back to order for one last piece of important business. “When do we do it?” Thurman asked.
“First thing in the morning,” Slocum said. “I suggest that everyone stay the night right here, and we get an early start.”
It was agreed. Mr. and Mrs. Thurman would stay in a guest room in the big house, and Bobby showed all the others to the bunkhouse.
The cowboy who had secreted four sticks of dynamite stopped Thurman just as he was about to go into the house. “Mr. Thurman,” he said, “I’d sure like to ride on into Rat’s Nest. I got me a little gal in there, you see, and I never knew that all this was going to come up. She’s kind of expecting to see me tonight.”
Thurman grinned. “All right, Andy,” he said. “Go on in. You can join back up with us when we get into town in the morning.”
“Thanks, Mr. Thurman,” said Andy, and he headed for his horse.
They posted a guard that night on the front porch, but no one really thought they needed it. The eight outlaws in town weren’t about to attack Joiner’s ranch with such a force around it. Everyone was relaxed. They anticipated no problems with Harman and his remaining crew in the morning. Joiner and Julia went upstairs to their bedroom, and Myrtle followed Slocum into his room. As she shut the door behind herself, she said, “Hey, cowboy, you want some company tonight?”
Tonight and every night for the rest of my life, Slocum thought but all he said was, “Come on in, darlin’.”
He was already out of his boots and shirt. He unfastened his jeans and dropped them to the floor, stepping out of them just as she came up to him to put her arms around him. They kissed passionately. Then Slocum broke loose from her and started pulling her clothes off to reveal her lovely nakedness. His rod was already standing up straight. Completely stripped, Myrtle pressed herself against him once more, and once more their lips met and parted. Their tongues darted in and out of one another’s eager mouths.
Then Myrtle turned in his arms until her back was pressed against his chest, and his throbbing cock tormented the crack of her ass. He reached around her, taking a breast in each hand, and he pressed them, savoring the lovely smooth softness of them, soft yet firm. Then he slipped his hands down to her narrow waist, and she leaned forward, at the same time spreading her legs apart. Slocum slipped his cock down between her thighs, where he could feel her damp and hairy crotch. One of her hands snaked back and took hold of his tool, guiding its head into the wet hole there. He thrust forward, deep into her waiting cunt.
“Oh,” she said. “Oh, John, fuck me hard.”
He rammed his pulsing cock deep into her pussy again and again, slapping his pelvis hard against her round butt cheeks. “Oh, oh, oh,” she said in time with the slap, slap, slap of their bare flesh as he humped her over and over again. The pressure built in his balls, and his cock felt ready to burst. He pounded harder and faster, and then he exploded deep inside her velvety cavern of delight. “Ahhh,” he said, slowly relaxing.
He felt his legs weakening, and so, reluctantly, he backed out of her until his cock head slipped free. Then he turned and dropped down onto the bed. She crawled in on her hands and knees beside him and kissed him on the lips. “I’ll clean you up,” she said.
“The towel’s over on the table,” he said.
She nuzzled his chest and then his stomach. “I don’t need it,” she said, and then her tongue reached out and licked the length of his shaft. His whole body twitched at the sensation. She licked it again and again, then the area around it, cleaning the love juice off his body the way a mother cat cleans its young. She licked his balls and between his legs.
At last she took the entire length of his shaft into her mouth. She lolled it around, licking and sucking, and Slocum felt it begin to come back to life. She did too, and she bit down on it gently, scraping its length with her teeth. It stiffened, ready to go again, and she sucked deep until the head was in her throat, her face was pressed against his belly, her chin nudged his ball sack, and his crotch hairs tickled her nose. She backed off again, sucking as she did, until only the head was still in her mouth. Then she loosened the grip of her lips and plunged her head downward again.
This time Slocum thrust upward with his hips, ramming his cock into her mouth and down her throat. She pulled back again as his hips relaxed. Again she plunged, and again he thrust. He reached down with both hands, tangling his fingers in her hair, and now as he thrust and she plunged, he also shoved her head down and then pulled it back up. She sucked his cock. He fucked her face.
“Um, um, um,” she moaned with each stroke. It was all the noise she could make with her mouth so full. “Um, um.” Clutching her hair in two fistfuls, Slocum suddenly rolled her over until he was on top of her. Now he thrust down into her mouth and throat. Now he was genuinely fucking her face. He didn’t know if she could take that kind of action for long, but then he didn’t need much longer. A couple more thrusts was all. He felt it build, and he felt the sudden release. He shot his load deep into her throat. He pulled back and thrust again, but not se deeply as before. The second shot went into her mouth. She tasted it, savored the taste and the feel of it, and then she swallowed it.
When at last he pulled out, she reached up to take hold of the softening rod, which now hovered over her face. She squeezed and pulled and a final spurt shot out, landing on her cheek. She laughed, a gentle, musical laugh, and then she pulled the cock head back into her mouth for a final suck. She meant to get every last drop.
14
Andy Pride rode hard into Rat’s Nest, and he pulled up just in front of the Hi De Ho. Quickly dismounting and slapping the reins of his tired horse around the hitching rail, he almost ran inside. It was late, and the place seemed to be deserted except for seven toughs. He knew them to be Harman’s men. The word had already gotten around that the ranchers were gathering, he figured, and folks not involved on one side or the other were in their hidey-holes. He stopped still. The seven men all looked at him. Nervously, he walked over to the bar. He took a coin out of his pocket and laid it on the counter. “Whiskey,” he said. The bartender put a g
lass and a bottle in front of him, and Andy poured a drink and tossed it down.
“I need to see Harman,” he said.
One of the gunmen behind him said, “What about?”
Pride poured himself another drink. His hands were shaking. “I got information,” he said without turning.
“About what?” the voice asked.
“About Joiner,” said Pride. “About his plans.”
“Tell me,” the voice demanded.
“I’ll tell Harman,” Pride said. “No one else.”
The voice said, “What do you think?” and another voice said, “That’s Andy Pride. He works for Thurman.”
“That right?” the first voice said. “That your name? Andy Pride? You work for Thurman?”
“That’s right,” Pride said. He swallowed the second drink and poured a third. “Will someone please tell Mr. Harman that I’d like to see him?”
Behind Pride the man who’d spoken second nodded toward the one who’d spoken first. That man walked casually to the office door and knocked. “Mr. Harman?” he said.
“What is it?” Harman’s voice came through the door.
The man opened the door slightly, poking his nose in the crack. “A ranny out here wants to see you. His name’s Pride, and he works for old Thurman. Says he’s got some information on Joiner.”
“Send him on in,” Harman said.
Pride heard the words from over at the bar, and he turned to cross over to Harman’s door. He felt smug, getting past the tough-talking gunmen like that. At the office door, the other man stepped aside. Pride stepped in and shut the door behind him. He took off his hat and turned to face Harman.
“Well,” said Harman, “what is it?”
“Joiner had a big meeting out at his place today,” Pride said.
“I heard about that,” Harman said. “So what?”
“I was there,” said Pride.
“So?”
“There was things discussed that you ought to know about.”
