by Neil Webb
‘Did you accept?’ Glory asked.
‘No.’ Latimer shook his head. ‘I’ve got a good job here in town and I like it.’
‘Until someone shoots you,’ she said furiously. ‘Oh, why didn’t you take the job? It would have made things a lot easier for me.’
‘Everything will work out,’ Latimer smoothed. He fell silent as Rand came up. The gunman was tight-lipped and unsmiling.
‘What’s your trouble, Colley?’ Latimer asked pleasantly.
‘I don’t like the way Stott has ridden into town with just a handful of men,’ Rand said quietly. ‘Now is the time for him to show his strength. We’ve had a lot of trouble lately with certain ranchers, and if they see Stott coming in meekly they’ll think we’re climbing down, and they’ll act accordingly.’
‘Stott ain’t so big he can thumb his nose at the law,’ Latimer said.
‘You’re the law here, Latimer,’ Rand said quietly. ‘It’s only you stiffening this town.’
‘What about Walsh and his department,’ Latimer demanded.
‘They’re nothing.’ Rand shook his head. ‘You’ve lit the fire under them. That means you’re standing out in front.’
‘Thanks for the warning.’ Latimer grinned. ‘I’ll bear it in mind.’
Rand opened his mouth then closed it without speaking. Latimer heard a heavy footstep behind him and Stott appeared at his elbow.
‘Glory, we’ll go and eat now.’ The big rancher commanded. ‘I’ll see you afterwards, Rand.’
Glory smiled at Latimer and slipped her hand through her father’s arm. They walked slowly along the sidewalk. Latimer stood silently beside Rand and they both watched the progress of both father and daughter until the pair vanished into a restaurant. Then Rand spoke.
‘I’m going to marry Glory Stott,’ the gunman said softly.
‘Good luck to you,’ Latimer said. He detected a purposeful note in Rand’s voice, a tightness, as if Rand was forcing himself towards a showdown he did not want.
‘It seems to me that Glory might have given you the wrong impression about certain things,’ Rand said.
‘What do you mean, Colley?’
‘She’s a peculiar girl. But I’m going to marry her all the same. I wouldn’t stand by and watch her string someone else along.’
‘That ain’t none of my business,’ Latimer said. ‘I never mix with women. But Glory looks big enough to know her own mind.’
‘She makes believe to everyone that she hates my insides,’ Rand went on. ‘But that’s only her way. She loves me.’
‘I hope you’ll be happy.’
‘You could make me very happy, Link. I’d like to see you ride out of this County for good. You’re not a lawman and this place has nothing for you. I’m afraid if you stay with Walsh we will have to face each other through gunsmoke, and I wouldn’t want that for old time’s sake. So why don’t you pull out?’
Latimer grinned. He glanced around the street. ‘I kind’ve like Buffalo Springs, Colley. And I don’t see why we should have to fight. You aren’t breaking the law, are you?’
‘You’ve heard all the talk about me and Stott causing all the trouble. What do you make of it?’
‘Nothing. I just do like Walsh tells me.’
‘Alright, Link. I think we understand each other. See you around.’
‘Sure. Watch your step, Colley.’
Rand nodded, touched the gun butt sticking out of his waistband, and strode into the hotel. Latimer reflected for a moment, then strode along the sidewalk to the jail. His mind was teeming with impressions, and a sixth sense was sending warning impulses to every nerve end. He frowned in puzzlement. Something was not quite right here, and he could not pinpoint it. He mulled over what Glory had said and what Stott had told him. He considered Colley Rand, and only one clear thought rose up out of the mental cauldron. He would have to face Rand through gunsmoke before everything was finally settled.
That afternoon the little Courthouse was packed to suffocation, and those of the townsfolk who could not get into the stifling building stood outside and waited impatiently for news. An ominous muttering ran through the crowd when Kenton Stott, surrounded by his six gunmen, waddled along the sidewalk, pushed through the congregation, and entered the Courtroom.
Sheriff Walsh headed the law party into the Court. Walker and Barr walked behind the sheriff, and Latimer brought along his two prisoners. A ragged cheer greeted Latimer when he was seen, and his prisoners were jeered and pushed and man-handled by the crowd. Walsh turned and beckoned to Barr. The big deputy bent over his superior and Walsh whispered into Barr’s ear. As the law party entered the Courthouse, Barr turned on the crowd and began moving them away from the door of the building.
Inside the Courtroom the air was blue with cigarette smoke. Latimer wrinkled his nose at the animal smell coming from the closely packed bodies inside. He followed his prisoners and sat behind them to the left of the table on the dais in the front of the Court. The sheriff came and sat behind the prisoners, and Walker positioned himself at the sheriff’s side.
Stott’s party seated itself in the front of the Court. Latimer studied faces among the crowd and saw Aggie Porter seated almost opposite. Rand was not present, he was probably squiring Glory Stott. Latimer considered that fact and found he did not like it. Was he falling in love with Stott’s daughter, he wondered? He thought of Aggie and was undecided. He felt something for both women, but whether pity for Aggie and love for Glory he did not know.
His musing was interrupted by the entrance of Judge Carter. The Court rose and then sat and near silence descended. The Judge was impatient to get to grips with the main case; the enquiry into the killing of the Porters, and the public were of a similar mind.
Latimer’s two prisoners were dealt with summarily. Both pleaded guilty to obstructing a lawman in the execution of his duty, and the Judge fined them each fifty dollars. Kenton Stott paid their fines and Latimer turned the two men loose.
‘You can pick up your guns from my office when the Court rises,’ the sheriff told them. ‘And don’t cause any more trouble or you may find yourselves in prison or dead. The law is being enforced in this County now. My advice to you is to stay out of town.’
The gunman with the shattered hand looked venomously at Latimer.
‘When this paw of mine is healed I shall come looking for you,’ he snarled.
‘I’ll be easy to find,’ Latimer replied. ‘But you couldn’t beat me to the draw the first time. What makes you think you’ll be any luckier this time?’
‘You were the lucky one. Next time I’ll be ready for you.’
‘Next time I shoot to kill,’ Latimer promised.
‘Now get out of here, both of you,’ the sheriff ordered.
The gunman departed and Latimer saw them stop and speak to Colley Rand, who had appeared in the doorway.
Evidence of the identity of the dead gunmen was presented to the Court, and then Latimer watched Aggie Porter as she gave her evidence in a quiet, toneless voice. She described how her father and her brother had been shot down; how the gunman, Waco Smith, had chased her and shot her mount from under her, and how chance had permitted this to happen near the spot where her cousin Frank Latimer was sitting his horse.
Latimer listened to the girl’s evidence, and pictures of the action came before his mind as her words animated them. When the girl had finished, Latimer was called, and a subdued cheer sounded as he stood up and went to the seat that served as a witness stand. He was asked to describe exactly what had happened from the moment he shot Smith until he killed the riders out at the Porter place. He gave his evidence in a loud voice, and excited muttering from the public was a cheering background to his words.
When Kenton Stott took the stand the Judge had to call loudly for order, and threatened to clear the Court if his demands were not respected. When silence came the enquiry continued. Stott maintained his story that the men who had raided the Porter place were not at the time on h
is payroll. He called Rand to substantiate his statement, introducing the gunman as his ranch foreman.
Then the sheriff was called and questioned about the gunman who had survived the massacre; the man lying in the cells with broken limbs. Walsh stated that the gunman, Neilson, was also suffering from shock, and was still unconscious and unable to give evidence.
The Judge considered the evidence and ordered that Nielson should be detained until he was well enough to be brought before the Court to relate exactly what had happened out at the Porter place. The Judge continued:
‘Certain members of our community must remember that the law cannot be taken into their own hands with impunity. Others would do well to consider the fact that this State is growing up quickly. The days of lawlessness and wanton bloodshed are coming to a close. The law has its foothold here and is becoming stronger. Outlawry will not be tolerated, and I commend Mr Frank Latimer for his brave defence of the innocent. I feel, with Mr Latimer on the strength of our law department, that the day of the outlaw in these parts is waning. I say, with all sincerity, thank the powers that be for citizens of the calibre of Mr Latimer.’
The Court rose while the Judge departed, and then the chattering townsfolk began jostling and filing out. Latimer stood with the sheriff and his other deputies until the Courtroom was empty, and then the law party made its way back to the jail.
‘Well,’ said Walsh when he was once more seated at his desk. ‘It went pretty well like I thought it would. Walker, check Nielson and see if he’s back in the land of the living yet. Barr take a turn around town. Keep an eye on Stott and his crew, and let me know the minute they ride out. They won’t be long in making a move because Stott likes to be safe inside his house when darkness falls. Latimer you’d better stay here until all Stott’s men are gone. We don’t want to aggravate the situation.’
Barr went out. Walker took the keys of the cells and went to check on their remaining prisoner. The street door was noisily opened and Stott’s two gunmen entered. Walsh took their belongings from a drawer and pushed them across his table. Latimer watched them buckling on their gunbelts and the man with the smashed arm eyed him malevolently. Walker came back from the cell block as Stott’s men departed. The young deputy’s eyes were wild with shock.
‘Nielson’s dead,’ he told them. ‘He’s been shot between the eyes.’
Latimer ran into the cells and bent over the gunman. Only a glance was necessary to confirm that Nielson was dead. He walked slowly back into the office.
‘He’s dead alright,’ he commented. ‘It must have happened while we were in court. The back window overlooks his cell, and the window was broken. Someone just walked up, tapped out the glass, and put a bullet through his head. But it proves one thing, sheriff.’
‘That Stott lied in Court?’ asked Walsh. ‘That’s likely, but it could’ve been done by someone who hates Stott killers. Especially those caught killing as Nielson was.’
‘If Stott told the Court the truth then he or Rand would have to shut up Nielson. But if he lied, Nielson would prove it as soon as he opened his mouth. It looks suspicious, sheriff. It looks, too, as if someone has overplayed his hand. I’ve got an idea.’ Latimer’s face hardened. ‘Get the Doctor in and pass round the story that Nielson has been shot, but is not too badly hurt. Then stake out a deputy. Whoever wants Nielson dead will have to come back to finish off the job.’
‘I don’t know about that.’ Walsh shook his head. ‘They won’t come twice like that.’
‘It’s worth a try,’ Latimer persisted. ‘But whatever happens, this has proved something. This trouble isn’t halfway over yet. Stott must have lied in Court and both he and Rand are mixed up in something crooked. But he’s told me, like he said in Court, that he knew nothing about the raid. He said he’s afraid of Rand, who is behind all this trouble. Yet Glory Stott told me that she heard Rand convince her father that I should be killed. I’ve made an arrangement with Stott, sheriff. He’s promised to pay off most of his gunmen, and I’m to ride out every Thursday night to check on Rand. He said there would be no more line riders on his range, and men will be at liberty to cross it.’
‘You’re not planning on riding out to the Stott house once a week are you? Why, man, you’ll only make that trip once.’ Walsh was shocked. ‘We’d never see you alive again.’
‘That’s how I figure it,’ Latimer said quietly. ‘But we’ve got to get proof from somewhere, otherwise this business will just drag on and on.’
‘There’s no one to back you up, Latimer.’ The sheriff sounded dismal. ‘A town this size only needs three of us. The town council are grumbling now because we’ve taken on an extra man. They want to keep you, Latimer, but they would like to fire either Walker or Barr. They’re penny-pinchers alright, and they can’t see past their accounts. But there is real trouble coming to this range, and then it will be too late for someone to say “I told you so”.’
‘Yeah, I know that’s the way of it,’ Latimer said.
‘It’s always been like this. That’s why the outlaws have had their power for so long. But like the Judge said, the law is getting stronger and the outlaw’s day is coming to an end.’
Barr returned to the office, and his face did not change expression when he learned of the death of their prisoner.
‘Stott and his crew have just ridden out,’ he said.
‘All of them?’ asked Walsh.
‘Couldn’t say for certain, but they all seemed to be there.’
‘And a murderer is riding with them,’ said Latimer bitterly. ‘One of them must have killed Nielson while we were in the Court. I figure it’s about time we got down to brass tacks. We can’t wait to find out what the next move is. We’ve got to get some proof one way or another.’
‘What have you got in mind?’ asked the sheriff.
‘I think the best thing I could do is stake out on Stott’s range,’ Latimer mused aloud. ‘I’ll be able to watch their headquarters. If I take supplies for a week I could stick around until something happens. Rand will certainly try something else shortly. He’s got to.’
‘Alright.’ Walsh became all action. ‘Take a pack horse and supplies and see how you make out. You can pick up supplies from Cubitt’s Store and put the expense against my account. Simmons, the livery man, will let you have a pack horse. If you don’t turn up here by next Monday, I’ll send a posse to KS.’
‘I hope you won’t have to do that,’ Latimer said slowly. ‘But I think something will break in the meantime. I’ll watch out.’ He walked to the door then paused, turning to look at the sheriff. ‘I want to have a word with Aggie Porter before I ride out. But I’ll see you next week.’
SEVEN
Latimer found Aggie in her hotel room, and the girl was packing her things. Her manner towards him seemed distant, and he frowned as he regarded her.
‘Why are you packing?’ he asked. ‘You’re not leaving town, are you?’
‘Of course I am. I can’t stay here indefinitely.’ She glanced obliquely at him. ‘I’m going back to my place. I want to be on my own ground by sunset.’
Latimer suppressed a sigh, watching her intently. He tried to gauge her mood but could not. ‘I’m riding out shortly, for at least a week. I’m going out on the range to see which way the wind blows. As we’ll be starting in the same direction, do you mind if I ride part of the way with you?’
‘I don’t mind.’ Her voice lost some of its hardness. ‘I shall never be able to deny you anything after what you’ve done for me.’
‘You know it won’t be fit for you to stay out at your place alone, don’t you? Supposing some of those bad gunmen turn up?’
‘I’ll get along.’ She spoke bitterly. ‘No one is going to get my place without a fight. I’ll have a gun close to hand every minute of the day and night. I’ll shoot to kill if I have to.’
‘I’m glad to hear that. A man shouldn’t shoot unless he intends to kill, and I guess that goes for a woman too. I’ve got to get a sack of pro
visions and a pack horse. Let’s say I see you at the stable in an hour.’
‘Alright, I’ll be there at four.’
‘See you later then.’ He watched her for a moment and then turned away. She made no further comment, and he wondered if he had rubbed her up the wrong way. He opened the door then paused and turned to her. ‘What’s the matter, Aggie? Your manner is like a cold norther in January. What have I done that I should be sorry for?’
‘I’m just thinking how silly you are for trusting Glory Stott. When a man sees a pretty face he forgets all else. But you’ll learn the hard way. The trouble is, you’ll probably die before you learn. Don’t trust that girl, Frank. She’ll bring you nothing but grief.’
Aggie crossed the room to him. Latimer found himself comparing her with Glory Stott. An undefinable emotion tugged at his insides. She paused within an arm’s length of him, and he looked deeply into her troubled eyes.
‘You’ve done a lot for me, Frank,’ she said softly. ‘I wouldn’t try to put you wrong. I can see that Glory Stott has made quite a hit with you. But I owe my life to you, and more. I don’t want to see you tricked and done to death. Rand will stop at nothing. I’d like to see you ride out of this County and out of all our lives. It’s the only way you’ll stay alive.’
Latimer smiled. ‘Don’t worry about me,’ he said. ‘You just worry about yourself. Now I’ve got to get going. I’ll see you later.’
He departed then and went to the store to order his supplies. Then he went on to the stable to fetch his horse and a pack horse. He asked after Aggie’s mount, had it saddled, and was leading the animals back along the street when he saw her walking along the sidewalk. She approached him, carrying a bag containing her clothes. He dismounted and hooked the bag to her saddle horn. Then they both mounted and turned and rode out of town.
Latimer enjoyed the long ride with Aggie. The girl gradually warmed to him, swallowing her jealousy as they progressed. He basked in the warmth of her attentions. She began to talk about what she planned to do on the small ranch she hoped to run alone. But Latimer found himself shaking his head as he listened. What she hoped to accomplish sounded too much for three able men. But he did not tell her so.
