Blood on the Verde River

by Dusty Richards

“Nothing.”

  “I will see that you get some reward.” Leroy shook his head as if still in a daze. “That smiling Mexican boy who found me said, ‘You’re free.’ I hugged him. He must have thought I was crazy.”

  “Jesus knew. We’ve been coming for weeks. Glad you’re all right.”

  “Food’s ready,” Jesus called.

  Chet caught Evans by the collar and set him on his feet, then the other boy.

  Cole came back with his prisoner who was untied. “We have all them loaded and saddled. We still need to hitch the buggy.”

  “I think Leroy will ride in it with her to Honey Grove,” said Chet.

  “Fine, but we are close to ready anyway.”

  “I want Evans tied in a chair. He tries anything, we shoot him.”

  “I can do that.”

  “You hear me?” Chet asked the gagged outlaw, who nodded.

  The table was covered with plates of pancakes, a big kettle of oatmeal, and a stack of hot biscuits.

  “All we had,” Kathrin said, and held her palms up for them.

  “We can eat it. Anyone who doesn’t drink coffee, can have water,” Chet pointed out.

  After they ate, he told the two boys to wash the plates and cups, and Jesus to watch over them. Cole went to hitch the buggy.

  “Kathrin, get your things.” Chet retied Evans’s hands behind his back and put him to sit on the porch. “Don’t even think about running off. I’ll take your decapitated head back to Preskitt in a gunny sack.”

  “You won’t get away with this. I’ve got friends in Utah,” the big man threatened.

  “Keep on and I’ll gag you again.”

  She brought out a tied-up blanket full of her things. Cole had the buggy there and stepped down.

  “Kathrin, load your things. Leroy is going to ride into town with you,” Chet ordered. He turned to Leroy. “You still doing all right?”

  “Oh, I am fine, Chet. Just got some sea legs is all.”

  “I savvy.” He turned to the young cowboys. “You two boys plan to run off?”

  “No, sir.”

  “You can ride untied to town, but I won’t stand any moves to run off. We will catch you or shoot you. You won’t get away. Understand me?”

  “We won’t,” Newton promised. The other boy nodded in agreement.

  “Good. Cole, you lead Evans’s horse. You boy, get some leads from Jesus. We’ve got enough horses to start a ranch.” Chet shook his head thinking about the extra ones at Joseph’s Lake. “Kathrin, you lead the way. Go ahead. I’ll be behind you, then Cole next, leading the prisoner and then Jesus.” He nodded as they started after the moving buggy. He’d still have to consider charging her. The law, at times, could sort of overlook women who weren’t real participants in crimes. Obvious from his report, she had treated Leroy all right.

  But why was she with Evans? Maybe he’d learn on this trip home. The warm weather would not last, but they were headed home. Ten days, maybe, on the road? Maybe more. Marge, I’m coming home.

  CHAPTER 18

  The whole damn town turned out to welcome them. The street was crammed full of rigs and horses—curious men, women, and children. They filled the boardwalks and barely made room in the street to let the posse through. A hundred questions were cast at Chet.

  Finally a man wearing a star stepped in his path. “I’m Deputy Sheriff Stoney Lake.”

  “Good. I am U.S. Marshal Chet Byrnes. I have four prisoners here. Do you have jail space for tonight, sir?”

  “I will have to see your papers on these prisoners.”

  “Lake, I just arrested them. That man in the buggy, Leroy Scales, was being held captive for ransom for over a month. Now, you either jail those three men or get the hell out of my way.”

  “I’m the law here.”

  “Lake, I have federal authority over you. Either you back down or we’re going to fist city to start.” He held up his hand. “Easy Cole. I’ll handle this.”

  People began to shrink away. The postman Clark came through the crowd. “I helped this man apprehend those outlaws. He is a marshal and these are the kidnappers.”

  “That’s right. That guy there kidnapped me down in Arizona and brought me back up here,” Leroy said.

  “I’m the damn law. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Leroy sat on the buggy seat shaking his head. “How in the hell could I do that? He had me tied up.”

  The crowd laughed.

  Chet booted his roan up closer. “Stand aside, Lake. I have better things to do than listen to you all day.”

  “We’ll see about that.” But despite his threat, Lake did step aside.

  The crowd applauded Chet and his posse in passing though.

  “Jesus, go get those food things we need at the store and keep a packhorse. You can catch up later. Get ten locks and fifty feet of chain, too.” Chet stood in the stirrups to dig the money out for his man. Under his breath, he said, “I am not asking Lake for cuffs.”

  Jesus nodded. With a stern look at the deputy who stood across the street with his arms folded on his chest, he scowled in disgust at him.

  “He won’t bother you. You are a sworn posse member for the U.S. marshal service,” Chet said.

  “Good.”

  “We will go to the edge of town and wait. You take too long and I’ll be back for you. Don’t get in a gun fight with him.”

  “Sí.” Jesus took the packhorse least loaded and went to the store, hitched both horses at the rack, and went inside.

  Chet rode over and told Kathrin to drive her buggy on. She gave a serious nod and the mare stepped out. He turned up his collar on his new coat against the sharp wind. The effort covered his neck from the draft and he gave Cole a sign to ride on with the prisoners.

  “I wasn’t going to kill him,” Cole said. “Just backing you.”

  “Thanks. I didn’t want things to explode. Let’s get back to Arizona.” Chet looked from the brim of his hat to the azure blue skies for help. He still needed to make a decision about her and those two boys who were probably pressured by Evans into doing anything bad that they’d done.

  Half mile from town, they waited for Jesus on a windy ridge. They sat around eating beef jerky and washing it down with stale water. To his relief, he saw his man coming on the run. “Kathrin, he’s coming. We better get started.”

  “How far will we go today?” she asked, ready to get on the buggy seat.

  “I’d like to be out of Utah. Deputy Lake has some stake in this deal.” Chet rode in closer. “Do him and Evans have any relations?”

  She climbed on the seat. “I’m not sure enough to say.”

  “That’s fine. I just wondered.”

  On the seat, she reached for the reins and said, “Evans must have had some help getting that ranch job.”

  “Thanks.” Chet watched her drive off wondering why a deputy sheriff got so upset about a U.S. deputy marshal arresting anyone. Oh well, he might learn more before this whole thing was over.

  The faded sign nailed on two posts said ARIZONA TERRITORY BORDER. The sun was getting low and he recalled a place ahead they could camp. No water, but in the cold air the horses would be all right until they made Joseph’s Lake the next day. They’d watered them good before they’d gotten to town earlier.

  The two boys helped Jesus unload. Cole tended the horses.

  Chet set Evans on the ground off by himself with his hands tied behind his back where he could watch him, rifle cradled in his arm, and talk to Kathrin. “Tell me about those two boys.”

  She looked up to be sure no one else was in hearing distance. “They were scared to death of him the whole time. He hired them to be cowboys to run that ranch he told me he was going to manage for some guy.” She shook her head. “My damn husband married a teenage girl ’cause I could not conceive, I guess. Then he said he was also going to marry her sister so he’d have two young wives. I’m sorry but I was not going to live with him and two other teenage girls. So I left him. He didn’t car
e that I was gone. But it was tough. I had no money. I got a job as a waitress. When a single, twentysomething-year-old woman runs off, she’s a whore. Evans came along and treated me nice. Oh, he’s a really smooth liar. He brought me that buggy and mare, told me to take my things, and meet him at this ranch he was going run.

  “It sounded so nice, I did what he said. Meanwhile, he went and hired those two boys, followed Leroy down here someplace, and kidnapped him. Them boys didn’t know what they were in on either, but he told them he’d kill them and me, too, if we didn’t do what he said to do.

  “We had nothing to eat but rabbits and a deer the boys shot with a twenty-two. Then the money started to come in her letters. I bought food with it. I didn’t know anyone I trusted in town and never got to talk much with the boys—but the food I made was better than before.”

  “I may send them home,” Chet said.

  “Ask Leroy. This was all Evans deal. What about me?”

  “Leroy said you saved him from starving. My wife or a gal named Jenn in Preskitt could figure out a better life for you.”

  Busy on her knees, feeding the small fire to get it started, she looked up suspiciously at him. “Why do that for me?”

  “Because I can. I am a rancher, but I’m also a human being. I’m a very happily married man and have no desire for you as a woman, but as a human being, my heart is sad for your predicament. Tomorrow, we will pick up some more killers at Joseph’s Lake. The next week, going to Preskitt will not be pleasant, but you have your buggy and you will have privacy, I promise you.”

  She was blotting tears with a soiled rag. The fire started, she rose, “May God bless you, Chet Byrnes.”

  “He has, Kathrin. Many times. Your way will not be easy, but you will find a way out.”

  “Hug me. I am shaking. Oh, Chet, thank God.”

  He did and then she nodded. “I’ll be fine now. The boys are back.”

  Chet took the boys aside after supper. Newt McCoy was the speaker. “Harrison and I thought we had real jobs as cowboys working for him. We didn’t know about the kidnapping when we hired on, but I told Harrison late at night if he ever gets that money, Evans probably would kill all four of us. We didn’t dare run away. He said he’d cut our ears off.”

  Chet listened carefully and made his decision. “In the morning, you boys completely avoid Honey Grove and ride on home.”

  “Really?”

  “Hush. I can’t guarantee you that those horses and saddles you have are not stolen, but I will write you a note and if you get in trouble over them going back, write me at Preskitt and I’ll get you out.”

  “Oh, Marshal Byrnes, that is such good news.”

  “You boys live around Honey Grove?”

  “No sir. We live eighty miles north at Skyler.”

  “As I said, avoid going through Honey Grove.”

  Both of them nodded their heads in the dark.

  “For now, I want you two to help my boys guard. You hear anything let us know. Evans may have help around here, following us.”

  Solemn-faced in the starlight, they agreed and shook Chet’s hand. Then they went back to the fire. He had a chain and lock put on Evans’s foot, the other end locked around a juniper tree. Cole had the key. The crew built Kathrin a lean-to shelter against the north wind that reflected the fire’s heat back on top of her.

  When Chet went to sleep, he left orders to awaken him if anything happened, plus he got the last watch shift. Some time in the night, Newt woke him whispering, “We’ve got company.”

  Chet sat up, immediately awake. “How many?”

  “Three or four. Cole spotted them coming on foot from the west and we’re all up now. They ain’t Injuns. They’re wearing hats.”

  “Keep down.”

  About then, the invaders fired their guns in air. “We got you surrounded.”

  When one of the raiders fired his rifle in the air again, it gave the defenders a chance to see them. Three rifles poured fire into the intruders. The still night air was foggy with gunpowder smoke.

  “What’s happening?” Kathrin hissed.

  “Tell her, Newt.” Chet and his two men advanced through the shin-high sagebrush ready to shoot at anything that moved.

  The groans of the wounded were loud. Making certain none had rifles, Cole caught one by the arm and dragged him away, screaming, so he couldn’t get to one. Jesus listened to one of the quiet ones’ heart.

  “Don’t bother. He is dead,” he said.

  “This one is, too,” Cole said about another.

  “Newt and Harrison, over here,” Chet hollered. “Get their guns and horses. Come daylight, you boys will have to go back to Honey Grove and take them—the wounded and the dead—with you. The wounded ones would die before I could get them home with me.”

  Kathrin had a pitch torch when she came over. “One of the dead is Lake.”

  Chet frowned. “I better find some paper and write this out.”

  To whom it may concern.

  On this night, four men attacked our camp in Arizona Territory to rescue their friend, federal prisoner Evan Evans. My posse men and I resisted their attack. Two of the attackers are dead. The two wounded, I sent back to Honey Grove with Newton McCoy and Harrison Duval.

  If you have any other questions contact me in Prescott A.T.

  Sincerely yours,

  Chet Byrnes

  U.S. Deputy Marshal

  Chet handed the note to Newton.

  In the chilly morning, the two boys led the wounded back toward Honey Grove. Leaving the dead where they lay, Chet, his crew, Kathrin, Scales, and the prisoner Evans went south.

  One evening later, they were at the Joseph’s Lake trading post.

  Kimes came out and greeted them. “You must have got your man.” He tossed his head at Evans.

  “We did and the man he held is all right.” Chet pointed at Scales, then turned back to Kimes. “Do you know anyone who has a stout team of horses and a wagon they might sell?” Chet asked him.

  “I know one. Big draft horses. The wagon is not spanking new, but it is solid.”

  “Where is it?”

  “I’ll send my son to get them. They can all be here in the morning.”

  “How much does the man want for all of it?”

  “One hundred and fifty dollars. They are big black Shire horses. Six and seven years old. They are stout, but not fat. He works them hard in the log woods.”

  “Get them. I have chains and locks for the prisoners. It is still a long way to Preskitt.”

  “You’re going to buy a team and wagon?” Cole asked Chet privately, dismounting and leading his horse.

  “Yes. It will here in the morning. We have a helluva long way still to go. Chained in the wagon, they will be easier to keep an eye on.”

  “Good idea. Kimes have any trouble with them?”

  “He never said, but they might not have tried him. He’s tough,” Chet pointed out.

  Cole agreed. Jesus joined them.

  “I have a big team and wagon coming to haul the prisoners in,” Chet told him.

  “Good. The other three here?”

  “Yes. Tomorrow we will head off this mountain for the ferry. That’s two days from here or longer.”

  Both of his men agreed.

  Cole had one more thing to say. “Hey, Chet. Jesus and I have enjoyed being with you. It won’t be any picnic going home, but we’d sure ride the river with you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Hey, you three,” Leroy called out from the buggy. “It’s been a wild deal to get here, but any way I can help, I’ll do it.”

  “Kimes is sending for a big team and wagon to haul the prisoners. You ever drive a Shire team?”

  “They got hooves. I can drive them.”

  Chet smiled and looked at his men. “What about that?”

  “Wonderful,” Jesus said.

  “Yeah, thanks.” Cole shook his hand.

  “My wife’s got food cooked,” Kimes announced.
>
  “Chain Evans to that log wagon wheel and we’ll go eat,” Chet said.

  That done, everybody but Evans headed for the store-house combination.

  They filed in, washed and dried their hands, then sat down at a long rough-cut wood bench and table. The food was hot and good to the crew who’d had little variety in their meals over the past days. The venison was flavorful, the potatoes mashed. Gravy, mustard greens, and great biscuits that melted in their mouths completed the meal. Dried apple pie finished it off.

  Chet could have used a good hot cup of coffee. He wasn’t a Mormon. Oh, he could imagine a cup of rich coffee served by his wife or Monica. He missed both of them. Oh well, the road home got under way in the morning.

  Before he left, he thanked Mrs. Kimes for the dinner.

  Chet, Jesus, and Cole went to check on the Marconis in the shed. It stunk of piss and human waste. Their cold silent glares told Chet they were still mean killer dogs who, unleashed, would try for his throat.

  Evans, chained again, was put in with them. He sprawled on the ground with a blanket, his leg iron locked to a thick pole. He and the Marconis had been fed beans and bread by the Kimes’s help.

  Chet and his men put out their bedrolls in the guest cabin. The horse herd had been fed grain, hayed, and watered. When Chet laid down at last in his bedroll, his back muscles complained. All he could think was they’d soon be trudging home—not near fast enough for him.

  At dawn, he examined the big black horses who were breathing steam. They did look gaunt, but solid—ready to go.

  Leroy agreed they’d be a handful, but even with the wagon loaded with the prisoners and some saddles, it would not be a problem for the big horses. “I can drive them. What do they call them?”

  “Gill is the left one, Coby is on the right,” said the youth who’d brought them.

  Leroy thanked him.

  The prisoners were marched out, chained, and locked at the ankles. Then they were loaded by a ramp and all sat down in the bed at the same time huddled under their own blankets.

  Chet let Leroy drive out first. He was fearful the big team might run over Kathrin’s buggy if they were spooked. He waved her in next, and his two men drove the horse band out of the corral. He paid Kimes all he owed him, and for the care of the prisoners. The U.S. marshal service would repay most of it, and he could certainly find a use at the ranch for the big horses. He mounted his horse and followed the others.