Bad Men Go to Hell

by Tony Masero

  ‘Well, Louisella. I got me a bathtub coming, maybe you could help me out in the bathhouse right after breakfast, what do you say?’

  She chuckled, ‘You would like me to scrub your back, maybe?’

  ‘Sure can scrub something,’ leered Lew.

  ‘Louisella!’ barked Silverman, coming up to the table. ‘I think Ramon needs help in the kitchen.’

  With a rueful glance of resentment, Louisella swung around and bustled out to the kitchen.

  ‘Everything okay for you folks?’ asked Silverman, rubbing his hands together in the pose of host. Nobody answered being too busy with their plates and Eloise only looked off blankly into space.

  ‘Catching the noon train, I guess?’ Silverman went on.

  Scart crinkled his brow in sudden interest, ‘Where’s this train run to?’

  ‘Goes on clear to end-of-track at Douglas.’

  Scart sucked a particle from between his teeth, ‘That’s on the way to California, ain’t it?’

  ‘Sure is, a ways to go after that but it’s in the right direction.’

  ‘Noon train, you say?’

  ‘Be on time to, unless they got trouble further down the line. Heard through the telegraph there was some problems with the Indians a day past. But that was way off, shouldn’t trouble us here.’

  ‘Maybe we’ll be catching us that train then. You sell tickets here?’

  ‘No, but I can send someone over to get them for you.’

  ‘Okay, you do that then. We’ll take four of them to the end of the line.’

  The comment jarred Eloise out of her daydream, ‘I thought you were taking me to my brother,’ she complained.

  ‘I will, don’t you worry,’ said Scart. ‘Just got to see about our delivery first.’

  ‘What is that delivery exactly?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s a personal matter. Private load for a client,’ advised Scart evasively.

  ‘So now you’re a haulage company,’ snorted Eloise derisively. ‘Last time I saw you it was bank’s that held your interest.’

  ‘Man’s got to diversify these days, ain’t that true, Mister Silverman?’

  Silverman quirked a confused eyebrow, ‘I guess so.’

  ‘I reckon I’ll stay on here,’ said Eloise. ‘Maybe I’ll make my own way from here on in.’

  ‘Ah, now come on, missy,’ Scart gave her a fake smile. ‘Don’t be like that, we’re getting on real well, ain’t we? Stay with us a little longer, we’ll drop off our load and then go find your brother, I promise.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Now you know you ain’t got a nickel to your name,’ he turned to Silverman. ‘We done save her from the Indians,’ he confided. ‘So she ain’t got nothing but what she stands in.’

  He turned back to Eloise with a meaningful look, ‘See, Mister Silverman can’t take on no non-paying boarders is my guess, ain’t that right, Mister Silverman?’

  ‘I suppose not,’ said Silverman awkwardly.

  They were interrupted as Lew dropped his knife and fork on his empty plate and pushed back his chair, ‘Reckon I’ll wash some of this alkali dust off me now. That Mex gal nearby, mister?’

  ‘She’s a married woman,’ warned a worried Silverman.

  ‘Never bothered me,’ grunted Lew. ‘Just go fetch her, will you?’

  ‘Lew!’ warned Scart in a low voice. ‘You just go get your bath; you don’t need no help nowadays. You’re all growed up, ain’t you? Way past having mammy help you out.’

  ‘Shit, Scart!’ snarled Lew. ‘It’s been a long time.’

  ‘Where we’re going there’ll be plenty, remember?’

  ‘I suppose,’ Lew wilted under Scart’s hard gaze.

  ‘Yes sir,’ said a relieved Silverman. ‘Be my pleasure to direct you to the bathhouse.’

  When they were gone, annoyed Scart turned to Eloise, ‘Why you want to go off, it’s okay being with me, ain’t it?’

  Eloise was finding it hard to understand his attitude, she was free of the Indians and that had been her primary goal in accompanying the band of outlaws but now she was successfully away she was beginning to realize that she had maybe exchanged the fat for the fire.

  ‘What do you want with me?’ she asked him bluntly.

  ‘I’ll tell you,’ he said, taking a deep breath. ‘T’ain’t nothing unnatural, don’t misunderstand me. Thing is, I never had me a full-time wife nor family, you see?’

  ‘Sir,’ she cut in. ‘I’ve been with the Indians for a long time, I was fourteen years when I was took and I’m going on sixteen now. Believe me, I lived a whole lifetime in between. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking your thinking then you’d best know that there’s way too many years between us for any of that.’

  ‘No, no, I ain’t looking for a woman, it’s nothing like that,’ said Scart awkwardly. ‘Look here it took me a long time to figure this out; I had a hard life, all right? No time for putting down roots or settling anywhere and right now I come into a whole bunch of money. Well, what am I going to do with it? There’s so danged much I’ll die before I can spend it all and I done most everything a body can do in this life anyway. When I seen you amongst them redskins it came to me, here’s a young woman without a home, without folks to care for her, without nothing, so why don’t I take her on.’

  Eloise looked at him in disbelief, ‘You mean like…. like father and daughter?’

  Scart sunk back in his chair, a pleased smile creasing his lips, ‘See, I knew you was a bright young thing. I’ll take care of you, you’ll want for nothing. These other fellows, they’ll go crazy spending what they got and blow it all drinking and gambling but I reckon at my time of life I want something else.’

  ‘Like a ready-made family?’

  ‘Well, someone to give things to. It’s hard for me to explain.’

  ‘I understand perfectly,’ said Eloise.

  ‘Dadblast it, girl! We’ll have a fine house; I’ll buy you fancy clothes. You can do what you want; even get an education if that’s your fancy. We’ll go walk with the best of society like a lady and gent and they won’t dare say diddly, you’ll see it’ll be the tops.’

  Eloise stared at him bitterly, ‘Have you forgotten? It’s your damned fault my ma’s dead, I lost my brother and got stolen away by Indians. That’s all down to you and your murderous companions and now you expect us to set up house together. Are you crazy?’

  Scart started back as if he had been struck, ‘No, I ain’t crazy. I’m right sorry about your ma, I never shot her, it was them Rangers that done that. I got nothing to do with them Indians taking you off either, how can you hang all that on me?’

  Eloise shook her head in amazement, ‘You sure take my breath away, mister. You really believe that a man like you can set up house like regular folk?’

  Scart pouted, ‘Why not? I ain’t some kind of monster.’

  ‘That sure is debatable,’ murmured Eloise.

  ‘What’s wrong,’ blurted Scart, anger beginning to overtake his earlier pleading. ‘You getting any better offers? I mean to say, what you got to look forward to? You’ll find yourself some whey-faced punk, a nice stable and boring grocery clerk or bank teller as husband and start squeezing out sprogs like a timepiece and then you get old and worn out and die. What I’m offering is the best that money can buy, a life up there where you can amount to something. And I don’t expect nothing in return, you get all this out of the goodness of my heart. For the life of me I can’t see what you’re bitching about.’

  Eloise shook her head slowly from side to side, ‘Oh, no. No, no, you’ll expect something. Your kind always does. I dare say you mean all what you say right now but later on down the line you’ll want full payment in return. Besides I ain’t interested in the slightest, all I want to do is to find by brother Tag again. I just pray he’s safe and well.’

  Scart sat with his tongue pressed thoughtfully in his cheek as he swung backwards and forwards on the rear legs of his chair, his fingers laced to
gether across his belly. Suddenly he cracked the chair down on all four legs and sniffed loudly, ‘Well, if that’s how you want it. Your loss I guess.’

  With that he got up and strode from the dining room. He was totally confused and puzzled by her rejection, not understanding how anyone in their right mind could refuse such an offer. Scart took a cheroot from his pocket and ground it angrily between his teeth as he pondered on the sudden inexplicable emptiness that had opened up in his chest.

  Chapter Sixteen

  From the hills above the town, Shulki looked down and studied the ground. His sharp eyes picked out the figure of Scart as he came out of the hotel and stood a moment on the porch, an unlit cheroot in his mouth. Shulki motioned to his second-in-command, a man called Nitis who leaned forward squinting at the distant white man. He nodded agreement, this was the man.

  Shulki pulled back from the rim, he had seen enough.

  In the dip below he gathered the sub-chiefs that he had decided would lead the various strings of his band. Crouching down he began to sketch the layout in the sand with his finger.

  It would be a three-pronged attack, he told them. The first eight-man group would leave earlier than the rest and strike off behind and below the tail of the hills, crossing the railroad tracks and coming up from the south behind the warehouse and water tower. The two other groups would attack over the hilltops, one group of eight led by Nitis splitting off to come on the town from the north and the other nine men driving straight in from the end of the rowed houses beside the tracks. In this way they would flank either side of their main assault and leave only one route of escape out of town to the west, there the land was flat and open and their enemy would be easily chased down and dispatched.

  He would lead the frontal attack that would charge into the town from the east.

  It will be a good raid, Shulki told them. There are no army soldiers stationed in the town and few people, the fight would be easy and they would kill everybody, pillage what they wanted and raze the buildings to the ground. He wanted Scart taken alive if possible, Shulki told them he would deal with Scart personally the rest he did not care about but Scart was a lying white snake that had stolen from them and killed their people. He must die slowly and terribly.

  His words brought a fire of excitement to the braves, they had travelled far and hard during the night and were tired from the battle the day before but the promise of more fighting and bloodshed inspired them and rekindled their energy. They made no sound at the prospect, which would have been inadvisable so close to an enemy, but Shulki read the gleam in their eyes and nodded in satisfaction.

  Indicating direction with one hand he commanded the first group to take their leave, he pointed up to where the position of the sun would be when they should collectively make their charge so that all of the raiding party could co-ordinate the attack and the three prongs hit the town at the same time.

  The sub-chief slipped away immediately and picked out his men from the waiting band, they mounted their ponies and he led his seven braves from the hilltop. They rode confidently in single file keeping below the skyline away from the town side of the hills. Coming down through the lower slopes to the railroad tracks on the plain below, the leader searched the horizon in every direction paying careful attention to where the line curved around the base of the hillside and came from out of the station. Nothing moved and only the distance horizon shimmered as the sun rose higher in the sky. The leader moved off across the tracks with the rest of his band following behind. He paused suddenly in mid-track, his pony alert with its ears twitching.

  The distant sound of a locomotive wail came to the Indian and he turned in the direction of the sound to the see the black smudge of oily smoke staining the sky far off on the skyline. With his solemn face unmoving he showed no expression but inside he was gratified to think there would be even more of the white men arriving soon. There would be many of them to kill.

  Tarfay looked across at Tag asleep on the passenger seat opposite him in the railroad carriage. He was hunched up against the window, his tow head of hair hanging down long and uncut, full of dust and tangled. Kid looks a mess, thought Tarfay; we’ll have to do something about that. He thought that the boy had grown beyond his years now, he was fifteen years old in actual time but the way he held himself and his bearing now was that of one older. There was a certain lean hardness to his features that marked out the things he had seen and experienced over the past few years, Tarfay realized that it was more than any boy his age should rightly know. Still, he considered, we had all known it tough out here and it did not seem to be doing the boy any harm. Making of him, in fact, Tarfay considered, could be he would become a good man. And he was suddenly conscious of a swelling of pride in his chest as he looked at the boy, a strange sensation almost as if Tag were his own child and not another’s.

  Cornpone sitting alongside, nudged him with his elbow, ‘I reckon you like this kid, don’t you?’

  ‘Guess so,’ Tarfay answered. ‘He’s got some sand all right, hard not to like.’

  ‘Smart move, this,’ said Cornpone, looking around the swaying carriage.

  ‘We’ll get ahead of them this way as long as they keep heading west.’

  ‘And right easy on the butt too, taking the train instead of the saddle.’

  ‘Don’t know about that,’ grumbled Tarfay, shuffling his behind on the hardwood-slat bench seat. ‘Like perching on a picket fence’

  ‘Ah, you’re just getting old,’ chuckled Cornpone. ‘You’re ass bones are sticking out that skinny hide of your’n.’

  ‘Reckon this little venture has put some years on me alright.’

  ‘You going back to the Rangers after?’

  Tarfay frowned, ‘I ain’t so sure right now. Let’s see how this pans out, might be I’ll go back and build my place up again. Leastways, if Mama Bass still wants it, I owe her a home.’

  ‘Maybe you’ll be needing a working hand too?’ grinned Cornpone.

  Tarfay glanced sideways at him curiously, ‘You offering?’

  Cornpone nodded, ‘Might be, just might be. I sure won’t be welcome amongst the Rangers after making off with all them horses.’

  ‘Be glad to have you along, partner.’

  Cornpone nodded in Tag’s direction, ‘I think maybe you’re thinking more of a home for the kid there.’

  Tarfay shrugged, ‘Well, he and his sister ain’t got nowheres else to go.’

  ‘What about his ma’s old place.’

  Tarfay shook his head, ‘No, the bank will have foreclosed on it by now. They’s just orphans without a place to rest their heads.’

  Corpone could not help but laugh out loud, ‘Well damn me, I do declare, your ass maybe getting harder but your heart is sure softening up. Never thought I’d see the day when Sergeant Bayou Tarfay of the Texas Rangers took to raising lost childers like his own.’

  Tarfay let his glance slide away out of the window, ‘Me neither, mon ami. Me neither.’

  Ronny stood, now dressed in stained overalls and holding a brush and a bucket of creosote in his hand. He looked across at Callum who was still supping his coffee and dragging on a cigarette outside the warehouse.

  ‘Best watch that smoke,’ called Ronny. ‘We got a load of kerosene in there waiting on collection.’

  Callum looked over his shoulder into the shadowy interior, ‘I’ll be careful,’ he said. ‘You going painting?’

  ‘Up that pesky tower again. Reckon if I give her a coat maybe it’ll stop that damp patch spreading.’

  ‘Luck to you,’ smirked Callum. ‘I’d say some tar and hemp would be better, caulk those seams.’

  Ronny nodded, ‘Maybe you’re right but I’ll try this first.’

  They both turned as they heard the train’s mournful wail away in the distance.

  ‘That your mid-day special?’

  ‘That’ll be her,’ said Ronny as he began to climb the ladder. ‘Right on time. I’ll check that hose gantry while I’m up there,
the loco will need filling.’

  Callum leaned back against the warehouse wall and idly watched as Ronny clambered up and set down his bucket before working his way around the narrow walkway to the gantry and began looking over the hosepipe that fed water into the locomotive’s tank.

  ‘Hey there!’

  Callum was interrupted from his muse as Scart and the others crossed over the railroad tracks and came towards him.

  ‘What’s up?’ he asked.

  ‘We’re taking a train ride, brother,’ answered Lew.

  ‘You don’t say.’

  ‘Need to move that heavy load of ours out here,’ Scart said, with a knowing look. ‘Get it ready for the freight car.’

  Eloise stood to one side looking at them all and waiting to make her escape but she was unsure and confident they would track her down unless she could make a clean break.

  Scart glanced over at her, his gaze showed no sign of humor only an intense gleam of resentment. It was now a matter of pride with him, she considered. He would own her now for no good reason other than the fact she had rejected him, there was no charm in his attitude and his aberrant mentality had now turned to that of a frustrated child cheated of some expected present.

  The arrow that thudded into the water tank next to Ronny’s head brought him up sharply. He stared up towards the hills and saw the rapidly descending stream of the two Apache bands coming on horseback. Their whoops and war cries came to him over the sound of the wailing locomotive’s whistle.

  ‘Indians!’ he bellowed, ducking down below the rail of the walkway. ‘Oh, sweet Jesus! It’s Indians coming.’

  From the south the third band came charging in and they rode in a splitting wave that curved around each side of the warehouse. Scart and the others exposed and standing by the open doorway were quick with their weapons and as the screaming bunch of attacking braves appeared they opened up on them. It was a withering hail of fire and two of the Apaches immediately tumbled from the horses, the rest pulled up in surprise and milled about along the edge of the dividing tracks as they returned fire.