Montana Gundown

by William W. Johnstone

  Salty grumbled some, but he stood aside and allowed Frank to drag the corpse into the trees. Frank did the same with the other dead man and then hunkered on his heels beside the bodies to check their pockets.

  He didn’t come up with much. Both men carried cigarette makin’s, and they had more money than cowboys usually carried, upward of fifty dollars each. One had a deck of greasy, much-used cards, and the other had an envelope in his shirt pocket that had been folded over several times. This was the man who had fallen in the water, so the envelope was wet and whatever had been written on it had washed away. The same was true of the sheet of paper that Frank carefully slid out of it. The ink had run, leaving only indecipherable blue smears.

  The letter must have meant something to this man for him to have hung on to it. Even hired killers had families, sweethearts, friends. But whatever the letter contained was gone, just like the life of the man who had carried it.

  Frank left the bodies there and went to bring in the horses the men had left in the trees. They were good animals, nothing fancy but solid mounts. He didn’t recognize the brand on either of them. Untying the reins from the saplings where they had been fastened, he led the horses back to the pool.

  When he got there, Faye Embry still hadn’t regained consciousness, and Salty was starting to look worried, too.

  “You reckon we better try to get her clothes on her and take her back to her pa’s place?” he asked.

  “We may have to,” Frank said. “Maybe there’s a doctor in Pine Knob—”

  The crackle of brush alerted him. He turned toward the sound, his hand moving closer to his gun as he did so. But he stopped the motion as he spotted several rifle barrels poking out from behind nearby trees and a man shouted furiously, “What the hell have you done to my daughter?”

  Chapter 9

  Frank recognized Jubal Embry’s voice. He stood there with his shoulders squared and said, “Take it easy, Embry. She’s been wounded, but we didn’t do it. We found a couple of men about to attack her and stopped them.”

  “Lies!” Embry bellowed from behind the tree where he pointed a rifle at Frank and Salty. “Again with the lies! I order you off my ranch, and what do you do? You come back and molest my daughter! By God, I ought to—”

  “Pa, wait!” That was Hal Embry’s voice, coming from the area where Frank had dragged the corpses. “There are a couple of dead men over here, and I think I recognize them. I’ve seen them with Brady Morgan.”

  “What?” Embry sounded confused, but he was so obviously sure of himself that the feeling didn’t last long. “They must’ve all four come over here to our end of the valley and had a fallin’ out amongst ’em when they found your sister like ... like that. Good Lord, I’ve told Faye she was just askin’ for trouble by comin’ out here to swim in this pool, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Your sister won’t listen to nobody!”

  “Especially not an ... old buffalo bull like you,” Faye said weakly from where she lay on the grass.

  Frank looked around in mingled surprise and relief that the young woman had regained consciousness. Her father’s roaring tone must have roused her from her stupor.

  Faye lifted her head and pushed herself up on an elbow to look down at her body. When she realized that she was still nude, with only her spread-out dress covering her rather inadequately, she gasped and clutched at the garment as she tried to make it shield more of her from view.

  “You men get out of here!” she cried. “Get out!”

  “You heard her, damn you,” Embry said. He jerked the barrel of his rifle. “Come on! And keep your hands away from those guns.”

  “We’re not going to draw,” Frank said as he walked toward the trees with his hands held in plain view. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

  As he and Salty entered the trees, several Boxed E hands closed in around them, brandishing Winchesters. Jubal Embry came up and jerked Frank’s Colt from its holster. Another man disarmed Salty.

  “I reckon I’ll take a whip to you,” the rancher said, “and then I’ll tar and feather you, and then I’ll string you both from the highest tree I can find. Buzzards who’d molest a respectable young woman don’t deserve no better.”

  “We’re not the ones who were trying to hurt your daughter,” Frank said. He didn’t know if it would do any good to argue with Embry. The man seemed to be as stubborn as a mule. But once Faye got dressed, maybe she would tell her father what had really happened.

  They had another potential ally in Hal, too, who walked up and said, “Pa, didn’t you hear what I told you?” He pointed over his shoulder with a thumb. “There are a couple of Brady’s men back there in the trees with bullet holes in them. I’ve got a hunch Frank put those holes in them.”

  Salty said, “You’d be right about that, sonny. He drilled both those skunks, and it was one of them what fired the shot that creased your sister.” The old-timer pointed to the swollen lump on his skull. “One of ’em gave me this, too, by wallopin’ me with a gun while we were tryin’ to corral ’em.”

  “I don’t believe a word of it,” Embry snapped. “I ordered you off my range. Men who would disobey an order like that would lie, too.”

  “Then why did Frank shoot those two?” Hal asked.

  “I told you. They had an argument over what they were gonna do to your sister.”

  “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Faye said as she strode into the trees, fully dressed now down to soft leather boots on her feet under the long skirt she wore. “And could you stop shouting, Father? My head hurts, and all the noise is just making it worse.”

  “I’m not surprised your head’s sore, Miss Embry,” Frank said. “One of those bullets flying around clipped you and knocked you out. You’d better take it easy for a few days. Sometimes head injuries like that can be tricky. I’ve had my share of ’em.”

  “Don’t bother givin’ my daughter any advice,” Embry said. “I’ll send for Doc Hutchison in Pine Knob. He’ll tend to her health.”

  Faye said, “This man’s just trying to help. And he and his friend have told you the truth. If it wasn’t for them, there’s no telling what might have ... happened to me.”

  Embry frowned at her. “The four of them weren’t all together?” he asked.

  “No. That’s what they’ve been trying to tell you. Those other two men came up first and ... and accosted me while I was bathing. Then these two showed up and pointed guns at the others and tried to disarm them. That’s when the fight started.” Faye lifted a hand toward the scratch on her head. “And when I got hurt.”

  “That’s what I figured,” Hal said. “Frank and Salty were just trying to help.”

  His father glared at him. “You’re still too damn trustin’,” the elder Embry said. “It’ll get you killed one of these days, if you ain’t careful.”

  “Why don’t you stop pointing those rifles at these two men?” Faye suggested. “This is getting ridiculous. I’ve already told you they didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “They saw you ... well ...” Embry hesitated.

  Faye flushed prettily. “That can’t be helped,” she said. “And I’d rather be a little embarrassed than dead.”

  That was the way Frank had hoped she would react. He nodded to her, smiled slightly, and said, “Salty and I are obliged to you for telling the truth, Miss Embry.”

  Jubal Embry finally lowered his gun, but he didn’t stop glaring. “There’s still the matter of you comin’ back on my range when I told you to clear off and stay gone! What do you have to say about that?”

  “We’ve been to Pine Knob and found out more about what’s been going on around here,” Frank said. He told them about the encounter with Brady Morgan and Gaius Baldridge at the Feed Barn, and also about their conversation with Katie Storm and Marshal Trask.

  Frank noticed how Hal perked up at the mention of Katie. The two of them were interested in each other, that was for sure.

  “So you talked to your son,” Embry sa
id with a sneer. “I don’t see how that changes anything.”

  “I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Embry. I don’t know if Brady Morgan is my son. I suppose he might be. But like I told you before, I never saw or heard of him until today, and I’ll stand by that.”

  “Then why did you come back?” Hal asked.

  “It looks to us like Baldridge has got you outgunned,” Frank said. “And Brady Morgan’s already got it in for us. Seems like the best thing for us to do would be to give you folks a hand.”

  Embry’s bushy eyebrows rose in surprise. “You want me to hire you? As regulators?”

  “As men who’ll ride for the brand, whatever that takes.” Frank grinned. “But I’ve done my share of cowboying when I was younger, and I’ll wager Salty has, too. We can work the range if you need us to.”

  “I’ve got cowhands,” Embry said. “But I don’t have hired killers, and I don’t intend to.” He snorted in disgust. “I should’ve known, considerin’ your reputation, mister. You’re no better than that no-good whelp of yours.”

  “Pa, I think you’ve got it wrong,” Hal said. “They saved Faye.”

  Embry rounded on his son and roared, “It ain’t your place to do the thinkin’ around here! I still do that ... unless you figure you’re man enough to take over the Boxed E and run it better than I can!”

  Hal looked angry and frustrated as he replied, “I never said that, Pa, and you know it. But I got a right to tell you what I think.”

  “And I got a right to ignore it.”

  “What about me?” Faye asked. “Are you going to ignore my opinion, too, Father?”

  Embry frowned at her. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

  “You trust my business sense. Well, I think it would be good business to hire Mister ... ?”

  She looked at Frank.

  “Morgan,” he told her. “Frank Morgan. And this is Salty Stevens.”

  Salty took off his hat and said, “We ain’t been formally introduced ’til now, miss, but it’s an honor and a pleasure to meet you.”

  Faye smiled a little. “I imagine it was, considering how I was dressed at the time.”

  “Blast it, girl, don’t be so familiar with these men,” Embry snapped. “Even if they’re not workin’ for Baldridge, they’re just drifters. No-account saddle tramps. Hired guns.”

  Even though the riches sitting in various banks in his name meant very little to him, Frank couldn’t help but think about how he could probably buy and sell Jubal Embry several times over, and throw in Gaius Baldridge for good measure.

  But he didn’t say anything about that. Instead he said, “You can think whatever you want about us, Embry, but you’ve got to admit it’s come in handy having us around today. We helped Hal and those other three hands of yours get out of that bushwhacking without a scratch, and your daughter would have been a lot worse off now if we hadn’t come along when we did.”

  “He’s right, Father,” Faye said. “We owe a debt to Mr. Morgan and Mr. Stevens.”

  “And I promised them a good meal earlier today,” Hal put in, “a meal they didn’t get because you ran them off. Why don’t you let them come back to the ranch with us, have some supper, and spend the night? While they’re doing that, we can figure out what to do next.”

  Embry still wore a dark scowl, but he was smart enough to know that at the moment, the game was running against him, Frank thought. After a few seconds, the rancher jerked his head in a curt nod.

  “All right, we won’t horsewhip you or tar an’ feather you or string you up,” he said.

  “We’re obliged to you for that,” Frank said dryly.

  “And I’ll feed you and give you beds in the bunkhouse for the night. Nobody’s ever said that Jubal Embry ain’t hospitable, and they ain’t gonna start now!”

  “Appreciate that.”

  “But as for lettin’ you hire on ... don’t count on it, mister. I still don’t trust you as far as I could throw you. Even if you’re tellin’ the truth, you’re liable to wind up on the opposite side from your own son, lookin’ at him over the barrel of a gun. You thought about what you’re gonna do if that happens, Morgan?”

  “I have,” Frank replied honestly.

  But he didn’t have any answers yet, and that was the truth, too.

  Chapter 10

  The ranch hands who had ridden out here with Embry and Hal took charge of the extra horses. When everyone was mounted up, they started back toward the Boxed E headquarters.

  Embry had returned their guns to Frank and Salty, which surprised Frank a little. He was grateful for that, though, because he never felt quite right without the weight of the Colt on his hip.

  Not surprisingly, Embry took the lead, leaving the others to follow him. Frank suspected it was that way in most things the rancher did.

  But he didn’t mind, because it gave him a chance to talk with Hal.

  “I’m curious about something,” he said to the young man. “How did you and your pa happen to show up out there at that waterfall when there was trouble going on?”

  “One of the hands heard the shots and galloped back to the ranch house,” Hal explained. “Headquarters is too far away for the sound to have traveled that far, but we’ve always got men riding in various parts of the spread. After all the problems with Baldridge, and especially after Morgan and his men jumped us earlier today, whenever there’s any shooting we all come a-runnin’.”

  Frank nodded and said, “That makes sense. You believe what we told you about what happened at the pool, don’t you?”

  Hal looked at Faye, who was riding ahead of them, but not as far ahead as her father, and said, “My sister’s a lot of things, Mr. Morgan, but she’s not usually a liar. I can’t think of any reason why she wouldn’t tell the truth about what happened.”

  “I’m glad to hear you feel that way. By the way, why don’t you call me Frank? The name Morgan sort of stirs up bad feelings around here.”

  “That’s the truth,” Hal agreed. “All right, Frank. Did you say you didn’t tell the folks in town who you really are?”

  “That’s right. Seemed to me like it would just complicate matters.”

  “And you didn’t want Brady to know, did you?”

  “I’m still trying to figure that one out,” Frank admitted. “Like I said, there’s a chance he really is my son, even though I never knew about it until today.”

  “I reckon it’d be pretty hard to gun down your own flesh and blood.”

  “People have done it,” Frank said. “I’d just as soon not be one of ’em, but I won’t stand by and let Brady Morgan kill some innocent person.”

  “What if you’re the one he’s trying to kill?”

  “I’m going to try not to let it come to that.”

  But he might not have any choice in the matter, Frank thought. He might have to make a decision ... and if he did, he would have to do it in less than the blink of an eye.

  He would have to do it in the time it took to draw a Colt and pull the trigger ...

  When they reached the Boxed E, the sun wasn’t far above the horizon. Once again, the ranch dogs bounded out to greet the newcomers with raucous barks and growled at Dog, who ignored them except for a warning lift of his lip.

  A woman stood on the front porch of the ranch house, obviously waiting for Embry and Hal and the other men to return from investigating the shots. She was middle-aged, with enough of the same sort of beauty in the lines of her face and her thick brown hair that it was equally obvious she was Faye’s mother. She looked like she wanted to rush down from the porch and run to meet them, but she kept that impulse under control.

  “The girl’s all right, Mary,” Embry said gruffly as he reined to a halt in front of the porch. “You can see that for yourself.”

  “But those two men aren’t,” Mary Embry said as she pointed to the two corpses draped over their saddles. The Boxed E hands had tied them to the horses. Frank wasn’t sure what Embry planned to do with them. Mary went on. �
��What happened, Jubal?”

  Faye dismounted and said, “I’ll tell you about it in the house, Mother. We don’t need to talk about it out here.”

  Mary put a hand to her mouth in alarm. “Oh, my God,” she breathed. “Are you sure you’re all right, Faye?”

  “I’m fine. I just want to go inside.”

  Faye stepped onto the porch, where her mother put an arm around her shoulders and led her through the open door.

  Embry turned to Frank and Salty and said, “You can put your horses in the corral and your gear in the bunkhouse. There are empty bunks out there. Claim a couple for the night.” Embry looked at Gage Carlin. “Gage, I’m puttin’ you in charge of keepin’ an eye on these two.”

  “Sure, boss,” Carlin said with a nod.

  Hal had already dismounted. Embry swung his lumbering bulk down from the saddle and handed his reins to his son. He went into the house.

  “Don’t take what he says too serious-like,” Hal told Frank and Salty, keeping his voice low enough that his father wouldn’t hear him inside. “He’ll come around.”

  “We’re obliged for the hospitality,” Frank said, “and the offer to stick around and give you folks a hand still stands.”

  “Better listen to him,” Salty advised. “This ain’t the first range war he’s been in the middle of. Now, as for me, I’d just as soon ride on, but I reckon I’ll do whatever Frank says.”

  The hands headed for the corral and the barn. Frank and Salty followed suit, and Gage Carlin showed them where to put their saddles once they’d pulled the hulls off Goldy and the paint and turned the horses into the main corral.

  Stormy and the packhorse went into the pen, too, and Frank and Salty carried their war bags and supplies into the bunkhouse. Carlin gave them a hand and lingered by the bunks where the newcomers dumped their gear.

  “On behalf of me and the rest of the crew, I want to thank you fellas for helpin’ Miss Faye,” the cowboy said. “She can be a mite bossy at times, but most of us have watched her grow up and we’re right fond of her.”