The Loner: The Blood of Renegades

by J. A. Johnstone

  Arturo jumped down from the loft, holding a pitchfork. He landed on top of one man and plunged the tines into his chest. The hay bales had stunned two guards, but the last man was struggling up and clawing at the gun on his hip. He had dropped his rifle when the hay knocked him down.

  Conrad kicked out as far as he could reach. The toe of his boot hit the man’s wrist and sent the gun in his hand flying. Arturo pulled the pitchfork free from the chest of the man he had just stabbed and whirled toward the fourth man. He drove the razor-sharp tool into the guard’s belly. Tearing it loose as the man collapsed, and before the two men who had been stunned could regain their wits, he dispatched them with the pitchfork, too.

  When Arturo turned to face Conrad, his eyes were wide and staring hysterically. For a second he thought Arturo was going to stab him with the pitchfork, too, but then he dropped it, stepped back, and passed a hand over his eyes.

  “My God,” he said in an awed tone. “My God, what have I done?”

  “You’ve saved our lives, that’s what you’ve done,” Conrad said. “Now cut us loose, quick.”

  Kingman and the other men looked amazed. “Did you know he was up there?” Kingman asked.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Conrad snapped. “Come on, Arturo. That guard’s got a knife on his belt. Get it and cut us loose.”

  “Of course. Of course.” With a visible effort, Arturo shook off the horror he felt and stooped to pluck the knife from its sheath. He cut Conrad’s bonds first, then tried to press the knife into his hands.

  Conrad shook his head as he flexed his fingers. “My hands are still too numb to handle the knife. You just keep doing what you’re doing.”

  “Very well. I hope I don’t cut anyone.”

  “Don’t worry too much about that,” Kingman told him. “Just get these ropes off us.”

  Conrad kept working his hands, getting the feeling back into his fingers as fast as he could. He watched the barn door. No one came near it. Outside, the wind still blew. An idea began to form in his head. As soon as his hands worked again, he stripped the gunbelt off one of the guards and buckled it on, then hurried over to that big folded piece of canvas.

  “Give me a hand with this,” he told Ollie, who was loose. “Let’s put it in the back of the buckboard.”

  “What for?”

  “No time to explain. Just do it. We’ll need that keg of nails, a hammer, a couple boards, and some rope, too.”

  He could tell Ollie was baffled, but the big man did as Conrad asked.

  Meanwhile Conrad picked up a fallen rifle and went over to the door, where he looked out carefully. Kingman joined him.

  “See anybody moving around?” Kingman asked.

  Conrad shook his head. “Not yet. Everybody must be going to that wedding. Where’s the arbor from here?”

  “About half a mile in that direction.” Kingman pointed. “Behind Hissop’s house.”

  “Will all the men be armed, even though it’s a wedding?”

  “Leatherwood and the avenging angels will be. They always are. The rest of the men probably won’t be.”

  “That’s good. We won’t have to fight our way through the entire bunch.”

  Ollie came up behind them. “Got that stuff loaded like you wanted, Mr. Browning. Now what?”

  “Hitch the team to the buckboard. It’s going to carry us out of here.”

  “Wait a minute,” Kingman said. “You plan to interrupt the wedding, load everybody on the buckboard, and ride out of here, just like that?”

  “We’ll try to slow them down,” Conrad said.

  “Even if we do, they’ll catch up to us and kill us before we’ve gone a mile! We can’t outrun Leatherwood in some stupid buckboard!”

  “Just be patient,” Conrad told him. “You’ll see what I’ve got in mind.”

  “What I see is that we’re all going to be dead soon!”

  “And if we are . . . wouldn’t you rather die fighting? Wouldn’t you rather try to save Selena first?”

  Kingman looked at Conrad for a long moment, then jerked his head in a nod. “You’re right about that.” His hands tightened on the rifle he held. “I’ve been wrong about you from the start, Browning. I reckon you’ve earned a little faith.”

  “Thanks.” Conrad hoped that faith wasn’t misplaced. “As soon as that buckboard is hitched up and ready to roll, we’re going to attend a wedding, whether we’ve been invited or not.”

  Chapter 30

  Conrad walked over and put a hand on Arturo’s shoulder. “Are you all right?” he asked his friend.

  Arturo gave him a shaky nod. “Yes, I . . . I just never did anything like that. I’ve killed men, but not in cold blood.”

  “That wasn’t cold blood,” Conrad told him. “Everyone of those avenging angels would have killed you without even blinking, if they’d had the chance. You saved our lives and saved your own, too. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “I suppose not. It’s just . . . since I met you, I’ve done things I never dreamed I’d be capable of. Both good and bad.”

  “I’m sorry for the bad,” Conrad said. “We’ll be out of here soon, and then we can get on to San Francisco and finish the job that brought us out here.”

  “Sometimes I feel like it’ll never be over,” Arturo mused.

  To change the subject, Conrad said, “How did you get away from Leatherwood’s men?”

  “When I saw them coming, I abandoned the horses and sought concealment in the trees up on the slope. I’m sorry I let them take the horses.”

  Conrad shook his head. “It was a lot more important that you stay loose so you could help us.”

  “After that I made my way over the ridge to where I could see what was going on down here. I saw them put you and these other men in the barn. I was afraid they might go ahead and kill you, but when I didn’t hear any shots I figured they were keeping you alive for some reason. So I snuck down here and found a rope hanging from a pulley in a window at the back of the barn. I was able to climb it and get into the hayloft that way.”

  Conrad nodded. That rope was used to raise and lower bales of hay from the loft. There was a matching opening and pulley in the front of the barn.

  “That was smart thinking, all the way around.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’ve learned to be . . . creative, shall we say . . . when it comes to dealing with villains. Traveling with you has taught me that, among many other things.”

  Conrad grinned as he thought about the plan he had in mind. “Sometimes being creative is the only real chance you’ve got.”

  Ollie came over to them. “The team’s hitched up, and the buckboard is ready to go. But where are we going in it?”

  Before Conrad could answer, Kingman hissed at them from the front door of the barn. “Leatherwood’s coming, with some of the avenging angels! They’re probably coming to take us to the wedding, so Hissop can force me to watch him marrying Selena.”

  “We’re going to the wedding, all right,” Conrad said. “Everybody pile onto the buckboard. Ollie, can you handle the reins?”

  “Yeah, I reckon,” the big man said.

  “All right. When we get out of the barn, head straight for Leatherwood and his gunmen. Whip the team into a run and roll right over them if you can.”

  Ollie nodded. “I gotcha.”

  The men had armed themselves with the dead guards’ weapons. Arturo climbed onto the seat next to Ollie. Conrad, Kingman, and the other two men got in the back.

  “Let’s go,” Conrad said to Ollie.

  They had turned the buckboard so it faced the open front doors of the barn. Ollie slapped the reins against the backs of the horses and they started forward, moving at a walk, then going faster as they approached the door. As the buckboard went through the opening, Ollie yelled and slashed at the team, making them lunge into a gallop.

  Leatherwood and five other men were only a few yards from the barn. When the running horses emerged and barreled down on them, they
tried to scatter and get out of the way, but three of the men didn’t make it. With startled screams, they went down under the pounding, steel-shod hooves of the team. Conrad felt the buckboard lurch heavily as the iron-rimmed wheels ran over the trampled men.

  Leatherwood was one of the men who had thrown himself clear. Roaring furiously, he rolled and came up on a knee to fire at the buckboard’s occupants. Conrad threw a shot back at him but missed as Leatherwood ducked.

  On the other side of the buckboard, the remaining gunmen tried to get up but crumpled as bullets ripped through them. That left Leatherwood firing futilely after them as Ollie sent the buckboard racing toward the arbor where the wedding was supposed to take place.

  Hissop and the rest of the people gathered for the ceremony would know trouble had broken out, so it wouldn’t be possible to take them completely by surprise. Conrad had a hunch they wouldn’t be expecting wedding crashers, though.

  The sky was gray and yellow with dust. A hard gust of wind suddenly pounded the wagon as Ollie wheeled it in a turn and sent it careening toward the brush arbor. People scattered, fleeing the windstorm. Conrad spotted Selena, dressed in a long white gown, struggling with Hissop.

  “Selena!” Dan shouted. “Selena, we’re coming for you!”

  Avenging angels ran toward the buckboard. Flame spouted from the barrels of their guns. Conrad crouched behind the seat and lifted the rifle to his shoulder. “Keep your head down, Ollie!” he called as he fired over Ollie and Arturo, jacked the Winchester’s lever, and fired again. Kingman was beside him, also firing a rifle. Three of the avenging angels spun off their feet as they were hit, causing the rest to scatter momentarily.

  The buckboard careened right up the aisle in the brush arbor toward Selena and Hissop. Ollie hauled back hard on the reins to keep from running them over just as Selena finally clenched one hand into a hard fist and drove it into Hissop’s face. The punch jolted the elder backward. Seizing the opportunity Selena pulled up her skirt and leaped into the back of the buckboard. Conrad grabbed her while Kingman sent a couple shots racketing toward Hissop. The elder rolled behind some benches, and the shots missed, chewing splinters from the seats.

  “Dora! Rachel! Caroline!” a man in the buckboard shouted. “Over here!”

  Remnants of the crowd were still scattered around. Three women broke loose from the older men holding them, either their fathers or Hissop’s cronies to whom they had been promised as brides. They ran to the buckboard and clambered onto the back of the vehicle as Ollie struggled to get it turned around in the cramped confines of the brush arbor.

  “Better get us out of here, Ollie!” Conrad warned. He snapped another rifle shot at an avenging angel and saw the man go over backward as the slug punched into his chest.

  “I’m tryin’!” Ollie yelled, lashing at the horses with the reins. They overturned some of the benches that had been set up in the brush arbor as they stampeded back into the open.

  Selena clutched at Kingman. “You came for me!” she cried. “You came for me! I didn’t think there was a chance!”

  “There’s always a chance, as long as we’re alive!” he told her. “Now get down!”

  The women hunkered low as the men surrounded them and kept up a steady fire. Conrad caught a glimpse of Leatherwood and triggered a fast shot at him as the buckboard flashed past, but he was pretty sure he missed.

  “Head down the canyon to the salt flats!” Conrad told Ollie. “Fast!”

  Ollie looked back over his shoulder. “The salt flats! What—”

  “Go, just go!” Conrad told him.

  As the buckboard passed the corral, Conrad sent several shots close over the heads of the gathered horses. They were already skittish because of the hard wind, and the shots spooked them even more. They milled around, pressing hard against the poles, and suddenly the corral fence collapsed on one side. The herd broke free, panicking and stampeding. Conrad flashed a grin. That would give them a little more time to put his plan into effect.

  Ollie headed across the basin to the mouth of the canyon. A few minutes later it came into sight through the swirling, blowing dust. Conrad looked behind them but couldn’t see any pursuit. The air was so full of dust it was difficult to see for more than a hundred yards or so.

  The buckboard barreled into the narrow part of the canyon. Everyone held on for dear life as it bounced and jolted. Conrad kept looking back, expecting to see riders appear on their trail. So far, there was no sign of pursuit.

  After a few minutes of the wild ride, the buckboard reached the end of the canyon and emerged onto the gentle slope that led down to the salt flats about a mile away. “Keep going!” Conrad told Ollie. “All the way to the flats!”

  “But we can’t go across there!” Ollie protested. “The horses can’t make it!”

  “We’re taking the buckboard, but not the horses,” Conrad said. Ollie looked at him like he was crazy.

  Maybe he was, he thought. They would soon find out.

  Chapter 31

  Ollie brought the buckboard to a skidding halt at the edge of the salt flats, which stretched out ahead seemingly to infinity. The mountains on the far side of the flats where the Valley of the Outcast Saints was located were completely invisible because of the dust storm.

  “Ollie, Arturo, unhitch the horses and let ’em go!” Conrad ordered as he hopped down from the vehicle.

  “Let them go?” Kingman repeated. “You’ve lost your mind! You can’t mean to walk across the flats. It’s certain death, especially in a storm like this!”

  “We’re not walking. Ollie, once the team is unhitched, lift the tongue and prop it against the front of the buckboard. I’ll tie it in place. The rest of you, watch for Leatherwood. If you see anybody coming, let out a yell.”

  Ollie and Arturo unhitched a couple horses. As they worked on the others, Ollie said, “By golly, I think I know what you’ve got in mind, Mr. Browning. We’re gonna fix us a wind wagon!”

  “That’s right. We’ll nail those boards across the tongue to give us something to fasten that canvas to, and it’ll be our sail.”

  “A wind wagon!” Kingman said. “I’ve heard about such things, but I didn’t know they were real!”

  “They’re real, all right,” Conrad said over the howling gale. And he hoped they worked. He had seen pictures of them in books, but that was all.

  He climbed onto the buckboard and tied a rope to the top of the tongue after Ollie lifted it into place. Then he ran the rope to the back of the buckboard and fastened it there as well. They would have no rudder, so they’d have to go wherever the wind took them, but it would be away from Juniper Canyon and that was all that mattered.

  The wind caught the canvas when Conrad and Ollie tried to lift it into place, and they almost lost their grip on it. Part of it was free and popping madly before they gathered it back in.

  “The rest of you grab the buckboard!” Conrad shouted. “We don’t want it taking off on us as soon as the wind fills the sail.”

  He had sailed on Boston Harbor as a young man, but that was a long time ago. A lifetime ago, in many ways. He realized they should have left the tongue down on the ground and nailed the sail to it there, then raised it, but it was too late for that. He and Ollie kept struggling, and finally they had the sail tied securely in place. The buckboard shuddered as the wind pushed it forward. The men, along with Selena and the other women, held it back.

  “All right, everybody on!” Conrad ordered. “Be quick about it! This thing wants to get up and go!”

  “Women first!” Kingman said. He boosted Selena into the back of the vehicle as the other women clambered on. Their weight helped, but at the same time the men had to hold the buckboard back by themselves.

  “Go!” Conrad told the other men. “Get on there now!”

  He set his feet, holding on to one rear wheel while Ollie held the other. Kingman and the others climbed onto the buckboard. Conrad felt the strain on his muscles and knew he and Ollie couldn’t ho
ld it much longer.

  “You next, Mr. Browning!” Ollie called. “I got it!”

  “Together!” Conrad said. “We go together! On three . . . one . . . two . . . three!”

  Conrad boosted himself up. The wind wagon leaped ahead as the sail billowed. Kingman grabbed Conrad’s arm to steady him and finish the job of hauling him in.

  “Ollie!” Arturo yelled.

  Conrad jerked his head around and saw that Ollie had made a grab for the buckboard but missed. He was running along in its wake as it started out onto the flats, but he wouldn’t be able to keep up for more than a few seconds.

  A length of rope had been left over when Conrad finished tying the tongue into place. He snatched it and flung it toward Ollie, who made a desperate lunge and got one hand on the rope. “Hang on!” Conrad called to him as Ollie managed to get hold of the rope with his other hand.

  He acted a little like an anchor, slowing the wind wagon as he ran behind it. At that moment, riders loomed out of the swirling dust at the edge of the flats and opened fire. Conrad was willing to bet Jackson Leatherwood was one of them. Bullets sang overhead as the pursuers opened fire.

  As Ollie struggled to run behind the buckboard, he panted, “I gotta let go! I’m holdin’ you back!”

  “No, hang on!” Conrad yelled. “Come on, a little closer!”

  Ollie was running so fast Conrad hoped his feet weren’t staying in contact with the salt crust long enough to cause it to break into sharp pieces. While he hauled on the rope, pulling Ollie closer, Kingman and the other two men returned the avenging angels’ fire with their rifles.

  Arturo crowded up beside Conrad and took hold of the rope, throwing his strength into the effort. Conrad told Arturo, “Hold on to the rope! I’m going to try to get him!”

  Arturo nodded. Conrad slid to the very back of the buckboard and extended his arm toward Ollie. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Selena and the other women had joined Arturo on the rope. Between them, they pulled Ollie a little closer, and suddenly Conrad closed his fingers around Ollie’s wrist. He locked his hand in an iron grip, and the muscles in his arm and shoulder stood out like bunches of steel cable as he dragged Ollie close enough to grab his other arm.