Dennis suddenly laughed. “Silsby has one more job ahead of him after this?”
“What the hell do you mean?” Charlie asked.
“Wait’ll he gets back to that cabin to get Mildred and he has to tell Belle that you went on your merry way somewheres else.”
Charlie grinned. “Yeah. She’s gonna be fit to be tied. But if I send her a hunnerd dollars, she’ll calm down quick enough.”
“I’m gonna give her the money first,” Silsby said. “Then I’ll tell her you ain’t coming to fetch her.” He suddenly remembered another part of the arrangement. “Hey! You two got to give me a few dollars for Ben too. Don’t forget.”
“We won’t,” Dennis promised.
The day after they had joined forces with Jack O’Reilly, the older outlaw proposed that their organization be formed into a permanent gang. None of the three ex-cowboys off the Medicine Bundle Grasslands were known in the eastern part of the Indian nations. According to O’Reilly, they would be able to pull off several big jobs for hundreds of thousands of dollars without having to worry about premature identification or betrayal. When things finally got too hot or the law figured out who they were, they could either move out to another area or break up the group.
Silsby had not hesitated to turn down the offer. He missed Mildred too much to ride off into a life of dangerous adventure. And he was looking forward to becoming a father. All he wanted was to get back to his wife and begin their real family life together. He had begun to think of establishing a horse breeding business out in California.
Dennis, on the other hand, thought O’Reilly’s proposal a good idea, but he wouldn’t do it unless Charlie also agreed to participate. O’Reilly talked long and hard before he could convince Charlie to join the gang. While Charlie pondered the offer, he had not taken Belle into consideration. It had been Silsby who reminded him of his sweetheart waiting patiently back at Ben Shaw’s cabin. That was when Charlie decided he was going to get Belle out of his life. Silsby protested, saying, “But you promised her you’d fetch her!”
“I didn’t promise her, I tole her.”
“Then you should send her some money,” Silsby insisted. “You at least owe her something.”
Charlie had reluctantly agreed.
Now, as they waited in the woods, Charlie decided he wouldn’t give the woman as much as a single dollar. He glanced over at Silsby and said, “I ain’t sending nothing back for Belle.”
Silsby glared at him. “She’s waiting in that cabin for you, Charlie.”
“I ain’t married to her,” Charlie said. “I can do as I please where she’s concerned.”
“You should give her some money,” Silsby said. “She won’t have nothing.”
“She was borned with what she needs between her legs.”
“That’s pretty bad, Charlie.”
“Your opinion don’t mean shit to me,” Charlie said. “Especial since you went soft over a woman.”
“Hey there!” Jack O’Reilly interjected. “Let’s keep it down, fellers.”
Darkness slowly settled over the area. O’Reilly maintained his close watch on the depot where lantern light showed in the windows. “What time is it?” Silsby asked.
“The only one of us that had a watch was Tommy,” Charlie said.
“He pawned it with Joe Dantry in Kensaw anyhow,” Dennis reminded them.
“I got one,” O’Reilly said. “But I don’t know how to read it.”
“Let me see,” Silsby said. O’Reilly came back and handed the timepiece to Silsby who studied it for a moment. “Damn it, Jack!” Silsby said. “It ain’t running. Don’t you know about winding watches?”
O’Reilly shrugged. “I got this thing in a robbery a while back. I never paid much attention to it other than wear it ’cause it looked nice.”
Charlie said, “It don’t matter what time it is anyhow. We’ll get an idee when to start moving by how dark it is.”
O’Reilly returned to his post and each man sank into personal silence. A couple of times either Charlie or Dennis walked down to stand with him for a bit, then came back to wait with their cowboy pals. O’Reilly was too keyed up to relax. He wanted to make sure that nothing untoward happened during the train robbery.
Silsby eventually dozed off a bit and had a brief dream in which he was back in the Boomer camp with his family. When he woke up and thought about it, he wished he could go back to that place and time. If he could, with what he now knew, he would have gone straight to the Duncan farm and found Mildred.
“Boys,” O’Reilly said with an instinctive awareness of the passage of time. “Let’s go!”
Silsby took charge of the horses. He would have to wait until the others signaled him they had taken over the depot before moving down near the railroad tracks. The animals would have made too much noise descending the hill, and the ruckus would alert the station manager
While Silsby waited, O’Reilly led Charlie and Dennis slowly toward their objective. The three walked softly over the uneven ground, crossing the tracks before moving into the shadows. When they reached the station, they stepped up on the platform and carefully tiptoed to the door. O’Reilly looked inside then pulled his bandanna up over his face as Charlie and Dennis did the same. Then the robbers stepped inside where the station manager sat at his desk with his back toward them.
“Hands up, godamn it!” O’Reilly commanded. “Don’t try anything or we’ll shoot you dead where you sit.”
The man did not turn around. He raised his hands and said, “Don’t do nothing to me. I ain’t gonna give you no trouble.”
“That’s real smart,” O’Reilly said. He nodded to Dennis.
Dennis Nettles stepped forward with a length of rope he carried with him. Using his cowboy skills, he quickly bound the station manager to his chair.
“Get in position,” O’Reilly said to Charlie. Charlie nodded and went back outside. He signaled Silsby to bring the horses down, then went to a spot off in the bushes by the water tower where he could quickly leap up into the engine cab.
Silsby joined him. “How’d it go inside?”
“Good,” Charlie answered. “The feller in there is tied up. All we got to do is wait.”
“Are you sure you want to keep doing this sort of thing, Charlie?” Silsby asked. “I’m as nervous as if I was standing in the middle of a nest of rattlesnakes.”
“I’m just gonna do it long enough to get plenty of money, then I’m off to South America.”
“I thought you was inter’sted in a ranch in Mexico.”
“Jack O’Reilly says if we get enough money we can go down to South America and not even have to work ’cause we’ll be so rich,” Charlie said. “South America is better’n Mexico ’cause you can live in a castle and have servants and all the beautiful women you want.”
“I’ll settle for living with Mildred.”
“Well, I plan big,” Charlie said. “So does Dennis and Jack.”
“I got to admit y’all got big idees.”
“We got good imaginations,” Charlie said.
“I wonder about good sense.”
“You’re the one that’s gonna be stuck somewheres with a wife and a bunch of kids,” Charlie countered.
“We’d best shut up and pay attention to what’s going on around here.”
Another seemingly long period of time passed before a train whistle sounded in the distance. Inside the depot, O’Reilly and Dennis got themselves into position.
Ten minutes later the train could be heard as it hissed and clanked into its slow-down maneuvering. The water tower showed up in the engine’s headlight as it slowly came to a noisy halt. The engineer had just locked the brakes while the fireman made ready to climb up to grab the large canvas water hose when Charlie, his face covered, appeared from the darkness.
He leaped up into the cab. “You two son of a bitches stand right where you are,” he commanded. “Grab yourselves some sky. Now!” The two railroad men, the fright on their faces
showing in the light blinking from the firebox, put their hands up and stood in uncertainty as they stared into the muzzle of Charlie’s pistol. “You just stand there nice and quiet and you can tell your old women how the train was robbed tonight,” Charlie said. “You try any smart moves and they’ll be crying over your graves.” He grinned and spat on the locomotive deck. “Or laughing over ’em.”
As soon as O’Reilly saw Charlie get into the engine, he led Dennis over to the baggage car. The door was locked and he banged on it with his carbine butt. “Open up, damn you!” O’Reilly bellowed. “This is a stick-up and the engineer is covered, so this train ain’t going no place. I got dynamite and I’ll blow that car to hell and back if I have to. Now open up!”
A voice inside said, “Wait a minute. I’ll open her up, so don’t do nothing.”
“Hurry up!” O’Reilly commanded. “I ain’t gonna stand out here all godamned night!”
The door shuttered a bit, then slowly began to slide. Suddenly it was pushed wide open. U.S. Marshal Nolan Sinclair thrust his shotgun forward and fired.
Jack O’Reilly’s head and right shoulder along with the arm spun off toward the depot building, leaving his bloody torso to totter for a moment before falling to the station platform. Dennis Nettles, covered in O’Reilly’s gore, threw down his pistol in horror. “Don’t shoot me! Don’t shoot me!”
Charlie, who had seen O’Reilly get literally blown apart, leaped down from the cab and crossed the open space between the engine and Silsby in three long, panic-stricken strides. Neither he nor Silsby said a word to each other as they leapt into their saddles, turning the horses for a wild gallop away from the scene.
Grant Hollings and Nolan Sinclair stepped down from the baggage car, keeping their guns on Dennis who stood trembling with the remnants of Jack O’Reilly splattered all over him. The engineer and fireman ran up and started to speak before recoiling from the awful sight of Jack O’Reilly’s twitching, mutilated corpse. Sinclair glared at them. “What the hell do you two want?”
The engineer vomited, and it was the fireman who replied, “They was two more of ’em. We seen ’em ride away.”
“Damn!” Grant said. “We won’t be able to organize a posse before daylight.”
Sinclair walked up to Dennis and slapped him hard across the face. “Where’s your pals? Did they run out on you?” he asked. The marshal grabbed the young outlaw and propelled him toward the depot. After the station manager was freed, the two law officers turned their full attention to the would-be robber, pulling his bandanna off his face. They could see him better in the building’s lantern light. “Well, well,” Sinclair said. “I believe your name is Dennis Nettles, ain’t it? One of them bad boys from Kensaw.” He guffawed. “The ones that can’t pull a robbery for shit.”
“Yes, sir,” Dennis said.
Grant felt a sharp stab of fear. He wandered who the mutilated cadaver might have been in life. He dreaded the possibility of bringing heart-breaking news back to his wife and in-laws.
“Let’s see now,” Sinclair said. “Tommy Chatsworth is dead and we got you. Who is that feller spread out over the depot platform? Charlie Ainsley or Silsby McCracken?”
“Neither one,” Dennis answered. “His name is Jack O’Reilly.”
Grant looked at Sinclair. “We can take him off our wanted list.” He turned his attention back to Dennis. “Was Charlie and Silsby in on this with you?”
“No, sir.”
“I need the truth, Nettles,” Grant said.
Dennis swallowed nervously. “I ain’t no tattle-tale.”
“I can help Silsby,” Grant said. “You and Charlie Ainsley too, if you let me.”
Dennis’ nerve came back. He sneered and said, “Go to hell, you son of a bitch!”
Grant hit him so hard that the ex-cowboy bounced off the depot wall. When he fell to his knees, Grant kicked him, then grabbed him by the hair and hauled him to his feet. “I have some rather pertinent questions I’m going to ask you,” Grant said. “If you don’t give me the answers I want, I’ll beat you to death. And it will take a long, long time.”
Dennis, breathing hard and bleeding heavily from his mouth and nose, prepared for the worst.
Chapter Forty-Three
The initial fondness that formed during the first meeting between Mildred and her mother-in-law ripened into a deeper attachment as the quiet and solicitous younger woman was enfolded into the deepest affection of the older.
Mildred’s relationship with her own mother had not been particularly warm. This distance between mother and child increased over the years as the woman’s health deteriorated. Eventually, the older daughter Stella had to take on most of the responsibilities of parenting, and she resented the extra burden of having to care for a younger sister.
Fionna was openly affectionate, and for the first time in Mildred’s life, she felt as if she were really a daughter. The thing that Mildred appreciated the most about Fionna was that she was easy to talk to. Fionna’s caring attitude and interest in her daughter-in-law drew them close together during their many instances of intensely personal conversation.
Luther McCracken, though a bit stern in appearance was pleasant enough and his face would creak into a surprisingly friendly smile once in a while. Most of the time, however, he was taciturn and inattentive toward her. Fortunately, Mildred was not particularly sensitive when it came to masculine surliness after being raised by a man like Sefton Duncan.
Another boon in Mildred’s new life was her relationship with Rebecca. She soon felt closer to her sister-in-law than to her own sister Stella. Mildred also loved it when Sammy and Morag called her Aunt Mildred.
The only downside to her life — and it was a big one — involved Silsby. The worst part was the total uncertainty of his whereabouts and safety. Countless doubts with potentials so devastating that she dare not voice them, put her nerves on edge during solitary moments. Could he be located? If he gave himself up and asked for the mercy of the court, would it still mean long years in jail? Another unhappy possibility might occur if Silsby were vainly searching for her.
Ben Shaw and Belle LaTour would not even know that Mildred had gone to Medicine Bundle unless they went to see Doctor Sawyer in Woodward to find out how she’d fared. That would be only a remote possibility. And if Silsby came back to the cabin, he might be too wary to go into town and ask after her if he thought the law was looking for him. He would think she returned to her own family south of Kensaw. It would be dangerous for him to go to her father’s farm. If the law didn’t get him, then Sefton Duncan would go crazy angry the instant he laid eyes on him. This could lead to a deadly confrontation with one of them being shot to death.
Fionna had also been giving the matter a great deal of thought. She, too, worried about the possibility of Silsby leaving the territory for parts unknown. Luther came up with the idea of his going to Kensaw and leave word that Mildred was with them on the farm. If Silsby passed through the community, somebody would surely tell him. He knew that Grant had asked a fellow named Arky Bob to do just that, but there was no certainty the man had complied. Either way, chances were slim of Silsby appearing in Kensaw. He would be aware that any lawmen trying to locate him would surely keep a sharp eye on the locale.
Grant was still gone on his payroll escort job with Nolan Sinclair. Until he returned, no serious hunt could be organized to locate Silsby and let him know where Mildred was. Grant’s latest assignment seemed to be taking longer than it should have. He had been gone more than a week.
Luther was eventually forced into a trip to the Kensaw area. This time Fionna made him visit Sefton Duncan. She thought it only decent that the man be informed his daughter was safe and living on the McCracken farm. Mildred warned Luther about her father, but Fionna insisted that Luther go see the man.
When he returned, he was angry and upset. He announced that if he ever saw Sefton Duncan again it would be too soon. “He run me off with a shotgun like I was a skunk in the barn,” Lu
ther complained. His last words on the unpleasant incident were directed at Mildred when he told her he was sorry, but Duncan had refused to say anything about her mother’s health.
The family went back to its waiting game. Mildred kept busy helping with the chores. She was a farmer’s daughter and required no instruction or supervision in seeing to the countless tasks that needed doing. She fed the animals, milked the cow and goat, cleaned house, cooked, made beds, and remained a constant companion to Fionna, helping with butter-churning, soap-making, and other necessary activities to keep family and farm running smoothly.
Mildred worked hard, more than earning her keep. The daughter-in-law’s devotion to chores made Fionna’s life a lot easier. With the extra pair of hands, the meals were always on time, the house immaculate, and they enjoyed more leisure time in the evenings. It was also easier for Rebecca to leave Sammy and Morag over for long visits. The two children slept in one of the bedrooms upstairs kept especially for them.
The thing that Mildred enjoyed the most was hearing about her husband as a boy. Luther didn’t have much to say on the subject, but Fionna had plenty of anecdotes, and Rebecca filled in certain details now and then. Silsby became more of a person to Mildred. She always thought of him as a wild ex-cowboy and a loving husband, but hearing about his occasional pranks as a youth and seeing the three daguerreotypes taken during his boyhood added to her perception of her man. This fuller knowledge also increased the agony of his absence.
Mildred began to attend church with her in-laws early on. Her own family did not go to services and the only religious activities she had known were a few weddings and funerals. She didn’t pay much attention to the sermons at the Medicine Bundle Presbyterian Church, but she received a few lessons in spirituality by observing Fionna.
The young daughter-in-law was in awe of the quiet, deep faith that Fionna demonstrated through her attitudes and hopefulness. It was obvious that it helped the older woman deal with the uncertainties of her son’s fate, and Mildred desperately wanted some of that inner-strength for her own well-being. She and Fionna had an impromptu discussion about things in the predawn darkness one spring morning.
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