Matt Starr rushed down the stairs, ran through the lobby, burst through the front door, and descended from the board walk into the street. Both guns were in his hands.
A clatter of hooves sounded from down the street and the shadows of several riders loomed before him. He almost fell backwards as they brushed past him, but he caught himself and braced his legs. It had all happened so fast he could scarcely see who they were, but a flash of movement from the riders here and there told him it must be Jeremy Carlin and the other prisoners. He raised his guns and fired them both, aiming high, more as a warning than trying to hit anyone.
The riders never slackened their pace and disappeared down the street into the darkness.
His guns were still in his hands as Sheriff Trask came running up behind him. At the sound of running steps, Matt turned to face the oncoming lawman. Peso Martin was approaching at a run behind him.
“Why did you shoot?” Trask shouted. There was frustration in his voice. “You might’ve hit the girl or you might’ve gotten her killed.”
“The girl?” Matt said. “What are you talking about?”
“They got Sarah Price. They said they’d kill her if we didn’t let them go.”
“Sarah Price? How’d did she get into this, anyhow?”
“They’re going to hold her for ransom too,” Trask blurted.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Matt exclaimed. “You’re going too fast for me. Just slow down and tell me what’s happened.”
“It’s that Carlin kid,” Trask said trying to catch his breath. “He broke out of jail. Took those other kids with him. They’re holding the Price girl hostage.” Then as if muttering to himself he said, “Old man Price is gonna have my hide if anything happens to that girl.”
“How’d they get her and just how did they get out of jail?” Matt queried.
“How the hell should I know?” Trask blustered. “They just did. Never mind all the questions. We’re wasting time, standing here talking. We’d better……….”
“Get after them.” Matt finished the sentence. His twirled his pistols and let them drop into their holsters.
“Get after them? Hell no, man. You want to get her killed. We’ve got to tell Simon Price about this.” Then to Martin, he said, “Come on we’ve got to get going.” He ran past Matt Starr toward a hitch rail in front of the saloon where several tied horses stood. Peso followed and they both mounted up on procured horses and rode out of town.
“What about the gambler?” Matt shouted after them. “Is he with them?”
No one paid attention to him and there was no answer. A moment later the sound of the retreating horses could no longer be heard.
Something was terribly wrong here. A jailbreak had occurred and no one was interested in going after the fugitives. Even Matt himself was not in a hurry to saddle up and ride off after them. There were too many questions that needed to be answered. If Dandy Jim Butler had been with the others, he would, of course, have to go out after him. But if somehow he had been left behind, then Matt’s duty was to see to it that Butler got to Tucson on time. He didn’t like the way things were shaping up one little bit. He had to get answers first and he knew he would have to get those answers himself. He started off down the street heading for the jail.
“Wonders never cease,” Matt Starr said as he entered the cell area and found Dandy Jim Butler sprawled out the bunk in his cell. The cell door was standing wide open and there had been no deputy in the outer office to keep watch over the prisoner.
Butler turned his head lazily on what passed for a pillow. It was just a square piece of cloth with a little stuffing inside it. It was stained and smelled of sweat and tobacco. He didn’t bother to get up. “After the last time, I wasn’t about to let someone take me out of jail again. I figured I was better off with you.”
“Just what happened here, anyhow?” Matt asked. ‘Where is everybody and why aren’t you locked in?”
Butler sighed wearily, then got up slowly from his bunk and walked over to Matt who was standing in the open doorway.
“After the jailbreak, I guess no one was about to bother checking on me. Deputy Sims was here when it happened. He was in on it and I never saw him again after Frankie the Kid pushed him out the back door for the sheriff to shoot at.”
“For the sheriff to shoot at? What are you talking about?”
“It was all a put up job to shoot Jeremy down trying to escape. But, fortunately, he was on to them.” He went on to tell about Sarah Price smuggling the empty gun in to him.
“So, that’s why Flo Baxter locked me in her hotel room.” Matt said. It was all beginning to make sense. He was becoming convinced now that his suspicions about Simon Price covering up bank shortages were right.
“Who’s Flo Baxter? You were in her room? You had something going on?” Jim said with a chuckle.
“Never mind,” Matt retorted with irritation in his voice. “Tell me the rest of what happened.”
Dandy Jim went on to tell how Jeremy joined forces with Frankie and his pards. How they took Sarah Price as hostage and were holding her for ransom. How the ransom demands had to be met at a place called Three Rocks and how the money was to be delivered at dawn.
“But, there was no twenty thousand dollars,” Matt said.
“We know that and I’m pretty sure the sheriff does too. But Frankie doesn’t know it. And he wants that money.”
“So Trask is hightailing it out to Price’s ranch right now to tell him what’s happened,“ Matt mused, “and he’ll need to come up with twenty thousand more. If he’s already worried about a bank examiner finding him short of funds, which I think is the case here, he’ll be in worse shape if he has to part with another twenty thousand. He won‘t do it.”
“Frankie said they’d kill the girl if they didn’t get it.” the gambler said.
“Well they’re not going to do that,” Matt said matter of factly.
“What makes you think so?”
“Because Jeremy Carlin is with them and he won’t let anything happen to her.”
“I don’t know. That was a pretty mean trick she was pulling on him and he was hopping mad. What makes you think he won‘t.”
“Because, I know Jeremy Carlin. And I know Simon Price too. He may have to part with the money for a while until Frankie is sure he‘s got it, but you can bet that once he gets his daughter back he will kill Jeremy and the others and take his money back. I can‘t let that happen.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Butler asked.
“I don’t know,” Matt said somberly. “I just don’t know.”
“Well before you get to doing what you just don’t know,” Dandy Jim said. “Could you see about getting someone to get me some dinner. It’s been a long day with nothing to eat.”
“Well, why don’t you go………” Matt was about to suggest that Butler go get it himself when he suddenly realized something important. ‘You mean they never fed you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “You’re saying that the others haven’t had anything to eat either?”
“That’s right, Nobody seemed to care about us.”
“Did they ask for provisions along with the horses?” Matt asked.
“Come to think of it, no.” Jim said. “I guess they were in too big of a hurry to think about it.”
“Once they are far enough away and feel safe enough, they just might start to think about food.”
“So what? I’m thinking about it too.”
“So they are going to try to scare up something. It’s probably too dark to hunt. That means they’re going to have to find people. Friendly people. People with food.”
“That means they’re going to have to meet up with the Wildcat bunch.”
“Not necessarily. They might not know where they are. Besides if there’s a hideout, Jeremy might not want to reveal it to Frankie and his boys.”
“Well, they don‘t have any other friends,” Jim said.
“Jeremy does.” Matt said. “I think I know where t
hey might go.” Matt whirled on his heel and strode quickly out of the cell area toward the front door of the sheriff’s office.
“Hey. What about me?” Dandy Jim called after him. “I’m still hungry.”
Matt came back for a moment. “Go over to the café. Tell them to put it on my bill.”
“But what about locking me up.?”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot. Oh, well. Just come on back and close the cell door yourself.”
“Can I just take a room in the hotel?’
“Don’t push it, gambler. I just might lock you up right here and now and forget about your damn dinner,” Matt said and disappeared again.
Dandy Jim heard the front door slam behind the Marshal. “They sure don’t grow lawmen like they used to,” he mused. He put his hat on and left for supper.
Chapter Twenty
Wildcat Kitty and the Cyclone Kid Page 21
