by Duane Boehm
“Sir, I’m twenty years old. If the law can’t find him, then I aim to do it for them,” Zack said.
“So what happened out here?” Gideon asked.
“Well, sir, I was about half way across this flat when I saw three riders coming from that way,” Zack said and pointed in the direction from which Gideon had ridden. “I should have got my rifle handy just to be safe but I didn’t want them to think that I was trigger–happy. Anyway, when we met, they all pulled their pistols on me. Two of them wanted to kill me, but the third wouldn’t have it. He said they weren’t going to get in the habit of killing willy–nilly. And then I saw the one that looked like he could be that one’s younger brother swinging a pistol at my head. You are the next thing that I saw.”
“Well, you found some stagecoach robbers, just not the right ones. And you can call me Gideon. You’re making me feel old with all that sir stuff,” Gideon said.
Zack reached into his vest pocket, realizing that his pocket watch was missing. He wobbly stood up and grabbed at his holster before staggering to his horse and checking his scabbard. “They got my guns and pocket watch. That’s the only things that I have of Daddy’s. I got to find them,” he said as he grabbed at his saddle horn.
“Hold on there, Zack. You’re not ready to ride yet. Come sit down and gather your senses,” Gideon said as he walked to Buck and retrieved his whiskey bottle, pouring some of it on his bandana. “Here, put this on your head. It will burn, but clean out the wound.”
The boy did as he was told, sitting back down and holding the cloth to his head. “Lordy, that will clear my head. That burns like all get out,” he said.
“See that knob over there? Why don’t you go make camp there under those trees and wait for me? I aim to bring those men back one way or another and I will get your stuff back for you,” Gideon said.
“Sir, uh – Gideon, that would not be right. I let this happen and I plan to help get my things back,” Zack said.
“Unless you are really good at chunking rocks, I don’t see how you can be of much help,” Gideon said.
“You can’t shoot a rifle and a pistol at the same time and back home some of us would have quick draw competitions and I was always the fastest,” Zack said.
“Being fast doesn’t mean anything if you can’t hit the side of a barn,” Gideon said.
“Gideon, I can hit what I aim for. Please let me come. I would feel disgraced if you had to retrieve my guns and pocket watch for me,” Zack said.
Gideon studied the boy. He was already starting to like him, but he wasn’t sure that Zack was up to a hard ride yet and he certainly did not want to get the boy killed. “I’m going to be doing some hard riding today. I’m ready to find them. Do you think that you feel well enough to keep up with me?” he said.
“I can ride,” Zack said.
“When the trouble starts, I won’t be able to look out for you. You will be on your own,” Gideon reminded him.
“Yes, sir, I understand. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Zack said.
“Do you know what time it was when they jumped you?” Gideon asked.
“It must have been getting close to ten,” Zack said.
“It’s a little after twelve now. We can catch them with some hard riding. Let’s ride and if you call me sir one more time I’m going to give you matching knots,” Gideon said.
Gideon took off in a fast trot across the sandstone. The ride was quite jolting and as he glanced over at Zack, he saw the young man holding onto the saddle horn with both hands. No man would ride that way unless it was a last resort and Gideon wondered if he should have demanded that Zack stay behind. The boy’s insistence on saving face had been the only reason that he hadn’t left him.
The outlaw’s tracks were easy to find on the other side of the flat. They were once again headed towards another mountain range. After riding around the first small range, Gideon and Zack came upon a wooded area between them and the next range in the distance. There was too much tree cover and hills for Gideon to catch a glimpse of the robbers, but as hard as he and Zack had been riding, he expected that they were no longer far behind them. After riding another hour, they reached ground that leveled off into a grassy plain all the way to the mountains. He could see the riders headed into a canyon between two of the peaks.
“There they are. It looks like they’re riding into a box canyon. That’s good news for us,” Gideon said.
“What are we going to do?” Zack asked.
“We are going to rest,” Gideon said.
Gideon decided to wait until nightfall to go any farther so they tied the horses up behind some brush. Dinner consisted of hardtack and jerky before stretching out and dozing off to sleep. A three–quarter moon was rising when Gideon awoke. He planned to utilize its light to his advantage that night.
Gideon gently shook Zack awake. “How are you feeling?” he asked when the boy had time to sit up and awaken.
“Much better, thank you. My head has stopped pounding,” Zack said.
“Before we head over there, we are going to get one thing straight. You will do exactly what I say – no questions asked. Do you understand?” Gideon said.
“Yes, sir,” Zack said.
“I hope you do better with my instructions than you do remembering not to call me sir,” Gideon said.
They rode to the mouth of the canyon and left their horses tied behind some brush off to the side of the entrance. Gideon grabbed his rifle, some strips of leather, a box of cartridges, and his lariat before they started their walk. The canyon was v–shaped and a couple hundred yards deep. Half way into the canyon, they could see the outlaw’s firelight all the way at the end of it. They continued walking until they were no more than fifty yards from the robbers. The men were talking loudly about their haul from the robbery and one of them was bragging about how he had dropped the shotgun rider dead in his tracks. The canyon was about seventy–five yards wide where Gideon stood, but the pathway was no more than twenty–five feet wide. Taking his lariat, he tied it between two trees so that it crossed the trail about six inches from the ground.
Gideon handed his revolver to Zack and whispered, “I want you to climb those rocks on that side and I’ll climb the ones on the other. Do not shoot unless they try to ride out of here.”
Gideon waited until Zack was in place and then climbed some rocks that provided cover where he had a clear view of their camp and his rope. There was a time in his life when he would have opened fire on the outlaws trying to kill as many as possible, but he took his oath of sheriff seriously and was determined to play by the rules. He held no hope that the outlaws would surrender, but would give them the opportunity anyway. “You men put your hands in the air and surrender. You are trapped,” he called out.
The three men dove into the darkness and began shooting towards where they thought he was. Not fearing being seen, Gideon popped his head up to try to take aim on them just as a bullet hit the rock he was perched behind, sending specks of stone into his face. It stung like all hell and got in his eyes. As he rubbed them trying to see, he wondered why he had ever thought sheriffing would be a good idea – staring at the ass end of cattle was an easier way to make a living.
The sound of the hoof beats of the robber’s horses was coming their way and the outlaws started shooting their guns in rapid fire. Gideon stood, rapidly aiming his rifle as he would a shotgun at quail and fired. The middle rider flopped backwards in his saddle a moment before the horses hit the taut rope. Two of the horses crashed to the ground on their noses, sending their riders catapulting through the air over the animal’s heads. The horse nearest him went down to its knees but did not throw the rider. Regaining its footing, the horse took off in a dead run while Gideon tried to get a bead on the rider. He took a desperate shot as the sound of the hoof beats faded into the night. Scrambling down from the rock, he saw one of the men slowly raising himself off the ground.
“Nighty night,” Gideon said as he took his rifle by t
he barrel and swung the butt of it into the man’s head, sending the outlaw plummeting back to the ground and out cold.
“Zack, are you okay?” Gideon hollered.
“I’m over here,” Zack called out weakly.
Gideon saw Zack lying at the base of the rocks, the moonlight reflecting off the revolver still clutched in his hand. “Damn it to hell,” he shouted as he ran to him.
He found a bullet hole on the right side of Zack’s chest bleeding profusely. Ripping the boy’s shirt open, Gideon removed his kerchief and applied pressure to the wound.
“How in the hell did you get shot? They didn’t even know you were there,” Gideon lamented as much to himself as to Zack.
“I think they were just shooting everywhere. I got the one in the middle,” Zack said proudly.
“Are you having trouble breathing?” Gideon asked.
“No. I just don’t feel so good,” Zack said.
“Good. Good. I think that you are hit above the lung. You are going to have to hang with me,” Gideon said.
“Gideon, if I don’t make it, please write my Aunt Sharon Barlow in Laramie and let her know. She is an old maid and helped raise me. I want her to know what happened to me,” Zack said.
“Don’t talk like that. I’m going to get you out of here. Hold pressure on the wound. I have got to get things done,” Gideon said.
The second man was dead from a gunshot wound to the neck that looked to have severed his spine and another to the heart. Zack had proven that he could shoot a gun, leaving Gideon regretting that they had both aimed at the same man. He started cussing, pissed at himself for allowing one to escape and bemoaning the fact that he had probably tied the rope too low to the ground. There was no way that he could track the outlaw with a prisoner, a wounded man, and a body in tow. Finding the third man would have to wait until another day.
Gideon had no desire to wait until daylight to ride out of the canyon where they would be an easy target if the escaped outlaw waited to ambush them and he needed to get Zack to the doctor anyway. He tied the unconscious man’s hands tightly with the leather strips and then retrieved his lariat and the guns. The two horses were milling about and he walked over to them, grabbing their reins. Tying the rope around the dead man’s waist, he threw the lariat over a tree branch and secured the other end to one of the horse’s saddle horn. He walked the horse far enough to raise the body an adequate amount off the ground to walk the other horse under it. When he had the second horse positioned, he backed the other horse until the man was draped across the saddle. He could not help but smile at his ingenuity while lamenting that at times like these it would have been handy to be as big as Ethan so that he could just heft a man of this size up onto the horse.
Grabbing a canteen from one of the horses, he poured water on the unconscious outlaw until he began coughing from choking. Gideon had learned a long time ago that it was best to scare the hell out of a prisoner right from the start if he was to get their cooperation. He pulled out his knife and poked it into the man’s crotch.
“Are you the son of a bitch that was going to rape the girl?” Gideon growled.
Between fits of coughing the man managed to say, “Hell, no. That was my brother. I was the one that stopped it. Just ask the driver when you take me back. People can tolerate robbers. They don’t rapist.”
“They don’t tolerate cold–blooded killers either. What’s your name?” Gideon asked.
“Tom McClean and who are you?” he said.
“I am Sheriff Gideon Johann of Last Stand,” Gideon said.
“I thought they had that old guy for a sheriff that could barely ride,” Tom said.
“He retired and I took the job,” Gideon said.
“Son of a bitch. I knew that we were getting careless. Should’ve never agreed to camp in a damn box canyon. I knew better,” Tom said.
Gideon pulled the knife from his crotch. “Get up and tell me if that is your brother on the horse,” he said.
Tom slowly got to his feet and wobbled to the horse. “No, that is Shaggy Brown. He just started riding with us,” he said.
“Your brother’s name is Ted, right? I saw posters on you two,” Gideon said.
“Yeah, that was us,” Tom said.
“Where is the loot?” Gideon asked.
Turning churlish, Tom said, “Find it yourself. I’m not your maid.”
Gideon’s rifle was leaning against a tree and he grabbed it by the barrel, ramming the butt into Tom’s kneecap and causing a blood–curdling shout. “Tom, you should not be so surly. It’s a known fact that it is not good for your health, especially around me,” he said.
“We divided it in thirds. Each saddlebag has our share,” Tom said while hopping around on one leg while trying to maintain his balance with his hands tied.
“Which one of you has Joann’s locket,” Gideon asked.
“If you are talking about the girl that Teddy got familiar with, he has got her necklace,” Tom answered.
“Now where is the pocket watch of that boy over there that you knocked silly?” Gideon said.
“I was the one that kept them from killing him. It’s in my pocket,” Tom said as he motioned that the watch was in his vest pocket.
“Are any of those guns there the ones that you took from him?” Gideon said, pointing to the collection of guns he had gathered.
“That rifle there and that pistol,” Tom said using his foot to point at them.
Gideon grabbed his rope and made a loop. “See that wasn’t so hard, now turn around,” he said and slipped the rope over Tom’s neck.
“What are you doing,” Tom asked in a panicked voice.
“We are going to walk out of this canyon to Zack’s and my horses. You lead the way and I will be right behind you. Try anything and I will kill you,” Gideon said.
“I can’t walk. You about knocked me silly and my leg ain’t working right from that trick you pulled with tripping the horses and then whacking it,” Tom said.
Pulling out his revolver and cocking it, Gideon pointed it at Tom. “Tom, I would just as soon shoot you now and not have the trouble of dealing with you. Nobody will be any the wiser. Which is it?” he said.
“Okay. Okay,” Tom said and started limping out of the canyon.
Gideon let out ten feet of rope and with the lariat in one hand and his rifle in the other, he followed Tom, giving him directions towards the horses. Untying the horses, he motioned for Tom to head back into the canyon, walking back to Zack and the horses without incident.
“Tom, I want you to stretch out in the dirt and I want your nose in the ground. Understand?” Gideon said.
“You got to be shitting me,” Tom said before Gideon gripped his rifle as a club and headed towards him. “Okay. Okay. I’m doing it. Damn you are one mean son of a bitch.”
“That’s right and the next time you forget it, I will make sure that you know it,” Gideon said.
Gideon retrieved his whiskey bottle and Zack’s guns before walking over to him.
“How are you doing?” Gideon asked.
Zack opened his eyes and tried to smile. “I’ve had better days,” he said.
“You got your guns and watch back,” Gideon said and stuck the revolver in its holster and put the watch into the young man’s vest pocket.
“Thank you,” Zack said.
“Don’t thank me. You did your part. I’m going to have to pour some whiskey in that wound to try to keep you from getting an infection. Zack, we have got to ride tonight. If we stay here we would be sitting ducks,” Gideon said.
“Let’s get this over with,” Zack said.
Gideon examined the wound, relieved to see that the bleeding had stopped and surmising that the wound had missed major arteries. Pouring the alcohol into the wound, he watched the boy’s face. Zack clenched his teeth and grimaced, but he never made a sound.
“Can you help me get you up in the saddle?” Gideon asked after the pain had subsided from Zack’s face.
> He helped Zack to his feet and the boy lumbered to his horse. With Gideon pushing on his rear end, Zack made it into the saddle. Retrieving some of the leather strips, Gideon tied Zack’s hands to the saddle horn and his feet to the stirrups. He then tied the horse with the body behind Zack’s horse.
Turning his attention to Tom, Gideon said, “Here is how we are going to do this. You are going to ride in the lead and we are going back just the way that you came all the way to Last Stand.”
“You mean we are going to ride all night? I ain’t up to that. I’ve been up since daybreak and my head is pounding thanks to you,” Tom said.
“Get on the horse and shut up,” Gideon said.
“Aren’t you going to take this noose off me? I’ll get rope burns,” Tom said.
“Hell, no, I’m not taking it off. It will be tied to my saddle horn and if you try to ride off, it’s going to snap your head like the gallows will one day. Pull your bandana up under it and quit whining,” Gideon said.
“I’m glad that you think I can do all this with my hands tied. Teddy is going to save me and then you will be in trouble for sure,” Tom said.
“It didn’t look like your brother was too worried about you back there. I hope he does show. That girl he grabbed wasn’t just any girl and I’m going to cut his balls off like a steer for that,” Gideon said and spit on the ground.
They rode until they had crossed the sandstone flats and climbed the knob where Gideon had tried to get Zack to wait for him. Gideon made Tom McClean sit with his back against a large cottonwood tree and then tied him to it before helping Zack down from his horse. The boy was barely conscious as Gideon covered him with a blanket.
“Zack, talk to me,” Gideon said as he lightly slapped his face. “Are you feeling that bad or are you worn out?”
“I’m just so tired, sir. I think I’m okay, but I can’t keep my eyes open,” Zack said.
“You need to drink some water and then I’m going to let you sleep,” Gideon said as he retrieved a canteen.
Gideon kept an eye across the sandstone for an hour until he was convinced that they weren’t followed before allowing himself to drift off to sleep. He awoke just before dawn to check on Zack.