The words brought Chuck bolt upright on the bunk. “Great guns! Why the hell did you have to send for him?”
“I didn’t. Randall telegraphed him about the bank raid. It was the right thing to do in his position. Soon as C.B. knew you were in trouble, he apparently hired a special train and he’s due any time.”
Chuck looked more worried than ever and there was an appeal in his eyes as he regarded his tall brother.
“Yancey ... Will you help me? Please?”
“I’ll need a lot more than I’ve got now if I’m going to do anything for you, Chuck.”
Chuck nodded. “I know that. Give me a little time till I get it straightened out in my mind, huh?”
Yancey looked down soberly at his brother. “I don’t want any lies. I need the full story. I’m not going to be able to help you otherwise ... ”
“Okay,” Chuck muttered. “It’s—it’s not going to be easy, Yancey. Can you come back tonight?”
Yancey nodded. “I’ll be here. And I want it all, Chuck. Right now, Cato and I have got to go up to Capitol Hill to the governor’s mansion.” Chuck looked startled. “Dukes wants to thank us personally for saving his drought relief funds.”
“You—you won’t tell him how you got suspicious about the robbery, Yancey?”
Yancey shook his head. “Far as anyone knows, Cato and I just happened along at the right time. We’ll stick to that yarn.” Yancey went to the bars and yelled for Rillings to come and let him out.
Chuck remained seated on the bunk. He put his head in his hands.
~*~
Governor Lester Dukes was a typical tejano elder. He was tall, sparely built, with a natural old-world courtesy and a distinguished looking head of white hair. He wore longhorn moustaches and had a beak of a nose that seemed to jut like the prow of a ship. His eyes were candid and brown and he held his head at a proud angle that was just as natural as his courteous manner.
His thanks to Cato and Yancey were simple and sincere. He did not labor the point: he was grateful to them for saving the drought relief money and he said so, adding, “It’s a pity gentlemen as handy with firearms as you are, aren’t wearing badges. I’m sure the Texas Rangers would welcome you with open arms.”
Cato and Yancey exchanged glances.
“Well, speaking for myself, sir,” Yancey said, stressing the word ‘myself’ and giving Cato a sidelong glance, “I had thought of joining the Rangers at one stage, but I guess I’m too footloose to take kindly to the discipline ... ”
Dukes smiled, his eyes twinkling. “Was the same way myself, years ago ... Long before I ever thought about politics, and a long, long time before I ever had any trouble with my heart.” He touched his chest briefly then looked at Cato. “And you, Mr. Cato?”
“Yancey spoke for both of us, sir,” the smaller man said stoutly. “I’m a man who likes to answer only to myself.”
Dukes nodded. “I understand.” He pulled a tasseled rope that rang a distant bell. “You’ll have some refreshment with me, gentlemen, before leaving. And, you, Mr. Cato, can explain something of this special gun you use.”
Presently the door opened and a tall, brown-haired girl dressed simply, came in, wheeling a tray. She had a tanned, open face with red lips that were curved in a warm, friendly smile. Yancey saw Cato’s experienced eye roving over her trim figure and nudged the man, frowning. Cato merely raised his eyebrows and a faint, knowing smile touched his mouth.
“This is my daughter, Kate, gentlemen,” said Dukes. “This, my dear, is Mr. Yancey Bannerman and Mr. John Cato.”
They acknowledged the introductions, Cato bowing from the waist and kissing Kate’s hand, much to her and Yancey’s surprise. The tall man merely gripped lightly and briefly with her, though the firmness of her handshake pleased him.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, gentlemen,” Kate said in a warm, confident voice. “Especially you, Mr. Bannerman.”
Yancey raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Ma’am?”
Kate’s smile broadened. “I saw you competing in the Silver Bullet Independence Day Shoot at El Paso last year. I envied your aggregate score.” She laughed deep in her throat. “I see you’re puzzled. I was shooting in the women’s team. I missed out on the prize by one point.”
Yancey smiled. “Ma’am, if I’d but known, I’d have given you ten extra points.”
“Very gallant, Mr. Bannerman, but one was all I needed ... No, two. One would have let me tie with the winner.”
“Well, you sure must have a good eye, Miss Dukes,” Yancey said. “To get that close to winning the trophy ... The competition was mighty stiff. You trying again this year?”
Kate sobered a little, glanced towards her father. “No, I—I don’t think I’ll be able.”
“What Kate means,” the governor put in, “is that I’ve had a heart attack since then and she and that confounded Dr. Boles will hardly let me out of their sight. You go ahead and enter the competition, Kate. Travel to wherever it’s being held this year. I don’t aim to hobble you.”
Kate leaned down and kissed him gently on the top of the head. “Oh, hush up, you stubborn old man,” she said with a smile. “I’m over twenty-one—and I’ll make my own decisions.”
Dukes sighed, looked helplessly at Yancey and Cato. “You see what I’m up against? And when she has that blamed sawbones to back her up ... Well, let’s have some coffee before it gets cold.”
“Let me help you, ma’am,” Cato offered gallantly and he and Kate worked over the tray.
“Might I ask you how things stand with your brother, Mr. Bannerman?” Dukes asked Yancey.
“Not good, Governor. But I believe he’s innocent—or at least a victim of circumstances. I’ll be defending him at the trial.” Dukes looked politely surprised but Cato and the girl looked swiftly at Yancey. He smiled faintly.
“I’m qualified, sir. I have my law degree. Took it in Boston some years ago, at the insistence of my father. It was his intention that I become a company lawyer in the family business. Governor, you mentioned before that if I wanted anything from you I only had to ask ... ?”
Dukes murmured, “Of course. But I must point out now I cannot intervene in this trial on your brother’s behalf, Mr. Bannerman.”
Yancey held up a hand. “Not that at all, sir. What I wondered was if you could maybe give me an outline of the law in Texas as it stands, or let me have access to the law books in your fine library.”
“No trouble at all,” Dukes replied without hesitation. “Kate can take you to the library after coffee and help you find all the books you need. She catalogued that library for me.”
“It’ll be my pleasure, Mr. Bannerman,” Kate smiled.
“Mine, too, ma’am,” Yancey answered and caught Cato’s eye. That worthy was grinning knowingly and trying to hide it behind his coffee cup.
~*~
When Yancey returned to the jail to see Chuck that night, he found his father already there. Marshal Rillings warned him in the outer office that C.B. was back there in the cell with Chuck. “Come in like a Texas twister in full flight,” Rillings said. “No offence meant, Yancey.”
“None taken,” Yancey said with a faint smile. “Pa’s kinda proddy.” Then his smile went. “Notice a lot of horses in town. Marshal, and the saloons are noisy.”
The marshal nodded, frowning. “Don’t like the way things are shaping up, Yancey. Been a lot of talk around town about Chuck gettin' Slim Morgan killed. Someone’s tryin’ to stir up a lynch-mob, if you ask me.”
“Any ideas who?” Yancey asked tightly.
“Nope. No one seems to know where the talk started, but it’s spreadin’. And someone’s offerin’ free liquor to fire things up. Got my deputies spread out around town so’s there’ll be plenty of warnin’, but I don’t like the way things are shapin’.” Yancey frowned. “Do me a favor, Marshal, will you? Send word for Johnny Cato to get down here. He’s at the Gilded Cage. Upstairs in room seven, I think he said. He aims to be t
here for some time.”
Rillings looked impressed. “That’s Hoe-down Hanna’s room ... She don’t usually keep her—ah—customers around more’n fifteen-twenty minutes. She’s kinda popular.”
“She’s taken a shine to Cato.”
“Must have. Okay. I’ll get someone down there to roust him out.”
Rillings took Yancey back to the cells where C.B. stood on the other side of the bars, talking with Chuck, who was sitting on the bunk, looking tense and pale.
“I’ll leave the keys with you, Yancey,” Rillings said, handing them over. “You can talk through the bars or go in as you like. I’d better stay on watch in the front office.”
Yancey nodded as the lawman turned and went back down the passage. Curtis Bannerman looked steadily at his younger son through the bars of the cell but there was no warmth in his eyes, and he had no word of greeting.
“What did he mean ‘stay on watch’?” C.B. demanded, as if he had seen Yancey only an hour before, instead of almost two years ago. “What’s happening?”
Yancey looked at Chuck as he said briefly, “Marshal figures there could be a lynch-mob working up.”
Chuck leaped to his feet, looking wild-eyed and C.B. frowned, his mouth grimmer than ever.
“Fine mess you landed your brother in!” he snapped.
Chuck blinked in surprise and Yancey felt shock, but he didn’t let it show.
“How do you work that out, Pa?” he asked quietly.
“How do I work it out? Easy!” said C.B. angrily through the bars. “You know this country. You’ve been out here long enough now, God knows, instead of staying respectably in my counting-house in San Francisco! I’d have thought after the education I gave you that you’d act more responsible instead of taking your brother around the bars and bordellos of this town!”
Yancey stared and Chuck exclaimed, “Aw, hell, Father, ease up, can’t you?”
“Be quiet!” snapped C.B., and Chuck subsided.
“I don’t follow your reasoning, Pa,” Yancey said quietly. “The IOU that was planted in Chuck’s room was to the Barbary Queen back in ’Frisco, not some saloon in Austin. Chuck and I did have a night on the town but it has nothing to do with this business—”
“You know damn well the whole thing’s your fault!” snapped C.B., trying to talk Yancey down. “If you’d taken the position I offered you and trained you for, you’d have been the one to come here and make legal arrangements on my behalf, not Chuck!”
Yancey opened his mouth to protest, then shut it again. After a moment, staring at the floor, he said, “Whatever you say, Pa.”
“What I say is, it’s your job to get Chuck out of this mess!”
“I aim to try,” Yancey answered quietly.
“Don’t try ... Do it! Or must I bring in someone more competent from San Francisco?”
“Wouldn’t be time before the trial, Pa,” Yancey said easily. He stared at Chuck. “I’ll try to get Chuck off as long as he tells me everything and doesn’t keep anything back.”
He broke off as Johnny Cato came bustling down the passage, followed by a panting Rillings. The marshal was holding a dirty kerchief to his mouth which seemed to be bleeding. Yancey looked sharply at Cato.
“Hell, you didn’t slug the marshal for dragging you away from Hoe-down Hanna, did you?” Yancey asked Cato.
“He didn’t,” Rillings muttered ruefully. “Hanna did!”
Yancey, amused, glanced at Cato who merely shrugged, then said, “You got more trouble than that comin’ up, Yance. Lynch-mob’s comin’ down the street. Marshal and me had to run to stay ahead of ’em.”
Yancey was already at the cell door, unlocking it and then Rillings whipped out his Colt, cocking back the hammer.
“What in hell do you think you’re doin’?” he demanded.
Yancey paused as he made to open the door. “Getting Chuck out of here, Marshal. I’ve got an idea what he’s got to say could stand on a lot of toes around Austin. That’s what’s behind the lynch-mob. If I can get him someplace and hide him out till the trial ... ”
Rillings knew he had to make a fast decision. He nodded abruptly, holstering his gun. “Right. I’m trusting you, Yancey. Don’t let me down.”
“I won’t,” Yancey promised, opening the door for his father and Chuck. “There’s an old ruined Spanish mission south of Big Horn Creek. We could hole-up there and I’ll bring him back in time for the trial.”
“Day after tomorrow,” Rillings said flatly. He looked hard at Chuck. “Don’t you let any of us down, mister.”
Chuck nodded, clearly nervous and anxious to get away. Yancey said, “Johnny, can you get some horses?”
Cato nodded and Rillings let him out the back door. They could hear the noise of the approaching mob out the front. There was a single gunshot and C.B. looked startled.
“My deputy puttin’ a shot over their heads,” Rillings explained. “Won’t stall ’em for long.” He hurried back to his office. Presently Yancey said:
“Chuck, wait here by the door till Johnny brings the horses. I’ll see if I can give the marshal a hand till then.”
Yancey ran down the passage and into the front office, gun in hand. Rillings had his gun rack unlocked and several rifles and shotguns were on his desk. He started checking the loads.
“They’re comin’! Walked clear over my deputy. Dunno what happened to my other men. They must’ve put them out of action, too. Ain’t sure how long I can hold ’em, Yancey. You quit as soon as that Cato hombre gets back with the horses!”
Yancey nodded, and went to one of the front windows, protected now by a heavy wooden shutter with a loophole cut in it. He saw the mob coming, the lynch-crazy faces lit by burning torches as they made their way down the street towards the jailhouse. Three men in the front row carried ropes and several others were armed. Yancey noted there were quite a few cowboys in the group.
“Bring him out, Rillings!” roared a mob spokesman as they lined up outside the law office. “We don’t want to hurt you but we will if we have to!”
“Must be a hundred or more,” Yancey said, as Rillings ran to another window and poked out the barrels of a double-barreled shotgun. The Greener thundered and Yancey saw the mob scatter, hunting cover, as the charge of buckshot blasted down some tree branches.
“Go on home before the undertaker starts orderin’ in more caskets!” Rillings bawled. “You ain’t gettin’ any prisoner of mine! He goes on trial and a judge and jury’ll decide if he’s guilty or not!”
“We know you ain't got anyone to back you, Marshal!” the same voice called back. “We took care of your deputies. Now, you don’t want to get yourself killed, do you? Show some sense.”
Rillings snatched up another shotgun and Yancey grabbed a rifle. They fired together, the marshal over the heads of the mob, Yancey placing his bullets close to their feet. A fusillade of shots answered them, bullets thudding into the door and the shuttered windows.
“They're plenty riled!” the lawman breathed.
Yancey nodded. “Recognize any of those cowboys?”
“Huh? Oh, some from Pothook ... Magnus’ spread.”
“That figures,” said Yancey. Then Chuck came running in, swiftly followed by C.B.
“Johnny’s out back with three horses, Yance!” Chuck panted.
Rillings jerked his head at Yancey and the big man put down the rifle, ducking as shots from outside sent splinters flying from the loophole in the shutter. He glanced at his father but was met with a cold stare in return. Then he nodded to Rillings and he and Chuck ran back down the passage.
“Grab that there rifle, mister,” Rillings snapped at C.B., firing into the night again. “You ain’t got time to get out now. Might as well make yourself useful.”
C.B., frowning, picked up the rifle, thinking it was a long time since he had fired a weapon in anger.
“You got a damn fine son there, mister,” Rillings told him abruptly, reloading his shotgun. There were men on the porch now,
battering at the door with a stout log. He took time to glance at C.B. “And I don’t mean Chuck.”
C.B. grunted, his face hardening and then he stepped to the loophole and began firing at the yelling shadows outside ...
Where Cato had found the horses, Yancey didn’t know or care. But he had three swift-looking mounts and they leaped into leather nimbly, wheeled the horses and ran for the end of the street behind the jailhouse, just as a section of the mob came yelling and shouting around the corner.
Guns flashed in wild shots and Yancey ducked low, holding his fire, but racing his mount straight into the mob. They broke and ran as the trio of thundering mounts bore down upon them and smashed through, a couple of men yelling in terror as they fell. Yancey struck out with his Peacemaker barrel as someone grabbed at the reins. He felt the jar run up his arm and the reins were released. He glanced behind and saw that Chuck was kicking a man away from the stirrup and Cato fired his ‘Manstopper’ into the air. The shotgun shell blast scattered the mob more effectively than anything else could have done, and then they were riding for the edge of town, a few desultory shots following them.
Seven – The Whole Truth
CHUCK LEANED a little closer to the fire in the ruins of the old Spanish mission and warned his hands before turning to the silent Yancey and Cato where they squatted against the crumbling adobe wall.
He sighed before continuing his story. “So I faked the robbery and took my IOUs out of Magnus’ safety deposit box. I’d already laid the idea of going to Texas to buy up cheap land while the drought was on, so C.B. didn’t suspect anything when I left. I never figured on running into Magnus out here again, though.”
“How did you run into him in Austin?” Yancey asked.
“He found me. Or Boden did. He was waiting in my suite after I left you, Yancey. I guess that land clerk, Purdy, let him in. He beat me up, took me out to the Magnus ranch. Magnus threatened to expose me to C.B. if I didn’t get the bank vault open.” He added pleadingly, “You’ve got to believe it, Yancey. They promised there’d be no shooting!”
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