“What about Burch?” Merlin asked.
“He’s done for,” Josh said. “I caught up with him several days ago. We got into it and both of us took a little lead before it was over, but I finally got the best of him and put him in the jail down in Victoria.”
“That’s good news,” Merlin said. “I’m sure glad to hear Burch is behind bars. They probably saw you and me talkin’ that day and I’ve been afraid they’d come ridin’ in here any minute and take it out on me.”
“Well, he ain’t behind bars no more,” Josh said. “The good folks down Victoria drug him out of jail and hung him to a telegraph pole.”
Merlin smiled a wide smile. “That’s even better news.”
“I’ve a wanted poster for each one of the seven remaining gang members,” Josh said. “They’re ridin’ around in these hills lookin’ for me, but I hope they’ll split up and leave this part of the country when they hear that Burch has been captured and hung.”
“What if they don’t spit up and leave?” Merlin said.
“It don’t matter if they do or not,” Josh said. “I aim to track ‘em down and settle with ‘em, anyway. They killed too many of my friends for me to quit and head for home just because Burch is dead. So, one thing’s for certain,” he added. “I aim to get each and every one of ‘em, one way or another.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Emery Reeves and Lem Olsen rode around in the hills and along the river, firing their secret signal shot until they’d gotten all the gang together, except Will Jensen.
“Anybody seen Jensen?” Lem asked.
“Yeah,” Jude Clay said. “Me and him was stayin with one of his friends in Cestohowa.”
“Well, here’s the situation,” Olsen said. “Tom Burch gave up our names tryin’ to save his own skin. But before he could tell ‘em where the loot was stashed, they hung him. We need to go back down there to the hideout and dig it up before someone finds it.”
“I left Will a note tellin’ him that,” Clay said. “When he sees it, he’ll come a runnin’.”
They almost rode their horses to the ground in their haste to get back to the hideout. Olsen led the way to a small creek in a grove of cottonwoods to let their jaded horses rest awhile.
“Don’t worry about wearin’ these horses out,” he said. “We got them others waitin’ for us at the hideout.”
The next morning they hid in the stand of willows and glassed the hideout. “The damn horse pen’s empty and the front door of the cabin is standin’ wide open,” Olsen said. “Cover me, and I’ll slip down there and see if anyone’s in there. We need to get that loot.”
A half hour later, he came back looking mad and disgusted. “They took the stash that was under the floor. But I remembered when we got back from that last bank robbery, Burch hid the money in the feed barrel because we thought someone was coming. Then he forgot to take it up to the cabin. I got that much, at least.”
“Well, if they got our names and descriptions,” Duke Barrett said. “We ain’t safe around here no more.”
Pedro Aguilar put his foot in the stirrup and stepped up in the saddle and turned his horse west. “I’m goin’ back to Oakville.”
“What a minute, Pedro,” Paul Beacham said. “Don’t go. Lem will get us out of this deal.”
Pedro spun around in the saddle and looked at Lem. “Alright,: he said. “But we better hurry because the longer we stay clustered up like this, the more chance we have of someone gettin’ shot.”
Lem Olsen pushed back his hat and frowned. “I’ll divide this bag full of cash then we’ll split up and meet back at the river cave south of San Antonio next month. If we don’t, they’re liable to track us down and hang us from one of them damn telegraph poles like they did Tom Burch.”
“You said you’d split it up and for us to scatter,” Pedro said. “So, I will go back to Oakville like I started to a while ago.”
Just as they mounted their tired, worn out horses, Aguilar held up his hand. “Wait!” he said, quietly. “Someone’s comin’ through the trees. It might be Josh Logan.”
Jude Clay laughed out loud. “Hell, boys, that ain’t Josh Logan, its Will Jensen. Over here, Will,” he yelled, as he stood up in his stirrups and waived his hat.
Will Jensen rode in with a wide grin on his face. “It’s good to see you boys,” he said. “I got here as fast as I could.”
Lem Olsen looked at him hard. “Where’d you get that dog?”
“At Cestohowa,” Jensen said. “He took up with me so I just brung him.”
“We can’t have no dog in camp,” Olsen said. “He’d give us away, for sure .”
“No, he wouldn’t,” Jensen said.
“Yeah, he would. He’d bark at every damn coyote and owl that made a noise,” Olsen said. “So get rid of him.”
“Hell, that’s Old Jack,” Jensen said. “I didn’t bring him all the way down here just to get rid of him.”
“You heard me,” Olsen said. “You ain’t bringin’ him so get rid of him.”
“I ain’t ridin’ with you no more if I can’t bring him.”
“I never heard of an outlaw gang havin’ a dog,” Olsen said.”
Suddenly, there was silence.
“Well, who put you in charge, anyway?” Jensen said, finally. “Now that Bruce is gone, I think we ought to vote on who leads us.”
“I’m only gonna say this once,” Olsen said, looking at Jensen. “I been in this gang longer than anybody. You’re the newest member, so we ain’t votin’ and that’s the end of it. Now, everyone split up and get gone like I told you. And, Will,” he added. “Here’s your share of the money. If you come back, don’t bring that damn dog.”
“This ain’t the end of it,” Jensen said.
“Yeah, it is,” Olsen said, as the gang turned and rode off in different directions.
Will Jensen sat on his horse and sulked. Watching until the gang was out of sight, he got off and built a small fire and boiled a can of coffee. He’d been riding all night and his horse was tired, Old Jack was tired, and so was he.
When he finished his coffee, he picketed his horse and rolled up in his blanket and tried to sleep. He was still mad at Lem Olsen for telling him couldn’t keep Old Jack if he intended to stay with the gang, and every time he looked at his dog, he got even madder.
“Come on, Jack,” he said, as he got up and walked over to his horse and climbed up in the saddle. “I got an idea. I’m done with runnin’ around all over the damn country with Josh Logan chasin’ me.”
He mounted up and rode straight to Victoria. He pulled up behind the livery stable and unsaddled his horse and left him in an empty pen on, then snuck in the back door and motioned for Willie Sneed.
“I’m Will Jensen, part of the Wolf Gang,” he said, glancing over his shoulder toward the front of the livery stable. “I need your help. I heard what happened to Tom Burch and I’m afraid it’ll happen to me, too, if anyone else in town finds out I’m here.”
“What kind of help are you lookin’ for?” Willie said.
“I want to turn myself in to Josh Logan. They say he’s an honest man.”
“He ain’t here,” Willie said. “He’s up at Panna Maria.”
“It was hard for me to come in here and ask for help,” Jensen said. “So, would you allow me to hide in the livery stable while you send word for Logan to come back to Victoria? I’ll get hung for sure if the mob that hung Burch finds out I’m here.”
Willie looked at Will Jensen, a young cowboy about twenty years of age, and could tell he was absolutely serious about giving himself up.
“Go in the tack room and I’ll lock the door,” he said. “I’ll telegraph Sheriff Hendricks and ask him to find Josh and send him down here. I don’t know nothin’ else to do.”
“Thank you, sir,” Jensen said. “I was only in the gang for a little while and never did no killin’ or nothin’ like that.”
“Well, you can tell that to Josh,” Willie said. “He’s the one who m
ight be able to save you from getting’ strung up, not me. Get in there,” he added, “and I’ll lock the door.”
“Can I bring my dog?” Jensen said.
“Sure,” Willie said, looking down at Old Jack. “I like dogs, especially this one.”
He locked the tack room door behind Jensen and his dog, then led the boy’s horse inside, unsaddled him, and put him in a stall. He headed for the telegraph office, and waiting until no one else was in the room, he nodded at the clerk, Dan Hooper.
“Dan, I need your help. I want to send a telegram to Sheriff Hendricks up at Panna Maria,” he said. “It’s private and I don’t want nobody else knowin’ about it.”
“Hell, you know me, Willie,” Hooper said. “We helped each other before.”
“Alright then,” Willie said. “Here’s the message …
Sheriff Hendricks
Send Josh Logan back to Victoria
A member of Wolf Gang wants to surrender to him.
Willie Sneed
Josh had a room at the hotel in Panna Maria hotel and had stayed two days and nights, not so much so he could rest, but so Macho could. He had no doubt he’d have to ride him extra hard in the coming days if he intended to bring in the rest of the Burch Gang.
Just as he saddled up to start out on his search, Sheriff Hendricks came in the livery stable looking for him.
“Josh, I got a telegram from Willie Sneed. He wants you to come back to Victoria. One of the Wolf Gang wants to surrender to you.”
“Alright, Sheriff, I’ll head down there right now,” Josh said, as he climbed up in the saddle and touched Macho with his spurs.
He kept a steady pace the rest of the day and all night, arriving at the livery stable just ahead of dawn. He led Macho in and unsaddled him and put him in an empty stall, and had already fed and watered him by the time Willie arrived.
“What’s goin’ on, Willie?” Josh said.
“I’m sure glad Sheriff Hendricks found you,” Willie said. “I got a young feller in the tack room who wants to give his self up. He’s afraid the townspeople will drag him out and hang him if they find out he’s in here.
“Who is it?” Josh said.
“He said his name is Will Jensen,” Willie said. “I got him locked in the tack room. He’s a young feller that accordin’ to him anyway, ain’t been with the gang very long and wants out.”
“Open the door,” Josh said.
Willie unlocked the tack room door and looked in. Jensen was hiding behind the saddle rack.
“It’s alright, Will,” he said. “Josh is here.”
Will Jensen stood up and stepped out from behind the saddle rack. “I haven’t met you, Josh,” he said. “But I’ve see you lots of times. I’m Will Jensen.”
“Hello, Will,’ Josh said. “I’m glad to hear you got shut of that gang. Had enough robbin’ and killin’ for a while?”
“I was only with ‘em in robbin’ a couple of stagecoaches,” he said. “But I ain’t ever killed nobody and I can vouch for it, too.”
Josh grinned. “I never heard of someone vouchin’ for his own self.”
“Well, what I mean is, I’ll swear on the Bible I ain’t ever killed nobody. Lem Olsen did most of the killin’ and besides that, in my saddle bags is the only money I ever got from ridin’ with the Wolf Gang. You can turn it in for me if it’ll carry any weight in court?”
“It’s good enough for me,” Josh said. “But you better hope the Judge thinks so, too.”
“I was hopin’ I wouldn’t get hung if I gave myself up instead of gettin’ captured,” Will said. “I only came to Texas to try and find a cowboy job. But I’ll tell everything I know about the Wolf Gang if you think it’ll help.”
“I believe it will,” Josh said. “But before we go any farther, tell me about the gang. You know, just in case someone comes in here and arrests you before we get done talkin’.”
“Well, after Tom Burch got hung, Lem Olsen took over. He said I couldn’t keep Old Jack, here, so I told him I wouldn’t ride with ‘em no more.”
“Where were they goin’ when they split up?” Josh said.
“Pedro Aguilar said he was goin’ back home and Emery Reeves said he was goin’ to Helena ‘cause they don’t have a sheriff. The rest of the gang split up and rode off in different directions. That’s when I came down here to give myself up.”
“You mean after what happened to Tom Burch you’d come back to Victoria and risk your life for a dog?” Josh said.
“Well, dogs ain’t our whole lives, but they do make our lives whole,” Will said. “Besides, Old Jack means more to me than my life,” he added. “I ain’t got no family.”
“Well, Sheriff Riley is a fair man,” Josh said, liking Will’s comment about dogs. “I’ve no doubt he’ll appreciate you comin’ in on your own, and will see to it that you get a fair trial. I’ll tell him not to mention you bein’ in jail,” he added, “and also to let me know when your trial comes up so I can come back and talk in your behalf.”
“It’s all I can ask,” Will said. “But what about Old Jack?”
“I can’t do nothin’ about Old Jack,” Josh said.
“I can,” Willie spoke up. “I’ll keep him out at my place. I got a mutt out there that would love a little company. I’m in here every day and he stays out there all by his lonesome.”
“Thanks, Willie, that makes what I’m doin’ a lot easier,” Will said, with a slight smile and a nod. “And thank you, too, Josh.”
“Alright then,” Josh said. “Let’s go see Sheriff Riley.”
After Jensen had been locked in a cell, Josh went back to the livery stable. He still had the Wolf Gang to go after.”
Just as he started to climb up in the saddle, Sheriff Riley rushed into the livery stable with a telegram in his hand.
“I’m sure glad I caught you before you left town,” he said. “Someone in Helena that knows Emery Reeves sent a telegram down here that said Reeves robbed the mercantile and killed old Soapy Wooten.”
“That don’t make no sense at all,” Josh said. “Why would he kill Soapy?”
“I don’t’ know, Hendricks said. “But it also said he whacked Mrs. Purcell, the lady who owns the store, on the head with his revolver. When Soapy tried to stop him, Reeves shot him.”
“Did he kill Mrs. Purcell, too?” Josh said, as he tightened the cinch on his saddle and climbed up on Macho.
“No, she’s a big, stout, woman, so she lived. But poor old Soapy didn’t,” Sheriff Hendricks said.
“Well, that shows Will Jensen was tellin’ the truth,” Josh said. “He said Emery Reeves was goin’ to Helena.”
Helena was only about five miles south of Panna Maria, so Josh nudged Macho into a long trot and kept it up all the way. He’d learned a long time ago that the sooner you got on an outlaw’s trail the better chance you had of catching up with him.
When he arrived at the livery stable in Helena, the fellow taking care of the place since Soapy was gone said Mrs. Purcell was over at Doc Keel’s office. He hurried over there to check on her.
She’d received a nasty looking gash on the top of her head where Reeves struck her with his heavy revolver. She was sitting in a chair in front of the doctor’s desk while he changed her bandage.
Josh removed his hat and held it in his hand. “Mrs. Purcell,” he said. “I’m Josh Logan. Do you feel like talkin’, or would it be better to wait till later?”
“We don’t need to wait till later,” Mrs. Purcell said with a nod. “I feel alright, thanks to Doc Keel’s pain medicine.
“I hate to even ask,” Josh said. “But can you tell me what happened?”
“A fellow came in the store and filled his saddle bags with coffee and food and cartridges and when I opened the cash box he reached over and jerked the money out of my hand. I grabbed him by the shirt sleeve and hung on as he headed toward the door. Soapy came in about that time and saw what was happening and tried to help. That’s when I got hit and Soapy got shot.”
“Were you able to see which way he went or what kind of horse he was riding?”
“I did, because I was madder at him for shootin’ Soapy than for hittin’ me,’ she said. “I chased him down the sidewalk, but he turned up the alley and jumped on a tall buckskin horse and headed east.”
Josh walked down the alley to where Reeves had tied his horse and examined the ground. There was only one set of tracks leading out the alley heading east. He went back and got on Macho and followed the trail, which was easy, because the horse that left those tracks was running hard when he came out of the alley.
The trail went straight east for about a mile then turned northeast. Josh followed along as fast as he could and still keep them in sight. Twenty-five miles later, the small village of Smiley came into view. Reeves’ tracks lead straight to the livery stable.
Josh rode slowly up the front door of the barn and stepped down. Caretaker Jud Carter was sitting on a bench repairing a bridle.
“Howdy,” he said. “You need a stall?”
“Yeah, I do,” Josh said. “Feed and water, too.”
Carter stood up and stretched. “I’m Boliver Carter, but most people call me Jud. It’s good to see someone come in here once in a while,” he said. “You and a feller who rode in yesterday is the only customers I’ve had in a long damn time.”
When Josh unsaddled Macho, Jud led him to an empty stall and tossed in an arm load of hay. “That’s a good lookin’ black horse,” he said.
“Yeah, I like him,” Josh said. “That’s a good lookin’ buckskin across the alleyway there. Who owns him, someone local?”
“No, that’s the horse the fellow was on who came in yesterday,’ Jud said. “He was about run down when he got here and I had to lead him up and down he alleyway to keep him from gettin’ stiff.”
“Wonder why he was rode so hard?” Josh said.
“I don’t know,” Jud said. “The fellow who was ridin’ him didn’t seem to care if he got stiff or not, but I did, and that’s the reason I led him around a while.”
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