by J. T. Edson
‘Which means he was proud to be an Indian,’ Cuchilo guessed.
‘Real proud,’ Chu agreed. ‘He claimed to be descended from a Kiowa war-bonnet chief and attended all the tribal ceremonies.’
‘Would a man like that wait all these years before going after revenge?’ Alice wanted to know, after telling the deputies what had been learned and suspected. ‘How about it, Sam, would he?’
‘Sure, and longer if he had to,’ Cuchilo declared. ‘I’ll bet that he took a lodge oath of revenge when his son died. If he did, he’d wait until the signs were right no matter how long it took. Then he’d go after and kill everybody concerned with his son’s death.’
On recovering sufficiently to talk, Harry Blackhorse confirmed Cuchilo’s statement. He filled in other details for Alice and Brad.
According to Harry, his father, Joe Blackhorse, had become friendly with Hagmeyer and Cortez in a crap game. The other two had offered to cut Joe in on a big robbery they were planning, but first he must prove himself. Taking him to Cohen’s drugstore, they had given him a revolver and told him to rob it. While they kept watch, he was to force the owner to open the safe in the office. Cohen had proved to be stubborn, taking longer to yield to persuasion than they had expected. During the time Blackhorse was working on Cohen, his companions had become alarmed for some reason and slipped away without warning him. Unaware of the desertion, Blackhorse had removed the mask worn for the robbery and walked from the drugstore, to be illuminated by the headlights of the Faydes’ car. He fled in a panic and his behavior attracted the attention of two patrolmen. By that time he had thrown the revolver and loot away, neither of which had been recovered. When his case came to trial, it had been the identification by Alice’s parents that proved his guilt. The jury had convicted him without leaving the box and the judge had shown no mercy to a man who had pistol-whipped his victim savagely. So Blackhorse went to the Walls for fifteen years. He had been shot in an attempted jail break and had told the story to his father before dying.
An Indian of the old school, Ben Blackhorse had taken a lodge oath of revenge against the people whom he blamed for his son’s death; and reared Harry—whose mother had deserted him after his father’s death—to think the same way. There had been no chance for Ben to get the main offenders, for both Cortez and Hagmeyer had left town and the latter did not return for many years. So, with the patience of their warrior ancestors, the Blackhorses watched and waited. They had made a list of their enemies, marking off those who died or otherwise passed beyond their reach.
Maybe they would have forgotten their revenge if Cortez and Hagmeyer had not both chosen the same time to return to the city. To Ben Blackhorse, it had been like a sign from the Kiowa’s Great Spirit. More so as his grandson, who had been working out of the county, had returned after stealing the perfect weapon for them to use—knowing silencers to be illegal under Federal law, the rancher had not mentioned losing one when reporting the theft.
Harry Blackhorse said that he did not know his grandfather had located where Hagmeyer and Cortez would be living. It may have been through the old man’s work at the post office, or another source. They had decided that Morgan, living alone and in the country, offered the best opportunity to try out their system of killing. Going to the farm in a small truck painted to look like a post office vehicle, they had lured Morgan to the door and Harry shot him. Knowing his limitations as a marksman, the young Indian had turned his soft-point bullets even more lethal by reducing the hard coating.
Although they had discovered Hagmeyer’s address, they had been uncertain of when he would arrive. So Ben had scouted the house for several evenings, using the back streets and relying upon his uniform to avert suspicion if he should be seen. When Hagmeyer had come, Ben called him on the telephone with the message about a registered special delivery letter. That was to ensure that the producer would answer the door himself. They had not called Cortez, for that would have meant going through the hotel switchboard.
By staying alert, taking cover if they saw or heard anybody approaching, the two Indians had avoided being seen in the vicinity of their killings. However, after hearing the sheriff describing the precautions to be taken, they had decided to change their M.O. Harry said that he wanted to either call off further killings, or let things cool down before going after other victims, but his grandfather insisted on trying for Alice. Not only had she been in the car with her parents, whose testimony sent Joe to prison, but she was leading the hunt for the Blackhorses. Seeing that his grandfather was adamant, Harry had given in. There would be little chance of catching her at home in the early hours of the morning; nor was she likely to open the door without being sure who was outside. So they had prepared the envelope which had already lured three men to their deaths—S.I.B. found labels addressed to Morgan, Hagmeyer and Cortez under the one bearing Alice’s name—and went to make their attempt at a time when she ought to have been unsuspecting of any danger.
‘Do you think we’d have caught them if they’d quit, Brad?’ Alice asked as they left the Central Receiving Hospital after taking Harry Blackhorse’s confession.
‘I don’t know,’ Brad admitted. ‘The sheriff was right though. There was a point of contact and when we found it, we knew the killers’ motive.’
‘Sure,’ Alice agreed and led the way to Unit SO 12. ‘Only by then, we’d got our men.’
About the Author
J.T. Edson was a former British Army dog-handler who wrote more than 130 Western novels, accounting for some 27 million sales in paperback. Edson’s works - produced on a word processor in an Edwardian semi at Melton Mowbray - contain clear, crisp action in the traditions of B-movies and Western television series. What they lack in psychological depth is made up for by at least twelve good fights per volume. Each portrays a vivid, idealized “West That Never Was”, at a pace that rarely slackens.
If you enjoyed the westerns of J. T. EDSON, you may also enjoy the westerns of
BEN BRIDGES and MIKE STOTTER:
BEN BRIDGES:
APACHERIA SERIES:
Apacheria
Lockwood’s Law
ASH COLTER SERIES:
Gunsmoke Legend
Ride the High Lines
Storm in the Saddle
COMPANY C SERIES:
Hit ’em Hard!
To the Death!
HELLER SERIES
Heller
Heller in the Rockies
JIM ALLISON SERIES:
Rattler Creek
Blood Canyon
Thunder Gorge
JUDGE AND DURY SERIES:
Hang ‘em All
Riding for Justice
Law of the Gun
Trial by Fire
Barbed Wire Noose
Judgment Day
MOVIE TIE-INS:
Day of the Gun
O’BRIEN SERIES:
The Silver Trail
Hard as Nails
Mexico Breakout
Hangman’s Noose
The Deadly Dollars
Squaw Man
North of the Border
Shoot to Kill
Hell for Leather
Marked for Death
Gunsmoke is Gray
Cold Steel
Mean as Hell
Draw Down the Lightning
Flame and Thunder
THREE GUNS WEST (Writing with Steve Hayes):
Three Rode Together
Three Ride Again
Hang Shadow Horse!
WESTERN LEGENDS (Writing with Steve Hayes):
The Oklahombres
The Plainsman
THE WILDE BOYS SERIES:
The Wilde Boys
Wilde Fire
Wilde’s Law
Aces Wilde
STAND-ALONE WESTERNS:
Ride for the Rio!
Back With a Vengeance
Blaze of Glory
Tanner’s Guns
Coffin Creek
The Spurl
ock Gun
All Guns Blazing
Cannon for Hire
Montana Gunsmoke
Starpacker
Cougar Valley
SHORT STORIES:
Five Shots Left
MIKE STOTTER
McKINNEY WESTERNS:
McKinney’s Revenge
McKinney’s Law
BRANDON AND SLATE SERIES:
Tombstone Showdown
Tucson Justice
STAND ALONE WESTERNS:
Death in the Canyon
SHORT STORIES:
Six Trails West
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More on J. T. EDSON
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[i] Mark Counter’s life-story is told in the author’s Floating Outfit books.
[ii] Hoopy-cat: Cheap old car operating between a still and shipping point.
[iii] Bomber-boys, Enforcement Branch, Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Division.
[iv] Told in Troubled Range.
[v] Told in The Wildcats.
[vi] Car fitted with hooks on its front bumper to catch and hold an offender’s vehicle, t Buzz box: two way radio.
[vii] The other occasion is told in The Deputies.
[viii] Told in The Professional Killers.
[ix] Told in The ¼ Second Draw.
[x] Tush-hog: member of the combine with a reputation for violence.
[xi] Automatic pistols chambered for .22 Long Rifle cartridges are an exception.
[xii] For description of Plott and blue tick hounds, read Hound Dog Man.
[xiii] F.I.L.: The Firearms Investigation Laboratory
[xiv] 522: Article 522, Texas Penal Code, keeping a resort for the purpose of pandering.
[xv] V. and G. The G.C.P.D.’s Vice and Gambling Detail.
[xvi] The Big One: The Congressional Medal of Honor.
[xvii] The Walls: Main State Prison, Huntsville.
[xviii] Ramsey Unit: Prison Farm at Rosharon, Texas.
[xix] The precaution paid off. On receiving the bullets, the New York Police Department checked them against others from unsolved crimes. A match was made with a .38 Special bullet taken from a murdered informer. Vellan had not suspected that his revolver had been test-fired, or was confident that nobody would think of putting .38 Special rounds through it as well as its normal loads. So he still had it in his possession when arrested. Due to the co-operation between the Rockabye County Sheriff’s Office and New York Police Department, a crime in the latter city was solved and a vicious, dangerous criminal sent to the electric chair. That too was a part of a peace officer’s work.
[xx] Article 1422 Texas Penal Code: Theft of Property valued between $5.00 and $50.00.
[xxi] Article 1421 Texas Penal Code: Theft of Property valued at over $50.00.
[xxii] Article 1408 Texas Penal Code: Robbery in which firearm or other weapon is used.
[xxiii] Article 1160, Texas Penal Code: Assault with intent to murder.