Nueces Justice

by Greathouse, Mark

  Mike reappeared with the rifle and ammunition.

  ***

  After what seemed like an eternity given the situation, Doc and the stable boy finally arrived in a buckboard with Bernice and Agatha.

  Luke gathered everyone together. Doc had already passed out on the doorstep. Luke could do naught but shake his head resignedly at that. “These killers are headed to Nuecestown. The Perez gang is going to be extra angry if they see the bodies of their gang stacked behind the sheriff’s office. Perez wants to kill me, plus he’s seeking vengeance against the outlaw Cavendish and his lady friend.”

  He looked at the women and boys standing before him. The odds weren’t exactly in his favor. The stable boy was an unknown quantity, and only Elisa had any skill with a gun.

  “Bernice and Agatha, I want you to stay here with Mike,” Luke said. “He’ll protect you.” He prayed the youngster could use the rifle.

  Bernice looked apprehensively at Mike. “He’s just a boy, Captain.”

  Elisa stepped up. “Bernice, he knows how to shoot. And, besides that, he’s all you’ve got.” She looked up at Luke. “Lucas and I, along with Dan, need to go to Nuecestown and head off trouble if we can. I think Lucas is of a mind to set a trap.”

  “She’s right, ladies,” Luke agreed. “We don’t want to be the prey. We have to take aggressive action. I wish we had time to reach some of our neighbors. There’s going to be a lot happening.”

  Bernice nudged Agatha knowingly and whispered aside, “Lucas…she said, Lucas. Did you hear that, Aggie?” She nudged her sister again. “They’re in love.”

  She smiled, then dropped the smile, as Luke urged them to stay in the protection of the cabin. “Elisa’s not really going with you to Nuecestown, is she?”

  Luke ignored her question. They had their horses ready. Doc finally snored himself awake. “Doc, why don’t you stay here with Mike and the ladies?” He didn’t want Doc spoiling any defense of Nuecestown. In his drunken state, he was simply too unpredictable.

  They headed into town, with Doc still half dozed-off on the front step of the cabin.

  ***

  Perez realized that he and his Caballeros Negros had passed their quarry when the fresh hoof tracks disappeared. He now was about a mile outside Nuecestown. By his reckoning, the whore and her lover couldn’t be very far behind him. He knew that the sheriff and his posse was chasing all of them. He didn’t have any idea how big the posse was but, in his experience, towns the size of Corpus Christi had trouble pulling together ordinary citizens willing to risk their lives chasing hardened outlaws. There were likely no more than five or six, including the sheriff.

  Perez also knew that the damnable Texas Ranger was out there ahead of them somewhere. And he had no idea where the Indian chief was. He hoped the Comanche was long gone. So he was outnumbered by roughly two to one, depending on whom was hunting who. In any case, it wasn’t an enviable quandary to be in.

  Perez rode to within a half mile of the town. “Establezcamos el campamento aquí. Necesitamos descansar.” The bandit decided his group would set up a temporary camp with a defensive perimeter and rest at this spot. He himself wanted to reconnoiter. He dared not ride blindly into Nuecestown.

  The bandits would rest tonight and be fresh to pursue their prey in the morning. They’d keep an eye out for the posse while they waited for sunset. Perez would steal into town under cover of darkness to check things out. He couldn’t afford any more surprises. He didn’t want to lose his quest for revenge by attrition.

  ***

  Cav and Scarlett decided to lie low near the mesquite from where they’d spotted Perez. Before they got too drunk, Cav watched where Perez stopped to bed down. A bit before sunrise and nursing just a bit of a hangover, he snuck away from Scarlett.

  There was just enough light from the stars and nearly full moon to enable him to see where he was going. He got close enough to Perez’s camp to inch up to within around fifty feet of the lone sentry. The sentry never heard the thrown knife. The knife sank deep in his throat, severing the carotid artery before he could react.

  Cav wasn’t going to go after any more Caballeros Negros. He didn’t want to push his luck. He’d just improved his odds, and that would be a help.

  Scarlett was looking for him when he returned to the mesquite trees. “Where you been?” she whispered.

  “Improving our chances, Scarlett, just giving us a better chance.”

  She saw the blood on his shirt sleeve and the knife and sensed what he’d done.

  Cav pulled the bottle out of the saddlebag again, and they finished it off. Soon, they fell into a drunken stupor and sleep took over.

  ***

  Sheriff Whelan brought the posse to a slow walk. He was getting closer to Nuecestown and didn’t want to ride into a trap. He wanted to be the hunter, not the hunted. Only Pete, the cowboy from the ranch, was likely worth his salt as a fighter. The others might get lucky.

  He noted the sun sinking in the late afternoon sky and decided to wait until morning. He very much preferred being able to see what he was hunting. With the tall prairie grass that came up as high as a horse’s withers and the deep arroyos, anything could be lurking out ahead of him.

  ***

  Luke, Elisa, and the stable boy cautiously walked the horses the five miles to town. Only the ferryman and a couple of townspeople were still around. Luke quietly and efficiently went to each of them to warn them of the impending mayhem.

  Following Luke’s instructions, Dan led the horses to the stable and hitched them inside so as not to be readily visible to anyone coming into the town. He stored the tack away out of sight, then picked up his rifle and reported back to Luke.

  “Dan…I can call you Dan, right?” Luke stood in front of the boy and placed his hands on his shoulders to be sure he had his full attention. “I don’t want you to fire that rifle until you hear me shooting. Is that clear?” Dan nodded. “Now, I want you to position yourself on the roof of the general store.”

  Luke looked off thoughtfully in the direction of Corpus Christi. He knew that, if these killers were smart, they’d circle around and come in from the west end of Nuecestown. But he knew they were not so smart, and he felt confident that wouldn’t happen.

  “Lisa, how about going to Doc’s place? It would give us a crossfire between you and Dan.”

  Elisa noticed he’d called her Lisa, and assumed that was some sort of an affectionate thing. “Yes, Lucas, that sounds good.” She smiled. “Pray we don’t get hurt.”

  “Indeed, and we better pray that Whelan gets here with his posse.” He took her hand, smiled at her, and turned away to take his position at the boarding house. He prayed deep inside that she’d not get hurt.

  Carlos Perez awakened with the sunrise. He noticed almost immediately that no sentry was in sight. “Maldita sea! Qué ha pasado?” He was none too pleased

  “José está muerto!”

  Of a sudden, the Caballeros Negros were down to four men. The realization that, at some time during the night he’d been attacked, was startling, if not unnerving. He was used to doing the hunting, not being the hunted. The role of prey wasn’t one he was the least bit comfortable with. Someone had killed Jose. Who? The sheriff? The outlaw with the whore? The Texas Ranger?

  Perez ordered his gang to break camp. He decided they would become the hunters, and that would start with riding closer to Nuecestown.

  ***

  Sheriff Whelan gathered his posse, motley crew that it was, and told them his plan. “We’re going into Nuecestown, men.” It was simple, likely too simple. Whelan had no idea as to what might be lying in wait in the town or even its outskirts.

  As the posse headed up the trail, they came to a rise that gave them a panoramic view of the prairie before them. It was similar to the position Cav had taken. Whelan pulled up. “Pete,” he whispered. “Pete, look ahead.” About a half-mile off were four horsemen headed toward the town. At a half mile, Pete squinted and announced, “I think one
of them is the man who murdered Seth.”

  Whelan was relieved. At least they’d stayed on the trail of some of the lawbreakers. He didn’t want to have the town shot up, as innocent folks could get hurt. It wouldn’t be the sort of legacy he’d want to be remembered for. “They’re moving slow-like. Maybe we can overtake them before they reach Nuecestown.”

  The men in the posse looked at him as though he were crazy. “We could get killed, Sheriff!”

  Whelan tried to contain his anger. “Damn bunch of cowards! You are deputy sheriffs. We have innocent citizens of Texas to save. Any of you can’t stand the heat, get out of the fire. Go! I don’t want to ride with any lily-livered cowards.” He spurred his horse into a gallop, hoping he’d be followed.

  A shot rang out from just behind them, to the north and east, not far from the Nueces River. A bullet knocked one of Whelan’s deputies from the saddle. He was wounded, but not badly.

  “Damn! Where the hell did that come from?” Whelan ducked low and spurred his horse again. “Come on, men. It’s an ambush!”

  ***

  Cav slid his rifle back in the scabbard. He and Scarlett rode off to the northwest along the river, figuring to skirt around Nuecestown proper. They hoped to commandeer the ferry that would take them across the river to possible freedom. He had no idea why he’d risked the shot at the posse. He hoped to further better the odds should he have to confront Perez as well as the sheriff. It had all become a huge gamble in a game he never imagined he’d be playing.

  He and Scarlett reined in their mounts at the ferry, dismounted, and walked the horses the few feet to the landing. The ferry stood ready to cross the river.

  The ferry master stood before them with arms crossed. “Halt! What’s your hurry?” He couldn’t duck fast enough to totally avoid Cav’s knife. It was enough to knock him down.

  Cav barely glanced at the ferry master as they ran by with horses in tow. Suddenly the bags of gold didn’t seem so heavy. The fugitives boarded the ferry and began getting it ready to push off from the landing. Freedom was on the opposite bank of the Nueces River.

  ***

  Whelan lost two members of his posse, one wounded and the other caring for him, but actually avoided any gunplay. Now, it was just the four of them. He rode hard, whooping and hollering to get Perez’s attention. He was desperate to catch up with the Mexican bandit before they reached the town. As he closed to within a hundred yards, he’d finally made enough noise.

  Perez turned, drew his pistol, and began firing in Whelan’s direction. He realized they needed to get to the town where they’d find some cover. “Rápido! Vamonos!” They rode at breakneck speed for the town with Whelan closing on their heels. In moments, Perez’s Caballeros Negros were thundering into Nuecestown.

  From his vantage point in Bernice’s boarding house, Luke was first to see them coming. He opened fire, and Elisa and Dan followed suit.

  Greeted by a hail of bullets from Luke’s modest but effective ambush, two of Perez’s men were killed instantly. One, his foot trapped in a stirrup, was dragged down the dirt main street.

  Whelan’s posse galloped in behind. Perez made the decision of his life, ducking low along the side of his horse and riding as fast as he could right on out of town. The last of his Caballeros Negros dismounted and put up a valiant but brief fight before falling from a well-placed shot from Elisa.

  When the dust cleared, Sheriff Whelan and his posse had come to a halt just inside the edge of town and were able to survey the scene of carnage. They’d missed most of the action, but had the pleasure of having incited it.

  Luke walked out from the boarding house. “Where you been, Sheriff?”

  Elisa emerged from Doc’s place and sidled up beside Luke while the stable boy climbed down from the general store roof. They looked around at the dead. Luke’s and Whelan’s eyes met. “Where the hell is Carlos Perez?”

  “Nuts!”

  Just then, there was a loud noise coming from the direction of the ferry landing. It sounded like the desperate cries of the ferry master. Whelan spurred his horse forward. “Come on, men, this ain’t over just yet!”

  As they rode down the gentle slope leading to the ferry, they came upon the ferry master lying wounded with a knife wound from Dirk Cavendish. Cav, meanwhile, was struggling to pole the ferry across the Nueces River.

  “Get back here, Cavendish!” Whelan shouted to no avail. Cav kept poling. Scarlett fired a shot aimed above the posse. It was intended to keep them at bay while she and Cav escaped.

  Neither Cav nor Scarlett saw the figure in the grove of trees lining the river’s edge. The rifle was aimed and trigger squeezed. The shot rang out, echoing across the river. Cav slumped to the deck of the ferry.

  Scarlett gasped, dropped her rifle, and fell protectively over his body. “No! No!” she screamed.

  Luke emerged from the trees, rifle in hand. He was cool as cool could be. He casually walked over to Whelan. “You can give the bounty to Elisa, Sheriff. She’s fixin’ to buy some more land around here.” His words were delivered so calmly they caught Whelan off guard.

  Luke Dunn had stopped another lawbreaker, delivering frontier justice on the Nueces Strip.

  One of the men in Whelan’s posse started hauling in the ferry mooring line, while another saw to the ferry master. Scarlett looked up to find herself slowly being dragged to shore. Her dream, ill-conceived as it might have been, had been shattered. Her lover was dead, and she didn’t yet know that Perez was still on the loose.

  At last, the ferry was drawn into the landing, and Sheriff Whelan stood before her on the dock. “Miss Scarlett Rose,” he said, “you are under arrest.” He took her into custody and marched her up the road to the sheriff’s office.

  Luke followed along with Elisa. As Whelan entered the office, he was overwhelmed with an obnoxious odor.

  “What’s going on here?”he gasped, holding his bandana up to his nose.

  The three dead Caballeros Negros had been forgotten. Their decomposing bodies behind the sheriff’s office had begun to leave a tell-tale stench that permeated the surrounding area. Whelan went around back and saw the outlaws stacked against the wall, arrows still protruding from them.

  “Comanche arrows?” Whelan was dumfounded.

  “Sorry, George. I thought you’d get back here sooner. They are compliments of a Comanche friend of ours.” Luke smiled. “And you might want this.” He handed the gold to the sheriff. “You have a safe or strong box here?”

  Whelan nodded that he did. He scowled at Luke as he held his nose and pushed Scarlett into a cell.

  “Sheriff, you can’t leave me here. The smell is awful.” She held her dress over her nose.

  “Get over it,” he told her as he slammed the cell door shut.

  Between the posse and the stable boy, Luke and the sheriff managed to get the three bodies buried, along with the rest of Perez’s gang and Cavendish. They’d had enough heart to bring Scarlett out of her cell in chains to grieve at Cav’s burial. The Nuecestown Cemetery was becoming just about full up.

  The foul odor ultimately dissipated enough such that the office became habitable. Whelan left the office door open for a while to help air the place out. It struck him that the first criminal occupant of the Nuecestown jail was a woman. She’d be charged with bank robbery and the killing of Mr. Johnson.

  “Lisa, let’s head back to your spread and let them know all is well for now.” Luke’s judgment was that Perez had kept on riding. Besides, he wanted a couple of more folks to know that Whelan was guarding the gold from the bank robbery. He trusted the sheriff…up to a point.

  They saddled the horses and headed back to Elisa’s farm. Doc, Bernice, and Agatha would be happy to see them safe and sound.

  ***

  Perez rode as hard as he could as long as he could. It wouldn’t do to run his horse into the ground. With all the bullets flying around, he was lucky to escape unscathed. He’d ridden a couple of miles before his terror turned back to ange
r at having lost the immediate advantage in his quest for revenge. His anger was exacerbated by having ridden into an ambush. How could he have been so careless? Perhaps he’d let his passionate drive for vengeance overcome his better senses. He’d have to carefully consider his next moves.

  NINETEEN

  Escape

  Sheriff Whelan sat at the small but serviceable desk. Scarlett curled up on the bed in a corner of the cell, crying her eyes out. Between sobs, she tried to get Whelan to promise to let Cav’s sister in Bozeman know what had happened.

  Whelan had had just about enough of her sniveling. “Look, lady. I’ll take care of it. Will you please stop crying?”

  He wanted to tell her to get over it. The guy simply wasn’t worth her tears.

  She fell asleep at last.

  The sheriff had already noticed that she was a right pretty young lady.

  He sensed that something was going on between Luke and that young Corrigan girl. She’d certainly made it clear that she wasn’t interested in a more mature lawman. She sure was a pretty little filly and had filled out right handsomely. He regretted that he’d approached her in such an uncouth manner, at least by her reckoning.

  A knock at the door interrupted his musings about could-have-beens. “Come on in. It’s open.”

  “Sheriff, how are you holding up, my old friend?”

  Captain Luke Dunn walked through the door. Whelan sort of resented that he was about six inches shorter than the Ranger. It was intimidating.

  “Any news about that Perez fella?” Luke glanced over at the cell where Scarlett was sleeping peacefully and then sat down next to the desk. “I expect I’m gonna have to chase him down. He sure got lucky today.”

  “I thought you’d be with your lady friend.”

  Luke wasn’t sure of the implication. “George, where I grew up, a gentleman didn’t go staying with an honorable single woman. It wouldn’t do.” He let that sink in. “Like I said, I figure to head out tomorrow and catch up with Perez. I brought Doc and the ladies back to town with me.”