The Loner: Rattlesnake Valley

by J. A. Johnstone

  “Leave it to him, that’s what he means,” The Kid said. “He’s holding them hostage to force us to either abandon the valley or ride into a trap where he can wipe us out.”

  Gray Hawk’s head bobbed up and down. “Sí, señor. This is what I believe as well.”

  The Kid frowned as he said, “But if he knew we were coming to Trident tonight, why didn’t he just set a trap for us there, like I figured he might be doing? This business of kidnapping Diana and her uncle doesn’t make any sense.”

  Gray Hawk just stared expressionlessly at him. The Yaqui obviously didn’t have any answers, either.

  A couple of things were clear, though: The Kid couldn’t ride off and leave the valley to Malone, nor could he allow Diana and Starbird to remain prisoners. He had to free them somehow and then deal with Malone.

  He went over to a table where a lamp burned and picked it up. As he started toward the front door, he asked, “Do you think Malone was surprised when he found Diamondback deserted tonight, Gray Hawk?”

  “From things I heard him say to the one called Wolfram, I think that is true, señor.”

  The Kid was left wondering again what part Jefferson Parnell was playing. He had been convinced that Parnell had been doing Malone’s bidding when he decoyed them to Trident, even though that didn’t fit in with the other theory The Kid had been mulling over in his brain. He didn’t know what to believe.

  He went out to the yard. Lifting the lamp over his head, he moved it back and forth three times, as he had told Rocklin he would. That signal would bring the foreman and the rest of the Diamondback crew galloping toward the ranch.

  By the time The Kid got back inside and set the lamp on the table, he heard hoofbeats approaching the house. He motioned for Gray Hawk to follow him and stepped back onto the porch as the riders galloped up and pulled their mounts to a halt. A large cloud of dust swirled around them for a moment before the night breezes began to carry it off.

  “Where are they?” Rocklin demanded.

  “Gone,” The Kid said. “Malone and his bunch showed up here earlier and took Captain Starbird and Diana to Bristol.”

  “Bristol!” the foreman repeated. “Why would he take ’em to the settlement?”

  “I wondered about that, too. The only reason I can see is that Malone wants to have the final showdown there because we’ll have to worry about the citizens getting caught in the crossfire.”

  Rocklin snorted in disgust. “You can bet Malone and the rest of those varmints won’t be worryin’ about that!”

  “I know,” The Kid said with a nod. “Malone figures it’ll be one more advantage for him.”

  “Well…I reckon he might be right.” Rocklin shook his head. “We can’t just charge in there with all guns a-blazin’. Too many innocent folks’d get hurt. I ain’t got much use for most o’ them townies, the way they been toadyin’ up to Malone, but we can’t just shoot ’em down, neither.”

  “And Malone knows that.” The Kid rubbed his jaw as he frowned in thought. “Malone’s given us a deadline of dawn. We either ride into his trap and try to rescue the prisoners, or we leave the valley.”

  “Leave the valley? That’d mean givin’ up!”

  “That’s right. What we need is a third option.”

  Rocklin leaned forward in his saddle, crossed his hand on the horn, and sighed heavily. “If you got any ideas, Kid, I’d sure like to hear ’em.”

  “Right now I don’t,” The Kid said as he shook his head.

  That was when Gray Hawk stepped forward and said, “Perhaps there is something I can do.”

  Chapter 26

  Two hours later, Sam Rocklin paced impatiently up and down the ranch house porch, pausing every now and then to peer off into the darkness. It was long after midnight. The moon had set, and the night was stygian, the thick black relieved only by the faint glow of millions of stars overhead.

  The Kid sat nearby in a ladderback chair, leaning back with one foot propped on the porch railing. He flexed the muscles in his leg and made the chair rock slightly.

  “Might as well take it easy, Sam,” The Kid advised.

  The foreman turned sharply toward him. “How in Hades can I do that, knowin’ that the boss and that poor gal are bein’ held prisoner by a skunk like Malone? There’s no tellin’ what that varmint might do, Kid!”

  “I don’t think he’ll hurt them. He needs them as hostages right now, until he sees what we’re going to do.”

  “How about when it gets to be dawn and we ain’t showed up?” Rocklin wanted to know. “What happens then?”

  “We’ll be there,” The Kid said. “Gray Hawk told us that he’d be back in plenty of time.”

  He wished he felt as confident as he sounded. His instincts told him that he could trust Gray Hawk, but he had only known the old Yaqui for a short time. It was possible he could be wrong about him.

  “What do you reckon that redskin’s up to, anyway?” Rocklin asked.

  The Kid shook his head. “I don’t know. All I know is he said he had an idea how he could help us.”

  “Yeah, well, I hope he ain’t gone back to the mountains to squat in that cave o’ his and pray to some heathen spirits—holy cow!”

  The startled exclamation from Rocklin made The Kid leap to his feet. His hand moved instinctively toward his gun before he stopped the draw. He stepped to the railing and looked out at the sight that had jarred the words out of the foreman.

  Gray Hawk had returned…and he wasn’t alone.

  The Kid and Rocklin hadn’t heard the Yaqui come up to the ranch house. The area in front of the house was empty one second, and the next, two dozen figures filled it as if they had appeared by magic.

  Or maybe they were ghosts. The Kid knew that was a crazy thought even as it went through his head, but it was there anyway. The white-clad figures certainly looked like phantoms, and obviously they moved with the silence of the dead.

  Gray Hawk stood in front with the others scattered behind him. He held out a hand, waving it toward his companions, and said, “The young men of my people have come to help.”

  “Yaquis,” Rocklin muttered. “Son of a bitch.”

  His hand moved toward the gun on his hip. The Kid gripped his arm and stopped him.

  “Hold it, Sam,” he murmured. “Gray Hawk said they’ve come to help.”

  “Yeah, but they’re Yaquis!” Rocklin protested. “You don’t know what savages they are, Kid!”

  “Worse than Malone and his pirates and hired killers?”

  Rocklin frowned. “Folks out here used to live in mortal fear of those redskins.”

  “That was the past. Let me talk to Gray Hawk.”

  Rocklin muttered something else under his breath but stayed where he was as The Kid stepped off the porch. He nodded to Gray Hawk and said, “Thank you for the help you’ve brought to us, amigo.”

  “You aided me when Malone tried to capture me,” Gray Hawk said with his usual solemn dignity. “And the señorita and her uncle have always been kind, as her father was before them. They see to it that Gray Hawk is left alone. Now, I can help them.”

  The Kid nodded toward the other shadowy figures. “How did you get them here so fast? You haven’t had time to make it to the border and back, even on a fast horse, and I didn’t think there were any more of your people on this side of the Rio Grande.”

  “There are ways of summoning that do not require a horse,” Gray Hawk replied, and The Kid thought he heard just a trace of unaccustomed humor in the old man’s voice.

  “I’ll take your word for it,” The Kid said, knowing that it might be better not to probe too deeply into the secrets of the Yaqui. Anyway, it was possible that a whole band of them were living in those rugged mountains to the west without any of the inhabitants of Rattlesnake Valley knowing about it. Just because people assumed that all the Yaquis had fled to Mexico didn’t mean it was true.

  The Kid settled for saying, “Thank you. What do you suggest we do now?”

&nbs
p; Gray Hawk said, “My people can move in the shadows without being seen. We will go to Bristol, slip into the settlement, and find El Capitán and Señorita Diana. We can free them and get them out of town, so that when you and Señor Rocklin and the others attack at the rising of the sun, they will be safe. We can help you battle the evil ones as well, since we will already be in their midst.”

  That could work, The Kid thought as he considered Gray Hawk’s words. With the Yaquis added to the Diamondback punchers, the odds against Malone’s men would be just about even. If the Yaquis could take Malone by surprise, which The Kid didn’t doubt was possible considering the way they had slipped up on the ranch, that would swing the advantage to their side. They might be able to overwhelm Malone’s forces without the whole town getting caught in the middle of a huge shootout.

  The plan needed one modification, though.

  “I’m coming with you,” The Kid said.

  “A white man cannot move like a Yaqui.”

  “Maybe not, but I’m coming anyway. I have to make sure that Diana is safe.”

  Gray Hawk’s face and voice were impassive, but The Kid thought he heard a hint of annoyance anyway as the Yaqui asked, “You do not trust us?”

  “It’s not a matter of trust,” The Kid insisted. “I just want to know that she’s out of danger before the rest of the shooting starts.”

  For a moment, Gray Hawk stood there in silence. Then, abruptly, he nodded.

  “But if you jeopardize the señorita, you will answer to Gray Hawk,” he added.

  “Fine by me,” The Kid said. “When do we leave?”

  “Now. It will be dawn in less than three hours.”

  The Kid turned to Rocklin, who still stood on the porch. “Did you hear all of that, Sam?”

  “I heard it,” Rocklin replied. “We’ll be ridin’ in at dawn, Kid. I expect all hell will break loose when we do. I just hope you and them heathens are in position to give us a hand when that happens, otherwise we may not stand much of a chance against Malone’s bunch.”

  “We’ll be there,” The Kid promised.

  Some of the men had grabbed a little sleep after getting back from Trident, while others were too keyed up to doze off and had been awake all night. The Kid fell into that category and he wasn’t feeling sleepy as he put his saddle back on the buckskin and got ready to head for Bristol with the Yaquis.

  Rocklin had followed The Kid into the barn. “Don’t trust those savages too much,” he advised. “They’ll turn on you without any warnin’ if you give ’em half a chance.”

  The Kid shook his head. “I don’t think so. Gray Hawk feels like he owes me, and he’s grateful to Diana and her uncle, too. I believe he can be trusted, and the others will do what he says.”

  “How do you know that? You reckon he’s their chief or something?”

  “I don’t know about that, but they came when he summoned them, didn’t they? They wouldn’t have done that if they didn’t respect him.”

  “Maybe so,” Rocklin said grudgingly. “Just be careful, Kid.”

  “I intend to. For one thing, I want to get Diana out of there safely.”

  Rocklin studied him in the feeble light of the one lantern that was lit, with its flame turned down low. He said, “I’m thinkin’ that if we can get all this business with Malone took care of, you might want to coil your lass’ rope here for a while, Kid. This valley will be a mighty nice place to live once Malone’s gone. Well, except for havin’ to keep your eyes open for rattlers, that is. But I reckon Miss Diana would like it if you was to stay. She’s got a sharp tongue sometimes, but her heart’s as big as all o’ Texas and she could use a good man around.”

  The Kid drew the cinches tight on his saddle and smiled faintly as he shook his head. “That’s not going to happen, Sam. I want the business with Malone settled as much as you do, but once it is, I’ll be riding on. If there hadn’t been trouble here, I’d have been gone already.”

  “Is that what you do?” Rocklin snapped. “Just ride around lookin’ for trouble?”

  “No, but sometimes I think trouble looks for me.”

  To tell the truth, The Kid didn’t know what he was looking for with his endless drifting. Ever since Rebel’s death, he had found no answers, and he wasn’t even sure what the questions were anymore. All he knew was that he couldn’t stay in any one place for long, and he never got too close to anyone. He would help people who needed his help, but that was all it amounted to. If that meant he was actually looking for trouble, then so be it.

  In the end, he was still a loner. Maybe he always would be.

  With that bitter thought in his head, he shoved the Winchester in its sheath, then reached for the Sharps. He didn’t know if he would need either of the long guns—if he had to fight in Bristol, no doubt it would be at close quarters—but it wouldn’t hurt anything to take them with him.

  Ready to go, he led the buckskin out of the barn. Gray Hawk was waiting for him, but the rest of the Yaquis were gone.

  “Where are the others?” The Kid asked.

  “Nearby,” Gray Hawk replied. “They will follow us to the settlement.”

  “You know your way to town?”

  Again there was a trace of amusement in the old Indian’s voice as he said, “Gray Hawk knows every foot of this valley.”

  “Well, then, I’m ready if you are. Where’s your horse?”

  Gray Hawk gave a little whistle, and his pinto trotted out of the trees. Both men swung up onto their mounts.

  The Kid lifted a hand in farewell to Rocklin. “See you at dawn, Sam.”

  “We’ll be there,” the ramrod promised grimly.

  The Kid and Gray Hawk rode out, leaving Diamondback behind. The Yaqui took the lead, although The Kid rode alongside him. When they were about half a mile from the ranch, The Kid heard the sound of hoofbeats and glanced back, and sure enough, the other Yaquis were there, riding nimble little ponies like Gray Hawk’s, although not all of them were pintos. The Kid hadn’t heard them come up behind him and his companion, but the important thing was that they were there.

  As they rode toward Bristol, The Kid kept an eye on the sky. The heavens were still black, filled with an awesome, sweeping display of brilliantly shining and twinkling stars, but along the eastern horizon in front of them, the faintest tinge of gray was visible above the hills that formed the boundary at that end of the valley. That tiny glow was a harbinger of the approaching dawn. He and Gray Hawk wouldn’t have very long to locate and rescue Diana and Starbird before the sun came up and brought with it the sound of guns. An hour at most, The Kid estimated.

  He wondered where Malone would be holding the prisoners, and even as he pondered that question, a possible answer sprang into his mind. The Rattler’s Den was pretty much in the center of the settlement, and it was one of the biggest buildings in town. The Kid thought that the idea of swaggering into the saloon, taking it over, and making it his headquarters would appeal to Black Terence Malone. That might be a good place to start looking, anyway.

  Something else occurred to him. He turned to Gray Hawk and asked, “Tell me about the eastern end of the valley.”

  If the question struck the Yaqui as odd, he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he said, “What do you want to know, señor?”

  “Yesterday when I was up in the mountains near your cave, I looked down the valley, and it appeared that the gap at the far end is on about the same level as the pass.”

  Gray Hawk nodded. “This is true. The valley is deeper at the western end and generally slopes upward from west to east. The slope is gentle, though, and not easily noticed.”

  “How wide is the gap that leads through the hills to the desert?”

  Gray Hawk pondered that question for a moment before replying, “A man could shoot an arrow from one side to the other without any trouble.”

  “Is there any other good way through the hills?”

  Gray Hawk shook his head. “A man could ride over them, but they are stee
p and rocky. It would not be easy. Why do you want to know these things, señor? They have nothing to do with the pirate man.”

  “Maybe not,” The Kid said.

  But he was starting to believe that they had a lot to do with the things that had been happening in Rattlesnake Valley.

  Chapter 27

  It looked like every lamp and lantern in the settlement had been lit. The lights of Bristol glittered in the predawn darkness and cast a glow in the sky above the town. Bonfires burned here and there in the streets as well.

  The Kid and Gray Hawk regarded the settlement from the top of a shallow hill about half a mile away. Gray Hawk made a sound like he had bitten into something that tasted bad.

  “Malone is taking no chances,” the Yaqui said. “He wants to be able to see if anyone tries to sneak up on him.”

  “That’s going to make it harder for us to get in there,” The Kid said.

  “Harder…but not impossible.”

  The Kid smiled in the darkness. “No, not impossible.”

  Gray Hawk went back to the waiting Yaquis and spoke to them in hurried Spanish, too swiftly for The Kid to follow. Then they split up, vanishing into the night as silently as they had first appeared. The Kid wasn’t sure how they managed to blend in with the shadows wearing those light-colored clothes, but somehow they were able to do it.

  When Gray Hawk rejoined him, The Kid said, “I thought we’d head for the Rattler’s Den. That’s a saloon in the middle of town. It would be a good place for Malone to hole up.”

  Gray Hawk nodded. “You know more about the town than I do, señor. Señorita Diana brings me the few supplies that I need. I have been there, but not often.”

  “I’ll lead the way, then. We’ll have to see if we can reach the alley behind the saloon and get in that way.”