To Tame a Wild Mustang

by J. Rose Allister

  Jimmy hadn’t even gotten the sheriff on the line when the front window crashed. A ball of fire sailed through the bars and crashed the glass. “Damn it!” he shouted. “Angus, git over here right away. A damn mob is after the prisoners. No, I don’t know how many, but they just set a fire.” His voice was half-hysterical. “Just git here now!”

  The commotion woke Kate, who was also on her feet now. “William? What’s happening?”

  “Some folks are outside, intent on makin’ trouble.”

  Jimmy stomped out the flames and raced for the gun rack.

  “Send ’em out, Jimmy boy,” they heard a sing-song voice say. “Or it’s gonna get uglier.”

  The man pulled a shotgun from the rack and began loading shells into the chamber with shaking hands.

  “I can help you hold ’em off until Angus gets here,” William said.

  “What, yeh think I’m gonna let yeh out of yer cell and hand over a firearm?” Jimmy laughed. “I don’t think so.”

  “They want us?” Kate said, clutching her throat as she raced to the bars between them. “Why?”

  William joined her there. “I don’t think they want to wait until the judge gets here next week.”

  She gasped, her face registering shock even through the long shadows cast over it. “Oh, my God. What are we going to do?”

  “First one to touch that door will git a bullet square in the head,” Jimmy shouted. He had ducked off to the side of the now-broken front window with the barrel of his weapon stuck through it.

  William’s heart raced while he tried to think. What could they do? Grim faced, he turned away. “I’ll confess to everythin’ and tell ’em that you were innocent. I’ll say I am the one who had yer corsage with me when it got dropped.”

  “William, you can’t! You aren’t guilty of anything.”

  “That won’t spare either of us from what the folks out there have got planned. But my confession might spare you.”

  “No. I won’t let you do it.”

  Jimmy’s shotgun blast roared through the jailhouse. “Get down!” William said to Kate. Both of them dropped to the floor, hands over their heads.

  “Next one won’t be no warnin’,” Jimmy said. “Go on home, or else.”

  “We ain’t the criminals, Smith,” someone shouted back. “Yeh can’t fight us all off.”

  “Yeah,” shouted another. “We know you want ’em hung just as bad as we do. Come on, now. Let’s have us a justice party.”

  Kate sniffled with obvious tears, bringing William’s attention back. “Don’t be so stubborn, Kate. You told a lie to save me once. Now let me return the favor. Please.”

  Tears fell over her agonized face as she raced to the bars between them. “How could I live with myself if I let you do that?” she said in a horrified whisper.

  He took her hands through the bars. “If I die, don’t let it be in vain. Let it be to save the woman I love.”

  Her sniffling sounds turned to sobs. “I can’t lose you, William. How could I bear to lose you?”

  An odd scrabbling sound came from above. William’s head whipped around toward the pair of rear windows. Jesus, the place was surrounded. Now someone was trying to get in through the cell windows. Just as he was about to raise the alarm, a face popped into view that shot a glimmer of hope through him.

  He tugged Kate’s hands. “Kate,” he whispered. “Look.”

  Her gaze rose as well—and widened. They both nodded to Jack, who had a finger held to his lips in a gesture of silence. He looked worse for wear, grizzled with a shadow of beard, but flashed his usual cocky smile and held up a coil of rope. He waved at them to move back. William and Kate exchanged a look, and he jerked his head toward the front bars. “Quietly,” he whispered.

  Both of them scooted as far away from the rear wall as they could. William wasn’t quite sure what the man had in mind, but as a bullet through the wooden door erupted in a deafening volley of gunfire between Jimmy and the mob, he began praying that Jack would do it soon.

  Kate and William’s hands were over their ears when the tearing, rumbling quake came. Suddenly, the bricks in the back wall of the cell collapsed in a tumble and cold moonlight poured into the cells. William and Kate got to their feet and threw themselves at the new opening, which was roiling with a cloud of dust.

  “Hey! Jesus H.!” Jimmy cried.

  William stopped and turned. “Go!” he yelled to Kate.

  “Hold it right there!” Jimmy shouted. His shotgun came around and William’s hands rose in the air, hoping to give Kate time to escape.

  “William!” she shouted from outside.

  Jimmy racked a round into the shotgun, but cried out when a bang from another weapon caught him in the shoulder. His arms fell at his sides as he went down, and William didn’t hesitate. He jumped over the chaotic tumble of bricks and out into the open air.

  Jack slashed at the ropes he’d lashed through the jailhouse bars and the wagon to tear out the back wall. Clyde Marsh was driving the team, and Kate was already up in the buckboard.

  “Give yeh a lift, cowboy?” Jack said. “Not a very friendly reception out front.”

  “You got some damn fine timin’ there, partner,” William said. “How’d you know the town was comin’ after us?”

  “Spent the last couple nights downin’ rot gut at the saloon so I could keep my big ears open for anythin’ that might help yeh beat this. Overheard some rowdies plannin’ yer necktie social, and decided it was time to move this party elsewhere.”

  “True enough,” William said. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Not so fast,” a voice said from behind them. “The guests of honor can’t rush off when they ain’t even been to their party yet.”

  When they turned toward the voice, the blood in William’s gut ran cold. Four men came around the back of the building, their pistols trained.

  “Hands in the air,” Caleb Tanner said. Two men flanked him. Another stood behind him. He turned a nasty leer on Kate and Clyde, both of whom were still up in the wagon. Then he turned to Jack. “Bustin’ murderin’ cattle rustlers out of jail? Guess we need ourselves a couple extra nooses, boys.”

  “I’m guessin’ we have you to thank for puttin’ on the little shindig out front,” William said.

  Caleb shrugged. “I told yeh the townsfolk wouldn’t stand for no trial.”

  “And if we happened to stir up some rowdy saloon gab, what’s it to yeh?” said a squat red-headed man beside Caleb.

  The two other men laughed, and Tanner spit in the dirt. “I knew yeh Marshes were nothin’ but trouble. Both of yeh git on out of that wagon, nice and slow. Lemme see those hands, Clyde.”

  “How’s he supposed to get out of the wagon with his hands in the air?” Kate said.

  “Yeh just worry about yer own neck,” Caleb said. “As little time as yeh got left to fret on it, anyway.”

  “Best do what he says, Katie Rose,” Clyde said. His eyes were wary as she turned to him. “I’m so sorry things didn’t set right with this. But when Jack heard things in the saloon turn ugly, we had to try.”

  “It’s all right, Pa. I’m sorry you got involved in all this.”

  “How touchin’,” Caleb said. “Now hush up and git.”

  Kate lowered her hands to grasp the side of the buckboard. “Keep ’em up!”

  “I can’t just leap out of the buckboard,” she said.

  “Let me help her,” William said.

  “You’ve done helped enough, gittin’ her caught up in this shameful mess,” Caleb said.

  While he was still talking, a flash of movement by the wagon caught William’s eye. Clyde Marsh dipped to the floor of the buckboard and came up cocking his rifle.

  Two guns went off before William could blink. “Kate!” he shouted.

  “Pa!” she yelled.

  Clyde’s body jerked as two slugs went into his chest. Red oozed from the holes in his shirt. The gun dropped to the buckboard floor with a clatt
er while the man fell to the dirt below. William stared in shock at the man’s limp form.

  “No!” Kate was out of the wagon in a heartbeat, falling on top of her father with pleading cries. “Pa, wake up. Don’t do this. Don’t leave me. Pa!”

  The words in reply were shaky and weak. “I love yeh, Kate. I knew yeh was innocent.”

  “Please, Pa!” Kate was sobbing again as she whirled around on the men. “Damn you. Damn you all! He’s a good man who done you no wrong.”

  “No?” Caleb said. “I warned that old fool he’d be sorry for pointin’ a gun at a Tanner. Now he is.”

  Her face screwed up with a rageful determination that sent a chill through William’s spine. He knew that look in her eye. She would leap at the men for vengeance and get a bullet for her efforts. This had to end with her safe. No matter what.

  “Kate,” William said in a calm, but firm tone. “Whixa:-k’iniwh’a:di¬chwe.” Listen to me.

  Her eyes swiveled to his, flooded with tears and anguish. He swallowed as he fought to remember the right words.

  “Whe:-’e:n xwe:dohleh–te.” I will attack them. “Tsinti¬kyoh.” Run for your life.

  She frowned. “Dixwe:d? Do: owhtsit.” What? I don’t understand.

  “What the hell’s all that?” the taller of Caleb’s companions said.

  Kate’s pained look became tempered with confusion. William’s translation was rusty, he knew. Her Hupa might be lacking as well. Jack didn’t know a single word of the language, but that didn’t matter. He and his ranch hand—his lover, he corrected himself—were two men of the same mind. One glance and William knew Jack could tell exactly what he was planning. He gave an almost imperceptible nod in reply while William tried again with Kate.

  “Xwe:dohleh–te-de, tsinti¬kyoh hayahmi¬dining’xine:wh.” When I attack, flee to the Hupa.

  Her eyes widened. “Daw! Ning k’i¬te’.” No! You’ll get killed.

  “‘Ayneh!” Do it!

  “What is all that idiot babble?” the dark-haired man behind the others said.

  “That’s Injun talk,” Caleb said. “Looks like we got ourselves a couple redskin lovers. Even better reason to stick a rope around their necks.”

  William implored Kate with his eyes. “I’ll see you again,” he went on in Hupa.

  Her reply was stilted. “No. I can’t.”

  “Enough Injun shit!” Caleb said, cocking the hammer on his gun. “Or I’ll put holes in yeh both to match old Clyde’s. But I’d much rather have the fun of watchin’ yeh swing.”

  William’s stomach flipped over. When he attacked, it could hopefully distract them long enough for Kate to get away. But even with Jack on his side, two unarmed men against three guns would be a quick match. And Kate had no intention of taking advantage of his sacrifice. Stubborn woman.

  “Don’t mind them,” Jack said. “It’s just their love talk. And William’s tellin’ the woman not to try nothin’ stupid.” He shifted William a gaze that he returned with a raised brow.

  “So, Injuns got somethin’ useful to say after all,” Caleb said. “The three of yeh put yer hands on yer heads and line up. We’ve got a nice tree picked out fer the hangin’.”

  William set his jaw and stared Caleb square in the eye. “I’m sure you can’t wait to see this hangin’, since you set us up for so perfectly. I have to admit, Tanner, the whole thing was brilliant of you.”

  The man cocked his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Come, now. We’re both intelligent men. Don’t think I didn’t realize you’re the one behind the raids.”

  Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah? How do yeh figure that?”

  “For one thing, the only men who knew what color shirt my uncle was wearin’ the night he died are you and me.”

  Eyes shifted back and forth between the men and William. “Yer sense ain’t makin’ a lot of sense, Tyler.” Jack’s quizzical stare said the same.

  “See,” William went on, “the thing about Jed was, he would turn as red as a fall apple when he was mad. So I’ll just bet what you said about the night he died was no lie. He must have turned the color of his shirt when he saw that a trusted Tanner was the one who was robbin’ him.”

  The other three men, whose faces were crooked into various stages of smug smiles, glanced at Caleb, who was studying William closely.

  “There is one thing I don’t get,” William went on. “Why are you in such a hurry to see us hung? Once ‘justice’ has been served, the raids will have to stop. If there are any more, folks will realize they strung up the wrong necks.”

  “Oh, I reckon I got all the money I need out of that particular line of work,” Caleb said. “It was fun while it lasted, but I can retire from it now.” He raised his gun. “All that’s left is to see to it that someone pays for the crime, so the town can put the tragedy behind ’em and move on.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Jack said in whispered shock.

  William’s hands rose again as the gun leveled at him, but he pressed on. “It was especially smart of you to use my horse for the raids.”

  “Tanner horses are too well known,” Caleb said. “Yer paint was flashy enough to be recognized. Fast, too. That was handy.” He gave a smug laugh. “Tell yeh what. Since yeh been so helpful in all this, I’ll give yeh a choice. Bullet in the back, or face it head on like a man?”

  William swallowed. “Thought you wanted to wait and see us hung on that special tree?”

  “Now that I know my secret’s out, yeh twig why I’ll have to end the lot of yeh before anyone talks? Come to think it, this way is better. I’ll get to be a hero for gunnin’ down the criminals that were tryin’ to escape. Yep, I figure shootin’ will do me just fine.”

  A voice came from the shadows behind him. “I figure yer confession will do me even better.”

  Caleb and the other men swung around, guns blazing. William and Jack threw themselves to the ground. “Get down, Kate!” Jack yelled.

  Bullets hit the back of the jailhouse wall, and Sheriff Angus disappeared around the side of the building. When the firing stopped, acrid smoke and dust hung in the night air.

  Angus’s voice came again. “Put yer weapons down and yer hands up.”

  With the men’s attention divided, William began to slide his way over to Kate, who was still kneeling on the ground beside her father, wearing a dazed expression. Jack inched closer to Caleb.

  “Come on out, Sheriff,” Caleb said. “We didn’t mean to fire on yeh. You just startled us, that’s all.”

  “I reckon I did, since I stumbled onto yer admission to bein’ the real rustler.”

  “Yeh heard that wrong. I never said I stole nothin’.”

  “Said enough to make me think yer books and livestock records got some discrepancies.”

  William made it to Kate’s side. A glance at Clyde’s ashen face and dull eyes told him the man was dead. He reached over to gently push the eyelids closed out of respect, then pulled Kate silently toward the wagon where they could wait it out in safety.

  Caleb spun on them and they froze. “Don’t either of yeh move. Sheriff, yeh best stand clear or I’ll have to shoot these escapin’ prisoners.”

  “I’ve got men on both sides of this building, Tanner. The first one of yeh so much as twitches a trigger finger will find himself face down in the dirt.”

  “What do we do, Caleb?” William heard the red-haired man whisper.

  Tanner gripped his gun tighter. “Then I reckon it don’t matter if I take the son of a whore and his whore with me.”

  He raised the gun and fired before William could move.

  “No!” Jack yelled, throwing himself in the bullet’s path.

  William’s heart stopped and he sucked in a breath. “Jack!”

  The man went down as gunfire erupted again. A sharp stab of remorse shot through William at the sight of Jack falling, but his immediate need was for Kate’s safety. He dragged her away from the corpse, and in a crouch close to the ground, he pull
ed her toward the wagon. The Marsh’s horses whinnied and reared at the gunshots, and William stopped. With the risk of them bolting, he couldn’t very well shove Kate under a wagon wheel and make a grab for Clyde’s gun, like he’d hoped. All that was left was to push her flat on the ground and cover her body with his, and that’s exactly what he did.

  The late night air exploded around them in the sounds of gunfire, and he covered his head and neck while he shielded Kate. He prayed for the nightmare to end with her survival when a bullet sent a blast of dust up near him and another whizzed by close enough to graze his hair. The ground began to rumble as the horses bolted, taking the wagon with them. He was dimly aware of Kate quivering beneath him while she clutched his shirtsleeves. This wasn’t going to work, lying here in the open. There was too much gunfire shredding the night to think either of them would get out of this in one piece.

  His eyes fixed on a long stick lying a few feet away, then they widened. That wasn’t any stick. Clyde’s weapon had fallen to the ground when the horses took off. It was too far out of reach, though. He’d have to move to make a grab for it.

  “I love you always, Kate,” he whispered into her ear.

  Her voice shook. “I love you, too.”

  He rolled off the woman, his arm automatically reaching for the shotgun. Any second he expected to feel the searing pain of lead piercing his rib cage. He brought the shotgun up while lying on his back, lifting his shoulders off the dirt so he could scour the night and pinpoint the gunmen. Two were already down. The short red-haired man was squatting behind a tree, clutching his firing arm. Caleb Tanner was crouched behind a rock that shielded him from the sheriff’s vantage point on the side of the building. But he wasn’t shielded from William. He could shoot Tanner in the back and the man would never know what—or who—had hit him. That would be the easy, cowardly way. Perhaps Tanner deserved a coward’s send off, too. But William couldn’t shoot a man in the back, not even a ruthless bastard like Caleb Tanner. He needed to face him head on, just the way Tanner had offered him.

  He stuck the stock of the gun firmly against his shoulder. “Tanner!” he cried out.

  The man whirled on him, his eyes narrowing in rage. His gun came around to train on William, but not fast enough. The shotgun blast caught Tanner full in the chest, sending his weapon skittering around the dirt. The man slumped back against the rock, then slid over until his head hit the ground. He didn’t move again.