Josh Logan's Revenge

by Chimp Robertson

  Josh looked at Willie and frowned.

  “That sounds like Duke Barrett,” he said, as he climbed back up in the saddle

  “Do you know where that bend in the river is?” Willie said.

  “Yeah, it’s an old Indian camp under an overhang on the west side,” Josh said as he wheeled around and headed south.

  As soon as Josh was gone, the man doing the talking left the livery stable and disappeared into the crowd. He turned up an alley where Duke Barrett was waiting for him.

  “Did it work?” he said.

  “Sure did,” the man said. “He mounted up and high-tailed it out of town.”

  “Alright, then,” Barrett said, handing the man the ten dollar bill. “Just keep this little transaction to yourself,” he added, “or that cowboy might come back here lookin’ for you.”

  Barrett led his horse around behind the jail and walked around to the front door and stepped in, catching Frank Deeson off guard.

  “Don’t move, Sheriff, or I’ll blow the top of your head off.”

  “What do you want?” Deeson said.

  “I want the keys to the jail,” Barrett said. “And you’d better get ‘em and get ‘em fast, unless you want this to be your last day.”

  Deeson opened the top desk drawer and lifted out a ring of keys. “Here they are,” he said.

  “Go on back there and unlock Clay Jude’s cell, and be quick about it,” Barrett said, shoving Deeson forward.

  Deeson opened the door to the back room where the jail cells were, went in, and unlocked the door to Jude Clay’s cell. Barrett followed him, then shoved him in the cell and hit him on the head with the barrel of his pistol and knocked him out.

  “Hey, you can’t come in here!” Crazy Chester yelled as he got up off his bunk and came out of the cell where he slept.

  “Shut up, you old fool,” Jude Clay said as he grabbed Barrett’s gun and struck Chester on the top of his head, knocking him down.

  “Where’s your horse?” Barrett said.

  “They got him stalled down at the livery stable,” Clay said.

  “Alright, then,” Barrett said, as he tossed the keys on the floor behind the wood box. “Get your gun belt and let’s go out the back door.”

  Barrett led his horse down the alley as they headed for the livery stable.

  “Get my horse out here,” Clay said, as he stepped in the livery stable with his pistol drawn.

  Willie bridled Clay’s horse and led him up to the door of the tack room. “Get my saddle out here and be quick about it. And my rifle had better still be in the saddle scabbard or you’ll wish it was.”

  “It’s still there,” Willie said. “I keep the tack room locked.”

  Clay tossed his saddle on his horse then pushed Willie into the tack room and locked the door behind him.

  “Hurry up,” Barrett yelled.

  They both climbed into their saddles, but just as they raced out the livery stable door, Crazy Chester jumped up and grabbed hold of Jude Clay. He jerked him off his horse, pinned him to the ground, and lay on top of him. Men from up the street saw the commotion and started running toward the livery stable.

  Duke Barrett saw Josh riding back to town, so he put the spurs to his horse, turned him up an alley, and headed for the timber as fast as he could get him to go.

  When Josh noticed the group of men standing in front of the livery stable watching two men wallowing around on the ground, he kicked the big Paint into a lope and hurried over there.

  He grinned when he saw Crazy Chester lying on top of someone, but it didn’t last long when he realized it was Jude Clay who was pinned to the ground. That’s when his anger took over, when he saw that none of the men had offered to help Chester. He drew his pistol and fired a couple of shots into the air, sending them scurrying up the street in different directions.

  He stepped off of the Paint and touched Chester on the shoulder.

  “Chester, it’s me, Josh,” he said. “Let him up.”

  Chester looked up and shook his head. “I ain’t lettin’ him up,” he said. “He’s supposed to be in jail and besides that, he hit me.”

  “Well, I’ll take him back up there,” Josh said. “So, let him up right now!”

  Chester rolled over on his back and lay there breathing hard. “I caught him runnin’ away.”

  “You did real good, Chester,” Josh said as he reached down and turned Clay over and helped him up.

  Jude Clay’s hair, nose, and mouth were filled with dirt, and he was coughing and spitting and rubbing his eyes.

  “I’ll kill that big sonofabitch,” he yelled.

  “You ain’t killin’ nobody,” Josh said. “Not anymore, anyway.”

  “They locked Willie in tack room,” Chester said.

  “I wondered where he was,” Josh said as he grabbed Clay by the back of his shirt and pushed him toward the jail.

  “Can I come, too?” Chester said.

  “Sure,” Josh said. “Let Willie out of the tack room and come on.”

  “Alright, then” Chester said.

  “Lock that door,” Josh said, when Crazy Chester and Willie came in behind him.

  “I done did,” Chester said.

  When he looked in the cell room and saw Deeson locked in one of the cells, he turned toward Jude Clay.

  “Where’s the keys to the jail?”

  “Look for ‘em,” Clay said.

  “I will, after I let that mob in here,” Josh said.

  Clay could hear the crowd yelling for Josh to turn him over to them. He glanced at the door then nodded. “The keys are over there behind the wood box.”

  “I figured that’d get your attention,” Josh said. “You better hope that mob don’t bust in here and drag you out and hang you.”

  “Don’t let ‘em in,” Clay begged. “I told you where the keys was.”

  “Yeah, you did,” Josh said, as he unlocked the cell door and let Frank Deeson out. “But you also gotta tell me where Barrett was headin’ or I will let ‘em in.”

  “I swear I don’t know,” Clay said, as he glanced across the room at Crazy Chester. “Barrett was just fixin’ to say where we was goin’ when that big fool over here jerked me out of the saddle.”

  Chester gritted his teeth and made a run at Clay, but Josh and Deeson jumped in between them. “Hell,” Josh said. “I may just turn Chester loose on you instead of lettin’ the mob have you. So, you better start talkin’ or you might not get another chance.”

  “Alright, alright,” Clay said. “Just keep that big idiot away from me.”

  Chester bowed his head and plowed into Josh and Deeson and Willie and Clay, knocking all four of them down. Josh jumped up and grabbed Crazy Chester by his arm and led him up to the front of the sheriff’s office.

  “Now, Chester,” he said. “It’s real important that you stay up here and guard the front door so nobody can get in. It’s an important job and nobody but you can do it. You understand?”

  “Yeah,” Chester said.

  “Alright, then,’ Josh said. “Be sure to stay here and don’t let nobody in.”

  Frank Deeson put one end of a handcuff on Clay’s wrists and locked the other end to a bar in the cell door. “Let’s just leave him cuffed to the cell,” he said. “If that crowd busts in here, they may beat him to death, but at least they won’t be able to drag him outside.”

  “Good idea,” Josh said as they turned and walked back to the front of the office.

  “Don’t leave me back here like this,” Clay yelled. “I just thought of somethin’ you might like to know.”

  “Let’s hear it,” Josh yelled, without going back to the cell room.

  “I’d rather you come back here so I won’t have to keep yellin’ at you.”

  Josh and Sheriff Deeson walked into the back room where the cells were, but stopped just inside the door. “We ain’t comin’ no closer, Clay. Tell us what you thought of, or we’ll close the door and go off and leave you.”

  Jud
e Clay was getting more and more scared because the mob outside was yelling and trying to get in. “Wait a minute,” he yelled. “I just thought of it. There’s a town south of here called Papalote. It’s just a small place … only a grist mill, a store, a livery stable, a bank, and some saloons. But it’s as rowdy and rambunctious a town as any in south Texas.

  It’s easy to get lost in the crowd, so that’s why we go down there when it gets too hot for us up here. Besides that, the sheriff is either unable or unwilling to control anyone. Tom Burch bought an old adobe at the edge of town for us to hole up in. It has a shed and a horse pen and, well, I think Barrett might be headed there.”

  “What’s the sheriff’s name?”

  “Whisperin’ Bernie Hyso, I think.”

  “I’ll go down there,” Josh said, as he turned to leave. “But if Barrett ain’t there, I’ll come back and turn you over to the mob.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Frank Deeson said.

  “No, you need to stay here,” Josh said. “Just stand around out on the sidewalk with your shotgun in your hand and don’t let nobody in here. I’ll take Clay out the back door when it gets dark, and take him to the jail over at Charco.”

  “Then you’ll go on to Papalote?” Deeson said.

  “Yeah, but first I’ll stop by the Circle N Ranch and swap horses, again. The Paint is a tough horse, but I’ve about rode him down.”

  Just then, Mayor Oliver Johnson walked across the street to the jail and knocked on the door.

  “Who is it?” Chester asked.

  “It’s Mayor Johnson.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I need to see Sheriff Deeson.”

  “He ain’t here.”

  “Yes, he is,” Mayor Johnson said. “I saw him go in there.”

  “You can’t come in.”

  “Let me in,” the Mayor said.

  “Get out of here,” Chester said. “I’m in charge.”

  “Hold on, Chester,” Josh said, when he heard him arguing with the mayor. “Let him in.”

  “You said don’t let nobody in,” Chester said.

  “That was when we was in the back room,” Josh said. “But we’re up here now, so let him in.”

  Crazy Chester frowned, then stalked across the room to the desk and sat down in the sheriff’s chair.

  Sheriff Deeson hurried across the room and opened the door. “Hello, Mayor Johnson. Come on in.”

  “Thanks, Sheriff,” Johnson said. “Judge Reed set a trial date for Will Jensen. He wanted me to let you know.”

  “When’d he set it for?”

  “Next Tuesday at one o’clock,” Mayor Johnson said. “I mentioned to him that you also had Jude Clay in custody and he said he wouldn’t be that busy, and would try ‘em both on the same day.”

  Josh looked at Sheriff Deeson and shook his head. “Guess I won’t be goin’ to Papalote after all. I need to go up to San Antonio and get Will Jensen. I promised him I’d put in a good word for him when his trial came up.”

  “I’ll go to Papalote for you,” Deeson said.

  “I appreciate it, Sheriff,” Josh said. “But you better stay here and keep an eye on the jail. That mob ain’t toned down a damn bit and there might be trouble.”

  “You said you’d about rode the Paint down,” Deeson said. “So if you almost rode him down, looks like it’d be too hard on him to ride all the way to San Antonio and back in three days.”

  “Yeah, you’re right about that,” Josh said. “When’s the next stage due?”

  “Not ‘til tomorrow morning,” Deeson said.

  “I hate wastin’ time,” Josh said. “I’ll telegraph Sheriff Guthrie at San Antonio and have him put Jensen on the stagecoach. He’ll be down here long before I can ride up there and back.”

  “But he’s an outlaw,” Sheriff Deeson said. “You mean you trust him to come down here on his own?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Josh said. “Besides that,” he added, “if I ain’t goin’ to Papalote, then I need to stay here and help you beat that mob back. They’re getting’ rowdier by the minute.”

  He made his way through the crowd to the telegraph office and had operator Dan Hooper send the message…

  Sheriff Guthrie

  Send Will Jensen to Victoria on the next stage. His trial is next Tuesday at one o’clock.

  Josh Logan

  He went back to the sheriff’s office and sat down on a bench out front with a shotgun across his lap.

  “Chester,” he said, after a while. “Here’s a twenty dollar bill. Go over to the diner and tell Bert McDonald I need a supper for you and me and Willie and Sheriff Deeson. He’ll know what to fix. Understand?”

  “Yeah,” Chester said as he took the twenty and trotted down the street toward the diner.

  “Willie, maybe you better go with him and help carry it back,” Josh said.

  “I will, if I can catch up with him,” Wille said, with a smile. “Hell, he’s halfway there, already.”

  “Yeah,” Josh said, returning the smile. “When good old Crazy Chester strikes that long trot of his, he’s hard to keep up with.”

  The longer Josh sat there, the more he thought about going on out to the Circle N Ranch and swapping the Paint for Concho. He figured he could slip away when it got dark and be down there by morning, swap horses, and be back before Will Jensen arrived on the stagecoach.

  “Sheriff Deeson,” Josh said, finally. “I’m goin’ on out to the Circle N Ranch to swap horses. You and Willie stay out front and keep your shotguns handy. Don’t let Chester have a gun, but keep him guardin’ the back door. I need to have my brown horse here, so I can head to Papalote as soon as the trial is over. I’m worried that if Duke Barrett is down there, he might not stay very long.”

  Josh left well after dark and rode up to the Circle N Ranch corrals just as the cowboys were saddling up for the day’s work.

  “Mornin’, Mr. Newsome,” he said.

  “Mornin’, Josh,” Newsome said. “Get down and stay a while.”

  “I don’t have time, Mr. Newsome. I just need to leave this Paint horse and get my brown horse Concho. I’ve some hard ridin’ to do and Old Paint, here, needs some time off. We’ve been a lot of miles together since I came out here and got him and he’s about tuckered out.”

  “You’re always in a hurry,” Newsome said, with a laugh. “What’s the reason for your rush this time?”

  “Two reasons,” Josh said. “There’s a mob threatenin’ to storm the jail and drag my prisoner out and hang him. It’s Jude Clay, one of the Wolf Gang. I left Frank Deeson and Willie Sneed and Crazy Chester in charge of the jail, and I don’t want any of ‘em to get hurt. Besides that, I have a young cowboy goin’ to trial next Tuesday that I need to be back to vouch for.”

  “What’s the young cowboy’s story, and why are you vouchin’ for him, if you don’t mind me askin’ you?”

  “I don’t mind,” Josh said. “He’s a young feller who rode with the Wolf Gang on a couple of robberies, but didn’t kill anyone or take any money. He came to Texas to find work on a ranch, but bein’ broke and hungry, he fell in with the wrong bunch.”

  “I always said, most everyone deserves a second chance,” Newsome said.

  “This young cowboy sure does,” Josh said. “He’s been in jail up at San Antonio, but since his trial is Tuesday, he’s comin’ in on the stage with no law escort.”

  “Sounds like someone I might be interested in,” Newsome said. “Like I told you, I’m always in need of a good hand or two. Think he’d be interested in workin’ for the Circle N Ranch?”

  “I bet he would,” Josh said. “I’ve seen him ride and he’s sure enough a cowboy”

  “Well, how about me ridin’ back to Victoria with you?” Newsome said. “I’d help guard the jail with Frank Deeson anytime. And if that young cowboy is as good as you say he is, I’ll vouch for him, too.”

  “I’d sure Frank and Will would appreciate it, Mr. Newsome,” Josh said.

  “What�
��s the cowboy’s name, anyway?”

  “Will Jensen,” Josh said. “I like him, and so will you.”

  “Alright, then,” Newsome said. “I was just fixin’ to saddle up so I’ll be ready in a minute or so.”

  “I’ll go on out to the horse pasture and swap the Paint for Concho,” Josh said. “I hate bein’ gone because there was angry mob gatherin’ in the streets when I left last night.”

  By the time Josh had swapped horses, Chalky Newsome had already mounted up and was coming to meet him. When they met, they kicked their horses into a lope and angled east. Josh had a worried look on his face as they rode on toward Victoria.

  By the time they got back to town the mob had already scattered. Only a few gawkers were left standing around staring as Jude Clay dangled from a telegraph pole.

  Josh slid Concho to a stop in front of the jail and ran inside just as doctor Turner was coming out.

  “What are you doin’ here, Doc?” he said. “Where’s Sheriff Deeson and Willie and Chester?”

  “They’re locked in the jail,” Turner said. “I couldn’t find the keys so I just treated ‘em through the bars.”

  “Mr. Newsome, you know some of those men, so have a couple of ‘em cut Jude Clay down and take his body over to Doc Turners office. And have ‘em tell Doc I’ll be over there as soon as I can.”

  Josh stepped in the sheriff’s office and reached up on top of the door frame, found the jail key he’d hidden there, and unlocked the cells.

  “I should have told you about that extra key,” he said. “Are you hurt bad?”

  “We ain’t hurt. We only got roughed up a little bit,” Sheriff Deeson said. “I’m sorry, Josh.”

  “It ain’t your fault, Sheriff.”

  “Yeah, it is, because I let that sneaky bunch out there trick me,” he said. “One of ‘em brought us a pot of coffee and just as we started drinkin’ it, he pulled his gun on us and waived the rest of ‘em in.”

  “Show me the man who brought you the coffee and I’ll throw him in the same cell Jude Clay was in,” Josh said. “And I’ll see to it that he goes to prison for murder when Judge Reed gets here.”

  “There was three of ‘em that instigated the whole thing,” Sheriff Deeson said. “Most of ‘em was just out there hangin’ around. But those three egged ‘em on ‘till the crowd lost control and turned into a real bad bunch.”