Texas Vigilante

by Bill Crider

  There hadn’t been anything fun about the noises she’d heard, either. She was sure they’d been gunshots, but she was afraid to ask Angel about them. She was afraid of what he might say, because she knew that something was very wrong.

  She had always liked her uncle when he visited in the past, but she could tell that her mother and father were uncomfortable when he was around. They never said so, but Laurie sensed that they were. Now she was beginning to think that she knew why, and what she thought was scaring her a little bit.

  She wasn’t going to tell Angel what she thought, however. She didn’t want him to know she was afraid.

  Besides, she told herself, she wasn’t afraid, not really afraid. Her father wouldn’t want her to be afraid, and neither would her mother and Miss Ellie.

  “Are we going back home after the picnic?” she asked.

  “Not right after,” Angel said. “We’re going to camp out for a while. You’ll like it. We’ll have us a real campfire and sleep out under the stars.”

  “I don’t like sleeping out under the stars,” Laurie said, though she really had no idea what it would be like. She’d never slept outside before. Riding behind her uncle through the darkness hadn’t been fun, however, and she didn’t think anything would be fun with him around.

  There had been a time when she liked him. He’d tried to please her and made her laugh. But he seemed different now, different in a way that Laurie couldn’t explain but that she didn’t like at all.

  “I don’t much care whether you like it or not,” Angel said, and there was something hard and cold in his voice that Laurie had never heard there before. “You’re going to do what I tell you, and that’s all you need to worry about.”

  “Don’t worry, little honey,” Hoot said. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

  “You can keep your mouth shut,” Angel told him.

  Laurie looked at Hoot, who seemed to want to say something, but who laughed instead and rode on ahead of them. He started singing again.

  Laurie closed her eyes and promised herself that whatever happened, she wasn’t going to cry.

  Nothing about what had happened made sense to Jephson. He’d tried to let Abilene Jack convince him that Angel was after money, though he’d never really believed it. Now Abilene Jack was dead, and it didn’t make a damn bit of difference what either of them believed.

  Nevertheless Jephson wished that Jack were there to talk to. He’d like to ask him what he thought was going on. Jephson had tried and tried to figure it out, but no matter how he put the parts together, nothing fit right.

  They’d left Ft. Worth and ridden down to Blanco, where Angel’s sister lived. Angel kept telling them that he wanted to visit his family, but when they’d arrived at the ranch where she was living, Angel changed his story. Now he said that he was going to steal his sister’s daughter.

  When Jephson had asked why, Angel had said, “Because I want to, and because she’ll know it was me that took the kid, that’s why.”

  It wasn’t any kind of an answer as far as Jephson was concerned.

  “I think you ought to tell us more than that,” he said.

  “Remember Hob Bowman?” Angel said. “And how I told you that one day I’d get back at him?”

  Jephson said that he remembered. He wasn’t likely to forget Hob Bowman.

  “Well,” Angel told him, “it took me a while, but I did what I said. And now I’m gonna do it to my sister. Nobody can treat me the way she did and get away scot-free.”

  Jephson could understand that Angel wanted revenge, but he didn’t like the idea of being dragged in on it. It was bad enough that they’d killed Bowman and the others. This looked to be even worse. But he didn’t see what he could do about it. He’d gotten in too deep to back out now.

  Angel had watched the place where his sister lived for a few hours, and when he’d worked out a plan, he told them what he wanted them to do. Jephson hadn’t understood that, either.

  “I don’t care whether you understand it or not,” Angel told him. “You just do what I tell you, and we’ll get along fine. If you don’t want to do it, light a shuck on out of here. I sure as hell don’t need you.”

  At that point Jephson had shut his mouth. He’d still thought he needed Angel, whether Angel needed him or not. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

  And now there was something else he didn’t like: leaving Jack back there hadn’t been right. Maybe Jack was dead, but maybe he wasn’t. They didn’t know that for sure. They should at least have tried to see if there was anything to be done for him, but Angel wouldn’t hear of it.

  Jephson was a little ashamed that he’d let Angel bully him like that. He could have ignored him, but he was afraid to, so Jack was still back there, dead or alive, and Jephson didn’t have him to talk to anymore.

  And later he’d overheard Hoot asking Angel about what happened in the house. There’d been a shot fired, but Angel wouldn’t talk about it. Jephson wondered if someone had been killed. What if it was the girl’s mother or father? That was the kind of thing Angel would like, all right. It would fit right in with his idea of getting back at somebody.

  There were a couple of other things bothering Jephson as well. He didn’t like it that they’d taken the girl, and he didn’t like lying to her about some picnic.

  It wasn’t as if the girl meant anything to him, Jephson told himself. But the way Hoot kept looking at her scared him. He’d seen a starving coyote look at a dead rabbit that way once.

  And Jephson didn’t like the tone of Angel’s voice when he talked to the girl. It didn’t sound like the way an uncle talked to his close kin. It sounded more like an executioner talking to a condemned prisoner.

  Jephson looked around him. He’d never been in this part of the state before, and it was mighty pretty country, especially early in the morning with the sun reddening the sky in the east. It would have been even prettier if he’d been in a mood to enjoy it, which he wasn’t.

  It didn’t look like farming country. It was just too rocky, but there were trees all around, pecan, elm, hackberry, and even some walnut. He’d seen a few deer back in the trees at just about dawn, and there were rabbits and armadillos all around. But there wasn’t any sign of a town. They’d skirted Blanco and left it behind them hours ago. Jephson wondered just where in the hell they were going and what Angel was planning to do.

  He rode up beside Angel, leading the mule that Abilene Jack had been riding, and said, “Where are we headed for this picnic of yours?”

  “Where are we headed?” Angel said. “You probably won’t believe me when I tell you.”

  “Try me.”

  “Church,” Angel said. “We’re goin’ to church.”

  TWENTY

  The Ranger arrived just as Shag Tillman was finishing his breakfast. He was a big man with black hair and even blacker eyes. His skin was brown as saddle leather.

  Shag stood and greeted him.

  “Glad to meet you, Marshal,” the Ranger said. “My name’s Brady Tolbert.”

  It was a wonder how a good meal could change a man’s outlook on things. Shag was feeling mighty good now, not worried at all about what was going to happen.

  He felt even better as he shook hands with the Ranger. There was something about a big man with a badge that he’d carved himself out of a silver ten-peso piece that made you feel like everything was going to turn out just fine.

  Shag’s good feeling didn’t last long, however. That changed after he’d explained the situation and the Ranger said that he wanted to see his brother.

  “Your brother?” Shag said.

  “Like I said, my name’s Brady Tolbert. When I met your deputy in town, he said that a man named Lane Tolbert had been shot out here. Lane’s my brother.”

  “Damn. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know. I should’ve guessed from your name.”

  “No reason to feel bad about it. Just tell me where he is, and how he’s doing.”

  “I’ll just take you to him,�
� Shag said.

  Lane was still sleeping. Harry Moon was sitting in a chair by the bed. He had the chair tilted on its back legs, with his feet up on the window frame. He was chewing tobacco and looking out the window.

  Shag told Harry the Ranger’s name and said, “That’s his brother.”

  Harry thumped the chair down on all four legs, stood up, and shook hands with Brady. Then he worked his chew around so that he could talk.

  “Your brother’s doin’ pretty good. Might have a little fever, but not as much as you’d think. He’s a strong man. He’ll get through this just fine.”

  “What about a doctor?”

  “Don’t have one in Blanco,” Shag said. “We used to, still do, I guess you could say, but only in a manner of speakin’. He got to likin’ his own medicine so much that he’s not much use to anybody. Just lies around in a daze most of the time.”

  “A doctor couldn’t do anything more for your brother than I’ve done,” Moon said. “Miss Ellie and I took good care of him.”

  Brady looked at the neat bandage and hoped that Moon was right. Well, he couldn’t do anything about it right now, other than hope for the best. Like Moon had said, Lane was a strong man, and he was on his own for the time being. Brady had other problems to deal with.

  From what the marshal had told him, Angel Ware and two of his men were on the loose with Brady’s niece, and Sue and the woman who owned the ranch had gone after her. Now he was going to have to go after all of them. He told Tillman that they’d need a posse.

  “You can go back to town and get it together while I talk to the folks here a little bit more,” Brady told him. “I’ll meet you in town, and then we can ride out.”

  “I thought all you Texas Rangers liked to work alone,” Shag said.

  “Sometimes we do, but not when we’re going up against three known killers with a hostage. And not when two women are out there on the trail looking for the killers. God knows what might happen to them if they actually catch up to Angel Ware.”

  Shag started to say that he didn’t think anything was going to happen to them because Ellie Taine could take care of herself just as well as any man. He also thought about saying that if anybody was in trouble, it was Angel Ware, but he didn’t. The Ranger might think he was joking.

  “I might better stay in town,” he said. “Those old boys might circle around and come back here.”

  “You can leave your deputy in charge,” Brady said. “I don’t think you have to worry about Angel coming back.”

  Shag could see that it wasn’t likely he was going to be able to get out of doing his job, but he gave it one more try.

  “I’m not sure how many men I can round up for a posse. There’s not a lot of folks living in Blanco. They all got jobs to do.”

  “We don’t need many men. Maybe some of the ranch hands would ride with us.”

  “How many men you need?” Harry asked.

  “Two or three’s plenty. I don’t like riding with too many men. Too many things can go wrong.”

  “Well, then,” Harry said. “There ain’t no need for Shag to go back into town. We got that many men right here. I’ll go, and I’ll bet Fred’ll want to go along soon as the boys get back from buryin’ that fella Miss Ellie killed. We all think a whole lot of Mr. Tolbert, and we’d like to set things right for him if we can.”

  “Who’s going to stay with my brother?” Brady asked.

  “Juana can sit with him. She keeps house and cooks for Miss Ellie, and she can take care of your brother as good as I could. Maybe better.”

  Shag knew he was whipped. There was no way he was going to get out of going after those killers, so he might as well make the best of things.

  “That’s settled, then,” he said to Brady. “You can ask your questions, and as soon as Fred gets back we can get on the trail. I’ll see if Juana can spare us some supplies.”

  “See if she’ll fix us some of those hot tamales of hers,” Moon said. “I dearly love those hot tamales with beans.”

  “I’m not askin’ her for any special favors,” Shag told him. “If you want hot tamales, you’ll have to ask for ’em yourself.”

  “I’ll just do that,” Harry said. “And I’ll send her on out here when she’s done.”

  “Fine,” Brady said. “Let me have a few minutes with my brother, and than I’ll be ready. Since you and this Fred fella are going along, I won’t have to question anyone here. I can find out what I need to know as we ride.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Moon said.

  He went outside, and Shag followed him.

  “What do you think of that Ranger?” Shag asked when they were nearing the house.

  “Looks like he can take care of hisself to me. I’ll be proud to ride with him.”

  “I guess I will, too,” Shag said.

  He didn’t really mean it, though. The only place he wanted to ride was straight back to Blanco. He was pretty sure that if he went after the men who’d shot Lane Tolbert and stolen his daughter, he might never ride back to Blanco again.

  He wiped sweat off his upper lip and said, “Those fellas never thought twice about shootin’ Mr. Tolbert, did they.”

  “Hell, no,” Moon said. “I doubt they thought about it once. Folks like that don’t think. They just do.”

  That’s my trouble, Shag thought. I spend to much time thinkin’ about what’s goin’ to happen to me. Maybe if I could think less, I could do more.

  “You reckon you’re gonna be able to talk Juana out of any of those hot tamales?” he asked.

  “You never can tell,” Moon said.

  Brady looked down at his sleeping and feverish brother.

  “I’ll see what I can do about gettin’ your wife and daughter back, Lane,” he said aloud.

  He’d heard somewhere that sometimes sick people who seemed to be asleep could hear what was being said to them and even understand it. He didn’t know whether that was so or not, but he wanted to give Lane whatever comfort he could.

  “This time, we’ll put Angel so far back in that prison, he’ll never see the light of day again, I promise you that. You’ll never have to worry about him coming around you and yours again.”

  He thought he saw Lane’s eyelids flutter as if in agreement, but that could have been just his imagination.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Ellie Taine had been doing a lot of riding since inheriting the ranch, so she was in much better shape than the last time she’d headed out to look for men who’d done her wrong.

  She remembered how it had been that time, how her blood had been boiling for revenge. The thing that bothered her about it was that revenge wasn’t all it had been cracked up to be.

  This time it was different. Ellie wasn’t after revenge. She was going after someone who’d taken someone who mattered to her.

  Maybe it wasn’t that way for Sue. Maybe Sue wanted to get back at her brother for what he’d done to her, to her husband, to their daughter. If that was the way she felt, Ellie was sure she’d change her mind before long. Sue was a smart woman, and she learned quick. She wasn’t like her brother, who still seemed to believe that revenge was something worth waiting for, worth killing for. He’d never learned the lesson that Ellie had.

  Well, he was about to, if Ellie had anything to say about it.

  “How do you know they’re headed this way?” Sue asked as they passed along a stand of hackberry and pecan trees with bright green leaves.

  Sue already looked tired to Ellie. She wasn’t as used to riding as Ellie was, and Ellie knew that the day was going to be hard on her. It was already hot, and the sun hadn’t been up much more than a couple of hours.

  “I know a little about tracking,” Ellie said. “I learned a few things from Mr. Crossland a while before he died.”

  Ellie had learned more than a little, but it wasn’t something she liked to talk about. She hadn’t told Sue much of the story, and Sue had been too polite to ask. But Ellie was sure Sue had heard most of it. People arou
nd Blanco were no different from people anywhere else. They all liked to talk.

  In fact, if Ellie knew anything about human nature, Sue had probably heard a mighty exaggerated version of what had happened, which might explain why Sue had been so ready to go with her when she proposed that they get Laurie back themselves. Sue might’ve gotten the impression that Ellie was some kind of one-woman gang.

  “Where could they be going?” Sue asked. “What’s out here?”

  “Nothing that I can think of except the river,” Ellie said. “They might be going down to San Antonio. They might even be headed for the border.”

  She was sorry the second she said it, but it was too late to take it back.

  “The border? You mean they might take Laurie into Mexico? We’d never find them there! We can’t let that happen.”

  “We won’t. We’ll catch up to them a long time before they get there.”

  “And what will we do when we catch up to them?” Sue asked, her eyes wild. “I don’t know why we did this, Ellie. We must have been crazy.”

  “We did it because we both love Laurie, and we didn’t have anybody else to do it, that’s why. We aren’t crazy.”

  “We should have sent for the marshal. He would have known what to do.”

  “Shag Tillman?” Ellie said. “He barely knows how to saddle a horse.”

  She realized that she wasn’t being fair. Shag was a good man, and he wanted to do the right thing. It was just that he didn’t want to risk getting hurt while he was doing it, and that was an attitude that Ellie didn’t understand.

  If you got hurt, what did it matter, as long as you were doing the right thing? And she knew they were doing the right thing.

  “I should have made you wait for the Ranger,” Sue said, apparently forgetting that she was the one who’d questioned whether the Ranger would ever arrive. “We’re just two women. What can we do?”

  “You might be surprised.”

  “I’ve heard the stories about you,” Sue said, confirming Ellie’s suspicion. “But I’m not like you. I can’t do the kind of things you did.”