No Less Than the Journey

by E. V. Thompson

  Aware of Pat’s torment, Aaron said, ‘Don’t blame yourself, Pat, this was carefully thought out. The targets were not the girls, but Wes and me – and we believe we know who did it …’

  He told Pat of the arrival of Gideon Denton and ‘Curly’ at the outlaws’ cabin, and the information that had been shouted to Ira Gottland.

  ‘What time would that have been?’ Pat asked, regaining some control of himself.

  ‘Soon after dawn. When was the fire discovered?’

  ‘The alarm was raised at about two o’clock, but the fire had really taken hold by then. I tried to get into the house by the back door but the flames drove me back. I think the whole ground floor was ablaze. It must have been about that time that Anabelita was shot. To be honest, there was so much smoke around that whoever shot her wouldn’t have been able to tell whether they were shooting a man or a woman – and Anabelita was wearing your coat, Wes. It must have been the first thing she found when she woke up and realized the house was on fire.’

  ‘Was Chief Kelly around when all this happened? Does he know about Anabelita?’ Aaron put the question to Pat.

  ‘I never saw him at the fire and I ran to his office when Anabelita’s bod … when Anabelita had been taken to Welensky’s, but Kelly wasn’t there. The officer on cell duty said he’d gone home right after releasing Walsh.’

  Startled, Aaron said, ‘Chief Kelly released Walsh before Anabelita was found?’

  ‘He must have done,’ Pat declared.

  Aware of Aaron’s thoughts, Wes said, ‘That means that Gideon Denton, thinking he’d shot both of us must have gone straight along and told Kelly.’

  ‘Not only that,’ Aaron pointed out grimly, ‘For Kelly to be in the police office at that time of night means he must have been expecting the news. We’ll have a few words with Chief Kelly – but not until we’ve re-arrested Mr Vic Walsh.’

  Turning to the one-armed man, Aaron’s composure almost cracked when he said, ‘Have the ashes of the house searched as soon as you can, Pat – and let me know as soon as you find anything.’

  ‘I’ll stay and give Pat a hand,’ Old Charlie had remained silent until now. ‘You and Wes go off and get Walsh. You won’t want me around when you find him.’

  When Aaron and Wes arrived at the Palace, a servant girl told them that the Palace owner had packed hurriedly and caught the morning train heading east out of Denver.

  ‘He’s escaped … yet again!’ Wes exclaimed angrily.

  ‘He hasn’t got away yet,’ Aaron said, ‘We’ll call in at the telegraph office on our way to speak to Chief Kelly. I’ll send a message to Sheriff Murray at Trego, asking him to board the train and take Walsh off there. He’ll have no problem. Most of the passengers on board will be able to point Walsh out to him.’

  On the way to the telegraph office the two men needed to pass the charred remains of the house once again. There was still a large crowd of sightseers gathered outside and they appeared to be having an impromptu meeting with Old Charlie and Pat in their midst.

  When Aaron and Wes were sighted word went around the crowd and a man Aaron recognized as Denver’s Mayor, Solomon Colville, flanked by two of the Denver councillors hurried to meet them.

  ‘Here comes trouble!’ Aaron said, grimly ‘but I’m not in any mood to humour them.’

  However, the mayor and his companions were about to spring a big surprise. Acting as their spokesman, the mayor said, ‘Marshal, we … myself and the Denver council, deeply regret the tragedy that occurred during the night, resulting in the loss of your home and the very sad death of at least one of your staff. She was, so I am informed, a personal friend of both you gentlemen.’

  ‘She was more than a friend, Mayor,’ said Wes, bitterly, ‘We were to be married and it wasn’t just a sad death, it was cold-blooded murder. It’s also probable that we are going to find the body of another murdered woman in the ruins of the house.’

  ‘So I believe,’ said the mayor. ‘You have my deepest sympathy and that of my colleagues … but am I right in thinking you know who perpetrated these acts, Marshal?’

  ‘I do,’ Aaron said, ‘We actually witnessed them boasting about it when we were watching an outlaw camp early this morning. Unfortunately, there were more than twenty of them and only three of us, so we were unable to do anything about it right then – but it would seem that your chief of police was aware of what was going to happen some time before the event. We’re on our way to arrest him now.’

  The Denver mayor was visibly shaken. ‘Chief Kelly has been less than efficient in maintaining law and order in Denver … but I was unaware of his involvement in anything dishonest.’

  ‘Well you are now,’ Aaron said curtly, ‘So if you’ll excuse me and my deputy we’ll be doing what should have been done by you and your council a long time ago…. Come on Wes, let’s go.’

  He turned to leave, but Mayor Colville said, ‘Wait, Marshal. Do you intend going after the murderers and the gang to which they belong?’

  ‘I intend to hunt them down and see that each and every one of them receives the punishment he deserves – but you’ll pardon me if I don’t tell you, or anyone else in Denver, what my plans are.’

  Colville adopted a pained expression, but he said, ‘I fully understand your mistrust of us, Marshal, but this is a frontier town in a raw and largely untamed Territory and perhaps we have been far too tolerant towards the lawless element in our midst. Nevertheless, every man in this town deplores the cold-blooded murder of a woman. If you intend forming a posse to go after these outlaws I can promise you the support of every able-bodied Denver man – and I include myself in that number.’

  Aaron looked speculatively at the mayor before saying, ‘We’ll put that to the test, Mayor, but before you commit yourself I think you ought to know I won’t be taking you off on a futile jaunt that you’ll be able to joke about at one of your evening parties. I know where these outlaws are hiding-up and that’s where we’ll be going – and I’m talking about the Denton gang. They will neither run, nor give themselves up. They’ll fight – and they’ll fight hard. I’m telling you this so that any man who volunteers knows exactly what to expect. I’ll take as many armed men as are willing to come with me – and I’ll be ready to move from here in exactly one hour from now. Go back and tell the others of the situation and let’s see just how many men match up to your fine opinion of your fellow Denver citizens.’

  Chief Kelly was not in his office when Aaron and his two companions arrived there. A nervous young police officer, the only person in the office, told them he had put in an appearance earlier that morning but had returned to his home, feeling ‘unwell’.

  As they made their way to the chief’s home, the three men were joined by Pat, who, like the others, was carrying a rifle and had a revolver holstered on his belt.

  Each of them had been up all night and they were tired, but, grim-visaged, they were determined to have a showdown with Kelly. They were a daunting quartet for the chief’s wife to have to face when she opened the door to them.

  She repeated the policeman’s story that her husband was too unwell to be at work, but Aaron cut her excuses for him short.

  ‘I understand your concern for your husband, ma’am, but insist that I speak to him. Tell me where his bedroom is and I’ll go there on my own while these three men keep you company.’

  When she protested, Aaron brushed past her and tried two doors in the single storey building before finding a bedroom where the police chief lay in bed with the bedclothes drawn up to his chin.

  Wasting no time on polite conversation, Aaron reached out and pulled the covers from the ‘unwell’ police chief. Looking down contemptuously at the fully dressed man, Aaron asked, sarcastically, ‘Are you so ill you are too weak to even remove your boots, Kelly? Well, it means there’ll be no time wasted in getting dressed. You’re coming downtown with me. There should soon be some men waiting for you there.’

  ‘You wouldn’t be party to a lynching
, Marshal you couldn’t do that. I swear I didn’t know anything about any women being killed.’

  ‘Of course you didn’t,’ Aaron said with a stony expression that terrified the police chief more than had he showed anger, ‘You thought it was me your friends had shot, after setting fire to my place. That’s why you released Walsh, a Federal prisoner. As for lynching … if there’s any hanging to be done it’ll be by order of a judge, not an unlawful mob. No, I’ve some work for you to do. You’ll find this difficult to believe, Kelly, but the good citizens of Denver have volunteered to form a posse to bring in the Dentons. I think they’d like you to join them. On reflection I’ll rephrase that. I insist that you come along with us, so I suggest you get well right away, strap on your gun and come along with me before my deputy comes in here to fetch you. In case you don’t already know, he was planning to marry the girl who was shot dead and he’s a little short on forgiveness and understanding right now.’

  When Aaron, accompanied by the others took Chief Kelly to meet the posse, he was taken aback by the number of armed and mounted citizens awaiting his instructions.

  Wes estimated that at least fifty men were volunteering to take on the Denton gang. It was unprecedented. Aaron warned them they were going to besiege the outlaws in their canyon cabin in the Rocky Mountain foothills and he was determined that every man in the Denton gang would be taken ‘dead or alive’, but not a man dropped out of the posse.

  He next asked how many of the posse had fought, on either side, in the Civil War which had been over for more than ten years. When three-quarters of their number raised their hands he knew he had a force he could at least count upon not to run when the first shot was fired.

  Pat Rafferty had wanted to be included in their number but Aaron asked him to arrange for a couple of days supplies and blankets to be sent up to the men of the posse, after which he wanted him to supervise the gruesome task of locating Lola’s body in the remains of the burned-out house.

  When all had been arranged it was a grim and unnaturally silent band of men who rode out of Denver soon after noon that day, but – with one exception – every one of them was determined that the menace of the Denton gang would be eliminated from Colorado Territory once and for all.

  CHAPTER 22

  On the way to the outlaw’s canyon hide-out, Aaron questioned Old Charlie in detail about the geography of the area. He was told there was another way out of the canyon, but it was by means of a narrow defile in the canyon wall, only just wide enough to allow horsemen to squeeze through in single file and it would necessitate scrambling up a steep slope strewn with rocks that had tumbled from the peaks above in order to reach it.

  Old Charlie added the information that, as it was at the far end of the canyon from the cabin and not easily seen, it was possible the outlaws did not know of its existence.

  Even if they did, he believed it would be possible for a single posse-man armed with a repeating rifle to be positioned at any one of a number of vantage points above the narrow defile and prevent the whole gang from escaping along this route.

  When they reached the canyon, Aaron sent Old Charlie off with eight of the posse-men to seal off this possible means of escape for the Denton gang.

  The remainder of the posse-men were stationed at the mouth of the canyon to prevent any attempt to escape this way and Aaron placed them in such a way that a fusillade of bullets could be poured into the gang if they attempted a cavalry-type charge on the besiegers.

  Satisfied he had done all that was possible to contain the Denton gang, Aaron and Wes made their way to the vantage point they had occupied during the previous night, in order to count the horses in the corral. If a large number of outlaws had left the canyon during their absence and returned unexpectedly, they could pose a serious threat to the posse.

  Much to Aaron’s relief there were now twenty-six horses in the corral, the animals belonging to Gideon Denton and his companion being added to the original number.

  He had arranged that Old Charlie should join them here when the mountain-man had placed the posse-men to his satisfaction in the defile. While they were waiting, Aaron looked at Wes’s gaunt and tired features and asked, ‘How you feeling, Wes?’

  Shaking his head wearily, Wes replied, ‘When we got back to Denver and found … found what had happened I felt a sense of unreality and my mind was numbed. It’s still numb, but feeling’s coming back now and letting the pain through. I’m finding it hard to come to grips with it, Aaron. This time yesterday Anabelita was alive and as happy as I’ve ever seen her. We’d talked things through … talked about the baby … about getting married and becoming a family. We had so much to look forward to, but now…?’

  Wes stopped abruptly as the stark reality of what had happened to Anabelita, and all that it meant, hit home fully for perhaps the first time. Raising his glance to Aaron’s face, he said, ‘But you’ll have a good idea of how I’m feeling. You and Lola…!’

  He failed to finish what he was saying, but Aaron understood and they were both silent for some time. It was Aaron who broke the silence, saying, ‘It’s strange, Wes. I’ve met many bar-girls in my life, but there’s not one I’ve remembered for more than an hour after I’d got on my horse and ridden away from her. Lola was different, there was something in her I’ve never found in any other woman. I think I once said to you that if she hadn’t been a whore she’d have made someone a good wife. It’s easy to say now, but I’d been thinking more and more lately about the sort of wife she’d make and there weren’t many arguments – not real, important arguments – I could make against it, especially when I saw how excited she got when you and Anabelita decided to marry. You and me might get some satisfaction from seeing justice done on their behalf, Wes, but it’s not going to bring either of ’em back to us.’

  Trying unsuccessfully not to dwell upon how happy Anabelita had been at the thought of their future together, Wes was relieved when Old Charlie arrived to report that he had placed the posse-men in position along the defile.

  Dismounting from his mule and seating himself Indian-style on the ground beside the two men, he said, ‘Well, we’re all where we should be, Marshal, what do we do now, go in and take ’em by surprise?’

  ‘There’s no way we could do that, Charlie. We’d never reach the cabin without being seen and they’d pick us off like pigs in a pen. No, we’ll negotiate, like civilised men should.’

  Wes and Old Charlie looked at Aaron as though he had suddenly taken leave of his senses. It was the mountain-man who put their thoughts into words.

  ‘This is the Denton gang we’re talking about, Aaron. Since when have they behaved like civilized folk? I doubt if they’ve even heard tell of the word.’

  ‘I don’t doubt it for a moment, Charlie, but I think we ought to at least try – and we have just the man with us to go in and do the negotiating for us … Chief Kelly.’

  Now it was Wes who challenged Aaron’s reasoning, ‘He’s not likely to even try to persuade them to give themselves up. He’s been in their pockets for so long he wouldn’t dare risk them being taken alive and telling what they know about him. He’s far more likely to join up with them and give them some idea of what we are planning to do.’

  ‘So? Either way he’s a loser. One way he might just finish up as a live loser. The other way he’ll be dead with the rest of ’em.’

  CHAPTER 23

  Chief Kelly rode up to the outlaws’ cabin holding aloft an empty rifle, to which was attached a white handkerchief supplied by Denver’s mayor. To the casual observer it would have appeared the handkerchief was fluttering in the breeze, but the air was still and the movement was caused by the chief’s nervousness, his shaking hand transferring movement to the improvised ‘flag of peace’.

  Kelly had good reason to be nervous, he had been tolerated by the Denton gang in the past only because he could occasionally prove useful to them, setting gang members free on the few occasions when a Denver police officer had the courage to arr
est one of them for misbehaving in the town, and turning a blind eye to the more serious crimes they committed in the surrounding countryside. However, now there was a United States Marshal in Denver, Kelly’s usefulness to the gang did not amount to much.

  Aware that he was probably being covered by a great many guns, the frightened chief began shouting out his peaceful intentions long before he reached the outlaws cabin but he felt no less threatened when Ira Gottland came to the doorway holding a rifle in his hands.

  ‘What d’you reckon you’re doing coming here waving a flag, Kelly, it’s not Thanksgiving for a while yet?’

  ‘This is no celebration, Ira,’ the police chief, declared, ‘We’re all in deep trouble. Marshal Berryman is out there with a posse from Denver. He’s sent me in under a flag of truce to say you’re to give yourselves up or he’s coming in to get you.’

  ‘What are you talking about? The marshal’s dead – and that Englishman too. Gideon killed them.’

  ‘No he didn’t.’ Terrified of contradicting the outlaw leader, Kelly continued hurriedly, ‘Gideon certainly burned the marshal’s house down, but he shot one of the women Berryman brought to Denver from the riverboat. He probably shot the other woman too because she hasn’t been seen since.’

  Turning back into the cabin, Gottland shouted angrily, ‘Did you hear that, Gideon? You didn’t shoot no marshal or interfering Englishman, you killed two women and now Berryman’s out there with a posse. He’s sent this snivelling police chief to call on us to give ourselves up.’

  Coming to the doorway, Gideon Denton was scowling, ‘You sure Kelly’s telling the truth, Ira? You don’t think he’s brought a posse up here to trick us into giving ourselves up, just to get the glory … that and a hefty reward?’

  Breaking out in a cold sweat, Kelly protested, ‘I wouldn’t do nothing like that, Ira, you know I wouldn’t.’