THE DODGE CITY MASSACRE (A Jess Williams Novel.) (12 page)

             
“Alright, but would you two put these badges on your shirts?” asked the sheriff, as he pulled two badges out of his back pocket.

             
Jess looked at the badges. He still was not ready to pin one on. Bodine, on the other hand, had worn a badge many times before, so he took one and pinned it on his shirt.

             
“John here used to work as a deputy before, Sheriff,” replied Jess, “but I ain’t pinning one of those things on my shirt.”

             
“I’d sure feel better if you did,” replied the sheriff.

             
“Well, I’ll only do it if Mayor Smythe insists on it,” replied Jess.

             
The sheriff looked at Bodine. “Where did you work as a lawman?”

             
“I worked on and off with Sheriff Hirem Kitchner over in Kansas City.”

             
“I know Sheriff Kitchner. He’s a good lawman and a good friend of mine. Too bad about what happened to him though,” said Sheriff Fowler.

             
“What do you mean, Sheriff? What happened to him?” John asked concerned.

             
“I guess the sheriff and his deputy killed two men and wounded another one a few weeks ago. They locked up the wounded man. He was waiting for trial when the group of boys he rode with came into town to get him. They ended up killing the sheriff, wounding the deputy and managed to break their pal out of jail. Then they shot up the town and rode out. Those bastards ran over a small boy on their way out of town and trampled him to death with their horses.”

             
“Damn it!” said Bodine. “It was partially my fault.”

             
The sheriff and Jess both looked confused. “Why would it be your fault, you weren’t even there when it happened?” asked the sheriff.

             
“I was kind of there and that’s why I feel somewhat responsible. I was working for Sheriff Kitchner when we killed those two and arrested the other man. His name is Kelly Winn. I shot Winn in the shoulder and got shot in the hand and right after that. I quit on Sheriff Kitchner and headed out to collect the bounty on the Bolin brothers. If I hadn’t quit, I probably could’ve saved Sheriff Kitchner. I feel really bad about it now that I heard he was killed right after I quit on him.”

             
“There was probably nothing you could’ve done, Mr. Bodine. They came into town with eight men and you’d probably be dead or wounded like the other deputy.”

             
“Well, I gotta make this right, Jess,” said Bodine. “As soon as we finish up here, we have to go and get those sons-of-bitches who killed Sheriff Kitchner. Besides, there was a two hundred and fifty dollar bounty of Kelly Winn’s head and I’m sure it’s been raised since he was involved in the death of a lawman. Those other men who broke Winn out of jail probably all have some bounty on their heads so we can make some money in the process.”

             
“Alright, we’ll head straight to Kansas City as soon as we get finished up here,” replied Jess.

             
Now Sheriff Fowler was looking at both Jess and Bodine with a confused look. “Wait a minute, you two mean to tell me that you are going to fight off a small army of thugs here, which will probably end with both of you getting shot in the process, and you are already planning on going after more gunslingers after that?”

             
“That’s the way I do things Sheriff,” said Jess, nonchalantly.

             
“You boys are about as loco as any men I’ve ever met. I’ll be amazed if the two of you live through all of this,” said the sheriff.

             
“You might think that, Sheriff,” replied Jess, “but you ain’t seen the way I work yet, so you might be surprised as well as amazed.”

             
Jess and Bodine mounted up and headed for the hills where the thugs were supposedly camped. Jess had run through those hills many times when he was a kid. He knew the layout like the back of his hand. There was a fast running river that ran through the hills and Jess had fished the river and caught some nice fish and he had taken many dips in some of the deep holes in the bends of the river. He also knew about an old abandoned mine on the top of the tallest hill where a miner had found a vein of gold that ran out quickly. The miner never gave up and he kept mining his way all the way out to the other side of the hill, and that was the main interest of Jess as they rode out to the hills.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

              When they got close to the hills, they stopped and Jess got his spyglass out and scanned the hillsides for any men who might be guarding their camp. He didn’t spot any, but they were on the opposite side of the only way in or out of the hills riding a horse. Jess and Bodine slowly made their way to the bottom of the hill with the mine at the top.

             
“I don’t see any opening to any mine up there Jess. Are you sure you got the right hill?” asked John.

             
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s up there. The opening is probably covered with overgrown brush, which is a good thing because they probably haven’t spotted it yet. I’m guessing the other opening, which I’m hoping overlooks their camp is just as overgrown. We can ride up the hill most of the way, but we’ll have to climb the last two hundred feet. It’s too steep for our horses.”

             
“Alright, lead the way.”

             
They rode their horses as far up the hill as they could and dismounted. Jess grabbed his Sharps buffalo rifle and the pouch of cartridges and his Winchester. He told Bodine to bring his Winchester along with two extra Winchester’s Jess brought. They climbed up the last two hundred feet and sure enough, Jess found the opening to the old mine. They tore away enough brush to enter the mine and they walked through it very carefully. They finally came to the other side and they could see the light coming through the overgrown brush that almost completely covered the opening. Jess peeked through the opening and he was happy with what he saw.

             
The camp was down below; probably three hundred yards away and there were fourteen men sitting around, drinking, playing cards and just messing around like they didn’t have a care in the world. Jess noticed one man who seemed to be in charge since he was the only one giving any orders. Most of them looked to be gunslingers and thieves. Two men were in the process of carving up a cow that they had probably stolen from one of the ranches in the area. Another man was fishing in the river and Jess could see that he already caught several nice fish that lay on the ground.

             
“Well, what’s the plan?” asked Bodine.

             
“John, I’m going to clear me just enough brush to see with my buffalo rifle. Then, I’m going to start picking them off one at a time and try to get as many as I can. You can shoot your Winchester high and give me some cover. Don’t even try to aim unless they’re stupid enough to try climbing up here and get us. We’re too far away and high enough that even their Winchesters won’t be able to reach us so it will give us enough time to take down some of them. Did you bring the two bundles of dynamite?”

             
“Yeah, what are you planning to do with it?”

             
“Stick an extra-long fuse in both of them and put one on each side of the opening about fifty feet back. That way, once we leave, any of them coming up here thinking they might have taken us out will hopefully get blown to bits. More importantly though, it’ll close off this opening, which will give us enough time to get to our horses and head back into town. If they decide to mount up and head around the hills, it’ll take them too long to catch up with us because the only trail out of their camp is way over that way. I hope you brought the matches to light the fuses.”

             
“Sure did, I have them right here in my front pocket,” replied John. “So, which one are you picking out first?”

             
“I think I’ll take out the man over by the river fishing. He’s the farthest away and it will give me a good idea about how high I have to aim. The good thing is there is no wind that I can detect down there. Here, stick some of this cotton into your ears.”

             
“What for?”

             
“This buffalo rifle is loud enough out in the open. Inside here, it’ll be a whole lot louder.”

             
John stuffed the cotton in his ears and Jess did the same. Then, Jess chambered a round into his Sharps rifle and he propped the rifle on a stick from one of the bushes he had pulled and broken away to make a small opening. He took careful aim at the man fishing, aiming above his head and slowly pulled back on the trigger. The boom was deafening even with the cotton stuck in their ears. The slug from the buffalo gun slammed into the man’s neck killing him instantly. The man fell forward into the river and began floating down the river. All the other men stopped what they were doing and were looking around to see where the shot had come from. Bodine raised his Winchester up to start shooting, but Jess stopped him.

             
“Hold up, John. I don’t think they know where the shot came from yet so it’ll give me one more shot before they locate us.”

             
“Okay, I’ll hold off until you let the next one fly,” replied Bodine.

             
Jess took aim at one of the two men who had been carving up the cow. The man had dropped his knife and had his pistol in his hand and was looking all around. Jess pulled back the trigger and another loud explosion boomed in the mine. The man below took the slug in the middle of his chest and fell back onto the cow. They finally saw where the shot had come from and all of them were trying to find some cover behind boulders and brush and John was firing off his Winchester as fast as he could. His bullets were falling around the camp, but they were not very effective at that distance. It did, however, keep the men in panic down in the camp. He had Jess’ extra two Winchester’s already loaded and he picked up one of them and continued to pepper the camp. Jess took aim at one of the men below who was hiding behind a bush and when the slug from Jess’ Sharps rifle hit him, he fell backwards onto the ground. Jess took out a fourth and fifth man by the time Bodine had to reload the three Winchesters he had been using. All of the men below were shooting wildly at the top of the hill where the mine was, but most of their bullets were falling short. Some of the men started climbing up the hill running from one boulder to another trying to use them for cover. Jess picked off two more with his Sharps rifle before Bodine finished reloading the Winchesters.

             
“John,” said Jess, as he chambered another round into his Sharps rifle, “wait until those men get up the hill high enough and in range of those Winchesters and then open up and try to hit a few of them.”

             
“Okay, but It won’t take long because they are almost within range.”

             
None of the men below tried to mount up on any of their horses, which was a good thing for Jess and Bodine. Their only worry was if one of the bullets being fired by the men below might hit one of them, although the men below couldn’t see either one of them since they were in the mine with all the brush covering the opening. Finally, a few bullets hit the roof inside the mine, ricocheting off the rock and hitting the floor behind Jess and Bodine. All of a sudden Jess stopped shooting and kicked Bodine in the leg to get his attention.

             
“John, hurry up and move those two bundles of dynamite back farther before one of those slugs that are bouncing off the roof of the mine hit one of them. If that happens, we’ll be dead and buried alive in here.”

             
Bodine put his rifle down and ran back to move the bundles and as he did, he took a bullet in his left calf. He hurried up, moving the two bundles behind a large rock and limped back to the opening where Jess was now using his Winchester to take out two more of the men. Jess had heard Bodine scream loudly when he was hit and when John grabbed his Winchester Jess looked over at him.

             
“You hit bad?” Jess asked.

             
“Not too bad. I took a bullet in my left calf and I don’t think it hit the bone much. It hurts like hell, but I figure I’ll still be able to make it down the hillside, which is what I think we should do pretty quickly because those men are getting a little too close for comfort.”

             
“I agree. We’ve taken out nine of them so far and I’m pretty sure all of them are dead. Let’s light those fuses and get the hell out of here,” replied Jess.

             
I’ll grab the Winchesters and you light the dynamite,” said Jess. “I’ll wait at the other end in case you need help getting down to our horses.”

             
“Why don’t you stand here while I light these fuses?” ask John, sarcastically.

             
“That dynamite is some pretty old and unstable shit and I can’t guarantee how fast those fuses will burn. No sense in both of us getting blown to pieces and buried in this mine.”