A Horse Called Mogollon (Floating Outfit Book 3) (26 page)

Thrusting himself from the rock
on which he had landed, Colin hurled down at Peet. Before the
tomahawk came clear of its retainer, they crashed together and went
down. Prepared for the impact, Colin came out of it best. As they
struck the ground, he had the upper position. Straddling the winded
hunter
’s
torso with his knees, Colin plucked out and tossed aside the
tomahawk. With his other hand, the Scot slipped the
sgian dubh
from its sheath in
the top of his stocking.

‘
Give
up, or you’re dead!’ Colin threatened, pricking the point of the
little knife under Peet’s chin.

‘
Do—don’t do it!’ croaked the hunter. ‘I know when I’m
licked.’

‘
Get
up!’ Colin ordered, leaping to his feet and clear of the man.
‘You’ve got some explaining to do to Dusty Fog—or the Ysabel
Kid.’

‘
Well, Mr. Lebel,’
Major Aarhorte said
coldly. ‘What’s this all about?’

‘
I came
to make an arrest, sir—’ the Lieutenant answered.

‘
And,
from what I saw when we rode up, your behavior had almost provoked
a gun-battle.’

‘
After
the
Vicomtesse
de Brioude told us what had happened—’

‘
You
and your men came rushing over here, without checking on her
allegations, determined to take Mr. Counter back dead or alive,’
Aarhorte interrupted, before Lebel could explain that he and his
escort had been filled with righteous indignation by her story.
‘You didn’t even wait to hear his side of the affair before Heaps
started waving those leg-irons.’

‘
Well,
sir—!’ Lebel spluttered, trying to find an adequate explanation for
what he now saw to have been a badly bungled piece of
work.

The arrival of Breda, Aarhorte
and the civilian had ended any immediate danger of gun-play. To
show her good faith, Libby had called in her
mesteneros
and told them to go to join
Jeanie. Dusty had dispatched the Kid to see if Colin needed help to
capture the hunter. Sending Lebel’s patrol to their horses,
Aarhorte had requested an explanation. Recognizing the major from
his stay in Fort Sawyer, Dusty had not hesitated to lay the full
facts before him. There being sufficient food available, Libby had
offered to feed the soldiers. While the enlisted men ate a good
meal, Lebel had found himself called to his Troop’s commanding
officer and faced with a demand for an explanation.

‘
No
harm’s been done here, major,’ Breda said, after Lebel had listened
to Mark’s version of the incident. ‘And it’s sure not a thing you’d
think of a for-real lady doing.’

‘
I can
hardly believe she’d do such a thing!’ Lebel croaked.

‘
Nothing Beatrice Argile did would surprise me,
m’sieur,’
commented the
civilian, entering the conversation for the first time.

‘
Beatrice Argile?’ Lebel repeated. ‘Who’s she?’

‘
You
know her as the
Vicomtesse
de Brioude,’ the man explained.

‘
This
is Inspector Maurice Fontaine of the—the—’ Breda began.

‘
Surete Nationale,’
supplied the man. ‘The French police,
m’sieur.’

‘
The
inspector’s come over from Paris, France, to arrest the de
Brioudes,’ Breda continued.

‘
Why?’
Lebel yelped.

‘
Because they are not the de Brioudes,’ Fontaine explained.
‘They are Beatrice and Arnaud Argile and I’ve been on their trail
for some time.’

‘
How
come?’ Mark inquired. He stood with Libby, Dusty, Breda, Aarhorte
and Lebel, listening to the French police officer, some distance
from where Fernan fed the soldiers.

‘
They
travel around Europe, taking employment as valet and maid,’
Fontaine replied. ‘From all accounts, they give satisfaction—until
they rob their employers. In two cases we suspect that they went
further than just robbing. And I am certain they did in another. It
seems that they had to leave France hurriedly. Argile is an
inveterate gambler and owed much money to a gambling syndicate,
while his wife’s indiscretions in love-making had caused the death
of a prominent criminal’s son. Fortune smiled on them, however.
They were employed by the
Vicomte
de Brioude, who was bringing his wife for a
hunting holiday in America.’

‘
So
they killed the count and countess and took their places?’ Breda
guessed. ‘How’d you
get
on to them?’

‘
A word
here, my friend, a rumor there. It led me to the de Brioude’s
mansion in the South of France. But when I arrived, I find
that
M’sieur
le Vicomte
and his wife had gone. Left one night, without a word to
anybody, taking their maid and valet with them as
arranged.’

‘
Only
they hadn’t gone very far,’ Dusty guessed.

‘
We
found their bodies in an old, disused well,’ Fontaine answered.
‘Further investigations showed that the
Vicomte
had drawn all his money and jewelry from
his bank; it was collected by his valet, the afternoon before their
boat sailed. Argile is an excellent forger. I discovered that
the
Vicomte
and Vicomtesse
alone took the boat, their papers being in order. So I was
sent to arrest and bring them back. The man and woman who boarded
the boat had been the Argiles. With their criminal associations,
they had arranged for false documents.’

‘
They
also had some genuine letters of introduction from important folks
in France,’ Aarhorte remarked. ‘Which’s how come they arrived in
Texas with orders from Washington that they was to have a military
escort for as long as they needed it. Hell, it’s happened often
enough for us to take them as what they pretended to
be.’

‘
I’d
say they didn’t think a military escort was enough protection,’
Dusty commented. ‘That’s why they had Stagge along. They figured
either the law or some of their enemies’d find out where they’d
gone and come after them.’

‘
And
that’s what the fuss was about in the Grand Hotel,’ Breda growled.
‘When the Creole feller showed up there, Stagge’s bunch took him
for a Frenchman hunting the “de Brioudes” and tried to gun him
down.’

‘
Would
this Argile
hombre
know how to find a feller like Stagge in a strange
country?’ Mark wanted to know.

‘
Probably he would,’ claimed Fontaine. ‘Most important
criminals have contacts in other lands. Clearly the Argiles had,
for they found and hired this man.’

‘
Those
fellers in Kerrville were Stagge and his bunch, then,’ Dusty
said.

‘
Everything points that way,’ Breda agreed. ‘Looks like
Stagge took my advice, Mark.’

‘
How’s
that?’ the blond giant asked.

‘
He’s
changed his way of working. Didn’t have Laura nor the Weasel
along,’ Breda replied.

‘
The
man we call Nerton’s wife’s name is Laura,’ Lebel
supplied.

‘
It’s
Stagge for sure,’ Dusty said. ‘What brought you out this way,
Tam?’

‘
I’m
going to arrest the “de Brioudes”, so’s the inspector can deport
them.’

‘
And
you’ve come to have us ride in your posse?’ Mark
guessed.

‘
Sure,’
Breda admitted.

‘
Can’t
your soldiers take them for Tam, major?’ Libby asked.

‘
Well,
ma’am,’ Aarhorte answered, looking embarrassed. ‘I’ve orders to
leave the arrest to the civil authorities.’

‘
Why?’
Libby bristled.

‘
Could
be the Yankee Army don’t want it known they can’t tell a genuine
count and countess from a couple of owlhoots,’ Mark suggested with
a grin.

‘
There
may be something in that,’ Aarhorte snorted, then gave a shrug.
‘It’s none of my doing. They’re orders passed down from Washington,
through the Commanding General. But if you can’t manage,
Tam—’

‘
I’ll
get by, John,’ Breda replied, guessing that the major intended to
defy orders and offer the soldiers’ services if necessary. ‘Can I
count on your help, Cap’n Fog?’

‘
All
the way,’ Dusty assured him.

‘
I’d’ve
come here even if the Army could’ve helped,
Libby,’ Breda remarked.

‘
How
come?’ the blonde wanted to know.

‘
One of
the things a peace officer’s wife has to do is handle female
prisoners,’ the Scottish-Texan explained ‘So I was hoping you’d
come along and ’tend to that French gal for me.’

‘
There’s nothing I’d like better,’ Libby stated grimly, then
a smile creased her face. ‘That’s the damnedest way of proposing to
a gal I’ve ever heard of, Tam Breda. But you did it afore witnesses
and my answer’s “yes”.’

Although the other men, including
Breda, laughed, Inspector Fontaine looked grave and
concerned.

‘
I
beg you not to treat this matter lightly,
madame,’
the Frenchman said.
‘Beatrice Argile is a vicious, desperate and dangerous
woman.’

‘
I’ll
mind it,’ Libby promised. ‘You can have as many of my
mesteneros
as you need,
Tam.’

‘
How
many men we need depends on how many they’ve got,’ Dusty commented.
‘And on whether Colin caught that Peet
hombre.’

‘
I
hadn’t noticed he’d left us!’ Lebel put in sullenly, having
identified the hunter in the course of his explanation.

‘
You
wouldn’t’ve wanted a civilian along anyways, mister,’ Dusty
consoled him. ‘Thing being, if Peet escapes and lets the de
Brioudes know what’s happened, they’ll run for the
border.’

‘
Or
stop and make a fight of it,’ Breda continued. ‘Depending on how
many men they’ve got.’

‘
Not
counting my men,’ Lebel said as the others looked his way, ‘they
had Nerton, his wife, Peet, a skinner, wrangler and cook. Mr.
Counter killed the skinner last night.’

‘
And
another feller,’ Dusty reminded. ‘Who-all was he?’

‘
Some
drifter who’d stopped by for the night,’ Lebel answered. ‘Or so
Arn—the
Vi—
he
told me.’

‘
That’d
maybe be one of the pair who caught me,’ Mark said. ‘Did he wear
buckskins, mister?’

‘
Yes.
He was a stocky, mean-looking man—’ confirmed the
lieutenant.

‘
Wasn’t
there a tall, lanky son-of-a-bitch wearing buckskins around?’ Mark
asked.

‘
Not
that I saw,’ Lebel admitted.

‘
Hey!’
Breda injected. ‘The Weasel’s not at the ranch and wasn’t staying
in town ’cording to Ned Franklin. I’ll bet he’s been sent up to
Gray Fork to hire some guns. Likely he met them two jaspers on the
way and sent them to Stagge.’

‘
Thing
being,’ Dusty said, ‘just how many men did he meet up with and
send?’

Although Lebel could not supply the
answer, Peet presented the required information when the Kid and
Colin brought him to the camp. Having spent what seemed like
several hours listening to the Kid describe his fate if he refused
to give his full co-operation, the hunter was only too willing to
do so.

In addition to telling his
audience the number of men at de Brioude
’s disposal, Peet cleared up other
matters. He confirmed Dusty’s theory about the incident in the
Logan Hotel. Then he explained that Weasel, Royce and Coxin had
been left in Fort Sawyer for a few days to see if anybody came
looking for the
Vicomte.
On their arrival in Kerr County, the trio had kept clear of
the ranch house and camped at an old line cabin so that Lebel would
not learn of their connection with the ‘de Brioudes’. With Tam
Breda away hunting the
bandidos,
the two hard-cases—near to mutiny through being
deprived of company—had been allowed to go to town. Lastly, he said
that the new men and their horses had hidden on the range while
Lebel was at the ranch.

‘
You
say this Laura’s been beaten badly,’ Dusty remarked when Peet had
finished ‘co-operating’.

‘
Kicked
’n’ stomped’d be closer to it, Cap’n,’ the hunter
corrected.