Violence of the Mountain Man

by Johnstone, William W.

  “I came back to check on the women,” Keno said. “Somehow, they had gotten out of the cell and as soon as I stepped in through the door, one of them hit me from behind.”

  “Are you telling me a couple of women managed to escape from my jail?” Craig asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s impossible. In all the time I have been here, not one person has ever gotten out of that cell, not one,” Craig said. “And now, you are telling me that a couple of women escaped?”

  “Well, it ain’t my fault,” Keno said. “If you want to blame someone, blame your deputy there. Like as not, he didn’t even lock the cell door shut.”

  “You know better than that, Keno,” Laney said. “You saw me lock the door.” Laney looked over at Van Arndt. “And you even tried to open it yourself.”

  “That’s right, I did try to open it,” Van Arndt said. “It was locked.”

  “Well, it don’t matter none whether he locked the door or not,” Keno said. “The thing is, the women got out, and now they are gone.”

  “What I want to know is, what were you doing back here in the first place?” Van Arndt asked.

  “I told you, I come back here so I could check up on them,” Keno said.

  “Nobody asked you to check on them,” Van Arndt said.

  “Yeah? Well, it’s a good thing I did check on them, ain’t it?” Keno asked. “Because it turns out they was gettin’ away.”

  “What do you mean, they was getting away? They did get away, you dumb son of a bitch, and you did nothing to stop them,” Van Arndt said.

  “You got no right to talk to me like that, Van Arndt,” Keno said. “And anyhow, how could I stop them when they hit me from behind as soon as I come into the room?”

  “If you ask me,” Boswell said, “ole Keno just come back here so he could get hisself a poke. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t the one that opened the cell door to let them out in the first place.”

  “Is that what happened, Keno?” Van Arndt asked.

  “Get me out of here,” Keno said.

  “I ought to leave you in there till you rot,” Van Arndt said.

  “Huh-uh,” Craig said. “I don’t want the son of a bitch lyin’ around in my jail. Get him out, Deputy.”

  The deputy started toward the key, but seeing the hook empty he turned back to Keno. “Where’s the key?”

  “They took it with them,” Keno said.

  “No problem,” Craig said, “There’s another one in the middle desk drawer.” Craig started toward his desk.

  “No, there ain’t,” Keno said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “They took that key, too. They took both of the keys with them.”

  “Really? Well, boy, looks to me like you are in a lot of trouble here,” Van Arndt said. “Without a key, I don’t know how we are going to get you out.”

  “You’d better figure out a way if you want me to tell you where they went,” Keno said.

  “To hell with you. I’ll find them without you,” Van Arndt said.

  “Van Arndt, don’t you leave me in here!” Keno said.

  Craig sighed. “I can get him out,” he said.

  “How?”

  “Fred Loomis is the locksmith who put the lock in. He always keeps a master key so he can make a spare just for such things as this.”

  “All right,” Van Arndt said. “Go get him.”

  “Jerry, go down to Fred Loomis’s house. He’s probably in bed by now but wake him up. Tell him there is an emergency down at the jail. Then I want you to round up Miller, Coleman, Billings, Deekus, and Agnew. Tell them I want them in a special posse.”

  The deputy frowned. “Marshal, I know it ain’t my place to say nothin’, you bein’ the marshal and me just bein’ a deputy and all, but there ain’t a one of them boys you just named that is worth the gunpowder it would take to blow ’em to Kingdom Come. Are you sure they’re the ones you want for your posse?”

  “You’re right, Jerry,” Craig said.

  The deputy smiled.

  “It ain’t your place to say nothin’,” Craig added. “Now you go get Loomis, then round up them men like I told you to.”

  Laney nodded. “All right, Marshal, if you say so.”

  As the deputy left, Craig stepped up closer to the jail cell to look at Keno. “What the hell happened to your face, boy?”

  “Nothin’,” Keno said, lifting his hand self-consciously to his face.

  “Jensen’s wife stuck a hot stove lid into the face,” Van Arndt said, laughing. “Yes, sir, she burned him good.”

  “Son of a bitch. Does it hurt?” Craig asked.

  “Hell yes, it hurts,” Keno replied irritably. “You got any more questions?”

  Craig laughed. “You sure you want to go chasing off after her? I mean, it looks to me like ever’time you an’ that woman tangle, you come up on the short end of the stick.”

  “I’m sure,” Keno said.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  It was about fifteen minutes after Jerry Laney left before the locksmith showed up.

  “Loomis, thanks for coming,” Marshal Craig said.

  “What took you so damn long?” Keno asked from inside the cell. “I want out of here now, do you hear me? Get me out of here now.”

  “I take it this fella isn’t supposed to be in there?” Loomis asked.

  “Hell, no, I ain’t supposed to be in here,” Keno replied irritably.

  “Well, hold your horses,” Loomis said. “I’ll get you out as quick as I can.”

  “It’s already too late for quick,” Keno said. “You should’a been here half an hour ago!”

  “You’re a little feisty, ain’t you, sonny?” Loomis asked. Then, seeing Keno’s red puffy face, he squinted. “What the hell happened to your face?”

  Van Arndt and the others laughed at the locksmith’s question.

  “Did I say something funny?” the locksmith asked, puzzled by the laughter.

  “I’ve heard enough about my face,” Keno said. “It ain’t none of your business what happened to my face. Just get to work and do whatever you have to do to get me out of here.”

  “Marshal, I had to make a new key,” Loomis said. “I guess you know that’s going to cost the city a quarter.”

  “A quarter? I thought it only cost fifteen cents to make a key.”

  “That’s in the daytime during normal business hours,” Loomis said. “Your deputy got me out of bed, so it’s goin’ to cost you extra.”

  “Send the city a bill,” Craig replied.

  Loomis snorted. “Yeah, I thought you might say something like that,” he said. “All right, let me see what I can do here.”

  Loomis walked over to the cell, inserted the key, and tried to turn it. It wouldn’t turn.

  “What’s wrong?” Keno said. “Son of a bitch, you are a locksmith. Can’t you even make a key that works?”

  “Hold your horses, sonny, hold your horses,” Loomis said. Removing the key, he filed on one of the tangs for a moment, then reinserted it, and when it still didn’t work, withdrew it and filed on it again. It took him a full five minutes before the key worked. As soon as it did, Keno pushed the door open so quickly that the locksmith had to jump to one side to get out of the way.

  As the locksmith was leaving, two men came in.

  “Miller, Coleman, I’m glad you could come,” Craig said.

  “The deputy said you wanted us to join a posse?” Miller said.

  “That’s right.”

  Miller laughed. “All I can say is, it must be one hell of a posse if you want me and Coleman.”

  “Not just you and Coleman,” Craig said. “I want Billings, Deekus, and Agnew, too.”

  The smile left Miller’s face. “What the hell is up, Marshal?” he asked. “Me and Coleman ain’t exactly the posse kind. And them other boys you just named are even less so. What makes you think we would be interested?”

  “You came down here, didn’t you?”

&nb
sp; “Curiosity got us down here, Marshal,” Coleman said. “But that ain’t enough to get us to join no posse.”

  “What if I told you there is fifty dollars for each man who is willing to ride with me?” Craig said.

  “Fifty dollars? Just for riding in a posse? Are you serious?” Miller asked.

  “I’m very serious.”

  “Ha, who do we have to kill for fifty dollars?” Coleman asked, laughing out loud.

  “Smoke Jensen,” Van Arndt said.

  Coleman quit laughing. “That ain’t funny,” he said.

  “I didn’t intend it as a joke.”

  “Smoke Jensen ain’t someone to mess with,” Miller said.

  “There will be ten of us,” Craig said.

  “Ten of us?”

  “Like you said, Smoke Jensen ain’t someone you want to mess with,” Craig said. “But I figure if there is ten of us, we can handle it all right.”

  “That fifty dollars,” Miller said. “It’ll be for all of us, right? I mean, you ain’t sayin’ you are goin’ to give fifty dollars just to the one that does the actual killin’, are you?”

  “It’s for all of you, no matter who does the killin’,” Craig said.

  “As long as we kill the son of a bitch,” Van Arndt added.

  Miller and Coleman looked over at Van Arndt.

  “Who’s this pasty-faced feller?” Coleman asked.

  “He’s the one who is going to pay the fifty dollars once we kill Smoke Jensen,” Craig said. “Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No, I ain’t got a problem with it,” Coleman answered. “If the others go along with it, I’m willin’ to go, too.”

  “Van Arndt, wait a minute, if we kill Smoke Jensen, how are we ever goin’ to get the money?” Keno asked.

  “What money?” Billings asked. He, Deekus, and Agnew came in at that moment.

  “Fifty dollars apiece if you ride with my special posse,” Craig said.

  “That ain’t—” Keno started to say, but Van Arndt held up his hand to stop him.

  “Harlan, why don’t you take your posse outside and tell ’em what’s goin’ on?” Van Arndt suggested.

  “Good idea,” Craig replied. “How about you boys step outside with me, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

  Van Arndt waited until Craig and the posse were outside. Then he looked over at Keno.

  “You are going to need to learn how to keep your mouth shut,” Van Arndt said. “As far as those men are concerned, fifty dollars is all the money there is. Unless you want to start sharing.”

  “Sharing what?” Keno asked. “How are we going to get the ransom if we kill Smoke Jensen?”

  “You said you know Jensen’s ranch,” Van Arndt said. “How well do you know it?”

  “I’ve rode all over it,” Keno said. “Hell, I know it like the back of my hand.”

  “If Jensen and his wife are both dead, along with them two that ride with him all the time, there ain’t goin’ to be anybody left to look after the ranch. Do you think you could show us the best way to cut out about five thousand head and get them off the ranch before anyone notices?”

  For a moment, Keno’s expression was blank. Then it showed surprise, followed by a big smile spread across his face.

  “Hell, yes, I know exactly how to do it,” he said. “We can ford them across Elk Creek, then take them up the other side of Red Butte. But what would we do with them once we had them? C.D. Montgomery and Red Cliff are the only cattle buyers around.”

  “They are paying twenty-five dollars a head up in Wyoming at the railhead in Harney, “Van Arndt said. “We’re going to drive the herd up there.”

  “Twenty-five dollars a head for five thousand head?” Boswell said. “That’s—” He paused to try and figure it out.

  “One hundred twenty-five thousand dollars,” Van Arndt said. He looked at Keno. “A hell of a lot more money, and more certain, than collecting a ransom from Jensen, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah,” Keno said, nodding. “Yeah, it is.”

  “What about them other boys, the ones the marshal is talkin’ to now?” Jeeter asked. “What do they get out of all this?”

  “You heard my brother,” Van Arndt replied. “They’re gettin’ fifty dollars apiece for ridin’ in the posse.”

  “They goin’ to be satisfied with that?” Boswell asked.

  “Yeah, ’cause they ain’t goin’ to know about anything else unless one of you starts runnin’ off at the mouth,” Van Arndt said. He looked directly at Keno.

  “I ain’t goin’ to say nothin’,” Keno said, holding his hands up palms out, as if distancing himself from even the idea of such a transgression.

  “Where do you reckon Jensen is right now?” Boswell asked.

  “It doesn’t matter where he is now. He has to come through Ptarmigan Pass to get here—and that’s where we’ll be waitin’ for him.”

  After Deputy Laney rounded up the posse, he returned to the jail. He was just outside the window when he overheard Van Arndt telling the others of his plan to kill Jensen and the others. Not wanting any part of that, he went back to the stable, saddled his horse, and rode out of town at a gallop.

  Seeing the two women in front of him, he circled around a butte and waited for them. When they approached the end of the butte, Laney rode out in front of them.

  “Sally!” Lucy shouted in panic at Laney’s sudden appearance. Her horse, started by Lucy’s reaction, reared up and Lucy fell from the saddle.

  Laney jumped down quickly and went to her.

  “Get away from her!” Sally ordered and, looking up, Laney saw that Sally was holding a pistol and it was pointed at him.

  Laney chuckled. “That would be Keno’s gun, wouldn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you can put it down, Mrs. Jensen, I’m on your side.”

  “You know who I am?”

  “I do now, yes. That’s why I’m here. And like I said, I’m on your side.”

  “Why should I believe that?”

  Laney shook his head. “I don’t reckon you have any reason to believe it,” he said. He grabbed the reins of Lucy’s horse and held them until she was able to remount. “Especially given the way I acted back there,” he added. “But once I found out you were telling the truth, and once I found out what their plans were, I figured I couldn’t just stand by and watch it happen.”

  “You don’t have to worry about it now,” Sally said. “There won’t be any ransom paid.”

  Laney shook his head. “That’s not the plan,” he said. “And to be honest, I don’t think it ever was the plan.”

  “What are you talking about? Of course it was the plan.”

  “No,” Laney said. “The plan is to hold you two as bait. Then, when your husband comes after you, they are going to kill him and anyone who was with him. They also plan to kill you, Mrs. Jensen. After that, they are going to cut away about five thousand head of cattle from your herd and, before anyone realizes what is going on, they’ll drive them up to Wyoming and sell them.”

  “Ha,” Lucy said. “Do you expect us to believe that?”

  “I do believe it,” Sally said.

  “What?”

  Sally lowered her gun. “It’s brilliant,” she said. “It is incredibly evil, but it is brilliant.”

  “I assume you are heading back to join up with your husband now?” Laney asked.

  “Yes.”

  “If you would accept my help, I would be honored to ride with you until you join up with him.”

  “I would be glad to have you accompany us, Deputy,” she said.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Cal saw them first, three riders coming out of the dark.

  “Riders coming,” he said, snaking his rifle from the saddle holster.

  “No, wait! It’s Sally!” Smoke said, holding up his hand.

  “How do you know? You can’t see from here,” Cal said.

  “It’s Sally, and I assume Lucy,” S
moke said again. “But I don’t know who the third rider is.”

  One of the approaching riders broke from the other two and started galloping toward them. Smoke mounted his horse and started toward the approaching rider.

  Pearlie watched the two riders come together, then dismount and embrace and kiss. He laughed and pointed.

  “If that’s not Sally, it should be,” Pearlie said with a little laugh.

  “I think you are right,” Cal answered, and they urged their horses into a gallop to catch up.

  Lucy and the other rider arrived at about the same time Pearlie and Cal did, and Pearlie helped Lucy down from the horse. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled Lucy to him and for a long moment, Pearlie and Lucy, like Smoke and Sally, enjoyed a kiss.

  Cal and Laney remained mounted, looking on.

  “Uh, don’t none of you all worry none about me,” Cal said. “I’m just fine. Really.”

  Sally laughed. “Poor Cal. Feeling left out, are you?”

  “Well, yeah, seems like ever’one has someone huggin’ ’em but me,” Cal said.

  “Well, let’s see what we can do about that,” Sally said. Reaching up toward him, she pulled him out of the saddle.

  “Whoa, what are you doin’?” Cal asked, fighting to stay afoot.

  “I’m giving you a hug,” Sally said, putting her arms around his neck and pulling her to him.

  The others laughed.

  “Who is this?” Smoke asked, nodding toward Laney, who as yet had said nothing.

  “This is the deputy marshal from Salcedo,” Sally said.

  “The name is Laney. Jerry Laney,” the deputy said.

  “Have you come with another ransom demand?”

  “No,” Laney said. “It never was about ransom.”

  Laney explained to Smoke what he had overheard about using Sally as bait so they could kill them all.

  “There will be at least ten of them,” Laney said.

  “Ten?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I appreciate the information, Deputy. And I appreciate you helping Sally and Lucy escape.”

  Laney smiled. “I wish I could take credit for that,” he said. “But somehow, your wife managed to do that all by herself.”