The Return of Jake Slater

by Zavo

  “From the stories you’ve told me, it appears we’re going to be facing some bad hombres. We’ve faced men like this before and come through. Not without scars, but that’s to be expected. Rest assured, all of you, that we will put all our resources behind you.”

  Luke turned to the rest of his men.

  “If any of you don’t want this fight, say so now, and we won’t hold it against you.”

  No one said a word.

  Luke turned back to the table.

  “That settles it then, Jake, Ben, and Ezekiel. We’re all behind you.”

  Alejandro broke in.

  “I will send Colonel Sandoval back to the garrison immediately to bring back additional troops. They should be here by nightfall. In the meantime, let’s get this place as ready for a fight as we can.”

  I thought of all the customers that would be arriving this evening.

  “What about the customers that will be heading to the hacienda tonight? We don’t want them to get caught in the crossfire, nor captured by Seth and his men.”

  “That has already been seen to, Jake,” Luke assured me.

  “We have a warning banner that we hang at the entrance to the trail leading here in case it’s not safe to approach the hacienda. Ignacio has ridden out to take care of it. All our regular customers will recognize it.”

  “But won’t Ignacio be caught?”

  “I have faith in him, Ben. He can be very stealthy when the need arises.”

  “Any other questions?”

  No one had any.

  “Okay. Let’s drink a toast to our success against Seth and his men, and then get busy!”

  We all raised our glasses, downed our whiskeys, and began our preparations to defend the hacienda.

  All the rifles, pistols, and shotguns were taken apart, cleaned, and reloaded. All ammunition was counted. We moved all the sofas and settees in the cantina in front of the windows. We placed the poker tables on top of them, with their tops facing the window. This would provide us cover from which to shoot. The front doors to the hacienda were blocked as well. Once the first floor was secure, the men were assigned stations on the first, second and third floors. Everyone was ordered to stay inside, and keep away from the windows when not returning fire. When we were done with our fortifications, Melchor laid out a spread on the bar that was fit for a king. When we were done eating, we had whiskeys all around. Darkness had fallen since we began our work. Ignacio had returned, having successfully set out the banner. However, there had been no sign of Colonel Sandoval.

  Alejandro quit pacing by the front doors and joined us at the bar.

  “I do not like this, Luke,” he said.

  “Colonel Sandoval should have returned with soldiers by now. That probably means that Seth and his posse are guarding the main trail to here. They probably also have men fanned out in the woods. I did not think they would be so foolhardy as to accost a soldier of the Mexican Army. But my lack of judgment could be a detriment to us. I am afraid we will be facing Seth and his men on our own.”

  Luke was quiet a moment before replying.

  “I think your estimate is correct, Alejandro.”

  “I don’t know this Seth,” Alejandro continued, “but if I was him, I would split my men. I’d have half attacking the front and the rest the rear, from the Rio Grande side.”

  “That’s going to be extremely difficult, Alejandro,” Luke interjected. “The river behind us is very deep in many spots. The bank is too steep in most places for men or horses to climb. Granted, Seth and Nathaniel came that way initially. But they were only two men, not a large contingent. It could not have been easy for them. I think they will attack us from the front and the sides.”

  Jake chimed in.

  “I think we’re forgetting a major point here: Seth and Nathaniel came with a posse. They are only carrying rifles and pistols. They don’t have any cannons or dynamite, or any other large-scale weapons. They most likely could not have found any since they were here yesterday. Or since they’ve been in the area, however long that may be. The only weapons like that are at Alejandro’s garrison. I think Luke is right. I think they will come at the hacienda on the three sides. Probably only a few will come down the main trail, as that affords the least cover. We’ve done all we can to prepare. Now all we can do is sit and wait till they make their play.”

  We all realized the importance of this fact: we were already outnumbered two to one. No reinforcements were coming. We would take turns standing guard during the night. As the evening progressed, we played cards and drank whiskey and tequila, though not enough to make us sloppy when the fight did come. When it was my turn on watch, I retired to my room and sat in a chair by the window. We had agreed that the front rooms on the second and third floors would offer the best vantage points. Zebulon was in a room above me, also on watch. Jake was downstairs with Alejandro and the rest of the men.

  What kind of hold did Seth have over the men with him to entice them to ride all the way to Mexico? Were the rewards for me and Jake that great? It was obvious they had been biding their time and checking out the place. Seth had seen Jake arrive with Alejandro. He had said this much himself. He had also seen Ezekiel arrive. From the other statements Seth had made it was apparent he was a force to be reckoned with, just like his brother. And just as mean too. I silently cursed the day both men had been born. My thoughts were interrupted when Jake came into the room.

  “Why don’t you get some shut-eye, Ben? It’s past midnight. I’ll stand watch.”

  “I think I will. I could certainly use some rest.”

  He kissed me and took my seat by the window. I lay on the bed and was asleep within minutes. When I woke, Jake was still sitting in the chair. The gray light of dawn had not yet started to disperse the blackness outside.

  “Why don’t you try to get some sleep before breakfast, Jake?”

  He kissed me and took my place on the bed. Soon he was snoring softly. I woke him a few hours later and we joined the rest of the men at the bar for breakfast. No one reported seeing anything suspicious during the night. However, our reprieve was to be short-lived, for they came at us shortly after breakfast, with guns blazing. Jake had been right; they came from three sides. We immediately took up our preplanned positions: At the first floor windows were Luke, Ignacio, Donato, Ernesto, and me. On the second floor were Jake, Alejandro, Carmelo, and Ezekiel. On the third floor were Melchor, Emiliano, Manuel, Joshua, and Zebulon.

  Ignacio took one of the first hits as he was returning fire from behind one of the tables at the front windows. Luke rushed to his side but Ignacio had died instantly. Luke and Donato carried him behind the bar. But we were giving as good as we received. I was responsible for at least two men down, and I had seen several others fall as well. But we were still vastly outnumbered. Bullets were shattering the interior of the first floor. I was sure the second and third floors were getting pummeled as well. Suddenly, there was a pause, as if the men outside were taking stock of the situation.

  “Ben,” Luke whispered to me. “Go upstairs and check on our boys on the second and third floors.”

  “Okay, Luke.”

  I ran upstairs to check on Jake and the rest of the men. Jake was in my room, Alejandro was in the room next to him, and Carmelo and Ezekiel were in the end rooms, facing the sides of the hacienda. When I entered our room, I breathed a sigh of relief to find Jake okay. He stepped away from the window and took me into his arms.

  “How are things downstairs?”

  “Ignacio was killed in the first volley, but we’ve had no other casualties. Both Luke and Donato are excellent shots. If our ammunition holds out, we may be able to hold them off for a while longer. But the odds are stacked against us, Jake. Luke asked me to make the rounds on the second and third floors. Of course you were my first stop. I’ll be back in a little bit. Be careful, Jake.”

  “You too!”

  I had just turned to go when the window next to Jake shattered. A flaming arrow thudde
d into the headboard of the bed. Flames ignited the bedding. Jake grabbed the pitcher of water from the basin and quickly put the fire out.

  “Where the hell did that come from, Jake?”

  “We overlooked the fact that Seth has a Comanche with him. This could mean big trouble for us. Go downstairs and tell Luke what happened.”

  I left the room and took the stairs two at a time. Luke was right where I left him, and when I told him, he swore softly.

  “Go to each man and tell him what you told me. We must gather all the buckets we can find, fill them from the well, and have them at the ready! Also, send Zebulon down here to help bolster our fire.”

  “Will do, Luke.”

  When I reached the second floor, I checked on Melchor first. He was putting out a fire in the room he was in. I gave him a hand and we soon had it under control. I was happy to find no casualties on the second or third floors. As I spread the word about the fire, each man raced down the backstairs to retrieve and fill buckets from the well at the bathhouse. Once Zebulon had set his buckets in Joshua’s room, he headed to the cantina.

  After securing two full buckets myself, I returned to the first floor. Several more flaming arrows had started fires in the cantina. As the men struggled to put them out, it was quickly becoming clear the arrows were outpacing us. As I headed back upstairs, a new fusillade began. I saw Donato fall as he was trying to douse several burning chairs. Luke and Ernesto pulled him away from the flames and dragged him into the kitchen.

  I had just reached the second floor when I almost ran into someone coming up the backstairs. I stopped in my tracks, unable to believe my eyes. It was Seth Rawlins. He was soaking wet up to his middle. He had waded across the river and somehow managed to climb the bank! He must have then climbed the wall around the bathhouse and found the backstairs. When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw me. I saw recognition dawn in his eyes. I had been too surprised by his appearance to draw my gun. However, as soon as he saw me his pistol was pointed at my midsection.

  “Are you Ben Masters or that other redhead I’ve seen around this place? You look an awful lot like the man I’ve seen in the wanted fliers!”

  Something in my face must have given me away, because he smiled an unpleasant smile.

  “What a fitting end to my brother’s mission. I get to kill both Jake and Ben, the ones that got away. Now, where’s your friend?”

  I didn’t answer him, knowing his plan was to kill us both.

  “I can make this short and painless, or long and painful. Don’t you want to die beside your lover? Now, move, or I’ll shoot you right where you stand.”

  I knew then that I wasn’t going to move. I was going to sacrifice myself for Jake.

  Smoke was billowing down the hall behind me. I choked as it swept past me. The fire was out of control on this floor. Seth kept coming toward me, forcing me at gunpoint down the hall toward the fire. I could already feel its heat.

  “Tell me where Jake is, or you’re a dead man. I’m not going to ask you again.”

  Just then I heard a noise behind Seth. Alejandro was coming down the stairs from the third floor. He must have been up there helping to put out fires. Seth also heard him and turned around just as Alejandro saw us and realized his danger. Seth got off two shots before Alejandro could even fire once. I saw Alejandro crumple, and then tumble down the stairs to rest on the second floor landing a few feet from us. Seth turned to me, and that’s when I saw Jake out of the corner of my eye. He had opened the door to his room and was aiming his gun at Seth. I averted my eyes from him so as not to alert Seth to his presence.

  “Drop it, Seth Rawlins!”

  As Seth started to turn, I dropped to the floor and flattened myself against the wall to get out of the line of fire. Jake fired twice. The bullets slammed into Seth, throwing him against the wall. His gun discharged, but the bullet plowed harmlessly into the wall several feet past Jake. Jake ran to me, grabbed me, and hugged me. He squeezed me again before holding me at arm’s length.

  “Are you okay, Ben? Was Nathaniel with him?”

  “Yes, I’m okay. I think he was alone. But Alejandro’s been shot.”

  Jake turned and saw Alejandro lying at the bottom of the stairs. We went to him, but it was obvious the brigadier general was dead.

  “He died trying to save me, Jake. Seth was going to kill me because I wouldn’t tell him where you were. He recognized me from the flier in Abilene.”

  As I finished speaking, the smoke in the hallway became noticeably thicker. We ran down the hall to the room where Carmelo was and found him dead on the floor. He had been shot in the back. His room was on fire, which was spreading up the wall and licking at the ceiling.

  “Jake, we have to refill these buckets!”

  We grabbed four empty buckets and raced down the stairs and out to the bathhouse. We filled them from the well, and ran back up the stairs. We met Manuel on his way down carrying two empty buckets.

  “Jake and Ben, Luke’s been hit in the shoulder. He’s gonna make it, but he’s of no use to us now.”

  “Manuel, we’re heading back up to a fire on the second floor. Seth made it up the backstairs and killed Alejandro. Carmelo is dead Do you know what’s happening on the third floor?”

  “Melchor has been hit, but is not dead. Joshua is dead. Emiliano has put out the fire on that floor and is down in the cantina. So far we’ve only counted a dozen dead outside. Someone did manage to get the Comanche, but if any of those men know how to use a bow, we’re going to be in trouble again, and real soon.”

  “Okay, Manuel. We need to get moving or the whole second floor is going to go up in flames. Can you spare someone to help us?”

  “I will be right there as soon as I get these buckets filled.”

  We made it back to the second floor and doused the flames. As we were heading back downstairs, Manuel was coming up. After two more trips, we had the fire out, but we soaked it twice more just to be sure. We then gathered up Alejandro’s body and placed it on Jake’s bed. It was only then that we realized the gunfire had stopped. When we reached the first floor, we found it in a shambles. All of the windows were broken. The tables blocking them had been shot to pieces. Most of the glassware behind the bar had been destroyed, in addition to the mirror on the wall behind it. Luke was sitting in a chair next to the bar, his right arm in a sling. His shirt was stained with blood.

  Ezekiel was sitting next to him. Zebulon and Emiliano were standing by them. We quickly informed them of what had transpired on the second and third floors. When Luke heard of the death of Alejandro, he turned his head away from us for a moment. When he turned back, there was a new determination on his face.

  “This doesn’t look good, boys. We have lost several men. They have as well, but we are still outnumbered two to one. We have two options as I see it. We can fight to the last man, or we can slide out the back and escape downriver. That means they will burn this place to the ground. Jake, Ben, and Ezekiel, it also means that you will still be on the run!”

  There was dead silence when he finished speaking. Jake was the first to break it.

  “I can only speak for myself, but I want this ended here and now. I don’t want to have to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Ben and Ezekiel?”

  “I agree with you, Jake. Let’s see this through to the end.”

  The rest of the men, including Ezekiel, nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, boys. Let’s get a count of our guns and ammunition before they hit us again. It will probably be the last time.”

  Suddenly, the notes of a bugle split the air. They were quickly followed by volley after volley of gunfire.

  We all ran to what was left of the front windows to see what was happening. The trail to the hacienda was filled with the soldiers of Brigadier General Reyes. Either Colonel Sandoval had gotten through at last, or the soldiers had simply become alarmed when Reyes had not returned at his scheduled time. There were several exchanges of gunfire as the
soldiers rode through the sagebrush around the house, gunning down or capturing the remaining members of the posse. It was over in a matter of minutes. Soon the soldiers were escorting six men to the front porch. Their hands were tied behind their backs. The posse’s losses had been very heavy. One of the six men was Nathaniel. A man I didn’t know was leading the troops. We all went outside to the veranda.

  “Greetings, gentlemen. My name is Lieutenant Alvarez. We were summoned by Colonel Sandoval on behalf of Brigadier General Reyes. I believe these are the only survivors of the party that attacked you. The rest are dead. However, some of my men are still combing the area, just to be sure.”

  All the men were looking at the ground, unwilling to meet any of our gazes. Luke stepped forward.

  “I’m Luke Mathers, owner of this hacienda. Your timing is perfect, Lieutenant Alvarez. We were just getting ready to make our last stand. Did Colonel Sandoval eventually reach the fort?”

  “I’m afraid he didn’t, Señor Mathers. We were expecting Brigadier General Reyes to return early this morning. When he didn’t, we saddled up and headed here. We found Colonel Sandoval a few miles from here. He was severely wounded, but lived long enough to tell us of the situation here. We got here as quickly as we could.”

  “I regret to inform you, Lieutenant, that Brigadier General Reyes was killed helping us to defend this place. His body is in one of the second floor bedrooms. I will take you there.”

  “First, gentlemen, I must ask if you wish to say anything on behalf of these prisoners. If not, they will be taken back to Fort Loreto and executed.”

  At that, Nathaniel lifted his head and stared at Jake and Ben.

  Jake was the first to speak.

  “I don’t know any of these men, Lieutenant Alvarez.”

  The rest of us avowed the same.

  Nathaniel struggled with his bonds and tried to step forward.

  “Jake Slater and Ben Masters are lying. They are wanted criminals from the States. Murderers, both of them!”