by Paul Bedford
The Lords of the Plains
Josiah Wakefield and his friend Dan Sturgis are buffalo hunters on the Northern Plains of Nebraska, shortly after the Civil War. Their job is to provide meat for the labourers pushing the Union Pacific Railroad relentlessly westward. Tiring of the bloody slaughter, they find work as trouble-shooters for the same railroad, as Sioux warriors are attacking the supply trains and tracklayers. However, the pair quickly discover that someone is supplying the Indians with repeating rifles, and that stolen ‘Double Eagles’ are the incentive.
Recovering the gold turns out to be relatively simple: keeping hold of it is something else entirely. Even the Missouri River seems to be against them. Unsure who they can trust, they return to the railhead. Here, in a familiar environment, they decide to make a stand against all comers, in the hope that they can finally bring the ringleader to account.
By the same author
Blood on the Land
The Devil’s Work
The Iron Horse
Pistolero
The Lawmen
The Outlaw Trail
Terror in Tombstone
The Deadly Shadow
Gone West
A Return to the Alamo
Taggart’s Crossing
A Hell of a Place to Die
Death on the Bozeman
Bone Treasure
Western Union
The Lords of the Plains
Paul Bedford
ROBERT HALE
© Paul Bedford 2018
First published in Great Britain 2018
ISBN 978-0-7198-2713-6
The Crowood Press
The Stable Block
Crowood Lane
Ramsbury
Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 2HR
www.bhwesterns.com
Robert Hale is an imprint of The Crowood Press
The right of Paul Bedford to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
To Susan E. Peat. Many thanks for supporting my
writing efforts over the years.
Chapter One
Pulling the butt tightly into my shoulder, I aimed directly at its lungs rather than going for the more obvious headshot. My choice was based on hard-earned experience. The weather had been wet for many days past; before the clouds had finally rolled on to uncover the hot sun that was now toasting my back. There would surely be hard mud caked on its bovine features. My soft lead bullet would like as not flatten out and fail to penetrate the skull. Then I would be left a mere two hundred yards away from sixteen hundred pounds of maddened beast, which was not a joyful prospect.
Satisfied that all was as well as it was ever likely to be, I eased the hammer back to full cock. The rifle boasted double-set triggers, so my retraction of the rearmost produced no noticeable result. Not so the front one! Taking a deep breath, I oh so gently caressed the slightly curved trigger. With a roar, the .52 calibre projectile sped down the thirty inch barrel and on unerringly to its target. With the cloud of black powder smoke obligingly cleared by the wind, I was able to witness the huge creature collapse to the ground. It was almost as though its legs had been retracted in unison. One moment it was munching on the verdant grass, the next it was dead. The vast body trembled uncontrollably for a few moments and then lay still.
I remained prone on the ground, a hidden sharpshooter searching out my next target. As always, when there was no visible threat, the remaining buffalo just stood their ground, confident that their numbers would repel any assailant. That suited me just fine, because I needed a good many more kills. Only then could we roll the wagon up, butcher the cadavers and get on back to the railhead. Unlike hide hunters, I actually wanted the meat. It was what paid my way.
Retracting the hammer to ‘safety and load’, I eased the lever down, thereby revealing the breech. A wisp of deliciously sulphurous smoke curled up to my nostrils. Blowing into the end of the powder chamber, I reached for one of the linen cartridges placed carefully on the grass in front of me. Easing it into the breech, I then pulled the lever back up. As the rising block sealed the chamber, it also shaved off the rear of the cartridge, so exposing the black powder for ignition. Reaching into my coat pocket, I fished out a copper percussion cap. After placing the cap on the raised nipple, I squeezed firmly to ensure a tight fit. Even though I had no intention of shifting my position, old habits died hard, and throughout this process I had to make a conscious effort to stay put. Those buffalo didn’t shoot back, or even wear butternut grey, but the discipline stayed with me. Satisfied that the ladder sight was correctly positioned, I levelled my trusty Sharps rifle for the next shot.
Two things then happened simultaneously: I fully cocked my weapon and the grazing buffalo moved. They moved a lot! The hairs on the back of my neck bristled, as a tremor passed through my body. Hugging the ground, I scrutinised the surrounding landscape for the cause of their alarm. The low hills surrounding my position could have easily concealed any number of threats, but something had to be visible to have spooked the herd.
Dan and Elijah were under strict instructions not to approach with the wagon until summoned. My horse was ground tethered with a purloined cavalry picket pin well to the rear. Just what was it that had got the whole herd on the move? My mouth had gone bone dry, as on every other occasion in that damned war when bloody violence had been imminent. Except this time there was no visible threat, a fact that only heightened the tension.
The buffalo were pounding off out of range, so my remaining there served no good purpose, and could quite possibly get me killed. Swiftly pocketing the extra cartridges, I began to crawl back towards my horse. I briefly contemplated dallying to make use of my drawtube spyglass, but then rejected the idea. It would, like as not, achieve nothing. Whoever or whatever was out there had to be close, and using the lie of the land for concealment. It was that fearful thought that persuaded me to abandon all pretence at stealth. Leaping to my feet, I ran full chisel for my mount.
As though to speed my departure, an unearthly yelp came from somewhere behind me. Was it my fevered imagination, or did it contain a note of derision? One thing was for sure: it provided wings for my flight. Without even turning, I hurtled down the gentle slope to my waiting steed. Finally reaching the animal, I yanked the pin out of the ground and literally hurled myself up into the McClellan saddle. Still clutching my fully cocked rifle, I snapped a glance back at whence I had come. What I saw was enough to chill my blood. A group of approximately twenty half-naked savages were viewing the buffalo that I had just dispatched. Then, almost as one, they all turned their baleful attention to me. That was all I needed. Tugging on the reins, I galloped pell-mell back to the wagon.
My abrupt and early return caused consternation amongst my companions. Dan Sturgis was relieving himself beside the wagon. As his head twisted round in alarm, he managed to spray his leather cavalry boots. Cursing, he called out, ‘Now look what you made me do, Josiah. What in tarnation’s got you in such a lather?’
Elijah, dark and taciturn, remained on the bench seat saying nothing. His way was to see much and say little.
Reining my horse in before them, I gestu
red along my back trail. ‘If you want to mix it with a Sioux war party, stay here with your pecker in your hand. Me, I’m heading for the railhead, fast!’
In truth I didn’t know whether they were Sioux or Cheyenne or even a war party, because when it came to fighting Indians I was green through and through. After the bloody actions of the previous years, both in the war and after, one would have imagined that I would be stoic in the face of danger, but as ever it was the unknown that was troubling me. All three of us had heard gory tales of the tribes out west, yet until that day none of us had actually encountered any. The mild panic that was coursing through my veins immediately infected Dan. Fair haired, bright eyed and inexhaustibly cheerful, he was, at twenty-two, the youngest of us all. Damp boots immediately forgotten, he ran to the front of the wagon and hastily clambered up on to the seat.
As the wagon was wheeled around to retrace its tracks, I looked back towards the site of my one and only kill of the day. The skyline held nothing more threatening than the occasional tree. It would be hard to justify our returning to the railhead empty-handed, but that buffalo could stay where it lay. Trotting after my companions, I felt an urge to spur my horse on to greater speed. It was Elijah that brought me down to earth. Calling over to me in a calm voice that was just loud enough to overcome the creaks and rattles of the wagon, he remarked, ‘If you don’t take that cannon off full cock, you’ll like as not blow a hole in one of us!’
As usual we heard and saw evidence of the railhead before it actually came into view. From over the next grassy rise, a plume of black smoke ascended into the startlingly clear blue sky. As though deliberately seeking to draw our attention, a long piercing shriek announced that something quite remarkable awaited us. As we rattled over the final rise, the construction camp lay before us in all its rough-and-ready glory. Until the War betwixt the States, I had never even seen a railroad. The massive, internecine conflict rectified that, but I still never tired of gazing in awe at the mighty engines.
Modern engineering had arrived in the wilderness, and ‘camp’ was a misleading description. Everything was done on a vast scale, with literally hundreds of labourers employed in backbreaking work. During daylight hours nothing was static. All that mattered was forward movement. Nobody went to sleep on the same ground that they had woken on. Using sound sense, the track was being laid parallel to the existing poles of the Western Union Telegraph Company. This line had been completed some years before, and provided the benefit of near instantaneous communication with the railroad’s supply base in Omaha . . . so long as neither buffalo nor Indians damaged the timber poles.
Having gratefully reached relative safety, we had instinctively slowed our pace, so enabling me to peruse the scene before us. As usual, my eyes were drawn to the hissing steam locomotive, but it was a couple of hundred yards ahead of it where the real work was going on. Gangs of sweating men toiled incessantly, driven on by the unremitting profanity of Shaughnessy, the Irish walking boss. Iron rails thirty feet long and weighing six hundred pounds were lifted off the attendant wagons by teams of five men. They were lowered onto the waiting crossties that had been laid across ground prepared in advance by teams of graders. Then the rails were spiked down by yet more men. A measuring rod confirmed that they were always four feet eight and a half inches apart, as designated in 1863 by the now sadly deceased Abraham Lincoln. Four rails were laid each minute, hour after hour. Everything was carried out with military precision, which was not surprising, as construction of the Union Pacific was mostly in the hands of ex-officers.
Thankful though I was to have returned unscathed, my heart fell when I observed one particular individual scrutinising our progress. Thirty-seven-year-old John Stephen Casement, known as General Jack to all and sundry, had been a Brevet Brigadier General in the war and was now charged with constructing a railroad. Five feet and four inches of belligerent muscle, he was the last person that I wanted to encounter just at that moment. Unfortunately, he was the man that I had to answer to for our early return, and so reluctantly I headed directly for him. Standing square, hands on hips and beard bristling, his stance gave me no comfort.
Eyeing our empty wagon speculatively, he remarked, ‘You’re looking a little light, Wakefield. I don’t pay you to just go sashaying around on your high horse. My men got to eat, because if they don’t eat, they don’t work.’
The deep voice matched his barrel chest. The accusation was clear and uncompromising. Flushed with indignation, I wanted to point out that I didn’t get paid at all unless I provided meat, but it was not the time for that. Instead I replied, ‘I was run off by hostiles, Mister Casement. I thought the railroad should know what’s out there.’
The other man ran a meaty hand over his forehead and regarded me scornfully. ‘Right now, I’m the railroad, and I don’t give a shit! You see that engine, Wakefield? It only moves where there’s rails laid for it to run on. I’m paid to lay those rails. No track, no dollars! This railroad is the biggest thing to hit this country, apart from that little fracas back east. No amount of dirt-worshipping heathen savages are going to stop it. Clear?’
Although reeling from his description of the War of Secession as a mere fracas, I was nevertheless about to attempt a reply. The high-pitched scream that interrupted me could have had any number of causes: a crushed toe, a severed finger or maybe a broken bone, yet somehow I knew instinctively that it wasn’t any of those things. Twisting in the saddle, I was just in time to witness a tracklayer stumble back and then down; an arrow shaft protruding from his chest.
The war party had approached silently, most probably shadowing our wagon. Maybe a hundred or so in number, they boiled over the rise without any discernible formation, and were upon us before we knew it. Only then, when they were in amongst us, did they start shrieking and yelling. Their hideously painted features served to emphasise a primitive savagery, the like of which few of us had encountered before.
The resultant chaos was indescribable. Even Southern irregulars could not have created such an effect. Seasoned veterans ran in any direction, leapt behind any cover; in fact did anything other than fight back. For a few vital moments, even the formidable Jack Casement seemed frozen with shock.
Leaping off my horse, I joined Dan and Elijah behind my wagon. Up and down the track swept the Godless heathens, always individually, never to command. Arrows and musket balls rained down, here and there claiming a victim. The fear that had gripped me earlier had returned, but I also found that I could still think rationally. It suddenly came to me that those wild creatures weren’t attempting to seize the railhead. There were no reserves following on behind to exploit any initial advantage. They were there solely to create havoc, loot and kill. Hit and run! And if we did not give them a bloody nose, they would forever regard us as easy meat, much like I viewed the buffalo. With that realisation came a strange feeling of calm. It was as though I suddenly knew my enemy.
Using the wagon side as support, I levelled my rifle and retracted the hammer. Rapidly sighting down on a pair of bared shoulders, I squeezed only the foremost trigger. More pressure was required, but the short range rendered that irrelevant. With a comforting roar, the Sharps discharged and the warrior was gone, blasted forward and off his horse. My earlier emotions were now replaced by elation. Those men could be killed just like any other!
Hammer to ‘safety and load’. As I retrieved another cartridge, something made me turn. Casement’s intense gaze was momentarily focused solely on me. He nodded once and then was on the move, bellowing out commands as he went. Luck was definitely with him, because an arrow slammed into timber at the exact spot where he had been only seconds earlier.
My two companions had finally brought their own weapons into action and began firing at the Indians as they weaved around the camp. Elijah owned a Springfield muzzleloader, marking him out as a former infantryman, whilst Dan possessed a far more modern and potent repeating Spencer Carbine. Such a gun gave him enormous firepower, so long as he could ob
tain the metallic cartridges that it so greedily consumed. Working the lever action and hammer with practised speed, Dan pumped out five rounds with remarkable rapidity. Unfortunately, his enthusiasm worked against him, because not one bullet struck flesh and blood.
The discipline forged in the fires of battle gradually reasserted itself across the camp, and more gunshots crashed out from men who were now no longer easy targets. Then, as abruptly as it had begun, it was all over. The heavily outnumbered marauders sensed that it was time to withdraw. With triumphant whoops, the warriors raced away clutching hats, coats and a solitary cooking pot: the spoils of a very different kind of warfare.
As the last Indian disappeared over the brow of the hill, the men’s courage returned. Taunts and exhortations began to flow freely. They had survived their first encounter with the Plains Indians. Except that not everybody had. Here and there amongst the detritus lay young men bloodily perforated by arrows. Having endured a war to make the United States of America ‘is’ rather than ‘are’, they had then come west to earn a living. Instead they had found only a cold hole in the ground.
Chapter Two
As order was restored to the camp, I walked slowly over to view the victim of my marksmanship. There really wasn’t much to look at. The much vaunted horse warrior was just another man like myself, except that this one had a relatively small hole in his bronzed back. I knew full well that the exit wound would be far more impressive, and so it proved. Having pulled him onto his back, I ignored the mess of blood and gore in his chest and kicked the man’s thigh. It was as though I was confirming to myself that he was not invincible. As expected there was no response.
