The Red River Ring (12 page)

Chapter XIX

Black Tom Bent stepped down from his mount, handed the reins to Al McPherson and crept to the canyon rim. Nab Colredge followed with a Winchester in his hands. Twenty riders dismounted and quietly waited for instructions.

Pine Canyon was peaceful in spite of the herd of cattle milling and lounging throughout the floor. The lone campfire of the cook's wagon could be plainly made out in the mesquite. It was impossible to see any riders in the dark from such a distance in spite of the three-quarter moon.

“How do we handle this?” Colredge asked.

“There are riflemen along these cliffs somewhere. If we ride in there they'll cut us to pieces. The McMurphys picked a good place to hold up and gather their herd.”

“We wait for daylight?”

“No, I want to hit them just before dawn. I figure we can work this canyon against them if we play our cards right. Take eight men with you and work your way around the canyon to the north entrance. Al will take another eight and work to the south. I'll take four men and crawl down this wall to the floor of the canyon. We'll stampede the herd right over the top of that line camp. When the cowboys follow the cattle out the opening, I want McPherson's men and yours to open up on them in a crossfire.”

“I wish Meadows and Blake were here. We could use them right now.”

“Whatever held them up is out of our control. We can't wait. Come on, I want to talk to the men.”

They slipped back from the rim and returned to the horses.

“Listen carefully,” Bent said as the men gathered for orders. “I want four men to go with me. We're going to crawl down this slope and stampede the herd. The rest of you divide up behind McPherson and Colredge. I want the best shots to go with them. When the McMurphy crew follows the herd out of the canyon, I want you to gun down every last one of them, especially Pommel McMurphy. He's a big man, over six feet, in his fifties. I'll pay forty extra in gold to the man who can show me his body when this is over.”

“What about the cattle?” a rider asked.

“Don't worry about the cattle. We can round them up at our leisure when things cool down. I want those men dead, especially Temple, Reese and Pommel McMurphy. I plan to destroy them tonight and take over the Palo Duro for good. There's a ten dollar bonus for each of you for every man you kill.”

“How do we keep from shooting each other?”

“Every man is to cover his face with a bandanna. Any man without a mask is fair game. Remember that when you start shooting. I'll give you an hour to get in position before we start down. Wait until the cattle break the mouth of the canyon before you start shooting.”

As the men mounted and rode away, Bent went back to the rim and began another search of the canyon walls.

“Tie those horses good,” he told his waiting men. “If this doesn't work we'll need them to make a getaway.”

Champ Riggs shook Pommel awake from a sound sleep. “Major, there's trouble brewing.”

McMurphy woke quickly. “What kind of trouble?”

“When Libby relieved me from night guard, I decided to walk out to the edge of the mouth of the canyon. There were at least ten riders setting up in a patch of rocks just outside the canyon.”

“How did you see them?”

“I was just lucky. I caught a movement and watched it closer. Before long I could make out men dismounting and hiding in the rocks.”

“Wake Temple and Sam but do it quietly. Act like nothing unusual is going on,” Pommel ordered. “Tell Cap to get the coffee hot.”

Within minutes Temple and Sam were joining Champ and Pommel at the fire.

“What do you think is going on?” Temple asked as he accepted a cup from Pommel.

“Men assembling at the mouth of the canyon can only mean one thing. They plan to ambush us.”

“When?”

“Any minute, I'm thinking. If they were after the cattle they would stay mounted. I'll bet they're on both sides.”

“How will they get us out?”

“I figure they'll try to stampede the herd right down over the top of us and then pick us off in the dawn light as we follow the cattle out of the canyon.”

“It will be dawn in an hour or so,” Sam Ketchum said.

“What do we do?” Temple asked.

“We do just the opposite of what they expect. As quietly as possible wake up the men and get those horses clear of the picket line. Move the men to the sides of the canyon and let the cattle run free. When we don't come out after them, I figure they'll move in to try to find out what we're doing. Then we open up on them.”

“But the cattle…” Temple protested.

“If you try to stop that herd you'll be a sitting duck. The Ring figures we'll go after them. When we don't follow that's going to shake them up. I'm betting they'll do something stupid. We can get the cattle later. Right now I worried about us staying alive.”

Temple nodded and pulled his revolver to insert a sixth bullet.

“Use your rifle,” Pommel ordered.

“I plan to but I want six up in this thing too.”

“What about the guards on the ridge?” Sam asked.

“We ain't got time to warn them. Besides, for all we know, they may already be dead. Let's just worry about the gents down here. Let's go.”

The men came out of their bedrolls quickly and moved toward their horses. Within minutes the mounts were saddled and being led toward the outside walls of the canyon. Temple took most of his riders to the south face while Pommel led the rest to the north. Only Cap Morgan remained, going about his cook duties.

Gunfire and wild whooping yells erupted to the west. Within seconds a roaring of stampeding cattle hooves sounded down the canyon. The Three Circles crew had to scurry to get clear of the herd as it forged past the camp toward the open valley below.

After the main herd passed, Pommel ordered his men to mount and they moved quickly down the edge of the canyon following the herd. At the mouth of the canyon, he held his men up and watched for the raiders. Suddenly a shot sounded from above the rim as Libby Reeves signaled the location of men mounting to make a retreat. Moments later the south group of raiders broke across the flats to make for the north side. Temple's men opened fire and broke their horses into pursuit.

The north raiders came into the open to join the south.

“What are they doing?” Sam asked as he drew up his horse next to Pommel.

“They're going to go after Temple and his men from the charge. They plan on a showdown. This is no rustling. It's a murder raid,” Pommel said as he pulled his Winchester from the saddle.

“I count twenty raiders,” Nate Cloud said. “I don't see no more and Libby's coming down the hill. I thinks that's all of them.”

“Do we join our boys, Major?”

“No, let them charge in a line toward Temple. We'll sweep in from the side and flank them into a crossfire. Let's ride men!” Pommel yelled as he spurred his sorrel forward.

Temple held up his five men when he realized that twenty riders were assembling against him. He ordered them to dismount and take positions in the mesquite. As the raiders charged, a hail of bullets ripped through the air, breaking mesquite limbs, knocking one man from his feet, ricocheting off rocks and the ground, causing the horses to break free from the cowboys.

“Hunker down, boys, and pick your shots!” Temple yelled as he drew a bead on the lead rider.

Temple and his men were able to generate enough fire that the raiders broke to either side. Seconds later the north group ran into another hail of bullets as Pommel's crew opened up.

Black Tom Bent stood on the top of the ridge and watched the shoot out at the base of the canyon. “What the hell are they doing? The McMurphys are eating them alive,” he cursed in frustration. “Mount up you sons-a-bitches. Let's get the hell out of here. There ain't nothing we can do for them.”

The raiders swung their horses to the north again, this time to make an escape to the Red. As they fled across the canyon, the Three Circles riders broke into pursuit. As the raiders topped the ridge there were nine left. Nine men lay dead or dying in the canyon below. The McMurphys had one man wounded and one with a horse shot from under him.

Pommel rode up on Temple who was standing over the body of a raider in an oil cloth slicker.

“You all right?” Pommel asked as he drew up his mount.

“Take a look at this,” Temple said pointing to the body. “That's Al McPherson. He's a partner with Colredge and Bent.”

Pommel swung his mount for a closer look. “Don't know him. What about the others?”

“He's the only one I recognize. Damn, we chewed them up pretty good.”

Pommel slipped his rifle into the scabbard and wiped sweat from his hatband. “We were lucky. Had things gone just a little differently, it would have been our crew scattered all over this valley. Thank God, Champ decided to check out the mouth of the canyon before turning in.”

“No, it wasn't luck, Dad. You had those guards on that ridge for a reason and you led us out of this trap. It was you.”

Pommel looked to the ground and smiled. It was the first time either of the boys had called him Dad since he arrived. “It was all of us,” he said.

“What now?” Temple asked.

“We go after them. I figure we can run them down before they reach the Red.”

“Let's go,” Temple yelled as he mounted and waved his hat in the air. “Let's end this once and for all.”

The Three Circles cowboys assembled and broke their horses into a dead run after the raiders. For the next ten miles a running gun battle erupted south of the Palo Duro. The raiders swung their horses through the mesquite and choyas trying to break free from the others. But the pressure was on and all most of them could do was ride hard and throw a few shots at their pursuers. Three more raiders were shot from their horses before they were able to break free and split up. From that point on it was every man for himself. Two more were killed in Fire Canyon. By noon there was no sign of the remaining four. As the searchers assembled, Alsy Grimes brought in the body of Bill Wiley draped over a horse.

“Is that Bill?” Sam asked as Alsy led in the horse.

“He was still alive when I found him,” Alsy said. “The Major isn't going to like what he told me.”

“What did he tell you?” Pommel asked as he and Temple joined them.

“He said he followed Pac to a camp in Fire Canyon where a gent caught him. Pac was with them and they beat Bill bad before Pac turned on them. He figured everyone was shot up real bad. He saw Pac go down with a wound in the head. He thought they took Pac to the east.”

“Pac shot it out with them?” Temple asked.

“I guess so, anyways, that's all I got out of Bill before he died. He was in real bad shape when I found him.”

“Where is this camp?” Pommel asked.

“Up the canyon about a half mile,” Alsy said.

Pommel turned to Temple. “Let's go see what we can tell from the sign,” he said. “Sam, wait for the others here. I'll let you know what we want to do then.”

As Pommel and Temple rode for the camp, Sam helped Alsy lift Bill from his horse. “So, this is the end of Nigger Bill Wiley,” he said. “He was a good man and a fine friend.”

“Yes, sir. We'll miss this one,” Champ Riggs said as he swung down from his horse to help the others.

“Lordy, look how they beat his face before they killed him,” Alsy said.

“You know he went out standing tall and facing forward, otherwise they wouldn't have shot him,” Champ said.

“A course he did,” Sam Ketchum smiled. “He rode for the Gas House Gang didn't he?”

Chapter XX

Tom Bent snarled as he saw Meadows and Blake sitting in the shade of the rock overhang near the Roost cabin. “Where have you been? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Your dandy little boy shot hell out of us,” Blake answered without making an effort to move.

“What happened?”

“One of Pommel's niggers followed him to Fire Canyon. We were roughing him up a bit when the kid lost it. He killed Gamble and shot us.”

“Is he hurt?”

“He's in the cabin with the women. He's been unconscious since I bounced a .45 slug off his skull.”

“Did you get Sulky?”

“It was all we could do to get in here. Bartello sent Valdez after her.”

Bent dismounted and motioned the other riders to follow.

“How did the raid go?” Meadows asked.

Bent smiled and shook his head. “Boys, I got a feeling that the Red River Ring is no more. You best heal up fast. I think we're going to be riding for Arizona once I clear up some business.”

“What happened?”

“McMurphy's boys shot us to pieces. Nothing went right.”

“Bartello said that he killed Reese. We've got Pac and the women. The only ones left are Temple and Pommel.”

“Shit!” Bent cursed. “Temple and Pommel have been the worry all along. If we ain't got them, we've got nothing.”

“What do we do with the women?” Blake asked.

“Get those boys some grub and get them into that canyon to stand guard. For all I know, the McMurphys could come riding in here any minute. I'll talk to her, myself.”

Bent stomped toward the cabin and called. “Mary Fellows, come out.”

Mary stepped from the doorway and gasped. “You. You're the one. I should have known.”

“Long time, no see,” Bent said with a grin.

“Why are you doing this?” Mary asked as Sarah poked her head through the doorway.

“You know why.”

“Who is this man?” Sarah asked as she stepped from the doorway.

“Tell her. You and I are old friends, ain't we, darling?” Bent said.

“Is this the man you were talking about? The man who assaulted you?” Sarah asked.

Bent laughed. “I wouldn't hardly have called it an assault. Is that how you explained away Pac?”

“Shut up you bastard,” Mary hissed.

“There's only one bastard in this canyon and you raised him,” Bent snarled.

Sarah shook her head in disbelief. “You raped her. You were one of the gang that raped her.”

“Is that what I did?” Bent mocked with a smile. “I raped a poor defenseless woman?”

Mary stood silently, trembling with anger.

“It was a long time ago, I'll admit. But a rape? I seem to remember it different.”

“What's he saying?” Sarah asked angrily.

Mary shook her head.

“I rode up on this small ranch in the Palo Duro, some twenty years ago during the war. There was this widow woman living there with her two small sons and a couple of ranch hands. I took a job with her. She was having Indian troubles what with her husband lost in the war and all. I worked my hands to the bone for her. Risked my neck more than once. Gave her everything I had to give. Everything.”

“You forgot to mention that you were an outlaw on the run,” Mary snapped.

“You've been telling the story your way for years. At least let me tell it my way just once. Well, after a spell I decided that I was in love with this widow woman. Told her that I loved her. Told her I would do anything for her. Raise her sons as my own. Be a father to them. Work the ranch. Change my life. I'd do it all for her. And she said yes.”

Sarah cut her eyes in disbelief to Mary. She only stared at her feet.

“After a spell, and some mighty good times, she was pregnant. That was alright. I loved her and I wanted a child with her. A son.”

“And then the Rangers found you and I learned what you really were,” Mary snapped.

Bent put his finger to his lips and shushed. “Quiet, this is my story now. So, I had to leave for a while because of some urgent business. When I returned my son had been born but she met me at the door with a shotgun. Put me off the place. It seems that her husband wasn't dead after all. He had come back from the war and I was no longer welcome. Of course she didn't tell me that he took one look at her and hit the trail. I told her I loved her and nothing else mattered. I asked to see my child and she said that the infant had died in childbirth. My child was dead.”

“Did you do that?” Sarah asked.

Mary did not answer.

“Well, I had to leave for a while. The Rangers were still dunning me for some past due notes. After a few years when things had cooled down, I came back to Texas, tried to rebuild my life and learned the truth. I had a son but he was being called a McMurphy to hide the truth. I was good enough for everything else but my name wasn't good enough to put on my own son.”

“You lied to me,” Mary said.

“I lied to you? Hell, woman, how would you know the difference?”

“Why the rape story?” Sarah asked.

“To hide her woods colt. To hide to the world what she really was, so she could marry a fancy pants businessman like Mr. John Fellows. So she could turn up her nose at the likes of most folks and lord it over Silverton, Texas,” Bent yelled. “What would your fancy new husband think if he knew that your lover was an outlaw on the run who you serviced whenever he needed the company?”

“Shut up! Shut your mouth!” Mary screamed.

Bent lashed out with a backhand blow across her face sending her sprawling to the ground. “Let me tell you how it is, bitch. Fellows knows the truth and so does Pac. They've known for years. I took great pleasure informing Mr. Fellows what a whore he had married and watching his face as I did it. And I found a little slut just like you to control Pac and get the information I needed to run your precious family into the ground.”

“God, how I hate you,” Mary swore.

Bent grabbed her by her blouse, jerked her to her feet like a rag doll, and pulled her face to his. “Hate? You have no idea what hate is. You've no idea how I've taken that hate and turned it back on you.”

Sarah started to come to her aid but hesitated as she watched Bent lift Mary off her feet.

“And now I'm going to destroy everything you've worked for. I'm going to take it all, your wealth, your power, your position, your children and your grandchildren. I'm going to sell these girls to a bordello in Mexico. In a few weeks they won't even remember who they are. I've killed Blomberg, Reese and I'll see Temple in the grave as well. And your precious Pac will learn the truth about his loving Sulky before he dies. They'll be nothing left of the McMurphys but ashes.”

“You'll never get Temple,” Mary slurred as she tried to force loose his grip. “You'll never get past Pommel to do it. You'll die before you do, you insane bastard.”

Bent hurled her back into the wall of the cabin and drew his revolver as she slumped half conscious in the dirt.

Sarah threw herself between Mary and Bent. “No! Don't kill her!” she begged.

Bent hesitated then slowly uncocked his revolver. “Alright, for now. But only because I want her to see it all.” He turned his back to them and walked away.

“Damn!” Red Meadows cursed softly to Blake. “Black Tom is having a bad day with his women.”

Blake nodded as he watched Bent walk to his horse and pull a fifth of whiskey from the saddle bag. “Not too loud. He's going for the whiskey. In an hour or so, he'll be in one of his black moods. Then there'll be hell to pay. We need to play like bugs in the corner till he gets this worked through his system.”

“It might be a good time to mount up, take our losses and head for greener pastures,” Meadows said.

Blake rubbed his leg and nodded. “When I get the chance, I'll saddle them up. Be ready to ride.”

“We ain't in very good shape for a hard ride,” Meadows said.

“I got me a feeling that it is as good as it's going to get for a while,” Blake answered. “Right now I'd just as soon face the McMurphys as stay here with Bent. It's going to get rough and I don't much want to see what he does to that woman.”

Valdez and Sulky rode into the hideout. She jumped from her horse and threw herself into Bent's arms. He pushed her away and took another drag on the whiskey bottle.

“What's wrong, honey? Ain't you glad to see me?” Sulky teased.

“Your boyfriend's in that cabin only he's got a slight headache,” Bent said.

Sulky put her hands on her hips and stomped. “I thought I was through with that. I was to be your girl now.”

Bent smiled and took another swig. “You are my girl, honey. We just want to wait until Pac is awake enough to appreciate it. Why don't you see if you can wake him up and get him out here so we can tell him.”

“I don't have to do him no more. I'm your girl now, ain't I, Tom?”

“You sure are,” he said as he slapped her on the butt. “Valdez, why don't you go with her so she's safe?”

Valdez nodded and followed Sulky into the cabin.

The women gathered in the corner as Valdez leveled his revolver at them. Sulky went to Pac and gently stroked the side of his face. “Wake up, Pac. Are you awake?”

Pac groaned and shook his head. “I'm sick. Leave me alone. My head is killing me and I can't focus my eyes.”

“Wake up, honey. It's me, Sulky.”

“Sulky? What are you doing here?”

“I've come to see you, honey.”

“But how did you find me? How did you know?”

“Black Tom sent for me. I came as soon as I could.”

“Why would Black Tom?” Pac hesitated as his thoughts cleared. “Oh god, no.”

“Of course, sweetie. How else would I know about you? Get up. He wants to talk to you.”

Pac tried to raise his head but couldn't. “I can't. My head. I can't.”

“That's too bad. I'll go tell Tom. Maybe he'll want to talk to you in here,” she said as she left the cabin.

Valdez smiled and tipped his hat to the women before following her.

Mary and the girls went to Pac. Sarah fixed a wet rag and handed it to Mary. She placed it over his eyes.

“Does that feel better?” she asked.

“It helps. What are you doing here, Mom? I can't see.”

“We were taken by some of Bent's men. They killed Reese.”

“Reese is dead?”

“Maybe not. He wasn't dead when we left,” Sarah said.

Pac swallowed hard and grasped his mother's hand. “I don't know what I can do. I can't get my eyes to work. I'm helpless.”

“I know honey. You'll be alright in a while. You've got a nasty crack on the head.”

“Why is Sulky here? Did Bent take her too?”

“No, she came on her own. I'm afraid she deceived you,” Mary said.

Pac nodded. “Yes, I've been wrong about a lot of things. I've been a fool. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Reese and all of you. I loved her. I can't believe she's doing this. It wasn't until I saw them beating that black cowboy that I realized what I was doing. I let his lies screw up my thinking. I'm so sorry.”

“They weren't all lies,” Mary said softly.

“Yes they were,” Sarah interrupted as she placed her hand on Mary's shoulder. “The man is insane and he's invented things in his mind. You'll know the truth. All your mother ever did was try to protect you.”

Mary looked into the face of Sarah and wept silently.

Sarah drew Mary to her waist and held her in her arms. “Your mother is a fine woman, Pac. That's all you need to know.”