The Gallows Pole

by M. Shaunessy

  Moments later, Jacob had some drawing paper, probably from one of Lighting Bear raids. He took out his trusty graphing pencil and started to sketch the Habit. Moments later Jane joined them as she saw Jacob sitting on a log. She smiled to him as she saw what Jacob love doing.

  He showed Rose of the Desert the drawing when it was finished. Now Jacob was not a fashion designer, but he did his best. He explained what each parts were as Bowing Eagle translated. He then looked to Jane and asked her for her measurements.

  A few moments later, the women of the Jicarilla tribe started to dye, cut and sew the dress. They used cotton material for it. Jane helped sew as well. She was a good sewer as he mother taught her well.

  An hour later, Jane was dressed in the Habit. She wondered what she looked like, but they did not have a full-length mirror. Some of the other woman giggled as they never saw nun’s clothing before. She started to look skeptical.

  “Well?” Jane asked Jacob as she twirled around. “What do you think?”

  Jacob was speechless for a moment then replied, “Not bad, Sister Jane.” He grinned slyly, “I think it’ll fool the sheriff. You still got your knife?”

  “I gave it to you,” she replied.

  Jacob dug in his pockets, nodded in confirmation, took it out and handed it back to her. She lifted her dress and slid the knife between her garter and leg.

  “What about you?” Jane asked, “You’ll gonna need a weapon too.”

  She was right, but what?

  Bowing Eagle then showed him his knife and said, “Here, you take it. A warrior needs a proper weapon.”

  “I-I can’t accept this Bowing Eagle,” said Jacob, “I don’t think I’m worthy.”

  The Chiricahua warrior smiled and said, “Your heart makes you worthy Jacob. I think you’ve earned it.”

  “Thank you,” Jacob said as Bowing Eagle smiled and nodded to him. “Now I think we better saddle up and head on out.”

  “I believe Lightning Bear is speaking to his warriors to get them ready,” said Bowing Eagle.

  At the same time, so was Sheriff Barns. He had ten men standing in his office. Some was rugged looking cowboys, as the others were hired gunmen, mostly bounty hunters. He stood be-fore them looking at what he had to work with.

  “Men,” he started, “At eight o’clock tonight, we will be hanging two people. One is a brother to a ruthless Mexican bandit you all know as El Cato, the other is murder who is also a brother to two train robbers who recently robbed the Santa Fe yesterday. Both hangmen are target to their accomplices who I know for a fact they will come and release them illegally.

  “Your job is to make sure that does not happen. Now it came to my attention that El Cato will use brute force and probably destroy the town in the making. Now I want El Cato and his men, dead or alive.” He paused for a moment, “As for the other two. Bring them to me, alive. I’ll deal with them personally.”

  He told his men where they would be posted for the night’s hanging. A few men were in position on top of both roof’s hotel and the courthouse. The others were strategically place around the town’s main street where they can get a better view. He also had a couple of men guard the roads that led in and out of Clayton. He was ready for them. No one can enter without him knowing it.

  It was six o’clock by Jacob’s watch and finally made it to the outskirts of Clayton. Using Bowing Eagle’s spyglass, which he found on his many expeditions, glanced through it. He saw men guarding the town like Fort Duffeild, now Fort Knox. He frowned and by the looks of it from Jane’s perspective, it was not good.

  He lowered the mini telescope and said, “I think he knew we were coming. Barns got the place secured well.”

  Jane sighed, “So now what?”

  “You go on ahead alone,” Jacob replied, “Borrow the guard’s keys while he’s not looking and try to get close to his cell as you can. Then get Gabe out of there as soon as possible.”

  “What about you?” Jane inquired. “How are you gonna get into that courthouse?”

  “I don’t know, I’ll find away,” he replied.

  Bowing Eagle then suggested, “I do know a way where we will not be seen, but it will take us around the mountain.”

  “How long will it take us?” Jacob asked.

  “About a half an hour,” Bowing Eagle replied.

  Jacob nodded, “Ok.” He looked to Jane, “In about hour and a half I want to see you and Gabe on that train platform. I checked the schedule while we were in Albuquerque and there a seven o’clock train that’ll arrive. Hopefully we’ll be on that train before anyone notices.”

  Jane nodded, then kissed him passionately and then said, “Good luck love.”

  “You too.”

  Lightning Bear added, “We will attack when El Cato arrives.”

  Jacob nodded, “Just don’t hit Jane in process. That’s all I ask.”

  Lightning Bear nodded back. Bowing Eagle and Jacob departed Jane and the Lightning Bear as they remounted and headed northwest towards the mountain. Jane looked to her horse that Lightning Bear let her borrow, looked at her Habit, took a deep breath and began her quest.

  She mounted the grey mare and trotted into town. The first two hire gunmen she met were guarding the outskirts. They stopped her for a moment. Jane was a bit uncomfortable then spoke to them in a southeastern accent that she was here for Gabe at his request. The gunmen then let her through as she let out a relaxing sigh.

  As she passed the general store, she saw a lot people gathering as well as more hired gunmen. The butterflies returned to her stomach, but she must remain calm. She trotted over to the she-riff’s office and saw one of Barns’ Deputies, Bret sitting in a chair outside.

  He looked up to her and smiled nicely and said, “Well howdy sister.”

  Jane had to disguise her voice so he would not recognize and replied in a southern accent like before, “Howdy.”

  “What can I do for ya?” he asked as he rose.

  “Ah is Sister Mary from St. Louis.” Jane replied, “Ah am here to give Gabriel Jones his last rites. Ah understand he is here.”

  “Well, he is here, but I thought Father Ted was gonna to come?” Bret wondered.

  Jane replied as she dismounted her horse, “Well, when Father Abraham Smith heard ‘bout it, that’s Mr. Jones pastor, he wanted ta come, but he caught somethin’ awful and was bedridden ‘bout a week. May god heal him. He wanted me ta come instead…And Ah says, ‘The good lord have smile upon me.’ It’s my first time ya know.”

  “You know ya have a southern accent for nun from the Midwest?” Bret wondered.

  “Ah know.” She said knowingly, “Ah recently moved to St. Louis a month ago, ah was born and raised in Georgia, and since the southern recession, ah couldn’t find a proper job. So, my mamma did told me that since the western expansion that there be better jobs there, and she was right! That’s when ah had to follow the lord’s path, and here ah am. So may ah see him?”

  Bret hesitated trying to swallow all Jane gave him then said, “Well I have to get the sheriff to make sure this is ok.”

  “Well sugar, ah mean sir, don’t have ta stay here and guard that poor soul?” She asked. “Where is the sheriff anyways?”

  “He’s in the saloon at the hotel,” Bart said as he pointed.

  “Well, Ah don’t think he’ll mind if Ah see Mr. Jones alone. What harm could that do, huh?”

  “Well, I-”

  “Of course not, his is locked up tighter than possum on oak tree,” Jane said. She was smiling to him but to herself. She never realized how good she was. She only took one semester of acting while she in college and was not really good at it, but she can do good accents of many countries, but her favorite was the southern. She continued the drama, “And ah only wanna have a few minutes with him, is that too much?”

  “Say, you look familiar, have I met you before?”

  “Not unless you visited St. Louis or Savanna,” she replied.

  “Oh, well, been a long day for
me,” said Bart, “I-I suppose it’s ok. Follow me.”

  “You are so kind. May the lord bless you.”

  Jane followed the deputy in the jailhouse. He picked up the keys that were on his desk, walked over to the steel door, and unlocked it. Then they heard a gunshot from outdoors. Jane was worried that it would attract Bret to it and she was right. He stopped and looked towards the door to see what happened. She had to think fast and then suddenly Jane stopped.

  “Oh my lord!” She cried.

  Bart turned to her and replied, “What? What wrong?”

  “Ya know, ever since ah had that vision when ah was girl, the lord came ta me and spoke ta me an’ he said, ‘Mary, there is a man that you must save, a law man’.”

  Bart looked at her puzzlingly as she continued, “And now he told me that, you are that law man.”

  “What? What you talkin’ ‘bout?” Bart asked.

  Jane came close to him, “You are Bart, am ah correct?”

  Bart began to get scared and replied, “Y-yeah. How didja know?”

  “The lord told me,” She said, “He told me you have lost someone close to ya, right?”

  “W-What are you, some kind of witch?” Bret said fearfully.

  “Now don’t be afraid,” Jane said, “Ah came ta help ya. This is fate. The lord brought us together.”

  “Help me?”

  “Yes, to save your soul.” She said edging herself closer as she spoke. “To replenish your faith with ta the lord. Ah has come to guide ya back.”

  She then place her right hand on his forehead as Bart asked, “W-what are ya doin’?”

  “Ah am ‘bout to release the demon of fear from ya soul,” Jane said, “Don’t worry, we do this a lot in Georgia and it works, sometimes.”

  Bart was terrified now, not knowing he had a demon in his body. His hands began to sweat as Jane spoke.

  “Dear Lord Jesus Christ, please release this demon of fears from this poor man’s soul! Halljlia!”

  Bart let out a short scream as Jane pushed him backwards. Bart must have fainted because his head bounced off Barns’ desk and fell to the floor. Jane knocked him out cold as she bent down and grabbed the keys.

  “You are saved, Amen,” she said.

  Jane looked at the keys and frowned. There were ten keys on the large iron ring and she did not know which one would open the cell that Gabe was in. She looked at the door and quickly went through.

  Chapter 13

  Jailbreak

  “Jane!” Gabe said excitedly, “what on earth are you doin’ here, and why are you wearing a Ha-bit?”

  Jane entered while fumbling with the keys as she strolled towards Gabe’s cell.

  “Don’t you know a jailbreak when you see one?” Jane replied. She looked over to the other cell and saw Paco. Paco looked up at her and smiled in praised.

  “¡Dios mío! Mis oraciones han sido contestadas! ¡Estamos salvados!” Paco exclaimed.

  Jane looked back to Gabe for answer, but Gabe replied, “Don’t look at me, but he seems happy to see you.”

  Jane then tried a few keys, but none of them fit the lock. To Jane, the keys look alike. Key after key she tried; nothing.

  It took her fifteen minutes until Gabe asked, “Where’s Jake?”

  Jane still trying to open the lock replied, “He said he was going to find out why the judge wasn’t doing his job right.”

  Suddenly, they heard a voice in the office. He called out to Bret and Jane recognized the voice as it was Barns. Her heart raced like a steel drum in a military salute as she tried faster to find the right key.

  Barns looked about and found Bart lying on the floor behind his desk. He frowned and drew his gun as he saw the steel door ajar. Silently he edged towards it. He figured it had to be El Cato. He then quickly swung the door open entered and aimed his gun to… A nun. No, it was not a nun; it was Jane trying to locate the right key.

  “You may want to try the small one,” Barns said as he startled her.

  She then remembered her knife on her garter, but it was too late to grab it. She frowned in disappointment.

  “Well, I guess I’d better ‘pologize to the judge,” Barns said, “You city folk are sneaky sombitches, but not sneaky enough. Now, throw those keys on the floor, before I put a hole in that pretty little face of yours.” She sighed in defeat and did as the sheriff told her. “Good. You know, I thought you be sensitive of the bunch Ms. Pager. Now raise your hands.”

  “You wouldn’t shoot that gun at a poor defenseless woman, would you?” Jane asked politely. “I mean, you didn’t shoot that Indian girl in the judge’s office, and she was unarmed wasn’t she?”

  Barns chuckled, “You are smart, maybe too smart.” He cocked the hammer on his gun as Jane became frightened.

  “You didn’t have the heart then,” Jane continued, “I mean, I don’t think you like it how the judge does things around here, do you.”

  She was right Barns thought. What Judge Marshall was doing was not lawful. In fact, it seemed that he wanted cut to the chase more often. What does that matter to him? The judge was paying him no matter what.

  “True,” Barns replied, “But it pays.”

  Jane then said, “I bet my future brother-in-law’s life that you thought about letting that girl go free huh?”

  “Perhaps, but then again she did break in a government buildin’,” Barns answered, “Just like you did, but this time this little girl ain’t gonna talk.”

  Suddenly they heard someone outside.

  “Paco! Estamos aquí hermano! Vamos a salir! Llegar al otro extremo de la pared del fondo!”

  It was El Cato.

  Barns looked away, and turned his head to the back wall. This was it, Jane thought. It was the distraction she needed. She quickly drew her knife from her garter belt and quickly threw at him. The knife stabbed itself in Barns’ lower right shoulder blade as he grunted in pain. Between milliseconds, Barns pulled his trigger, at the same time a huge blasting sound erupted from ends of the jail cell. The bullet grazed Jane’s left shoulder as Gabe heard her shriek. She lost her balance and fell to the floor.

  Gabe wanted to help but he fell to the ground as the cells shook from the explosion. The room filled with smoke, but only lasted a minute or two. When Jane came to her senses and the dust settled, she saw Barns’ gun on the floor.

  El Cato stepped in looked about, he saw Paco by the bars holding tight for dear life. Then he saw Jane and smiled to her.

  “Ola seniorita,” he said then looked back to Paco, “Venga Paco, vamos a salir de aquí!”

  Paco looked back to his brother, smiled and ran over to give him a quick brotherly hug. He looked at Gabe and Jane and said, “¿Qué pasa con ellos? Ellos trataron de salvarme.”

  El Cato looked at them briefly then said, “No es nuestro problema. Vamos a ir. Adios Amigos! HA Ha Ha.”

  He then vanished into the night. Jane frowned and wished he get his before the night’s done. She then heard a painful grunt coming from the sheriff. Jane quickly picked up the gun and aimed it at him with her right hand.

  “Now you don’t make move and place my father’s knife down,” said Jane.

  Barns looked at the knife more closely and then said, “Your father was Union solider, wasn’t he? I can tell by the knife he was.” He looked at her eyes and said, “You ain’t got the guts missy. You can’t shoot that thing.”

  “Put my father’s knife down you son of a bitch,” Jane warned. “Or I’ll put a hole in your pretty little head.”

  Barns refused.

  Then Jane pulled back the hammer. Barns was wrong, she knew how to shoot it. He knew it was not smart to fight an armed woman, especially one who is holding a colt gun. Barns dropped the knife on the ground and raised his unwounded hand.

  “Jane?” Gabe called to her.

  “You ok Gabe?” She said without removing her eyes from Barns’ pupil.

  “Yeah,” Gabe replied.

  “Can you grab the keys?” Jane asked.


  Gabe looked about. He first thought was to follow Paco and El Cato, but skewed bars still blocked their way out. Even though the blast rattled them, they were still strong. He then saw the keys on the floor just a foot away from Jane. He moved to the corner to get close to it. He reached his hands out as far as they can go, but barely touched them.

  “I can’t reach them Jane!” Gabe told her.

  Jane, still not taking her eyes away from him, kneeled slowly. She darted her eyes away for a second to look for the keys. That gave the sheriff the opportunity. He lunged as quickly as a jackrabbit towards the knife, and picked it up. Jane saw this, but before she could react, Barns pounced on her holding the knife in his left hand, but in the furry of the attack, Jane pulled the trigger. They heard a loud shot and the sheriff groaned once more. He dropped the knife and fell on the floor. Blood dripped out from his chest. Jane, still holding the warm gun, was stunned. She did it. She actually killed him. She never killed anyone before in her life. When she held El Cato’s gun that morning for the first time and shot that bottle, she felt she could any-thing that life threw at her. However, this, this was nothing like that experience. Her father taught her never to kill a man, even if he was wrong, but she did. She had too and now she is regretting it.

  “Jane! You ok?!” Gabe asked, but she did not reply. She was in shock.

  “Jane?” Gabe said again trying to get her attention.

  Obviously, Jane was too frightened to move, Gabe tried once more to reach the keys. Somehow, during the struggle, Barns must have kicked the keys, more like shifted it a few inches, but it was enough to grab them. He remembered that Barns told them the small key would work. He picked it out, inserted it in the lock and turned it. He smiled as he heard a click. He was free as he opened the door.

  Once Jane heard the click, she came out the nightmarish daze and looked to Gabe on the other side of the cell. She dropped the revolver and hugged him tightly. She started to cry as Gabe comforted her.

  “It’s ok Jane, I’m free, and it’s going to be ok.” Gabe said. “Let’s get out of her and find Jake.”