Lords of the Plains

by Paul Bedford

  Turning all my attention to the familiar train, I took in the engine, tender and flat cars. With the rails and timber removed, the cars would no longer afford any protection at all. The cab, although solidly built, could be approached from both sides and behind. That left the high-sided tender, which was only really easily accessible from its front, where the fireman shovelled out the coal. With so much weight to haul, a great deal of that fuel had been consumed on the journey out, leaving a grimy yet potentially useable area.

  For long moments I stared at the possible refuge, trying to decide whether I was losing my grip on reality. It seemed bizarre that in the midst of a vast, bustling railhead, my companions and I might find ourselves besieged by a gang of gun thugs. Then, recollecting our experience in Omaha, I decided that it was after all quite possible. The tracklayers were armed against attack by Indians. They were unlikely to be little more than curious at the attempts of fellow white men to apprehend some apparent fugitives. Any reaction from the workforce would depend very much on Jack Casement’s role in all this, which inevitably brought me back to my biggest fear: could I really trust him?

  ‘Are you out of your goddamn mind, Wakefield?’ the track boss erupted. We were standing in his tent. A large map of Nebraska Territory was spread over a trestle table next to him. ‘Do you realize what you’re asking?’

  I stared down at the much shorter man’s belligerent features, and began to wonder whether there was more than just the prospect of disruption behind his anger. ‘I know exactly what I’m asking. If there are men coming to do us harm, I want the three of us behind iron walls, and there’s nothing else in this camp that will serve as well. And the Union Pacific has got plenty of trains. They ain’t gonna miss one for a day or so. It just needs your say so, is all.’

  Casement snorted loudly, before unexpectedly favouring me with the makings of a grin. ‘You got grit, Wakefield. I’ll give you that. OK, I’m persuaded. Just don’t wreck the thing, is all. Tell the engineer to move it off the main line.’ It was then that he displayed an unexpectedly softer side to his nature. ‘Then he’s got the rest of the day off. I hear tell he’s taking the death of his partner hard. Give him my condolences.’

  I returned his grin. ‘Thank you, Mister Casement. I’m obliged. And I’ll pass on your sentiments.’

  As I turned to leave the tent, he caught me with one more question. ‘Have you got anything out of that prisoner yet?’

  ‘Not yet. I think he’s hoping to be rescued.’

  ‘Hmm. Happen it’s time you started beating on him. If that ain’t to your taste, I’m sure Shaughnessy will oblige. He’s always been mighty free with his fists.’

  ‘I’ll think on it,’ I replied. Then, just on the point of ducking through the flap, one more thing came to me. ‘Do you keep any nitroglycerin in camp?’

  The track boss regarded me strangely for a moment. ‘For sure. The graders use it for blasting. It’s mighty dangerous stuff. Why?’

  Without directly answering, I replied, ‘I could use a bottle or two. Strictly for medicinal purposes, of course.’

  His eyes widened expressively at such a preposterous comment, but he nevertheless nodded. ‘Why the hell not? You’re getting everything else today. You must have caught me in a good mood.’

  I was definitely tempting fate. It was time to leave and so, flipping him a cheery salute, I did just that. As I walked off, I couldn’t resist a quiet chuckle at the thought of Elijah’s reaction to the prospect of a visit from the hulking walking boss.

  The engineer greeted the surprising news of his delayed departure with huge relief. ‘Never thought I’d be getting considerations from General Jack,’ he declared, his voice slightly slurred.

  I had caught him in his cab, supping out of an earthenware jug, and from the anguished expression on his face he had doubtless been reliving that morning’s gruelling experience. His earlier apparent detachment over the fireman’s slaying had obviously been due to the heat of the moment, because there were tears coursing down his ruddy cheeks. Although embarrassed at disturbing him, I nevertheless had more to impart.

  ‘I need you to move this train onto the siding . . . before you drink any more. Savvy? If you don’t, you’ll answer to the Jack Casement that you’re more used to dealing with!’

  That definitely sank in. He nodded hurriedly, and staggered to his feet.

  ‘One more thing,’ I added gently. ‘Where will you be if I need you?’

  ‘Somewhere’s about,’ he mumbled. ‘I sure won’t be straying far, what with those heathen devils on the loose.’

  Deciding that such a commitment was the best that I could expect under the circumstances, I left him to his task and returned to my companions.

  ‘Sweet Jesus! You can’t intend for the three of us to spend the whole night in a coal tender,’ Elijah exclaimed.

  ‘No. No, I don’t,’ I replied. ‘The supply train won’t arrive until late morning. So we’ll eat our fill, courtesy of the railroad, and then get a good night’s shuteye. Dan and I deserve it after you and your cronies rousted us out last night!’

  Talk of food perked up the prisoner. ‘It’s about time. My belly was beginning to think my throat had been slit.’ Then he seemed to recall the way in which I had killed a man the previous night, because his eyes grew guarded, and he coloured slightly. ‘Never took you for a knife fighter, Joe. You always shied away from cutting up buffalo.’

  I shrugged. ‘That’s because I had you two to do the work for me. Knife work’s messy and ugly, but if I’m pushed I’ll do what I need to. You’d do well to remember that.’

  For a long moment our eyes remained locked, until Dan broke the spell. ‘If you two have finished eyeballing each other, let’s go eat. He ain’t the only cuss that’s famished.’

  I smiled at him. ‘Fair enough, but we go in shifts. And he stays here.’

  ‘Whaaat?’ Elijah exclaimed unhappily.

  I gestured in the direction of the tracklayers. ‘Casement thinks you need roughing up some, and there’s a massive Irish walking boss over yonder who’s up for the job. So it’s best that you stay out of sight.’ As the colour visibly left Elijah’s face, I added, ‘You go first, Dan. And bring back a plateful for our guest here. Pile it high. He looks like he could use it.’

  Coincidentally, as Dan departed, the construction engine’s whistle blew for time, and the day’s work ended abruptly. As planned when the tent had been pitched, we were now directly opposite the railhead, but wouldn’t have to suffer the incessant din, because the famished men would soon be heading for the long benches in the dining car, and then some well-earned rest. As relative quiet descended on the temporarily static camp, I hunkered down next to Elijah and removed his chains.

  ‘Don’t make me regret doing this,’ I remarked. As he ruefully rubbed his wrists, I continued, ‘The cockchafer that employed you in Omaha goes by the name of Oliver Dix. He’s a big noise with the railroad. If push comes to shove, how many gun thugs can he call on?’

  The other man shook his head in apparent frustration. ‘There really ain’t a whole lot more I can tell you, Joe. After you and me had words, I went back there looking for work, any kind of work that paid cash money. I rubbed up against the fella you ventilated in one of the saloons, and before I knew it I had a grubstake and a berth in some flophouse. It seemed like easy living to me . . . until we ran into you at the livery. If he’s got money, this Dix could buy any number of hired guns. Place like Omaha attracts plenty of drifters.’

  ‘Hmm.’ I was disappointed at the lack of clarity, but not in the least bit surprised. ‘Well, it looks like we’ll just have to wait and see who turns up on the supply train tomorrow then, don’t it?’

  Elijah nodded solemnly.

  ‘Just don’t let me down, is all,’ I added earnestly. ‘When you side with a man, you stick with him. Otherwise you’re no better than some animal!’

  Chapter Ten

  The horny hand over my mouth seemed intent on choking me,
and although fogged with sleep my natural instinct was to fight back. I began to twist and buck until a familiar voice penetrated my disorientation.

  ‘For God’s sake, wake up, Josiah. It’s me, Dan.’

  With my heart thumping like an anvil strike, I peered through the gloom in the tent. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ I finally managed.

  ‘There’s a train pulling in. Now. This very minute!’

  Suddenly wide-awake, I stayed still and listened. It required little effort. The hissing of steam. The sound of metal on metal. All too familiar noises that were occurring exactly when they shouldn’t be. My first thought was that it was our engineer, disobeying orders and heading back to Omaha. Except for one little thing . . . the sounds were coming closer.

  It was Elijah, fully conscious and lucid, who clarified our fears. ‘That telegram got sent all right. And now someone’s coming for you . . . us. And they must have some pull, to get a special train.’

  I knew that he was correct. I also knew that we couldn’t remain in the tent. Thrusting the Henry at Elijah, I commanded, ‘You two, grab the strongbox and make for the tender. I’m going to see just what we’re up against. If I start shooting, give ’em hell. But just be careful, huh?’ They both knew exactly what I meant by that!

  Conveniently, the flap of the large tent faced away from the main track. I had no idea what time it was, but there was no sign that daybreak was in the offing. As my companions scurried away with their horde of Double Eagles, I dropped onto all fours. With the Sharps in the crook of my arm, I crawled around the side of the tent. An amazing sight greeted my eyes.

  A great Iron Horse, illuminated by an unusual number of kerosene lamps, was grinding to a halt in the midst of the encampment. The railhead’s night guards, drawn by the unexpected arrival, approached the manmade beast cautiously. They attempted to shield their eyes against the bright light, but were already losing their night vision. I, on the other hand, kept one eye tightly closed.

  As the machine finally came to a stop, I was able to make out the single carriage behind it. No supply cars of any kind, just one solitary passenger car. I cursed under my breath. I had been a fool, expecting our enemies to stick to a timetable when they were after a fortune in gold!

  Dim shapes began to appear on the outside platform at the front of the carriage. And they kept on coming. Some dropped down onto either side of the track, and they all carried long guns.

  ‘Just who the hell are you, fellas?’ a night guard called out, as he approached them warily with his weapon cocked.

  ‘We’re here on railroad business,’ boomed a loud voice on the platform.

  ‘Well, so are we,’ the guard retorted petulantly. ‘And we were here first.’

  Good for you, I thought approvingly. It had occurred to me immediately that the new arrivals were obviously overconfident of their numbers to be making so much noise. Their swelling ranks did seem to have an effect on the guard though, because his belligerence wasn’t to last long.

  ‘You’d be wise to back off and save your smart remarks for the goddamn Sioux,’ the imposing voice continued. ‘We’re here to apprehend two . . . maybe three fugitives. They’ve stolen a company strongbox, and killed many men.’

  Even in the gloom, it was apparent from his movements that the guard was beginning to view the dozen or so heavily armed men with some trepidation. ‘Don’t rightly know what “apprehend” means,’ he responded. ‘But I guess Mister Casement is the fella to sort all this out. He’s in that big tent over yonder. I’d tread carefully, if I was you. He can be a mite prickly.’

  The individual, whose face I still couldn’t see, grunted as though unimpressed and waved to his waiting men. Then, dropping down to trackside, he joined them, and together they all advanced on Casement’s tent. Now we would definitely find out whose side that man was on!

  Taking advantage of their temporary distraction, I moved away stealthily from our temporary abode. After making sure that I remained well clear of Dan and Elijah’s line of fire, I dropped onto the grass again. I well knew that men were going to die that night, and that I might be one of them, but I felt strangely calm. Just like on the day that I killed my first Sioux warrior at the railhead. In reality mere days ago, but it felt like a lifetime had passed.

  I wasn’t kept waiting long. After maybe five minutes, the shadowy group re-emerged and headed directly for our tent! ‘The bastard!’ I snarled.

  Pulling back the hammer of my Sharps, I took aim at the mass of men. The fact that it was still dark wouldn’t hamper my effectiveness. Overconfident of their numbers, they had neglected to spread out, and now it would cost them dear. As my buffalo gun belched death, the relative calm of the night was shattered. One man collapsed, and before the others could scatter, my companions opened fire. Over by the tender, muzzle flashes momentarily flared in the dark.

  As I rolled sideways and then reloaded rapidly, the bizarre thought struck me that any Sioux war party lurking out on the plains would likely be mighty puzzled by this turn of events.

  As two more broken bodies tumbled to the ground, the survivors recalled some basic rules of combat, and scattered. With frantic speed, they fanned out in a defensive arc and went to ground. All that could be heard were the intermittent screams of one of their comrades.

  ‘You’re gonna regret this, you sons of bitches!’ their leader bawled out.

  I remained silent, so as not to give away my position, but not so Dan. ‘Maybe, maybe not, you cockchafer, but right now you’re the ones doing the screaming.’

  That drew a predictable response. A fusillade of shots crashed out, merging with the tremendous din of hot lead striking the iron tender. I fired at a muzzle flash, and then rolled off to my right, putting yet more distance between our assailants and myself. I had a very good reason for doing so.

  ‘You pus weasels’ll have to do better than that,’ Dan taunted, but this time the reaction was far more subdued. The new arrivals merely shifted position and held their fire.

  Then, from one of the boxcars on the main line, Shaughnessy’s very distinctive voice sounded off. ‘The devil take it! What are you bastards after doing?’

  The gang leader gave him short shrift. ‘Keep out of this, Irish. We’re on company business, and we’ve cleared it with your boss. This’ll all be over soon, an’ you can all go back to sleeping like babies.’

  The walking boss was clearly not impressed, but he did stay put. ‘Sure, an’ you’re a fine man for thinking of us. Póg mo thóin!’

  The prone gun thugs completely ignored that, and instead began whispering amongst themselves. I knew what that must be a prelude to. They had been caught by surprise, but still had a large superiority of numbers and could only be planning to rush our train.

  It was then that I hollered out a pre-arranged warning that could hardly have any meaning to our attackers. ‘Grenadiers ready!’

  I again rolled sideways, but no lead came my way. The men were otherwise occupied. I held my breath Unconsciously. This was the tipping point, when it would either go our way or theirs.

  ‘Now!’ the gang leader hissed, and suddenly ten wraith-like figures were on their feet and moving rapidly towards the tender.

  With my eyes closed in readiness, I had no chance of seeing the two bottles of nitroglycerin fly through the air, but the ensuing explosions shook the very ground that I lay on. Two blinding flashes momentarily turned night into day, and a buffeting shock wave blew over me. By Christ, that stuff had some power to it!

  Opening my right eye, I swiftly took aim at a swaying form and fired. I must have hit it, because it disappeared from sight, and then my companions again opened fire. The dimly lit railhead was filled with detonations, muzzle flashes and the screams of the wounded. At no point had any of the gun thugs actually fired back. Our victory appeared to be complete.

  Getting to my feet cautiously, I drew my Colt and advanced. ‘Hold fire, boys,’ I called at the tender.

  Where the two explosions had o
ccurred, wisps of smoke seemed to cling to the long grass, lending a strangely ethereal feel to the killing ground. And yet there was nothing otherworldly about the screams that emanated from one survivor. Despite the agony assailing him, his heightened senses seemed to discern my approach, and he called out, ‘Kill me, Mister. For Christ’s sake, just kill me!’

  As I closed in, even the gloom and lingering smoke couldn’t conceal the terrible burns to his face. I had seen such sights before, in the late war, but that didn’t make them any easier to stomach. As his pitiful wailing reached a crescendo, I drew a bead on his skull and fired. The pathetic noise ceased immediately, leaving only hissing steam from the recently arrived train to break the peace.

  ‘You OK over there, Josiah?’ Dan queried anxiously.

  ‘Reckon I’m the only one who is,’ I retorted. ‘Damn, but that nitro’s deadly stuff.’

  It was hard to believe that there were hundreds of men at the railhead, because at that moment it seemed as though we were the only ones left alive on the plains. It was as though a stunned silence had settled over the camp. Then a number of things happened at once. From beyond the perimeter came the rattling of a wagon, accompanied by the sound of pounding hoofs. I had a shrewd idea of who that would be, but chose to ignore it. Anger was building inside me. Anger that someone’s greed and dishonesty was the cause of so much killing. I knew there and then what I had to do, but first I had a reckoning of another kind.

  ‘Dan, Elijah, get the strongbox over to the train.’

  ‘Which one?’ Dan was obviously struggling to handle the speed of events.

  ‘The one with steam up, of course,’ I barked. ‘And don’t take any lip from the crew. Their shift’s not over yet.’

  Elijah spoke next. ‘And where the hell are you going?’

  ‘To have words with Mister Casement. There’s something needs settling.’ So saying, I holstered my Colt and hastily reloaded the Sharps.