Petticoat Ranch (41 page)

Then he saw Mason tense. “Posse coming up the road,” Judd called out to the man who had just changed sides. “McClellen’s in the lead. He’s still a ways off.”

Judd lifted his gun to aim at the lead rider. Harley lifted his gun and aimed it at Judd and hesitated, torn now between his desire to save all these innocent people and his own complete unwillingness to take another human life—even a life so despicable as Judd Mason’s.

A soft rustling of cloth caught his attention by a little door near a corner of the barn. Harley didn’t turn to look. He knew that sound. It was soft material and lots of it. A woman.

Mason turned to the sound and with a sudden roar of rage he leapt to his feet and yelled, “I’ll get that meddlesome woman myself!”

Harley turned to see her dart back outside.

Judd ran for the back door then suddenly he veered away from it. “She’s not getting away from me!” Mason shouted. “You and the men in the house will have to hold off the posse!”

Mason didn’t notice Harley’s gun. He whirled and jumped on the back of the fiery little mustang. The horse reared and fought. Mason kicked it viciously. He didn’t go toward the back door. He headed for the wider door next to it. Harley heard a soft noise that sounded fearful, and he looked straight up over the smaller door. There was a little girl. Harley was so amazed it took him a second to realize the child was holding a rope. Harley’s eyes followed the rope and saw it was fastened to a basket of rocks.

If Judd went out that rear door after Sophie, he was going to get peppered with rocks. The little girl looked down from where she was perched above him, like a hovering angel. He saw the terror cross her face when she realized she’d been seen. Harley shook his head and
pointed his gun at Judd, still fighting the horse.

The little girl stared at him with unconcealed relief, then—she smiled at him. Harley was in awe. The heartfelt smile of a brave little girl fighting for the people she loved was a gift as sweet as the loving words of his mother.

God rested His hand on Harley’s shoulder as surely as if He stood beside him in that barn. It was the finest moment of Harley Shafter’s life.

Mason spurred his horse and suddenly the feisty, little mustang went wild. After months of abuse, or maybe inspired by its Creator, it reared until it looked to be going over backward. Then, with a squeal of rage, the horse twisted its body and landed stiff-legged on the floor. It arched its back and, with an impossible gyration, hurled Judd to the ground. He landed, almost as if the horse had aimed, right underneath the little girl and her basket.

The ground caved in under Judd. Harley heard Mason scream in pain. A basket of rocks rained down on Mason’s head, and Mason was still.

Mrs. McClellen poked her head in the door and glanced up into the rafters. Harley looked up and saw the little girl grinning at her mama. Harley stood slowly and drew both women’s attention. Mrs. McClellen looked at him fearfully, and he quickly tossed his gun aside. “Don’t shoot, ma’am,” he said to the unarmed woman. “I give up.”

Clay and the posse came charging into the yard just as Harley marched out of the barn with his hands in the air.

T 
W E N T Y - 
T 
H R E E

H
e just surrendered?” Clay asked in disbelief for the tenth time.

“He had a gun,” Sophie repeated. “He didn’t so much as threaten us.”

“Just tossed his gun away and raised his arms? Harley Shafter?” Clay shook his head.

“If that’s his name, Clay. I don’t know the man!”

“Just like that? Did he think you or Beth were armed?” Clay shuddered when he thought about his little girl perched in those rafters under the rifle of a man as dangerous as Shafter. He was a known gunman and as tough as a hobnail boot.

Sophie set a cup of coffee in front of Clay, then got more cups out for the other men who had crowded into her kitchen. They were leaning against walls and sitting on the floor. All four girls had gone into one bedroom, just to make space in the cabin for everyone.

A very embarrassed Rio was leaning in the open doorway. Buff and Whitey had been knocked cold in the bunkhouse by whatever had been added to their coffee. Only the fact that they had eaten with Sophie and mostly drank the coffee she made had saved their lives. They were still too ashamed of themselves to talk. Of course, when had either one of them ever talked anyway?

Andy had the same rough bandage on his head Sophie had put on in the cave. He wouldn’t let Sophie doctor him. He seemed to think he deserved to get an infection and die for letting himself be drugged
and then knocked senseless.

The wounded outlaws had been hauled away. It had been a real chore to get the two out of the trees. Sophie had answered the ranger’s questions with all the men listening. Now, except for the questions Clay couldn’t seem to quit asking, none of them had much to say to her at all.

In other words, everything was back to normal.

Sophie had run out of coffee cups, and Eustace had fetched all there were in the bunkhouse. And except for the silence and general air of humiliation amongst the men, it had become a party.

“What do you men want for supper?” Sophie asked into the silence.

“I can’t believe you put spikes in the bottom of that pit.” Clay nursed his coffee and shook his head. “That was a plumb mean thing to do.”

“Sorry.” Sophie served the third pot of coffee she’d made in the last hour.

“No, you’re not. You’re just trying to buck me up.”

“I taught her about those traps, mostly,” Adam put in. “But she came up with a few tricks of her own.”

“Living in a thicket gives a woman time to use her imagination.”

Adam nodded.

“And how many more of these traps are there?” Clay crossed his arms and scowled. “Mightn’t they be dangerous?”

Sophie noticed Clay conveniently forgot that she had tried to show him the traps on a couple of occasions. He’d smiled at her “little surprises” and put her off.

“I made them so you had to trip them. No one can stumble into one. Why, you and the men have been walking over the pit under the side door of the barn all week.”

Clay sat up straight and glared at her.

Sophie patted Clay on the chest as she passed him with the coffee-pot. “I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t, but she hoped Clay appreciated that she tried to sound sincere.

The rangers came riding into the yard. They and the deputies had taken all eight of Mason’s men into town. Sheriff Everett’s jailhouse was fairly bulging at the seams. Most of the men were wanted for holdups and murders all across the West. There would be enough reward money to add another valley to the ranch if they had a mind to.

Ranger Jackson strode into the house. “I want you to tell me again just what Harley Shafter did when you went into the barn.”

Sophie crossed her arms and glared at him. “I’ve told you ten times already!”

Jackson said, “No, you’ve told me twice.”

“You’ve told
me
ten times,” Clay said. “But the ranger’s been gone for eight of them.”

Sophie sighed and repeated her story. Jackson listened, absorbing every word of it. Finally he said, “Shafter has been talking. He’s confessed to everything and spared himself none of the guilt. Every member of that gang will be found guilty because of what he’s said. And we found a lot of money on Mason. We’ll be able to return money to the heirs of most of the men who have been killed.”

“Why’s he telling everything?” Clay asked. “Usually a gunman like that is mighty closed-mouthed.”

“He said he heard God talking to him in that barn. He said he was ready to turn on Mason and protect the posse when it came into the yard.”

“It don’t sound to me like he’s taking responsibility for much if he’s trying to say he was on our side,” Eustace said with contempt.

“No, it’s not like that. He’s not trying to get out of any charges. In fact, he’s saying he deserves a noose, and he’ll take it. He just smiles when we try and break his story. Says he knows he deserves God’s wrath, but he’s made his peace and he’s ready.”

“Leave room for God’s wrath.” Adam looked across the room at Luther. “Just like you said.”

Luther nodded.

“I believe him.” Sophie, done with her inquisition for now, began
slicing up a hunk of venison she’d put on the baking rack. “The look on his face when he surrendered was almost. . .” Sophie shrugged. “I know it sounds strange, but it was the impression I got at the time. It was almost. . .holy.”

Sophie filled her fourth pot of water to make more coffee. Suddenly her knees wobbled a little, and she had to grab for the edge of the water barrel to steady herself.

Clay was beside her in a split second, lifting her off her feet. “No more questions. Sophie needs to rest.”

Adam chuckled. “She’s as sturdy as a Texas cottonwood, Clay, but if you want to try and slow her down, I wish you luck.”

One by one the men left the cabin. Luther said as he went out, “Reckon me and Buff ’ll hang around Texas for a spell. It’s too far to ride iffen she calls me again.”

Buff grunted. As he shuffled out of the room, he said, “Sorry I failed ya, Miz McClellen.”

“That’s okay.” Sophie blushed so prettily, Clay couldn’t believe she was the same little wildcat who’d captured a gang of cutthroats.

Buff shook his head.

“Me, too, ma’am.” Whitey stared at the floor as if afraid it might disappear under his feet. Andy and Rio apologized, too, on their way out. They’d each done it a dozen times apiece already.

Clay smiled as he watched the dejected group go. They were Texans. They’d bounce back.

The last one to leave was Adam. He came up to Sophie, undeterred by the stern look of
get out
on Clay’s face. “Mason kept saying, when they were yanking that wooden stake out of his leg, that he’d get even with you, Sophie, if it took him the rest of his life.”

“His life may not be that long.” Clay tightened his grip on his wife.

“It sounded like he wanted revenge for something. But I never did anything to him.” Sophie’s brow wrinkled in confusion.

“It got me to thinking about the revenge I’ve been hungerin’ for ever since my partners died. In the end, I stood by and let the law take its own course.”

Clay snorted. “You went charging into Sawyer Canyon alone. I don’t call that letting the law take its course.”

“I know,” Adam said with a sheepish shrug. “I had a real bad moment there when lettin’ Mason hide out from us was more than I could bear. I admit that.”

With the men gone except for Adam, the girls came out of the bedroom and sat at the table. Clay watched his family, all pretty and sweet smelling. They were soft as baby calves and tough as full-grown longhorns. He loved them.

“It’s a good thing you did,” Sophie said. “It brought you back to the ranch.”

“Yeah, none of these outlaws would have gotten out of here alive if we’d left them to my girls for much longer,” Clay said dryly.

Sophie and the girls grinned. Clay hugged his armful of a wife then set her on a chair at the table.

“Anyway, I realized that the difference between my need for revenge and Mason’s is the difference between God and Satan. It’s as simple as that. Mason insisted on delivering his wrath on those he was angry with, and in the end he was just a pure tool of the devil. No matter how angry I got, I could never have crossed that line and committed cold-blooded murder in an act of revenge. God has made me strong enough not to do that.”

“He’s made us all strong enough, Adam.” Sophie reached her hand across the table to pat Adam’s rugged hand. “In the end we all did the right thing.”

Beth crossed her arms and tapped her toe rapidly on the wooden floor. “I think Sally and Mandy enjoyed taking those men prisoner a little too much.”

“I did not! I purely hated having to catch those bad men.” Sally grabbed Beth’s long braid and gave it a hefty yank.

Beth screamed and backed up, pulling her hair all the more. She slammed into Mandy.

Mandy pushed her hard. “Be careful! And we did not enjoy ourselves! Not hardly none at all!”

Sally gave Beth’s hair another tug, and Beth started screaming at the top of her lungs. Laura began crying in the midst of the chaos.