BEAR CREEK (SAGE COUNTRY Book 1)

by Dan Arnold

  “It worked out nearly perfectly.”

  “No, John, it didn’t. He got a shot at you and I didn’t even know for sure where he was.”

  “The point is we’ve got him. When you could, you took the shot you had. There won’t be any more of his signature killings. We’ll get him to finger the Stockman’s Association in a court of law, eventually he’ll hang. I call that a good days work.”

  37.

  We brought the wounded assassin back into the town of Thorndyke, in the same stolen buckboard Bob had used to save my life. He drove it out of Thorndyke a couple of hours or so ahead of me. We figured nobody would notice another buckboard headed out toward the Diamond T. Bob had driven it across the wash and then hidden it out in the brush on the other side. He worked his way to a good spot down in the wash and waited for the shooter to show up. The plan was that Bob would find the best spot for an ambush, wait for the bushwhacker to show up, and then ambush the assassin. He was supposed to shoot the bushwhacker before he could get a shot at me, but things seldom go entirely as planned.

  You should have seen the look on Deputy Watson’s face when I told him we were taking over the county jail. He told us we would be real sorry when Sheriff Holden got back. He annoyed me so much, after I gave him instructions to fetch the doctor, I threw him headlong out the front door, to land rather unceremoniously in the street, No wonder he didn’t like me.

  I guess I was just feeling cranky.

  I knew it wouldn’t be long before real trouble showed up. So, I decided it might be fun to add further complications. After we got our prisoner settled, I went to see Mr. Thorndyke.

  Imagine my surprise at finding Deputy Watson at the Thorndyke manor! When I walked into Mr. Thorndyke’s office, Curt Watson was in the process of telling Thorndyke about our theft of his jail.

  “Hello Curt, I thought I told you to go fetch the doctor.”

  He tried to grab his gun, so I smacked him over the head with mine. He crumpled in a heap. I took his gun away from him.

  Thorndyke reached into a desk drawer, but froze when he heard me cock my Colt, which he could see was now leveled at his head.

  “I have your hired gun locked up in the county jail. Since you’re the one who hired him, I’m arresting you for conspiracy to commit murder.”

  Thorndyke scowled, but he raised both his hands, high.

  Curt stirred and looked up at me. There was blood streaming down his face and getting in his eyes. I had torn his scalp with my gun barrel. Scalp wounds bleed a lot, but they heal quickly. He would need some stitches though.

  “I’ll bet you’ll go to the doctor now, Curt. Get up and do what I told you to do the first time.”

  He did.

  The walk through town from the Thorndyke mansion to the Sheriff’s office was something I never want to do again. I didn’t restrain Thorndyke, I simply kept my Colt jammed in the small of his back and tried to look casual. My .45 has a soft trigger pull, so I told him the truth.

  “If you make any sudden move, I’ll blow a hole through you my fist would fit in. Hell, you’ll be lucky if I don’t shoot you accidently.”

  I was half afraid I would shoot him by accident, but I had a hard time caring.

  Herman Thorndyke was locked in a cell, when the doctor showed up.

  The ride in the wagon had been hard on our assassin, and our makeshift bandage had failed to prevent further bleeding.

  The doctor informed us that if he survived, the man should not be moved again for some time. Because there would be considerably more blood loss, there was a good chance he would die as the doctor was working on him. I wondered how much the two bit bushwhacker was suffering, from the taste of his-own medicine.

  “Do the best you can, Doc. He just needs to live long enough to stand trial for murder. I don’t suppose it will matter much, but which side are you on in this mess?” I asked.

  “I’ve known the Thorndykes since the boys were little. I liked them a lot better back then. This land and power grab is bad for everyone. This community has become dangerously divided. It’s probably just the beginning of the real bloodshed. I don’t need the business. I hope it won’t come down to more killing. Though whatever happens, I don’t see you surviving this,” he added.

  “…How’s that?”

  “When the Thorndyke boys find out you have their father locked up, they’ll tear this jail down around your ears. They’re wild and dangerous. They think they own the world.”

  “Clearly, we would appreciate your discretion on that point, doctor. Perhaps you could help us delay the impending conflict, by not mentioning this situation to anyone.” Bob suggested.

  “I’m not your problem. That stinking rat, Curt Watson, now, he may run straight to them. I told him if he wanted to stay alive he’d better get out of town. He’s too stupid to scare easily, but you managed to get the job done. He took off like a cat with its tail on fire.”

  We left him to his work. I had some planning and some praying to do.

  “We have sufficient provisions, we can hold this building for some time,” Bob said.

  “We can’t hold it for very long, if there are very many trying to get in. There are two doors to defend, and only two of us. We could hold off the Thorndyke boys, but if they bring enough help, they could either overwhelm us, or burn us out.”

  “They won’t try to burn us out if they want their father alive. He’s our ‘ace in the hole’. So long as we have him; they will have to proceed with caution. I’m glad you arrested him. How long do you think we have to prepare before they lay siege to the jail?”

  “I don’t know, a couple of hours, maybe a day or more. It will take a while for the Thorndyke boys to find out we have him, and some time to get here, from wherever they are. Unless….”

  “Bob raised his eyebrows at me.

  “Unless what?”

  “I left word with the foreman at the Diamond T, to have Henry Thorndyke come see me here in town. If they came back to the ranch headquarters today, they could be here at any time.”

  The doctor came back into the office.

  “Well, I’ve done all I can do for him. It could go either way. I’ve seen men shot a dozen times survive, and I’ve seen men die from a simple cut. If he does recover, he’ll be crippled in that left shoulder. There was a lot of tissue damage; the bullet pretty much blew his left shoulder blade to pieces. I cleaned out all the bone fragments I could find. I think I have the bleeding stopped, but I don’t know how much blood supply he has to his left arm. I might have to take it off.”

  “It won’t matter much, Doc, he’ll probably hang anyway,” I said.

  “You want him to live long enough to testify, don’t you?”

  “Yes sir, I do. Assuming we all live long enough to get him to court.”

  “I’ve thought about that. I could say something to one or two people I know. Some folks here are ready to hang Mr. Thorntdyke, right now. They could form a posse in no time.”

  “Thank you, but it would be vastly better from our perspective if you were to remain silent on the matter altogether, Doctor…?” Bob wanted his name.

  “My name’s Ralston, I’m Doctor, Dennis Ralston.”

  “He’s right Doc. We want to keep a lid on this for as long we can. We believe help is on the way. Can the operator at the telegraph office be trusted to keep his mouth shut?”

  “It depends on the message. He’ll tell somebody something.”

  I looked at Bob

  He nodded.

  Our finished telegram was addressed to the Governor, by way of an aide. It read:

  “Urgent Thorndyke Send aid as discussed

  It was signed JES & BL.

  Doctor Ralston promised to personally see it was sent, immediately.

  “If anyone asks what it means, I’ll tell them I’m sending for some special medicine to fight sickness and infection, and by golly, that’s the truth,” the doctor said.

  He rushed off to send th
e telegram.

  38.

  The next morning there was a loud knock on the front door. We were as ready as we were going to get.

  “Who’s there?” Bob called. He was down behind the desk with a ten gauge shotgun leveled at the door. I was covering the back door. Both doors were locked and blocked.

  “Buckskin Charlie Owens and Walter Edward Burnside, deputies from Alta Vista County,” was the reply.

  We were shocked! Why were they here? How had they gotten here so quickly?

  Talk about an answer to prayer.

  Bob took down the bar and threw open the door.

  They were as surprised to see us, as we were to see them.

  “When Hugh got Bob’s letter, he figured you were riding into a meat grinder. He sent us to back you up. We rode straight through. We didn’t know where you might be, so we came here first. What’s going on?” Buckskin Charlie asked.

  We filled them in.

  “I don’t like leaving Hugh alone in Bear Creek,” I said.

  “Oh you don’t need to worry about that. He has his pick of help.”

  “…How’s that?”

  “Those handbills and newspaper ads brought men out of the woodwork. Before we left, there were six guys who showed up applying to be deputies. Hugh was going to put them all on duty under his supervision and test them to see who could make it on the payroll. Nobody gets a badge, except the men he hires. The others just get room and board at the courthouse, till he makes his picks. Tom gets the leftovers”

  Things were looking up. The additional manpower was a huge asset for Hugh. Having these men show up to help us was an answer to prayer. We made plans to take advantage of it.

  At about ten o’clock that morning I was sitting on a bench on the porch of the Sheriff’s office, enjoying a cup of coffee before the day got really hot. I had a ten gauge shotgun handy and when I saw five riders approaching, I picked it up and walked over to the top of the stairs. Standing there put me about level with the riders.

  “Morning, boys” I said with a smile.

  They had spread out side by side facing the porch.

  The older man looked like he might be pushing thirty. He had on a leather vest with some extra fancy silver Concho buttons. It seemed a little odd, because he was also wearing a celluloid collar and a tie. The others all wore wool vests. They had shunned collars, ties and jackets, as the day was starting to heat up. The youngest appeared to be a man of about twenty years old, or so.

  I figured the man with the fancy vest was probably Henry Thorndyke. He spoke up.

  “Howdy, mister, we’re here to see Joe Holden.”

  I decided to go with the Deputy Watson act.

  “I see. Do you have an appointment?”

  They looked at each other and shifted around on their horses a little. The youngest one snickered.

  “No. We don’t need an appointment. You go inside and tell him Henry Thorndyke and his brothers are here.”

  I made a show of thinking about it and then I shook my head.

  “He’s not seeing visitors today. You might try coming back tomorrow.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are,” Henry asked.

  I smiled again.

  “I’m John Everett Sage, the Sheriff of Alta Vista County.”

  They looked back and forth at each other for a moment.

  Henry addressed me.

  “My foreman said you’d come by the headquarters, looking for me. What are you doing here?”

  “Here in town, here on the porch, or here at the Sheriff’s office?”

  He was getting very angry now.

  “Mister, I’m tired of talking to you. Bring Sheriff Holden out here, right now!”

  He started to get off his horse.

  “Stop, you stay right where you are.” I lifted the muzzle of the ten gauge.

  He froze for a second and then eased back into his saddle.

  Before he could say something stupid, I got right to the point.

  “I’m in charge here now. I’ve arrested your father on five charges of conspiracy to commit murder. We have him locked up inside.”

  They looked back and forth at each other, again.

  “Mister, do you really think you can stop us from taking you down,” Henry asked.

  I cocked both barrels of the ten gauge, aimed it straight at his face, and whistled.

  “It’s up to you, Henry,” I said.

  From across the street, there was the sound of rifles cocking. The Thorndyke’s looked back over their shoulders. Buckskin Charlie and Ed were standing on each side of the roof of the courthouse. They had their rifles up and aimed at the Thorndyke boys. They were only about twenty yards away.

  “If you decide to try to take me down, Henry, I’ll blow your head clean off. My men across the street will kill your brothers. You might get me, but either way, you’ll be dead, in about one second.”

  They looked at each other again.

  “We’ll come back here with more men and guns, and we’ll see who kills who,” Henry said.

  “Did I mention we have your dad locked up inside. We can kill him whenever we feel like it. If you come back here and try to bust him out, he’ll die and most or all of you, will die in the fight. What ya’ll want to do now is leave. Go somewhere else and spend a little time thinking about that.”

  He sat right where he was, and thought about it, for a moment.

  “I guess we’ll see you around. You’ve got yourself all boxed in here. You can’t leave town. You’ll never get him to trial in this county. The judge will throw out the charges.”

  He turned his horse, his brothers turning to follow him. As they rode by me, the youngest, Homer Thorndyke, grinned at me.

  “In the meantime, maybe we’ll pay a little visit to your family,” he smirked.

  39.

  As the Thorndyke’s rode away, I felt weak in the knees. I eased the hammers down on the ten gauge. My hands were shaking.

  Buckskin Charlie and Ed climbed down the ladder on the side of the courthouse and came running over.

  “Well, that went according to plan. I still say we should’ve locked them up with their father. We’ll have problems with them, sooner or later,” Buckskin Charlie said.

  “We don’t have anything to charge them with. We can’t lock them up to prevent a crime. I don’t even have jurisdiction in this county. At this point I’m not sure what our standing is. I’m afraid Henry Thorndyke is right. We’ll never see Herman Thorndyke face a jury in this county. Even if he does, that jury will be handpicked by the prosecutor and his defense attorney. I’ll bet Thorndyke owns every official in this town.”

  We went back into the office. Bob was there, with his shotgun.

  “I was covering you from the window,” he said. “They could see me, but you couldn’t.”

  “Thanks boys. That was very good work. I’m sorry I got y’all into this mess.”

  “Heck, Sheriff, it just comes with the job,” Ed said.

  I thought about it. Ed was right. A career in law enforcement put you in harm’s way. I knew Lora was struggling with exactly that issue. Each of these men had families somewhere. Every day they wondered if they would ever see their loved one’s again.

  I was also thinking about Homer Thorndyke’s threat. Maybe I was better off not having anyone in my life. My whole family was in California and few people here even knew who my family was. They were safe enough.

  On the other hand, Lora was here and she was vulnerable.

  I was responsible for her safety. What if someone went after her, because of me?

  Then I remembered the scripture:

  “…For I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of peace, love, and a sound mind.”

  There was nothing good that could come from imagining all the horrible things which could happen. A man has to deal with the things that are happening. No point in worrying.

  We trust God for the future, and “a very present help in time of need.” I hav
e to live my life with confidence, not in fear of imaginary issues.

  Help came that afternoon. U.S. Marshal, Maxwell Warren and two deputies came to the jail. They had departed Denver by train to Bear Creek, the day they got the telegram from Hugh Lomax. I explained the situation to them. We discussed the possibility of moving the men to Alta Vista County.

  “John, as County Sheriff of Alta Vista County, you have every right to arrest them for the shooting of William Courtney. The other murders will be additional charges. They should stand trial in Alta Vista County. The security in Bear Creek would be much better, and the Thorndyke boys would have to travel all the way there, if they want to cause any trouble. They wouldn’t find many friends when they got to Bear Creek, either. Those reasons are precisely why your prisoners would get a fair trial in Alta Vista County. Nobody really knows them there,” Marshal Warren concluded.

  “It’s a two day ride to get to Bear Creek. The Thorndyke’s could try to take their dad from us, somewhere along the road,” Ed said.

  Max shook his head.

  “Not likely, son, there are seven of us lawmen altogether. If they were stupid enough to attack us, we could handle them, and Mr. Thorndyke might be killed in the process.”

  “OK, that settles it then, we’ll take them to Bear Creek just as soon as our wounded man can travel,” I said.

  “When will that be?” Max asked.

  “The doc will be along to see him most anytime now, we’ll find out then.”

  Joe Holden had improved a lot over the last couple of days. He was sitting up in his cell and able to eat and drink. He had no shirt because the doctor had cut it off, and the doctor came and changed his bandages every day. Holden couldn’t have put on a shirt if he wanted to. He sat wrapped in a blanket.

  “Can he travel, Doc?”