by Larry Hunt
CHAPTER FORTY
Quarter horses
Luke and Nate bury the four gunslingers in the horse trot that leads from the barn to the pasture. Luke figures the mules, horses and burros will trample the graves down, so anyone, who comes looking for them, will never find where they are buried.
After returning to the house, they take inventory of the items retrieved from the men at the cabin and those just added from the gunfighters they have just planted. Spread out on the sitting room floor is an assortment of pistols, rifles and knives.
From the men at the cabin are a collection of three Colt handguns, two Henry carbines and two six-inch and one eight-inch skinning knife. From the gunfighters, Luke adds five more Colt .44s, two additional Spencers, two Henry’s, two more six-inch skinning knives and enough ammunition to supply an army.
“At least,” said Luke, “we will have enough firepower on our trip to Alabama; however, one of the gunfighters recognized the Henry with the initials “B.B.” carved on the stock. He said it belonged to Bert Black. Now I don’t know who this Bert Black is, but he might have more friends that could recognize his old Henry. As bad as I hate to do it, Nate take this Henry to the fireplace and burn it. We can’t have anyone poking around and seeing that old Bert is no longer among the living.”
“Luke, I love me them Henrys. What about if I just take the stock off the main part and jest burn the wood part. Won’t that work? Maybe later I might find me a nuther stock and fix’er backup.”
“Sure Nate, that will work, just get it done. And throw all their saddle gear in the back of the wagon, cover them with hay so no one can see what we have hidden. And Nate, while you’re at the barn take all their saddle horses over to the back pasture and turn them loose and let them graze, there is plenty of grass and water. We do not want them around if someone comes prying.”
A couple of weeks later Nate enters the house. Luke is changing the bandage on Sam’s leg. “Looks good, and it is healing nicely. You need to get out of this room and off the front porch and begin to move around some.” The bedroom door opens, “Yes, Nate was there something you need?”
“No sir Mister Luke, I mean yes sir, there’s riders coming to the house. Peers to be ‘bout ten of’em, as fer as I can see.”
Luke is standing on the front porch as the riders approach. “Fellers,” said Luke, “get yerself down from your mounts and rest yerselfs, I’ll have the missus bring out some cool water. Speakin’ of water, thar’s a trough next to the barn over yonder, let your animals help theirselves too.”
Nate standing next to Luke couldn’t understand what Luke was up to, but he didn’t dare speak.
“You boys been long on the road? If you want, I’ll get my missus and my man here to fix youse up some vittles. We ain’t got nutin’ but grits and fatback, but theys fillin’.”
Catherine Ann, standing just inside the door, thinks to herself, ‘My Missus? My man? Grits? What is he doing? Has he lost his mind? He’s talking like a hayseed.’
“Thanks, but we’re in a hurry,” spoke the group’s apparent leader. “My name is Bart Black; I need to ask you some questions?”
“Questions sir? Are you gentlemen law officers?”
“No, not exactly, we are just looking for a few of our friends. One of them, Bert Black, is my twin brother.”
“Well, fer shore, but won’t you git down from yer hosses and we can talk here on the porch in the shade.”
“No, we must be on our way – my brother and the other three were riding western style riding gear. They were all mounted on Texas quarter horses.”
“Huh? You say western style riding gear? Texas quarter horses? Sir we is just simple farmers here, working the land with a couple of old plow mules. I figure I don’t know if I’s ever seen, what’d you call it? Oh, yeah western gear or a quarter horse, I surely don’t believe I would know what they look like,” Luke answers.
“The saddles and the horses would look like ours. That’s what they’d look like – they’d look like ours you nitwit!”
Luke steps from the porch walks around Bart’s horse paying particular attention to various features of the animal. He slides his hand over the horse’s flank, “Quarter horses sez you? Fine animals, yes sir these be fine animals,” Luke says gesturing toward Nate standing on the porch. “Nate, I’d wager we could plow two or three acres a day with these here fine quarter size horses, what’d you thank?”
“Yes sir, boss, we might git a good three outta ’em.”
“Plow ’em, you idiots, these are prime Texas quarter horses! These are cow ponies!”
“But sir, them hosses appears to me to be full size,” said Luke to the leader.
“Full size! What are you some kind of an imbecile? Yeah! They are full size.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you done said your friends wuz riding quarter horses, but your quarter of a hoss looks to me to be full size.”
“It’s a breed you dirt farmer, just a prime breed of horse from the great state of Texas. Plow ’em? Are you two simpletons? These are the countries finest cattle horses, not dirt-farmer’s plow horses!”
“I’m truly sorry,” pretends Luke to be embarrassed, “well then, there wuz these here four riders who passed by here two or three weeks ago riding, as you say, regular size quarter horses like these of your’n, but they headed up and over the mountain.”
“They say anything.”
“Yeah, they wuz talkin’ to each other, but I couldn’t hear from here to the road what they wuz a sayin’. It’s jez to fer, you see.”
Turning to his men, “These two are so half-witted we can’t get anything out of them, water the horses at the trough and check the barn, and we’ll get out of here.”
In a few minutes, as the men mount their horses, one turns to Bart, “Nothing in the barn boss, ‘cept a couple of old plow mules and two burros.”
The leader digs his silver spurs in to the side of his horse and off the men gallops toward the front gate. At the gate, they turn left and continue up the mountain.
Wildly swinging the screen door open, Catherine burst onto the porch, “What are you doing Luke Scarburg, you sounded like a pure hayseed!”
“Great, then it worked! That was exactly what I wanted them to think – we didn’t want those fellers searching about. The leader said one of the outlaws we killed was his brother. I don’t think he would have taken it too kindly if he found out it was us who killed him. I think it might take him awhile to figure out two ‘hayseeds’ could have killed his brother. Nate and I could not fight off all ten of his riders, I had to fool them some way or other.”
“Good thankin’ on yer part, what now Luke?” Asked Nate.
“I suppose when that bunch gets to the top of the mountain where the snow hasn’t melted yet, they will quickly see there have been no tracks leading over the mountain. They may or may not know of Rufus’ place. If they are aware of his cabin they may go there next.”
“You reckon we buried those outlaws at the cabin good enough Luke?”
“I hope so Sam, but regardless they will see the graves, and in a week or so they’re going to be coming back down here. By then they will have figured out I lied to them and killed his brother Bert. Do I need to tell y’all it’s going to get nasty, and we’re outnumber three or four if we count Sam to ten. Those aren’t good odds in our favor. We’ve got those Spencer and Henry carbines, but I noticed most of them had Henry’s too.”
“We’re with you Luke, what do you think we should do?” Asked Catherine.
Luke explained winter was coming, but Sam wasn’t entirely healed from the gunshot to his leg. He suggested they get four of the horses from the back pasture, and let the rest stay loose on the open range; however, he tells Nate to not bring the Pinto, he will be too easily recognized. Then we will then load the two wagons and begin for Alabama as soon as possible.”
“But Luke,” questions Catherine, “are we prepared?”
“Catherine, we are as ready as we’re e
ver going to be – if them fellers return before we get away we will not ever leave if you get my meaning. If we get out of here in a couple of days, I believe we might have as much as a week’s head start on them – that just might be enough time.”
Hobbling on a homemade crutch Sam calls from the door, “Makes sense Luke, I’m ready. Just give me one of them Spencers and a handful of bullets, and I’ll handle rear guard from the back wagon.”
“That’s the spirit Sam! Come on Catherine and Nate, we’re burning daylight. I know we wanted to go in the spring, but sometimes you just got to play the hand you’re dealt.”