Texas Vigilante

by Bill Crider

  But what if some of them were still alive, as they were likely to be, no thanks to him? If they were, they wouldn’t be thinking too highly of Shag Tillman right about now.

  That was what finally decided him. The idea of people thinking he was yellower than a cur dog proved to be even more painful to him than the thought of what might happen to him if he rode back to the church. He had to prove to them and to himself that he wasn’t as bad as they thought. That he wasn’t as bad as he thought.

  He turned his horse around.

  Brady was surprised when he heard someone calling out his name.

  “Mr. Tolbert? Who’s that you’re carryin’?”

  It was Tillman, the marshal. Brady thought he’d seen the last of him, at least for the time being.

  “It’s my sister-in-law,” he said. “She’s hurt.”

  “You gonna take her in the church?”

  “Don’t see any other place around here to take her,” Brady said.

  “Might be dangerous.”

  “Can’t help that.”

  Shag slid off his horse. “I’ll go in first.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Brady told him.

  “Yessir, I do,” Shag said.

  He slopped through the mud, pistol in hand. When he got to the church, he mounted the little stoop, drew back his leg and kicked in the door. It whined back on its hinges and hit the wall.

  “All right, you sons of bitches,” Shag said. “Here I am.”

  There was no answer from inside, and after pausing for a second, Shag stepped into the darkness.

  “You can come on in now,” he called to Brady. “I think I musta scared ’em off.”

  Brady could hear the relief in the marshal’s voice.

  “I’m sure you did,” he said.

  TWENTY-NINE

  There was noise in the church, so Ellie knew that someone was in there. But she didn’t know who it was. She hoped it wasn’t some friend of Angel.

  “Just put the girl down,” she said, “and I won’t shoot.”

  “Hell, you can shoot if you want to,” Angel told her. “Hoot here, he’d have that shotgun turned on you before I hit the ground.” He gave Ellie a cagey look. “Or maybe he’d just shoot the girl.”

  Ellie didn’t know what to say to that, and she saw that the man Angel had called Hoot was bringing the shotgun up slowly so that both barrels were pointed at Laurie. And he was smiling as if shooting her would be the most amusing thing he could think of doing right then.

  “You must be the lady that killed Abilene Jack,” Angel continued. “I wish you hadn’t done that, but I guess I can’t hold it against you.”

  “That’s right kind of you,” Ellie said.

  “My sister come with you?” Angel asked.

  Ellie wasn’t sure how to answer. Finally she said, “Yes.”

  “So she knows I have Laurie?”

  “She knows.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “I think you killed her.”

  “If she’s killed, it wasn’t me that did it. It was Hoot. He likes shooting folks. Ain’t that right, Hoot?”

  Hoot didn’t say anything. He just kept right on smiling and pointing the shotgun at Laurie.

  “Wish it had been me that killed her, though,” Angel said. “Would’ve served her right for what she did to me. She’s the one that got me sent to prison.”

  “Killing people doesn’t change anything,” Ellie said, though she’d thought it did at one time.

  “That’s your opinion, I guess,” Angel said. “And you’re welcome to it. How about Lane? He dead, too?”

  “No. You didn’t kill him.”

  “It wasn’t me that tried to. It was Abilene Jack. Too bad he didn’t finish the job. Maybe I’ll get the chance later on. But that don’t have much to do with where we are right now. And right now, looks like we have ourselves a little stand-off here. So I’m gonna be movin’ along. I don’t think you want Hoot to kill the girl, which is what he’ll do if you try to shoot me. Cinch up that saddle for me, Ben.”

  Jephson tightened the cinch, and Angel climbed on the mule, still holding Laurie’s inert form. Hoot switched the shotgun from Laurie to Ellie.

  Angel laid Laurie across his lap and said, “I’ll be leavin’ the three of you now. See you boys on down the road, assumin’ you get there. And, lady?”

  “What?” Ellie said.

  “The main reason I’m not tellin’ Hoot to shoot you right now is that I want you to deliver a message for me. If you happen to see a fella name of Brady Tolbert along the trail, tell him I’ll be lookin’ out for him.”

  “I’ll tell him. If I see him.”

  “I figgered you would,” Angel said.

  He rode off into the rain, with Jephson looking after him and Hoot still standing there the shotgun.

  Ellie was almost overwhelmed by her rage, at both Angel and herself. At Angel because he’d read her correctly and at herself because she hadn’t tried to kill him anyway.

  “I don’t know who you are, lady,” Hoot said to her, still smiling. “I don’t even give a damn about you killin’ Abilene Jack, though we celled together up at Huntsville. But all the same, I’d just as soon kill you as not.”

  “Forget it, kid,” Jephson said. “Angel wants her to deliver a message for him, remember? What we’re gonna do is leave here right now, and I don’t think this lady’s gonna try to stop us. Are you?”

  “No,” Ellie said. “I won’t try to stop you.”

  “Fine with me,” Hoot said. “Why don’t you head on out, Ben. “I’ll just wait till you’re out of range of that six-shooter the lady’s holdin’.”

  Jephson got on the mule and rode off. When his dark form had faded into the trees, Hoot said to Ellie, “I could pull this trigger right now and cut you in two.”

  “I know you could try,” Ellie told him. “But I’ve still got this pistol. Maybe I’d get you first.”

  “You might at that. But I don’t think you will.”

  Hoot turned away from her, put his foot in the stirrup, and swung up on the mule. Then he turned back to Ellie and raised his hand.

  “Maybe I’ll see you again,” he said.

  “I hope so,” Ellie said, but she didn’t mean it in a friendly way.

  Hoot knew that, and he laughed. Ellie watched him ride away, knowing that it would do no good at all to kill him. She didn’t have anything particular against back-shooting, but she didn’t want to give Angel any excuse to harm Laurie, which he might decide to do if she killed his friend.

  She stood there for a moment and let the rain run off her hat and then turned to go into the church.

  Shag Tillman opened the back door before she got there and said, “Is that you, Miss Ellie?”

  That was just like Shag Tillman, Ellie thought. Showing up right after the last chance for him to do anything had already passed by. Not that he would have done anything even if he’d showed up sooner. He didn’t have any more of a backbone than one of those nightcrawlers she’d used for catfish bait when she was a little girl.

  “It’s me, Shag,” she said. “You’re a day late and a dollar short again.”

  “We got a lot of trouble in here, Miss Ellie,” he said. “We got Sue Tolbert and Fred Willis and Harry Moon all laid out on the floor, and one of ’em’s dead.”

  Ellie was sure that Sue was the dead one, but she asked, “Which one?”

  “It’s Fred. Those sons of bitches shot him and Harry without any warnin’. Pardon my language.”

  Ellie didn’t care about his language. “But Sue’s still alive?”

  “Sure is. Got a big bump on the back of her head, though. And Harry, well, he’s shot up pretty bad, but he’s still breathin’. ”

  Ellie pushed past Shag and went into the church. Water dripped off her slicker and pooled on the floor. It was too dark to see much at all, but she could make out the three dark figures lying near the front door. And there was someone kneeling next to them.
r />   “Who’s that?” Ellie asked.

  “Texas Ranger name of Brady Tolbert,” Shag said. “He’s Lane Tolbert’s brother.”

  “I’ve heard about him,” Ellie said.

  “He found Miz Tolbert out there in the cemetery,” Shag went on. “We thought she was shot at first, but maybe she just fell of her horse and hit her head.”

  “I need to talk to her,” Ellie said. “Is she awake?”

  “I don’t know about that. She wasn’t when I went to the door. Was you talkin’ to somebody out there? I thought I heard somethin’, but I couldn’t be sure, what with all the noise the rain’s makin’.”

  Shag was right about the rain. It was pounding against the church as if it were about to come right through the walls. And some of it was streaming through holes in the roof.

  “Sue’s brother was out there,” Ellie said. “And two other men. The ones who came to my ranch last night. They had Laurie.”

  “I guess that’s why you let ’em leave.”

  “That’s why. They might’ve killed her if I hadn’t.”

  “They’re mean ’uns, sure enough.”

  “I have to tell Sue about her daughter.”

  “Go ahead,” Shag said. “I don’t know that she can hear you, though.”

  Ellie walked across the church, dripping water every step of the way. Brady Tolbert looked up when she neared him. Ellie couldn’t see him very well in the darkness, but she thought that he favored his brother, except that his face was a little more lined, his eyes a little narrower, and his mouth a little harder.

  “I’m Ellie Taine,” she said.

  “I thought you might be,” he said. “I guess the marshal told you that I’m Brady Tolbert.”

  “He told me. Angel wants you to know that he’ll be looking out for you.”

  The hard mouth smiled. It didn’t soften any when it did.

  “That sounds like Angel,” Brady said. “Does he still have Laurie?”

  “He does. I wanted to let Sue know that, and that Laurie’s all right.”

  Ellie had decided not to mention that Angel had knocked Laurie out. She didn’t want Sue to worry. Ellie was already worried enough for both of them.

  “Ellie?”

  It was Sue’s voice, faint but steady.

  “I’m here,” Ellie said.

  “I heard what you said. Thank God Laurie’s all right.”

  “I don’t think Angel will hurt her,” Ellie said, knowing that he already had.

  “I know he wouldn’t. He may not be worth much, but he wouldn’t hurt my girl.” She paused, then continued. “Even if he wouldn’t, we still have to get her back.”

  “You let me worry about that,” Ellie said. “You just rest and get better.”

  “There’s not much else she can do,” Brady said.

  “What about Mr. Moon?” Ellie asked.

  “He’s hurt bad. Got a big chunk shot out of his side, but the marshal and I got it cleaned up as best we could. Not much we could do for the other man, though.”

  Ellie thought for a moment about Fred Willis. He’d never complained about one thing he had to do on the ranch. She remembered once when a calf had kicked him at branding time. He’d had a knot on his shin as big as a cat’s head, but it never slowed him down.

  “He was a good man,” she said.

  “I’m sure he was.”

  “I’m going after Angel,” Ellie said. “He’s not going to get away.”

  “Someone has to stay here and take care of these folks,” Brady told her. “And someone should go for help. Moon’s not going to be able to ride. He’ll have to be put in a wagon and carried back to town.”

  “I can give Mr. Moon any help he needs until help gets here,” Sue said. “I’ll be fine. The marshal can ride into town and get a wagon.”

  That was a good job for Shag, Ellie thought. She surely didn’t want him tagging along with her when she went after Angel. She wished she had Jonathan Crossland with her, though. He was a man who knew what to do.

  “I’ll go after those three men,” Brady told Ellie. “It’s my job. I don’t want you getting killed.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about Ellie,” Sue said.

  She tried to sit up, but Brady put a hand on her shoulder and she lay back.

  “You just take it easy for a while,” Brady told her. “I don’t think the marshal should start back until daylight. Moon ought to be able to last it out till then.”

  “You’re damn right he’s able,” Moon said. His voice was raspy and weaker than Sue’s. “I don’t like lyin’ here and listenin’ to you talk like I’m half dead. I could still whip the lot of you with one hand tied behind me.”

  Ellie had to laugh. “Mr. Moon, you are a ring-tailed tooter.”

  “You know it,” Moon said. “You don’t worry about me, Miss Ellie. You go after those sons of bitches. You know what to do.”

  Brady Tolbert stood up. “Looks like I’m out-voted,” he said.

  “You sure as to God are,” Moon said. “You leave Shag here with us and you and Miss Ellie go after them three.”

  Brady looked at Ellie.

  “I’m ready when you are,” she said. “Soon as I can find my horse.”

  “Let’s go find it, then,” Brady said.

  THIRTY

  Hoot and Jephson caught up with Angel not far from the church. He didn’t seem to be in any hurry.

  As they got closer to the river, the trees were thicker, offering plenty of concealment, and the rain was slowing down at last. But there was plenty of other water to worry about. They could all hear the sound of the river rushing over limestone rocks.

  “How’re we supposed to cross that river?” Hoot asked shakily. “Sounds like we’ll wash away if we try.”

  Hoot didn’t want to mention it, because he didn’t like to admit it even to himself, but he was afraid of water. Not water like rainwater, but deep water, water that might get over his head and into his mouth and eyes. He wasn’t afraid of any man, no matter how big or bad. He wasn’t afraid of animals, either, not even of snakes. But he was afraid of water.

  It was all because of what had happened to him once when he was a kid. His father said that he was going to teach Hoot to swim, and they’d gone down to the creek that ran through the woods not too far from the back door of the little shack where they lived. Without a word of warning, Hoot’s father had picked Hoot up and thrown him right out into the middle of the brackish brown water.

  Hoot had sunk straight to the bottom of the creek, his hands sinking into the thick, slimy mud. He’d opened his mouth to yell for help, and the nasty-tasting water filled his throat and choked him. He’d thrashed and tried to cry out, but it was no use. He would have died right then and there if his father hadn’t waded into the creek and pulled him out.

  When Hoot had finally stopped crying, his father said, “It’s swim or sink in this world, you little bastard, and it’s all up to you which one you do. Are you ready to go again?”

  Hoot knew what would happen to him if he said he wasn’t. He could feel the razor strop cutting into his back already.

  “I’m ready,” he said, and his father threw him in again.

  Hoot knew he was going to die, but this time he didn’t fight it. He just lay in the mud and let the water flow into his mouth and nose.

  His father came for him again, but this time he carried him straight back to the house and beat him. There hadn’t been any more swimming lessons after that, and Hoot had avoided any water deeper than an inch or two for the rest of his life to this point.

  “A little water won’t hurt you,” Angel said. “We’ll find a place where it’s not so bad, and we’ll go across there.”

  Hoot didn’t say anything. He nudged the mule forward and hoped there was a bridge somewhere along the way.

  Laurie was hoping, too. She was hoping there would come a time when she could slip away from Uncle Angel again.

  She’d some to her senses not long af
ter Angel had left the church, but she’d played possum. It wasn’t easy to lie still while Angel talked about crossing some river and getting all wet, but he was resting one hand on her back, so she couldn’t try anything right then.

  She thought she had to try before they got to the river, however. She couldn’t swim at all, and the sound of the racing water was enough to discourage even someone who could.

  Laurie thought the men were riding along the river bank now, or not far from it. The sound of the water was a constant roaring. Now and then a tree branch brushed her legs.

  She heard Hoot say, “I don’t think there’s any way to cross. We better just go along like this for a while and then turn back north.”

  “I don’t want to go north,” Angel said. “I’m headin’ south.”

  “We can’t make any time in these trees,” Hoot said. “That woman’s gonna get some help and catch up with us.”

  Laurie knew the woman he was talking about must be Miss Ellie. Laurie had seen her in the trees back at the old church. She couldn’t see her very well, but she was sure it had been Miss Ellie. She hadn’t been a bit surprised. It was just like Miss Ellie to come and look for her.

  “Where’s she gonna get any help?” Angel asked.

  “We didn’t kill ever’body back there. I could hear ’em in the church while you were talkin’ to the woman.”

  “You got right sharp ears, kid,” Angel said. “Wonder why they didn’t come out and help her while she was standin’ there under the gun?”

  “Prob’ly because they didn’t hear us. Or maybe they were just too busy. They had some wounded to worry about.”

  “That could be it, all right. Well, if they want to look for us, let ’em come.”

  Laurie wondered who could have been in the church. Maybe her father had been there. He would have come after her along with Miss Ellie, all right. But Uncle Angel had said that someone was wounded. She hoped it wasn’t her father.

  “You want ’em to come,” Jephson said. “In fact, you want ’em to catch up with us. Ain’t that right, Angel?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Hoot said. “Are you crazy, Jephson? Angel don’t want anybody to catch up with us.”