His initial thought was to pull his rifle up beside him and try to stop them from escaping, but he knew he couldn’t. That would warn the three already on their way up. All five of the men were wanted and if he gave away the ambush by firing at Hawkins and Tiny, it might result in all five getting away again. Knowing time was running out, he quickly explained the situation to Ed, and they decided it best to stick with their original plan and arrest the three men on their way up the mountain. They would just have to pick up the trail of the other two after Harley, Pete, and Ernie were secured. Resigned to the fact that things don’t always work out the way you want them to, Will pulled back from the edge of the cliff and went to the clump of firs on either side of the opening in the rocks from which the water flowed. With their rifles at the ready, Ed and Horace were already selecting their hiding spots in the trees. Will picked a spot where he was sure he wouldn’t be seen until he was ready to spring the trap. Satisfied, he looked to see that Ed and Horace were ready, then said, “All right, nothin’ to do but wait and see if we can catch these three.”
It was not more than twenty minutes or so before the three outlaws showed up, although it seemed longer to the men waiting in ambush. They heard them when they dismounted and led their horses the rest of the way up to the ledge. Moving cautiously at first, until he saw no one on the top of the cliff, Harley walked over to the edge and looked down at the cabin below. He was holding a rifle in his hand. Behind him, Pete and Ernie followed and walked over to take a look, too. “Lookee yonder,” Harley said, “there’s that pile of stuff we heard hit the roof.” They all peered over the edge at the rocks on the roof seventy feet below them.
“Just stand right there and you won’t get shot,” Will said as he stepped out of the little clump of trees. Following his lead, Ed and Horace came out from the trees, too, all three now with rifles held on the three surprised outlaws. “I reckon I don’t have to tell you that you’re under arrest again,” Will said. “We’re gonna have to add on charges of breakin’ outta jail to the charges I arrested you for the first time.”
Realizing they were caught in an impossible situation, they turned to face him, shaken by having been lured into ambush. With three rifles facing them, and nothing but a seventy-foot drop behind them, there was nothing they could do. “Will Tanner,” Harley finally declared. “I shoulda knowed you’d turn up on our heels.” He chuckled softly. “You know, my life has been a helluva lot more troublesome ever since you came into it.”
“All of you,” Will ordered, “unbuckle those gun belts and let ’em drop on the ground.” They did as he said. “I’m gonna need you to lay that rifle on the ground, too, Harley.”
“This?” Harley asked, as if he had forgotten he was holding it. “It ain’t even loaded. I was usin’ it mostly as a walkin’ stick to help me up the hill.”
“Drop it, Harley. I ain’t gonna tell you again,” Will warned.
“All right, all right,” Harley responded. “I thought you knew by now that I don’t look to cause you no trouble.” He crouched down. “Look, I’m puttin’ it on the ground real gentle-like.” His move was sudden, when he raised it to fire, but slower by a fraction of a second than the .44 slug from Will’s Winchester. The shot struck him just below his neck, and he reeled backward off the edge of the cliff.
In a panic then, Pete and Ernie both dropped to their knees, their hands raised high over their heads, as all three rifles were aimed at them. “Who’s next?” Ed asked.
“You ain’t gonna get no trouble outta us,” Pete was quick with an answer.
Below them, Ward Hawkins yelled, “Go!” when they heard the rifle shot, followed a few seconds later by the dull thump of Harley’s body when it landed on the roof. Hawkins kicked his horse violently as he and Tiny raced down the path in the gully, with no thoughts of caution for the steep, treacherous path. They lay low on their horses’ necks with the sounds of .44 slugs ricocheting off the rocks and embedding in the sides of the gully behind them.
Unfortunately for the deputies, they didn’t have a clear shot and they would have to settle for the arrest of the two luckless men who had driven a wagonload of whiskey into Indian Territory. They could add a jail break on to that, but they were not the prize Will most wanted to win. “I reckon that worked out all right,” Ed commented. “We ain’t got but two sets of handcuffs with us.” He took it on himself to cuff the prisoners while Will looked over the edge of the cliff at the body lying sprawled on the roof of the cabin below. He couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that Harley had attempted to shoot him. Of the five prisoners, Harley was the only one who was kind of amusing. That thought was a fleeting one, for his mind came immediately back to the larger problem of Ward Hawkins and Tiny McGee. Until a few minutes ago, he knew exactly where they were, although they were not easy to get to. Now it was a question of how good a job he could do to track them. And even before that, something had to be done with the two men they had just arrested. He didn’t know what Ed had in mind as far as going on from here, but he knew what he was going to propose. First, however, they would have to get Pete and Ernie ready to travel.
They retrieved the horses and went back around the mountain through the gully up to the cabin. With their hands cuffed, the prisoners were allowed to collect their personal things. What food supplies were left after Hawkins and Tiny took their pick of them were loaded on the packhorse standing in the corral. Ready to ride, they left the cabin and started back down the mountain at once. Pete looked at Ernie as they set out and complained, “Didn’t even get to stay one night.”
Ernie shook his head in response. “We was talkin’ about cuttin’ ourselves loose from Hawkins and Tiny, but this ain’t what I had in mind.”
* * *
They rode no farther that day than a few miles back out of the mountains. It had been a busy day and everybody was feeling the effects of it. As soon as they made camp, Will secured the two prisoners by handcuffing them to a tree, as was his usual custom. Horace built a fire and was soon preparing supper, while Will had a little meeting with Ed to discuss their plans from that point on. There was general agreement between the two deputies that they had captured a couple of minor lawbreakers while the big game had gotten away. Ed complained that their predicament was awkward. “What are we gonna do with these birds?” he asked Will. “It’s five days or more from here back to Fort Smith on horseback. Hell, it’ll take longer’n that when we put ’em in that jail wagon in Atoka. I know it was Hawkins and McGee we wanted, but I can’t see any sense in tryin’ to track them down with two prisoners to worry about.” He paused briefly when another thought struck him. “I reckon we could put these two in that jail on the railroad tracks in Atoka while we come back here to pick up the trail again. But you know Dan Stone ain’t gonna approve reimbursement money for the time we keep ’em there. He’s gonna pay for the cost to bring ’em back to Fort Smith. By the time we got back here, we’d have a mighty cold trail to try to follow.”
Will let him have his say before replying. “You’ve pretty much summed it up, all right.” He knew if he was riding alone on this job and faced with this situation, he would be inclined to cut Ernie and Pete loose. He would tell them to get out of Indian Territory and warn them they would face a prison sentence if he ever caught them here again. With Hawkins and Tiny on the loose, it would be a waste of time and money to escort Pete and Ernie back to face minor charges. The only crime of theirs he knew anything about was accepting money to drive a wagon of whiskey to Indian Territory. He would opt to go after the real criminals while there was still a chance to pick up a fresh trail. However, he couldn’t tell Ed to release prisoners who had broken the law, no matter how minor. “There is another way we could handle this thing,” he began. “You and Horace could escort these two back to Fort Smith, pick up your jail wagon on the way. I don’t think they’ll give you any trouble. I can see if I can track Hawkins and Tiny while there’s still a chance to pick up their trail. Whaddaya think?”
Will was afraid Ed might take that attitude. He preferred to go after the two outlaws alone. It was the way he most often worked, but he also knew that Ed might let his pride influence his decision. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “Maybe we oughta flip for it.” He reached in his vest pocket and pulled out a silver coin he kept as a lucky piece. “Heads, I go after Hawkins and Tiny. Tails, you go after ’em. All right?” He flipped the coin in the air and let it drop on the ground. “It’s heads. Looks like I’ll go after ’em.” He reached down, picked up the coin, and showed it to Ed, then quickly put it back in his pocket so Ed wouldn’t see that the coin had a head on both sides.
“Your luck ain’t too good today,” Ed remarked. “I sure hope it improves if you’re goin’ after those two.” He was not ready to admit it, even to himself, but he was happy that coin landed heads up. “I reckon me and Horace can take care of these two hombres.” He glanced over at the two prisoners shackled to the trees. Back to Will then, he said, “You be extra careful, Will. Those two are mean clear through.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Will replied. “I’ve got important business back in Fort Smith.” Why it came to mind at this moment, he was unable to explain, but he had an immediate thought of panic. “Say, what’s the date today? Do you know?”
Ed looked puzzled. “Why, I don’t know, hadn’t thought about it.” He looked at Horace. “You know the date today?”
Horace shook his head. “Hell, I’m lucky I can remember what month it is.” He paused. “It’s December, ain’t it?”
Ed turned back toward Will. “Why? Is it important?”
“No,” Will answered. “I just wondered.” It was important, all right. He was supposed to get married on Christmas Day. Already gone long enough to forget what day it was, he was not at all certain how long it might be before the business with Hawkins and McGee would be finished. He suddenly formed an image of Sophie Bennett, her face twisted into a dark visage of anger if he arrived a day late. Compared to that, an encounter with Hawkins and Tiny seemed tame.
* * *
They broke camp early the next morning. Will stood by as Ed and Horace guarded their prisoners while they answered nature’s call, then got them in the saddle with their hands cuffed. Before they left, Ed asked Will if he might want to change his mind and give up on Hawkins and Tiny. “They’re sure as hell gonna get outta Indian Territory,” he said. “Might as well let ’em go.”
“No, I reckon I’ll go back to the mountain, just to see if I can even pick up a trail,” Will said. He was not so sure they would leave the territory, not for long, anyway. He remembered that Hawkins had made him a promise that he would settle the score with him. And he believed Hawkins had not made the promise casually. Better to hunt him than have him hunting me, Will thought. They said, “So long,” and Ed and Horace started back to Fort Smith, their two prisoners and their packhorses on lead lines behind them. Will climbed aboard Buster and turned the big buckskin back toward the mountain they had just left the night before.
* * *
At the bottom of the gully that led up to the cabin, there were many hoofprints, some as fresh as last night’s and some a little older than that. It was not a simple task to determine which prints were the ones he searched for. He could, however, rule out those that led back to circle the mountain, as well as those heading east toward the camp he had just come from. When his search failed to discover any tracks other than in those two directions, he had to assume the two outlaws had ridden down the stream to keep from leaving a trail. So, he rode Buster down to the bottom of the mountain, keeping a sharp eye for any trace of the fugitives’ tracks coming out of the stream. He found what he was looking for when he noticed one hoofprint at the edge of the stream where it ran through a grassy clearing. Hoping to hide their exit from the water, they had ridden out onto the grass. On the other side of the meadow, he found their trail again. After following it for a while, he decided they were heading south to Texas, for their tracks were in the direction of a commonly used Indian trail that ran straight north and south. It made sense that they would return to Texas, since that was where they had come from. Thinking that he should have thought of that last night, he decided to waste no more time scouting their trail and rode straight to the Texas road. He struck it after a short ride and turned Buster to follow it. If his memory served him, there was a trading post about twenty miles south of where he now rode. It sat on a creek where the north–south road crossed an east–west road that led to Tishomingo to the east. It might be that the two outlaws he chased had stopped there. He remembered the fellow who owned the store as a friendly man, but he couldn’t remember his name. All he could remember was that he had a funny-sounding name. So he asked Buster for a lively pace, one he could maintain for twenty miles, and promised to rest him at the trading post.
By the time he reached the crossroads and spotted the store sitting back by the creek about thirty yards from the road, he was ready for some coffee and some breakfast to go with it. Buster issued a little whinny when he sensed the horses behind the store as Will pulled up to the hitching rail. He was surprised to see the owner step out on the porch, holding a shotgun, evidently having heard the horses communicating, too. “Jasper Johnson,” Will greeted him, as the name popped back into his memory upon seeing the slight little proprietor.
His greeting caused Jasper to crane his neck forward to peer at Will over a pair of spectacles parked at the tip of his nose. “Deputy Tanner?” he asked, not certain he could trust his memory. When Will answered with a nod, Jasper set his shotgun down and leaned it against the wall. “You’re too late, if you’re after that pair that held up my store last night.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Will said, and stepped down. “Anybody hurt?”
“A few bruises and a cut lip,” Jasper answered. “The only things that got hurt bad were my cash drawer and some of my stock off the shelves. I heard you come ridin’ in and I thought it mighta been those two comin’ back for more.”
“Your wife all right?” Will asked.
“She’s the one with the cut lip,” Jasper answered, “but she was up and workin’ first thing this mornin’. What are you chasin’ them for?”
“About everything that ain’t lawful,” Will answered. “Murder, robbery, breakin’ outta jail, sellin’ whiskey to the Indians.” He paused then when Erma Johnson came out to see who Jasper was talking to. “Mrs. Johnson,” he greeted her. “I’m really sorry you had to get a visit from Ward Hawkins and Tiny McGee.”
“Will Tanner,” she said, remembering his name, and gave him a smile that looked lopsided, due to her swollen lip. “From what I heard you tell Jasper just now, I count us lucky we just lost the money and some stock, nothin’ we can’t recover from. One of those fellows was big and the other one was bigger’n him. I was afraid Jasper was gonna try to fight ’em when one of ’em smacked me in the mouth after I told him to get outta our store.”
“I think it’s a smart thing that he didn’t,” Will said.
“Dad-burn right,” Jasper said. “I ain’t no dad-blamed fool. Those two were killers and I didn’t have my shotgun handy when he hit Erma.”
“Did you see which way they went when they left here?” Will asked. “Did they stay on the road to Texas?”
“No,” Jasper answered. “I saw ’em start out to the west on the road toward the Texas Panhandle.”
“You sure of that?” Will asked. He would have bet the two outlaws were heading to Texas as fast as they could get there. And that would be straight south. By taking that road west, they wouldn’t be out of Oklahoma for a few more days. If they had continued south, they’d be in Texas n
ow. He tried to stir his brain to remember the country west of where he now stood. There was nothing between there and the Panhandle, and not much more in the Panhandle. He had to consider, of course, that wild country was what they wanted. It was not totally empty, for in recent years there had been settlers moving in to use the vast prairies to raise cattle. He looked up then and realized both husband and wife were studying him while he was lost in thought. “Well, I’ll head west, then. I have to rest my horses, though, so I’ll stop long enough for that.” He looked at Erma hopefully. “Last time I was here, I bought some supper from you. Any chance I could buy some breakfast while my horses are restin’?”
“Yes, sir, you sure can,” Erma responded. “I’ll rustle you up some breakfast, you go take care of your horses, and I’ll have you somethin’ by the time you get back.”
She was as good as her word, and after breakfast, he set out again after the two fugitives. The trail he now rode was no more than about thirty miles north of the Red River, which was the Texas border. Once again, he was risking the limits of his authority if he crossed the Red and went into Texas. It had caused headaches for his boss on the occasions he had not stopped at the border when on the trail of an outlaw. Dan Stone had dressed him down proper on more than one occasion for operating outside the Oklahoma border. Yet, Stone had been known to brag about his young deputy’s devotion to bringing the outlaw to justice, no matter the cost. Stone had, on occasion, threatened to fire Will for working outside his territory. But he never acted on the threat, and Will was satisfied that the reason was the shortage of deputy marshals in the Nations. So here it was again and Will had no thought of stopping at the river to watch two men as ruthless as Hawkins and McGee ride into Texas free as birds.
Although it was a commonly used road, it was obvious there had been very little traffic on it in the last few days. For that reason, he felt pretty confident that the tracks he saw along the trail were those left by the two he followed. They appeared to be left by three horses and when he had seen them leaving The Falls they were leading one packhorse. Just as they had, he stopped to rest his horses by a stream close to twenty miles from the crossroads. He saw the remains of a fire, so he figured they had themselves some coffee and maybe some side meat they had stolen from Jasper Johnson. After his horses were rested and he had some coffee for himself, he continued on the trail that never veered from its straight-west course. Constantly watching the sides of the road he followed, he hoped to spot any place where the outlaws might have left the road. As the afternoon wore on, he began to think the occasional track he saw might not have been left by the horses he trailed, for he estimated he had ridden at least twenty-five miles. Seeing what looked to be a creek or stream up ahead, he went on and was relieved to find traces of a camp.
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