Slocum at Hangdog

by Jake Logan

  “Where you going?” said Speer.

  “After Rowland.”

  Slocum hurried over to the hotel, the other two following him on foot again, and he quickly dismounted and rushed inside. He ran up the stairs and down the hall to Rowland’s room, where he reared back and kicked open the door. Pulling out his Colt, he rushed inside, but the room was empty. He looked around. Then he started back down the stairs. He met Speer and Stumpy about halfway down.

  “He ain’t there,” he said. He did not slow down. He continued rushing down the stairs. Speer and Stumpy turned around to follow him again. Outside, Slocum was about to mount up again.

  “Hold on,” said Speer. “Where you going now?”

  “I don’t know,” Slocum said, “but I got to find her.”

  “All right. All right,” Speer said. “I want to find her too, but let’s think this thing through. Why would anyone kidnap Brenda?”

  “Why?” said Slocum.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “I ain’t the brains around here,” said Stumpy, “but I say they done it to get to you.”

  “All right,” Slocum said. “That makes sense.”

  “If they done it to get to you,” Speer said, “they’ll have to get in touch with you some way. Won’t they?”

  “Yeah,” said Slocum. “I guess so.”

  “Then you don’t want to go running off till they’ve got word to you,” Stumpy said.

  “I guess you’re right,” said Slocum. “But where the hell is Rowland?”

  “Let’s check at the livery,” said Speer.

  “He just dropped his horse off there,” said Slocum. “I seen him do it.”

  “Come on,” said Speer. “Let’s check anyhow.”

  They walked down to the livery. Dyer was shoveling horse shit. He looked up when the three men came in. “You want horses?” he asked.

  “No,” said Speer. “Where’s Rowland’s horse?”

  “He come and got it,” said Dyer.

  “He just dropped it off,” said Slocum.

  “Yeah,” said Dyer. “He dropped it off and went away somewheres, and then he come back and got it again.”

  “Which way did he ride out?” said Speer.

  “Damned if I know,” Dyer said. “I got work to do. I can’t be watching everyone who rides out of here.”

  Sitting in the line shack off the road, Brenda stared hard at her three captors. “All right,” she said, “just what do you want with me?”

  “We don’t want a damn thing with you, missy,” said Beebe. “What we want is Slocum.”

  “So that’s it.”

  “That’s it. That’s all they is to it. So if you behave yourself, won’t nothing happen to you.”

  “I can think of something we might want her for,” said Cowley. He was looking longingly at Brenda.

  “You better get your mind off a that,” said Beebe. “Remember what happened to Rat’s Ass? You take your rifle and go set outside and keep a watch. Maybe that’ll get your mind off a what you’re thinking about.”

  Cowley stood up and stomped out of the shack, slamming the door behind himself. Brenda still stared at Beebe.

  “You mean, Slocum’s going to come looking for me, and you’re going to kill him?”

  “That’s the idea,” said Beebe.

  “And then you’re just going to let me go?”

  “Why, sure.”

  “If you think I’m stupid enough to believe that, then you’ve got another think coming.”

  “Why, how come we wouldn’t let you go? We got nothing against you.”

  “I’ll be a witness,” she said.

  “Naw,” said Beebe. “We won’t shoot him right here in front of you.”

  “I can charge you with kidnaping,” she said.

  “Now, why would you want to do that if we ain’t going to hurt you? If you cooperate with us, you’ll be all right.”

  “I know what to expect from you,” she said. “I’m no fool.”

  Zeb Naylor was at the window. “Rowland’s coming,” he said. In another minute, Rowland opened the door and stepped inside. Cowley was still watching from in front of the shack. When Rowland stepped in, Brenda gave him a hard look. “I knew you were behind this,” she said.

  “You just keep quiet,” Rowland said, “and I won’t stuff a rag in your mouth. Zeb, tie her to that chair.”

  “Sure thing,” said Zeb Naylor. He found a piece of rope and moved behind Brenda. She struggled as he tried to pull her wrists together behind her back. “Now, don’t give me no trouble, lady,” he said. Rowland stepped up quickly and slapped Brenda hard across the face.

  “Set still,” he said. “I could go on ahead and just kill you right now.”

  “Go ahead,” she said. “That’s what you mean to do anyway.”

  “We might need you alive,” Rowland said. “And who knows, if you mind your manners, you might just live through this.”

  Brenda sat still while Naylor pulled her wrists behind the back of the chair and tied them tight. Beebe looked at Rowland.

  “What do we do now?” he said.

  “You’re going to stay right in here with the gal,” said Rowland. “If anyone besides us comes through that door, hold your six-gun right at her head. But I don’t think they will. The rest of us is going to set up an ambush a little ways down the road. We’ll get him before he gets here.”

  “How the hell did Rowland get out of town?” Slocum said. He was stomping around the floor in Speer’s office. Speer, who was every bit as anxious as was Slocum, could hardly stand it.

  “Why the hell don’t you set down?” said the sheriff. “You’re making me crazy.” Slocum sat in a chair against the wall. “That part’s easy,” the sheriff continued. “They played us for suckers. Rowland led you out of town while the others grabbed Brenda. Then he led you back to town. When we told you what had happened, and the three of us went tearing over to Brenda’s, Rowland got his horse back and lit out.”

  “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch,” Slocum said.

  “Yeah,” said Speer, “but not too soon. We got to get Brenda back in one piece.”

  “I know that,” Slocum said. “I won’t kill him right off. I might stomp him up some.”

  “If we knowed who it was paying Rowland,” said Stumpy, “we might could figure out where to look.”

  “Yeah,” said Slocum, “but we don’t know.”

  Just then the door opened and Ryan Walter, the clerk from the hotel, walked in. He looked at the sheriff and at Stumpy, and then walked straight over to Slocum. He held out an envelope toward Slocum.

  “Someone left this at the hotel for you,” he said.

  Slocum grabbed it and tore it open.

  “Who left it?” said Speer.

  “I don’t know,” said Walter. “I was away from the desk for just a minute. When I come back, it was laying on the counter. I never seen who left it.”

  “All right,” said Speer. “You can go on back to work now.” Walter hesitated. “Go on,” said Speer. “Get out a here.”

  Walter hustled his ass on out of the office. Speer and Stumpy both looked at Slocum. Slocum read out loud.

  “It says, ‘Slocum, if you want to see the woman alive again, follow the enclosed map to the old line shack on the Ritchie ranch. Come alone.’ ”

  “Let me see the map,” said Speer. He grabbed it from Slocum’s hand and studied it. “I know where this is. It’s out of the way. Ain’t been used for a spell. Let’s get going.”

  “Hold on,” said Slocum. “You heard what the note said. I’m going alone.”

  19

  Slocum rode hard and fast. He followed the map that some unknown person had left for him. He did not ride the main road out to the ranch. He had to ride around to the far back side of Ritchie’s place and then take a small trail that looked almost unused. He could tell that a few horses had been over it very recently, but he figured that it had been abandoned before that for some time. This part
of the ranch was heavily treed. He was riding through a thickly wooded corner of the ranch. As he rode, he thought about the location, the Ritchie ranch. He wondered if it had been Ritchie all along. He couldn’t be sure, but it was certainly beginning to look suspicious. Going through the wooded area, he forced himself to stop thinking along those lines. He knew that Rowland and his bunch were laying for him out here somewhere. He had to stay alert. As the terrain shifted to rolling hills, still tree-covered, he slowed his horse. He started looking around in all directions as he moved along the narrow trail.

  Unknown to Slocum, Speer and Stumpy were riding along behind him. They stayed well back, for Slocum had insisted on riding out alone. They had let him go, but then they had followed. They knew the same thing that Slocum knew. He was supposed to come out alone. They knew also that it was a trap, planned to get Slocum. The showdown was near, and they knew that as well. They had no intention of allowing Slocum to be caught in an ambush with no backup. They did not ride as hard or as fast as Slocum did, for they did not want him to know they were behind him.

  “What’re we going to do, Sheriff?” Stumpy asked as they moved down the trail between the trees.

  “We’ll just play it by ear,” said Speer. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. I imagine, though, that those bastards will lay an ambush for Slocum somewhere along this trail.”

  “I’ll bet you what,” said Stumpy.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’ll bet you’re right.”

  In her apartment in Hangdog, Margaret Ritchie changed into her riding clothes and strapped on a six-gun. She was about to go out the door when James Ritchie walked into the room.

  “Margaret,” he said. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m just going out for a ride,” she said.

  “I don’t think you should be going out alone,” Ritchie said.

  “Oh, don’t worry, dear,” she said. “I’ll be all right.”

  “I should go with you,” he said.

  “James,” she said, “I need to be alone to think, to relax. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be just fine.”

  “How long will you be gone?”

  “Give me a couple of hours,” she said.

  “If you’re not back by then—”

  “Then you come riding to my rescue. All right?”

  “All right. Where will you ride?”

  “I think I’ll ride north. There hasn’t been any trouble out that way. It will be perfectly safe.”

  “Stay on the road,” Ritchie said. “If I don’t see you back here in two hours, I’m coming after you.”

  She left the hotel, went down to the livery for a horse, and rode south out of town.

  Brenda struggled with her ropes, but they were much too tight, and she was not making any headway. She wasn’t sure what she would do, even if she could get them off, but she felt like she needed to help Slocum somehow. These rats had used her to lay a trap for him. She had to do something. Beebe was not paying any attention to her. Anticipating the ambush, he was standing at the open front door of the shack and staring out down the trail. Finally, near desperation, Brenda realized that her hands were not tied to the chair. They were only tied together behind the chair back. She stood up slowly and carefully. Her hands were still tied, but she was free from the chair. She walked slowly so as not to make any noise, and she came up behind Beebe. She stood for a moment gathering all of her courage. She looked at his ass. His legs were slightly spread. She knew she could do it. She took careful aim, and she kicked with all her strength.

  Her foot came up between his legs and around under his crotch, catching him with a firm, hard slap against his balls. He screamed in pain and surprise, and he doubled over, clutching at his injured jewels with both hands. Brenda raised her foot again, put it on his ass and shoved with all her might. Beebe sprawled on the ground out in front of the shack. Brenda hurried out and kicked him in the head. She wished that she had been wearing her boots, but she kicked as hard as she could, using the heel of her shoe.

  “Aagh,” Beebe groaned.

  Brenda kicked again. This time she caught him full in the face and smashed his nose.

  “Aah, I’m blind,” Beebe roared.

  She hoped that he wasn’t lying. She squatted beside him, her back to him, and watching him, reached down with her still-tied hands to pull the six-gun out of his holster. Then she quickly stood up again. Remembering that he had a rifle in the shack, she went back inside and found it. Backing up to it, she gripped it in her other hand. Then she ran out of the shack and headed for the trees. Beebe was still rolling on the ground and groaning. His face was a mass of blood-covered, raw flesh.

  Out on the trail, Slocum came to a place with a sharp left turn. He stopped and considered the possibilities. He thought that he was getting close to the shack. He did not know what was around the corner. He dismounted and tied his horse to a small tree just beside the trail. Then he moved into the trees and continued on his way. He got around the curve like that, and he looked ahead. The hills rose up along the left side of the road. It would be a good spot for an ambush. He did not really want to get into a gunfight with Rowland and his gang. Likely, they had left someone in the shack with Brenda, and if he thought that Slocum had a fighting chance, he might kill her. He moved cautiously forward. His eyes caught a glint ahead up on the side of the hill, the same side of the trail that he was on. He eased himself ahead.

  Margaret rode up to the Mix ranch house and dismounted. Helen stepped out on the porch. “Margaret,” she said. “What brings you out this way? I haven’t seen you out riding since the days when we used to ride together.”

  “I have to see your husband,” Margaret said.

  “Well, sure. I’ll just get him. He’s in the house. Well, come on in.”

  “I haven’t much time,” Margaret said.

  She followed Helen into the house, where Helen called out Mix’s name. He came out of the bedroom. “What is it?” he was saying, and then he saw Margaret. “Oh. Hello.”

  “Dave,” said Margaret, “I just found out that Rowland and his men have kidnaped Brenda. They left Slocum a note telling him to ride out alone to a line shack on our ranch if he wanted see her alive again.”

  “They’ll kill him,” said Mix.

  “That’s likely,” Margaret said. “I couldn’t find the sheriff, so I came to see you.”

  “Tell me where the shack is,” said Mix. “I’ll ride out there right now.”

  “Dave,” said Helen.

  “He’s my friend,” said Mix. “I can’t let him ride into a trap like that.”

  “There’s not time for me to give you directions,” Margaret said. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

  “Let me change,” said Helen. “I’ll go with you.”

  “There’s not time,” Margaret said.

  Mix finished strapping on his six-gun, and he followed Helen outside. “I’ll just have to get a horse saddled,” he said.

  In town James Ritchie, nervous about his wife’s ride, walked to the livery for a horse. He found Dyer brushing one of his tenants. “What can I do for you, Mr. Ritchie?” said Dyer.

  “I need a horse,” said Ritchie. “I let Margaret ride out of here alone, and I shouldn’t have done that, even if she was riding north. I should have gone with her.”

  “I’ll get you a horse in a jiffy,” Dyer said, “but she didn’t ride north.”

  “What?”

  “I seen her head out of town going south,” Dyer said.

  Ritchie got the horse and headed south, but he stopped by the sheriff’s office. He went inside, but no one was there. He was about to leave again when he noticed a note lying on the floor. He picked it up. It was in Margaret’s handwriting. He stuffed it in his pocket and hurried back out to his horse. Mounting up, he rode fast. The note had said that there was a map with it, but he had not seen the map. It referred to a line shack on the Ritchie ranch, though. He knew where that was.

  Slocum had c
rept through the woods until he was close enough to the glint to see that it was indeed a man holding a rifle. He could see that it was the one known as Zeb Naylor. He could not get any closer without making too much noise, and he still did not want to get into a gunfight. He did not know where the others were hidden or how many of them were out there. He could easily have shot Naylor dead, but he couldn’t risk the shot. Looking around, he spotted a rock on the ground that looked to be about the size of a baseball. He picked it up and hefted it. He looked back at Naylor. He was looking at the side of his head. Naylor took off his hat and wiped his forehead with a sleeve. Slocum drew back his arm and threw a mighty swing. The rock whistled its way through the air and smacked Naylor hard on the side of the head. Naylor dropped over at once. Slocum hurried down to Naylor and inspected his handiwork. Naylor was out cold all right. Slocum took his handgun and his rifle. He started looking around for the others.

  Safe in the woods, Brenda thought about what to do. Rowland and the other two must be somewhere between her and Slocum, and if she tried to reach Slocum, they would surely spot her and catch her. She couldn’t afford that, but she had to warn Slocum of the ambush. She decided that she would start the shooting. Careful to point the barrel away from her, she twisted her wrist and cocked the hammer of the six-gun. Then she pulled the trigger. The report was incredibly loud there in the quiet woods. She cocked the hammer again and pulled the trigger again, and again, and again, and again.

  Rowland heard the shots. They came from back toward the shack. Something had gone wrong. No one had fired at Slocum yet. He knew that. There was no one in the shack but Beebe and the woman. It didn’t make sense. He had to investigate. He stood up and looked around, and he could see Cowley hunkered down behind a rock. He could not see Naylor.

  “Cowley,” he called out.

  “Yeah.”

  “I got to go to the shack and check on them shots. You and Naylor stay here and get Slocum when he comes along.”

  “We’ll get him,” said Cowley.