Blood Red Star

by Shorty Gunn

  Blood Red Star

  Cort Keller and his gang are on the run after a successful robbery, but a posse led by Marshal Nate Whitman, aided by his Crow Indian friend Little Hawk, are closing in on them. Cort goes to the house of his cousin Coy Brandon, ex-outlaw turned family man, for help. But when Coy is gunned down, and the Keller gang starts to fall apart, Cort is forced to reconsider his way of life if he is to survive.

  By the same author

  Showdown in Badlands

  Blood Red Star

  Shorty Gunn

  ROBERT HALE

  © Shorty Gunn 2017

  First published in Great Britain 2017

  ISBN 978-0-7198-2197-4

  The Crowood Press

  The Stable Block

  Crowood Lane

  Ramsbury

  Marlborough

  Wiltshire SN8 2HR

  www.bhwesterns.com

  Robert Hale is an imprint of The Crowood Press

  The right of Shorty Gunn to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him

  in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  Chapter One

  The narrow cliff-side trail was barely visible under the fading glow of moon-down as the first promise of dawn began coloring the eastern horizon behind stony peaks. The noisy clattering of horses’ hoofs revealed shadowed images of four riders reaching the rim trail all but lost behind a thin screen of scraggy junipers, clinging precariously to the steep drop-off. The men pushed their horses and themselves double hard all night fighting through thick brush and downed pines until the lead rider, Cort Keller, reined to a stop at the trail head. Twisting in the saddle, he talked low and fast.

  ‘Red, you stay here and watch our back trail for at least an hour. I think we lost that posse in the dark, but you never know for sure. Even Nate Whitman can’t track at night. Neither can that Indian kid who rides with him. If you see any lantern light coming, get kicking and follow us fast to Janesville. We’ll head for Bluestone ranch to get fresh horses at Coy’s if we have to. If you don’t bring bad news, we can stay there and rest a few days before moving on.’

  ‘Why me?’ Red, whose bible name was Rodney and something he hated, barked back. ‘That’ll just leave me stuck here like fish bait while you three make tracks!’

  ‘Just do it. I don’t have time to argue about it now. We’ll be at Coy’s by late afternoon. Either way you won’t be more than an hour behind us. I hope you bring good news when you catch up.’

  The three riders led by Cort Keller, cousin Wic Casner and gang member Tyge Fan, started their horses down the dangerous trail while Red sat in the saddle muttering to himself watching them ride past.

  ‘Good luck, Red,’ Wic called out.

  Fan, last in line, decided to needle Red as was his usual habit. He liked agitating Red’s short fuse temper. ‘You keep a sharp eye out, Red. We don’t want Whitman to get any closer to us than he was back in New Hope, all right?’

  ‘If you’re so dang worried about it, why don’t you stay here and watch for him your own self!’

  ‘I can’t. Your brother said that’s your job and he’s the boss, ain’t he?’

  Red didn’t answer this time. Cort was the leader for sure, even if he was his younger brother. He always carefully planned the robberies insisting no one get killed unless there was no choice and some fool decided to be a hero going for a gun. When the sound of horses’ hoofs on slab rock faded away, Red eased out of the saddle and climbed a rocky outcrop nearby that gave him an expansive view of rolling hill country that the gang had spent most of the night fighting their way through. He sat trying to get comfortable gazing back at the still murky image of endless cross-cut canyons cloaked in brushy cedars and jack pines. Cort had to be right. No one could track even four riders through those tangles in the dark. The more time he spent staring at it, the more he became convinced they had to be in the clear. Nothing showed. No bird sang. Only the sound of a waking coyote howling far-off broke the eerie silence. Red relaxed, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. The pocket watch ticking loudly in his vest seemed to make the minutes drag by even slower. He sat and stared until he’d had enough. It had to be close to an hour by now. He stood, stretching out the kinks, anxious to leave, taking one more long look before saddling up.

  Suddenly, right at the limit of vision, he thought he saw the tiniest flicker of distant lantern light. It blinked on then off for several seconds as his heart skipped a beat of fear. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. He squinted harder, holding his breath. There it was again, this time a bit clearer. The posse was somehow still following them, night or not. Nate Whitman, the United States Marshal out of New Hope, was true to his reputation as a dogged tracker who never gave up. The Keller gang had robbed a US Mail coach the previous day of twelve hundred dollars in payroll money for cavalry troops stationed at Indian Wells. Not only had they been successful, but this time done so robbing a government carrier. That meant not only was Nate Whitman determined to run them down, but also federal authorities might use horse soldiers to pursue them. If caught, they’d all rot in federal prison for twenty years. Red watched the dancing lanterns only a minute longer. He’d seen all he needed or wanted to. Abandoning his rocky perch he climbed into the saddle, urging his horse down the slippery cliff trail. He had to catch up to Cort fast to tell him they were all still in big trouble, whether he liked it or not.

  Where the trail bottomed out, it wound through scattered pines and willows angling farther east. Sometimes it was as easy to follow a game trail, used by wandering elk and mule deer. At others, it led across hard slab rock showing almost no sign at all. Keller and the rest of his men had used this escape route before traveling west to hide out at scattered ranches of friends. He let his horse out at a steady, ground-eating gallop dodging sharp pine snags, with Wic and Fan right behind him. His mind was still on Red, wondering what he’d seen. Was Whitman still on their trail, or had they shaken him in their wild ride through the night. He wouldn’t shake that question until Red caught up to tell them if they were in the clear or not.

  Two bulging canvas sacks with ‘US Government’ written across them in bold black letters were buckled in his saddle-bags. Even without time for a count, Cort knew it would be a big payday for all four of them. As he rode ahead, the first rim of bright morning sun peeked over the craggy tops of Ceremonial Mountain, the old Indian encampment where the Crows came to worship Sun Gods, gathering every year at the beginning of spring. For now, Cort knew they were in the lead covering ground fast. That, at least, made him ride easier. He glanced back over his shoulder. Wic and Fan were still right there, staying close behind him. He slapped at the saddle-bags, flashing a quick smile. They were in the money and running free. It felt good.

  Nate Whitman made his name as an uncompromising, hard nosed lawman who never gave up on anyone he was following. In the vast, unmapped stretches of the northern Rock Mountains, there was no law and no God west of Kansas. That wild land was every man for himself dispensing his own kind of justice either good or bad. Whitman, badge on his chest, felt it was his calling as a US Deputy Marshall, to enforce the law regardless of circumstances of time, distance, or danger. If it took him two weeks or two months to run down someone, he was willing to stay on it until successful. Although his home was in New Hope, he could and did travel far and wide tracking down men who thought they’d left any semblance of law far behind, only to look up from a flickering campfire or in some cow town bar, to see Whitman standing there stone-faced, six-gun drawn, ordering them to lift their hog leg out and drop it.

  Tall, lanky to the point of looking almost skinny, he wore a tan wide-brimmed, high top hat with a deep crease right down the middle. His narrow, weathered face
sported a big handlebar mustache peppered brown and silver suggesting his age. Whitman wore his six-gun high on his hip and always carried a Winchester lever rifle for a backup.

  At various times he deputized other men to help form a posse, but did most of his tracking either alone or with the help of a young Mountain Crow lad he’d saved when just a child from a cavalry massacre of his tribe. The cavalry caught Black Antelope, chief of the Crows, right at dawn in their summer camp of over fifty teepees, attacking and killing men, women and even children as they stormed the encampment. Whitman found the six-year-old running for his life. He scooped him up, taking him to be raised on his ranch outside of New Hope. Now the young Indian had grown into his early twenties. Whitman named him Little Hawk, because of the circumstances he’d found him in. Whatever his true Crow name was he never asked or learned. The young man had inherited his keen, natural ability to track down men, white or brown, from his Crow ancestors. He and Whitman made a deadly team because of it.

  It was admittedly a strange mix to see crusty, older Nate Whitman, over six feet tall, always accompanied by his shorter dark-skinned partner wearing white man’s clothes, long black braids running down his back, his wide brimmed cowboy hat with a white-tipped eagle feather stuck in the band. If it seemed odd or funny to see the pair walking down the street in New Hope, no one dared bring it up when Whitman could hear them. They knew better.

  The sun was well up when the lawman led his posse of ten men up on to the cliff rim before pulling to a stop. Nate only had to nod at tracks in the dust before Little Hawk got down, walking in a slow circle as his keen eyes studied the story written in dirt, while the rest of the men, still mounted, watched. When finished he looked up at the marshal.

  ‘Four white men stop here. One stays behind before following. They go before sun up.’

  ‘How can that kid know all that from a few tracks?’ one man scoffed. ‘What did they do, write down the time they left and how many they were? That’s just Indian mumbo jumbo.’

  Whitman turned to the man and his tired band of riders with a scowl. ‘If Little Hawk says four men, it’s four men. Can any of you read these tracks better? If you can’t, keep your mouth shut and try to learn something!’

  ‘Listen, Nate,’ another pleaded. ‘We’ve been riding all night busting our backs and we’re no closer to that bunch now than we were back in New Hope. I’ve got a business to open this morning for God’s sake. I can’t keep on riding like you and that kid. I know some of the others feel the same way. If you’re going any farther, you’ll have to do it without me. You’re getting paid for this. We’re not.’

  ‘Thomas is right,’ a second man spoke up, pushing his hat back on his sweaty brow. ‘I’ve got a wife and three kids to think about. We tried to help you out. We could have gotten shot or even killed if things went wrong. Think about that, too, Nate.’

  The marshal eyed the riders circling around him with obvious contempt. He took in a slow breath trying to stay calm, looking at each man before speaking. ‘If this stolen money hadn’t come from the cavalry but from you or one of your businesses, would you still quit and run for home like a bunch of schoolboys? Even worse, what if the Kellers had taken the bank and cleaned out every dime leaving everyone in town flat broke? Would you all still be so worn out you can’t ride another mile?’

  ‘Wait a minute, Nate. That’s not fair. We stuck our necks way out all night long because you asked for help. At least give us some credit for that. We’re not gunfighters or a lawman like you. You ought to remember that.’

  ‘I’ll tell you what,’ Whitman straightened up in the saddle. ‘All of you turn your horses around and head back home. You’re no good to me thinking you’re doing me or yourself a favor. This bunch I’m after is likely to be the Kellers, from the description I got from the coach driver. If it is, they’ll run long and hard. I can see none of you have the grit for it. I’ll be better off without you.’

  ‘You mean just the two of you are going to keep after them?’ Thomas questioned.

  ‘That’s exactly what I mean. I’m wasting time now talking about it. When you get back to town tell my deputy Fulton, he’s in charge until I return.’

  ‘When do you think that will be?’

  ‘I don’t know yet. Little Hawk and I are going on a fast ride to see if we can catch up to them. It could be another two or three days. Now head for home like I said.’

  Whitman and Little Hawk sat in their saddles watching the men pull their horses around starting away. The kid was first to comment in his half English lingo.’White men care too much for their skin. My people never live by clock.’

  ‘I’m a white man. You see me doing that?’ Nate responded. ‘They’re just merchants and family men. I shouldn’t have expected to get much more out of them than I did.’

  ‘You different. You like Indian. You live outside on horse, ride far.’

  ‘Yes, I guess you’re right, Little Hawk. I’ve been that way since I was a boy. Let’s get moving on these tracks and see if I’m right about the Kellers making them.’

  Coy Brandon was at his Bluestone ranch standing next to the corral watching his son Colin trying to break a new rank horse he’d purchased in Janesville. The frantic animal bucked and leaped squealing loudly trying to throw the kid off its back, but he stuck like glue through sudden turns and twists before the horse launched itself back into the air.

  ‘Stay on him, Colin!’ Coy shouted encouragement, proud to see his son able to handle the frantic animal so skillfully. At fourteen Colin was already big for his age, nearly as tall at his father. His love for horses was only natural, growing up on the Wyoming Territory mountain ranch with Coy’s penchant for buying and selling horse stock along with a few head of cattle he raised.

  Neither the Brandon nor Keller families were born or raised in the territory. Their parents were originally from Tennessee, where they were farmers, raised hogs and horses, and where both were involved fighting for the Confederacy during the last brutal, bloody years of the Civil War. After the war ended, with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in 1865, an invasion nearly as bad as the war itself began. Northern carpetbaggers swept into a largely defenseless South, looting, ransacking and robbing personal items from farms and families. Horses, cattle, even the farm land and homes were often taken. Some owners were savagely beaten for information on whether or not family members were still fighting by joining small bands of renegade riders harassing Union supply lines and even killing Northern soldiers.

  As young teenagers who had seen their families and homes destroyed, Cort, Red and Coy rode with some of those Southern raiders. When nothing was left but to flee the South, both families moved west, first into Kansas. After several years they picked up again moving farther north into Wyoming Territory to get away from relentless persecution. The territory was wild, wide open, lightly peopled. The war had little presence or affect there except in newspapers.

  Bitter memories of the war and the Southern invasion that followed were never forgotten by the three young men now in their mid-twenties. The robbery of the US pay wagon by Cort was just another act of revenge against a federal government he’d grown up to hate. Cort and Red had yet to marry, though both owned small plots of land and the sketchy beginnings of ranches near each other they hoped to build. Coy had on certain occasions ridden with his cousins on several earlier robberies. Now married and building a ranch while raising three young children, he’d stopped that wild and dangerous life at the pleading from his wife, Angelina. However he was still always willing to help his blood kin, offering fresh horses and even a hideout for a few days when they were on the run. He knew it could put him in jeopardy if caught, but his strong ties ran too deep to ignore.

  By now Colin had the wild little mare finally worn down to running around the corral with only an occasional jump thrown in. ‘She’s ours now, Dad,’ he smiled, riding by. ‘One more time and she’ll be ready to sell.’

  ‘You did g
ood!’ Coy called out after him, turning from the pole-lined enclosure to see three riders emerging from dark timber across the meadow. He immediately recognized Cort in the lead. His big chestnut brown horse with a white blaze on its chest was a dead giveaway. Wic and Fan rode close behind him. Coy glanced at his large log house to see if Angelina was either outside or at the window. She wasn’t. He thought it best. She wouldn’t have time to get upset by Cort suddenly showing up.

  ‘Feel like a little company?’ Cort shouted, pulling to a stop and getting down.

  ‘Any time, you know that.’ They both shook hands before slapping each other on the back. ‘You and those horses of yours look a little worn down. You aren’t running from someone are you?’ Coy half-kidded, pretty certain he already knew the answer.

  ‘Yeah, we had to do a little night riding. You remember how much fun that is, don’t you?’

  ‘I sure do, if you want to break your neck and a horse’s leg too. Who do you think might be coming behind you?’

  Cort’s half smile faded. ‘Red will be here first, maybe in an hour or so. I left him to watch the back door, then catch up to us. Behind him I’m not sure yet. It might be Nate Whitman, and some hick town posse.’

  Coy turned serious. So did his words. ‘Whitman isn’t some hick town sheriff, you know that. If it is him he won’t turn back come hell or high water, as long as he has a track to follow. He takes that badge of his real serious. So should you. If he’s the one, that’s bad company.’

  ‘I know that. That’s why I left Red back there to be sure. When he catches up I’ll know what we have to do.’

  ‘If it is Whitman and that Indian kid of his, I might have to ask you to clear out a lot sooner than I’d like to. At least you know you can change to fresh horses.’