Drummond Takes a Hand

by Alan Irwin

  Harding handed the glasses to Clinton.

  ‘You can see the Foster homestead, second from the left,’ he said, ‘and the men watching it. After dark they may move in a bit closer. We need to get through to the Foster house without Luke Brent knowing about it. So one of the night watchers down there needs to be put out of action, to give us room to slip through in the dark without being noticed.’

  ‘Should be easy,’ said Clinton. ‘We’ll ride into the valley after dark, and I’ll go ahead on foot, while the rest of you hang back until I’ve taken care of the man we need to capture. Then we can all ride on to the house.’

  The posse rode down into the valley an hour before midnight. The sky was overcast. Well short of the Foster homestead the posse halted, and Clinton went ahead on foot. Moving soundlessly, and bent almost double, he zigzagged in the general direction of the house, pausing frequently to look and listen. Then he froze as the sudden flare of a match a little way ahead of him, was then partially obscured as Melville, a Diamond B ranch hand standing with his back to the lawman, lit a cigarette.

  Clinton dropped down on all fours. Then he crawled silently towards the man ahead until he could see him silhouetted against the night sky, in a standing position, and with his back to the lawman. Clinton rose, and moved noiselessly up to Melville, then pistol-whipped him on the back of his head. Melville collapsed on the ground and before he came to he was gagged and his hands were tied. Then, as soon as he was able to walk, Clinton escorted him back to the other lawmen.

  The posse, taking their prisoner with them, rode slowly through the gap and approached the house. They halted well before they could be seen by the people on guard inside, and dismounted.

  In his second message to US Marshal Harper, the one which had got through, Will had suggested an exchange of signals which would identify the posse if they approached the house during the night.

  Following Will’s suggestion, Harding left the others and walked ahead for a short distance. Then he stopped and lit three separate matches at close intervals, allowing each one to burn out. When there was no response after a few minutes, he repeated the process. This time his signal was answered by an identical one given by Will, who had gone outside. Harding called out to the men behind him, and they all moved up to Will, taking the prisoner with them.

  Will took them all inside, where they were greeted, with considerable relief by the homesteaders. Harding explained the presence of Melville, who was firmly bound and placed in a small storeroom. Will then gave Harding a concise account of the attempts by the two Brents to get the homesteaders out of the valley.

  ‘I reckon we held them up a bit by doctoring their water supply,’ he concluded.

  ‘That accounts,’ said Harding, ‘for the fact that the prisoner we just brought in was doubled up a couple of times with some sort of belly trouble. We figured it was just fright.’

  ‘That’s good to hear,’ said Will. ‘We’re keeping watch, but I don’t think they’ll attack the house tonight. My guess is that they’ll do that about twenty-four hours from now. We know that Luke Brent and his gang are anxious to leave the valley as soon as possible.’

  ‘Right,’ said Harding. ‘I can see it’s a bit crowded in here, but we’d better stay inside with you for the rest of the night. Then, after daybreak, we can arrange a reception for the men from the Diamond B when they turn up.’

  ‘Those alarm wires we rigged up circling the house are still there,’ said Will, ‘but maybe they’re wise to them by now.’

  ‘We can take care of that,’ said Harding, and went on to discuss with Will and the homesteaders the strategy for countering the expected assault. Then the posse took some sleep, while the rest maintained their normal night watch for intruders.

  The rest of the night was uneventful, and just before dawn Melville was taken to the barn, and left there under guard. The lawmen remained inside during the day, out of sight of any watchers. Immediately after darkness had fallen, Harding sent Clinton out on foot to watch the approaches to the house, so that he could give advance warning of any attack, using the long signal wire which had been installed for Will’s use soon after his arrival. This had been checked by Will just before dawn.

  ‘We can count on Clinton,’ the posse leader told Will. ‘He moves like a shadow in the dark, and his sight and hearing are well above the average.’

  All the remaining men started work immediately on the excavation of five short trenches spaced around the house, at points well outside the range of vision from that building after dark. Each trench was just the right size to accommodate two men, and to allow them to fire a rifle over the top. The excavations were completed well before midnight, and timber covers, fashioned during the day, were placed over them. Then they all went into the house, taking the prisoner with them.

  In the still night air, just after midnight, Clinton heard the approaching riders when they were still some distance away. He listened to them until he was sure that it was a large group, heading in his direction. He was not far from the end of the alarm wire, and he ran back, grabbed it, and pulled hard. Inside the house a heavy poker, to which the alarm wire was tied, clattered noisily to the floor. It was a signal for the nine lawmen to make an immediate exit with their weapons and run to the five trenches, into one of which Clinton had already dropped. The timber covers were placed nearby so that they could be pulled over at a moment’s notice. Inside the house, all the firing points on the walls were manned.

  As the lawmen, peering over the tops of the trenches, caught sight of the approaching intruders, all now on foot, they pulled the covers in position. Moments later, the men in three of the trenches heard the sound of footsteps on the cover above. A few minutes later all the covers were cautiously slid aside and the lawmen looked towards the house, on which an attack had not yet been mounted.

  Eli Brent, still suffering from his injury, was not a member of the attacking force. Nor were the cook and one other hand. Everybody else was in the party, led by Luke Brent, for this final assault on the house. After dismounting, they formed a circle round the building, and moved forward to positions which were just out of sight of the defenders inside. Luke Brent and Armstrong stood by the side of the barn, which helped to shield them from the house. Armstrong removed from a bag the tied bundle of sticks of dynamite he had brought with him.

  ‘Can you throw it as far as the house from here?’ asked Luke Brent.

  ‘Sure,’ Armstrong replied. ‘It’ll drop close to the wall. Should blow a hole right through.’

  ‘Let’s get on with it, then,’ said the outlaw.

  Armstrong lit the fuse cord, which was long enough to ensure that the explosion took place at the right moment. He stepped away from the side of the barn, intending to transfer the bundle from his left to his right hand, ready for the throw.

  Standing in a trench some way behind Armstrong and Luke Trent, Harding was looking over the top in their direction. He was holding a rifle in his hands. He saw the flare of the match, followed by the characteristic light given out by a burning fuse cord. Immediately, he realized the intention of the attackers. He aimed his rifle directly at the light, then, as it was blocked by the body of the man holding it, he fired at the point where he guessed the man’s upper body would be.

  The bullet hit Armstrong in the back. He lurched forward, dropped the bundle of dynamite, and fell down on top of it, with a bullet through his heart. Frantically, Luke Brent dashed round to the back of the barn, barely reaching it before the explosion, which was the signal for the attackers to rush towards the house.

  But unaware that the building had not been breached by the explosion, they encountered an unexpected hail of fire from the defenders. Then, on turning back, they found themselves being fired on by the lawmen in their trenches. The only shelter available was the barn, the door of which had not been secured. The men who were still able to, made a dash for this building. Others, wounded in the leg, hobbled or dragged their way there. Three men, also v
ictims of the gunfire, lay motionless on the ground. When there were no targets left to shoot at, the firing by the defenders ceased.

  Inside the barn, there were no openings in the walls, apart from the door. One side wall had been damaged by the blast. The men who had taken refuge there found that five members of the attacking party were missing. These were Armstrong, Luke Brent, Garner, and two Diamond B hands. Of the men inside the barn, five had gunshot wounds in the arm or leg. The whole group was in a desperate situation. They knew that the door of the barn must be well covered by now, and any attempt to escape through it would be suicidal. Then, through a gap in the damaged wall, they heard the voice of Harding calling out to them.

  ‘My name is Deputy US Marshal Harding,’ he shouted. ‘I’m leading a posse of lawmen. You men are finished. There are thirteen guns trained on the barn. You don’t stand a chance. And you’ve got wounded men in there needing attention. There are four of your partners lying dead out here. As soon as it’s light, you’ll leave your weapons inside, come out one by one with your arms raised, and stand facing the wall of the barn. And don’t figure on trying anything foolish. After that business with the dynamite, we don’t much care whether we take you dead or alive.’

  Leaving some of the lawmen to keep watch on the barn, Will and Harding went into the house.

  ‘It’ll be a while before we know just who’s in there,’ said Will. ‘Maybe we’d better check who’s left at the Diamond B. How about me going along there right now with a couple of your men? I know just where the buildings are. I’ve been there before.’

  ‘All right,’ said Harding. ‘We’ll arrest anybody found there.’

  When Will and the two deputy US marshals with him reached the Diamond B ranch-house, there was no sign of anybody outside the buildings, but an oil lamp had been lit in one of the rooms in the house. Will opened the entrance door, and they went in. Light was coming from under a door ahead of them. Cautiously, Will pushed it open and he and his two companions stepped silently into the living-room.

  Seated in an armchair by the fire, Eli Brent was dozing, with his chin touching his chest. They moved forward and were almost upon him before he was aware of their presence. His head jerked up and he stared in shocked surprise at Will and the two men wearing deputy US marshal badges.

  ‘Your plan didn’t work, Brent,’ said Will, ‘and four of the men who went to carry it out are dead. The rest have been captured.’

  The rancher was visibly shaken. ‘Was Luke one of the dead men?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ Will replied, ‘but there ain’t much doubt that he’ll hang after he’s been before a judge.’

  Leaving one deputy with Brent, Will and the other lawman went to the bunkhouse. There they found, in their bunks, the cook and one ranch hand who had been injured during a previous attack on the Foster homestead. Will searched the other buildings without result, after which the two men in the bunkhouse were taken to the house, to be held there with the rancher.

  Leaving the two deputies with their prisoners, Will rode back to the Foster homestead and told Harding about the three prisoners who were being held at the ranch. Then, just before dawn, they joined the lawmen outside who were keeping guard on the barn. As the sun rose above the horizon, Harding called out to the men inside.

  ‘Time to come out,’ he shouted, and repeated the order twice.

  The door started to open, and the deputies raised their weapons. The men inside came out one by one and faced the wall, with hands raised. Several of them were suffering from arm or leg injuries.

  The men were searched for weapons, and were then ordered to turn and face their captors. Will had already realized, as the men came out, that Luke Brent was not with them. He checked that there was no one left in the barn, then spoke to Harding.

  ‘I’ve got bad news,’ he said. ‘Luke Brent ain’t here. I’m sure he’d be leading the attack. He must have slipped away after the explosion.’

  ‘That could be,’ said Harding. ‘Just before I shot the man holding the dynamite, I thought I saw another man with him. Maybe that was Luke Brent.’

  Harding decided to take all the prisoners to the Diamond B, to hold them there pending the arrival of one or more jail wagons to take them to Cheyenne for trial. The injured men would go to the ranch on buckboards, and the doctor in Lantry would be asked to go there to tend to them.

  Before the lawmen left with the prisoners Harding spoke to Will.

  ‘We’re real obliged for your help,’ he said. ‘One of Luke Brent’s men is dead, and we’ve got the other two. I guess you’re feeling pretty bad about Luke Brent getting away. I heard what he did to your brother. What’re you aiming to do now?’

  ‘Get on his trail,’ Will replied. ‘We know that he and his men had some urgent business in the Texas Panhandle. He’s lost his men, but maybe he’ll go there anyhow. I’m pretty sure he sent a telegraph message from Lantry a little while back. Ed Foster was captured by the man who took it to the telegraph office for him. I aim to ride there and see if I can find out what was in it. Maybe I’ll get some idea of where Luke Brent was figuring to go.’

  ‘I’ll go with you,’ said Harding. ‘Likely I’ll get more out of the telegraph operator than you could. And I’ll go see the doctor while I’m there. We might as well go right now.’

  Leaving the other lawmen to escort the prisoners to the ranch, Will and Harding rode straight to Lantry. First, Harding asked the doctor to go to the Diamond B, then he and Will went to the telegraph office. Harding asked the operator if he remembered anything about the message he had sent just before he was pistol-whipped by Arnold.

  ‘That’s a day I ain’t going to forget,’ he replied. ‘I’m still getting a bad headache now and again. As for the message, it was sent to a man called Frost in a little town called Laringo, not far south of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. I remember the name Frost because it happens to be my own. The message was signed “Luke”. I don’t remember exactly what was in it. Something about the sender being held up, but would meet up with him as soon as he could. I don’t remember any more than that.’

  They thanked Frost and left the office.

  ‘I guess you’ll be heading for Laringo?’ said Harding.

  ‘That’s right,’ said Will. ‘On the way there I’ll call in on the US marshal in Amarillo.’

  Will rode back to the valley with Harding, then went on alone to the Foster homestead. By the time he arrived there, all the other homesteaders had returned to their own quarter sections, and were busy tending their crops. Will told the Fosters about the information given him by the telegraph operator.

  ‘I’ll leave for the Texas Panhandle in the morning,’ he said. ‘I have a strong hunch that’s where Luke Brent is heading.’

  ‘We’re real obliged to you for the way you helped us,’ said Ed. ‘Now we can carry on running our homesteads without having to worry all the time about what the Brents were aiming to do to us next.’

  NINE

  Will rode to the nearest home station on a stagecoach route in Wyoming, then travelled by stage to Amarillo. When he finally arrived there it was late in the evening. The following morning he went to see US Marshal Edison. The marshal was a tall lean man, with a neat black moustache and a keen eye. He listened to Will’s story with interest.

  ‘That’s good news about Luke Brent losing all his men,’ he said. ‘The gang’s caused us a heap of trouble here in the Panhandle and further south. So you reckon Luke Brent might be heading for Laringo?’

  ‘I think there’s a good chance of that,’ said Will. ‘I’m going to get me a horse and ride down there. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of a man called Frost living in that area?’

  ‘No, I haven’t,’ Edison replied. ‘But I’d sure like to get my hands on Luke Brent. If you do locate him, get word to me and I’ll send you help.’

  Will left Amarillo shortly after, riding south. He had reached a point which he guessed was about eight miles short of his destination, when he
saw a homestead on his left. He rode towards the house, intending to ask for water for his horse, and to check whether he was on the right course for Laringo. As he neared the house, he saw a buggy standing outside it, with a horse hitched to it. Two other horses, both saddled, were tied to a hitching-rail, and as one of them moved, Will could see that it was lame.

  An hour prior to the arrival of Will at the Sinclair homestead, Anne Kincaid had arrived in the buggy. Her brother Andrew was a doctor living in Laringo, and Anne spent a lot of her time helping him in his work. She was a slim attractive woman, auburnhaired, and in her late twenties. She had plenty of male admirers in Laringo and the surrounding area, but as far as she was concerned, the right man had not yet come along.

  She had driven out to the homestead with some medicine for Sinclair, who had been struck down with a fever the previous day, when her brother had visited him, but had been unable to diagnose the cause. Mrs Sinclair took Anne into the bedroom, where her husband was lying on the bed.

  ‘He’s got worse since yesterday,’ she said. ‘His temperature’s real high, and he starts rambling every now and then. Don’t know where he is.’

  Anne took the patient’s temperature. It was dangerously high.

  ‘I’m going back to town,’ she said. ‘I’ll get Andrew to come out here right away. Maybe, this time, he’ll be able to tell what’s causing the trouble.’

  There was a knock on the door of the house, and Mrs Sinclair walked to the bedroom window and looked out. Two men, both strangers to her, were standing outside. She went to the door and opened it. She felt a vague sense of unease as she looked at the two armed men, one tall and heavily built, the other short, but almost as broad as his partner.