Half an hour later, Benny said, “I see some dust out there.”
“Where?” Heck demanded.
“Right over there to the east.”
“You’ve got good eyes there, boy. Everybody get to their places. Remember, Ty, let ’em all get in the yard. Knock Garth out of the saddle if you can. The rest of us will open up as soon as we hear your shot.”
Garth raised his hand and stopped the men. He looked over and saw that there were seven of them. “We ride in, and anybody gives us any trouble, shoot ’em down.”
“There’s women in there,” Long Tom Slaughter said. “At least they’re usually there. That’s Jordan’s wife and his daughter.”
“Well, don’t shoot them if you can help it, but everybody else goes. You all ready?” A murmur of assent came to him, and he said, “We go in hard and fast. We take everybody out, fire the house, then run off as many of the cattle as we can.”
“You sure you want to do this, Garth?” Long Tom Slaughter said. “It’ll stir the marshals up. They’ll be after us heavy.”
“We’ll be out of this country by the time they hear about it. Let’s go.” He spurred his stallion forward, and the horse broke into a hard run. He glanced to see that all the men were with him, and they swept into the yard. “I don’t see anybody,” Mexican Jack said. “Why ain’t they here?”
Even as they spoke, a rifle shot broke the silence, and Garth Taylor fell off his horse. Even before he hit the ground, other shots were raking the yard. Garth Taylor knew he was done for. He just hoped his men exacted revenge on the Jordans before he died.
“They’re all hid,” Slaughter hollered. “We can’t take this.”
“Let’s get out of here!” Grat Dalton yelled. “We ain’t got a chance!”
They all tried to calm their horses, but some men came into the open. The outlaws emptied their guns.
Mexican Jack emptied his Colt and saw one of the men drop. “I got him!” he yelled, but then a bullet struck him in the heart, and Garth could tell he was dead when he hit the ground.
“Let’s get out of here, Bob!” Grat Dalton yelled. “We ain’t got a chance!” The two of them fled, but the Dalton brothers left Mexican Jack dead and Clagg, Slaughter, and Garth bleeding their lives out in the dust.
Raina was in town with her father. She had been struggling to figure out the decision she knew she would have to make. Which man? The aristocratic English lord or the hard-bitten marshal? Both men were strong, but she knew that was not enough.
Judge Parker stopped beside her and her father and said, “Some word came in that Tom Rawlings just rode in from a shootout at the Jordan ranch. Let him tell us.” He hollered, “Tom, come over here.”
A short, well-built man came over, his face drenched with sweat. “Yes, Judge.”
“You saw the thing?”
“I was just riding by and heard gunfire. I didn’t know what was going on, so I come to get help. Before I left I could see it was quite a slaughter. All of the outlaws went down except two. I didn’t know who it was, but they got away.”
“Were any of my men hurt?” Parker said.
“I saw one of them go down. I think he’s dead. At least he looked like it. I didn’t take time to stay around. The two outlaws left were comin’ toward me.”
“Do you know which one of my men it was?”
“I think it was Kincaid.”
At those words, Raina knew that she had lost something that she would mourn for the rest of her life. She turned and walked away, her face frozen and immobile, and she could not speak. Her heart was clutched in an icy grasp.
George came rushing up to say, “I just heard what happened.”
“Did you hear that Ty got killed?”
George stared at her. “No, I didn’t hear that.”
“I might as well tell you, George. I can’t marry you.”
George studied her face and said, “It’s Ty you love.”
“I didn’t know it before, but it is.”
“I’m sorry. Will you be all right?”
“No, I don’t think I’ll ever be all right.”
“Well, I’ll be around if I can do anything.”
Two hours later, Raina was in the general store. She had wept over Ty and knew she would never cease to regret his death.
She heard a man call, “Here comes the group from the Jordan place.”
She walked outside, expecting to see a body draped over a horse. Instead she saw Ty Kincaid, and Raina suddenly did not breathe. Tears began to flow, and she ran out crying, “Ty—Ty!”
Ty had stepped out of the saddle, and when she struck him running full speed, he reached out and held her. “What is it, Raina?”
“I heard you were dead!”
“No, I just stumbled and fell. None of us got hit.”
She held on to him, her face against his chest. He smelled of dust and sweat, but she was crying so hard she did not even care.
“What is it, Raina?”
“When I heard you were dead, Ty, it was like the sun went out.”
Ty stared at her then said, “I had to stay alive—long enough to do whatever it is that God wants me to do.”
She came to him, and as he held her, she suddenly knew what she wanted. She waited for Ty to speak, to tell her that he loved her, but he only held her tightly.
Thirty yards away, George Fairfax was watching the scene. Leoma Jordan came up, and he turned to look at her. “Well, I asked her about marrying me.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing much, but it would have been no. She loves Kincaid.”
“You know what you need, George? You need a cause.”
“What kind of a cause?” he said.
“Me.” Leoma smiled. “I’ll be your cause. You can come courting me.”
George suddenly smiled. He liked this girl. She had a vividness and a life about her that he had rarely seen. “I’ve got a broken heart,” he said, but he was smiling.
“I’ll fix it,” Leoma said. “Come along. We’ll talk about how I like to be courted.”
“Well, I need something,” George said. “Maybe it’s you.”
“We’ll find out about that, won’t we?”
CHAPTER 25
Word of the demise of Garth Taylor’s bunch of outlaws spread like wildfire through the territory. People talked about nothing else, and most of the decent men of Fort Smith, and the ranchers who were scattered throughout the Indian lands, were glad, for Garth Taylor was a man who could do great harm.
The only fly in the ointment was the escape of the Dalton brothers, but the word was out that they had fled to the east and would not be any problem for Judge Parker or for his marshals.
Heck Thomas sat in the early afternoon sunlight. As usual he had taken station in his cane-bottom chair and tilted it back against the face of the courthouse and the jail. The sun was warm, but Heck could take hot weather. It was the cold weather that troubled him. Now, as usual, he was whittling on a piece of cedar and looking down at the pile of curled shavings, wondering why he had such an impulse to do this. Of course he saved all the shavings and made cushions out of them that made his room smell better, but it seemed like a foolish thing for a grown man and the head of more than a hundred marshals to do.
The people of the town, men and women, youngsters and adolescents, all paraded by, and many of them stopped to congratulate Heck on his action against Garth Taylor’s bunch. Heck was aware that he had not done this single-handedly, but he was the one who got the congratulations.
The town drunk, Pete Barton, came down the sidewalk. Heck had learned to gauge Pete’s condition by the way he walked. Now he stood straight and kept in the middle of the sidewalk, so he wasn’t drunk yet. His drunken progress was a weaving back and forth, sometimes falling down, running into people, mumbling to himself, but Pete showed none of these signs yet.
He stopped in front of Heck and said, “Well, Marshal, it looks like you got yourself a reputation.”
“I’ve had a reputation, Pete, for a long time. I’m not sure I need any more.” He studied Pete, who was wearing leftover clothes that he had evidently found. Nothing matched and nothing fit. The hat he had on was far too small and was perched on top of his head like a cap on a small boy. “Where are you headed, Pete?” Heck asked.
Pete took his hat off, scratched his thatch of graying hair, and thought for a moment. Finally he said, “Well, Marshal, I’m going to get drunk, and do I dread it!”
It was an enigmatic answer, and Heck thought for a moment that he had misheard him, but finally he saw that Pete was totally serious. “If you dread it, why do you do it?”
“I don’t know why I do it. You know, once, Marshal, I was a respected lawyer back East.”
“I’ve heard that.”
“Made lots of money, married a good woman, and had three children. Had everything going for me.”
“Well, what happened?”
“I never had a drink until one day at a celebration someone gave me a glass of whiskey. I drank it, and that was the last of my sobriety.”
“I can’t understand that. If you saw it was ruining you, why did you do it?”
“Can’t tell you that. Someone asked me how I lost my honor, and I got me a stock answer. You like to hear it, Marshal?”
“Let her rip, Pete.”
“Well, you don’t lose your honor in one bad moment.”
“What does that mean?”
“I didn’t wake up one morning and say, ‘I’ve been a good man, a good husband, a good father, but I’ve decided I’m going to become a worthless, drunken bum and throw everything away.’ It didn’t happen like that.”
“How did it happen then?”
“Well, it come on slow. I took one little drink, and the next day I took another one. Just them two drinks, but by that time I guess I was a drunk even though I still went on with my work and did my job. But it was like little mice coming in taking away cheese. They didn’t take the whole chunk of cheese; they just took a little nibble at it. So whiskey nibbled at me, and I woke up one day and looked around and saw that I had become a drunk, my wife and kids had left me, I didn’t have any money, and I wasn’t welcome anyplace in the town where I’d practiced. I’d lost my license. So I came out here.”
“Is it any better here?”
“It is in one way, Marshal. Nobody cares if you’re drunk here.”
Heck Thomas felt a sudden sympathy for Pete Barton. He had watched him for years, and the man lived in total misery, and he could not understand why a man would do a thing like that.
“Well, I guess you’ve gotten enough good advice, so I won’t give you any.”
“Wouldn’t do any good, Marshal.” He looked around and said, “What do you think is going to happen to Fort Smith?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I mean towns change. Some of them become big cities. Some of them just dry up and blow away.”
“You know, I’ve thought about that, Pete. Right now this is a wild place with Indians and outlaws and Judge Parker hangin’ those he can get convicted. But it’ll calm down sooner or later. I was at Dodge City when it was at its height. They had a man killed every morning before breakfast, but now it’s just a nice little town, not very big, nothing much going on. That’ll happen to Fort Smith one of these days.”
“Well, you’ll be out of a job.”
“No, not really. There’ll still be crooks and outlaws. They’ll need men like me.”
“I’m ruined, Marshal. I hope you don’t ever fall like I did. Well, I’ll be going now.”
Heck watched as Pete Barton walked off. He thought about Judge Parker, and suddenly the question came to his mind. What’ll happen to Judge Parker when he can’t serve as a judge anymore? He heard rumors already that there were people in Washington concerned with the severity and the strictness with which Parker ran his court and that there were moves under way to replace him.
Heck got up, stretched, and shook the thought out of his mind. He knew that if Parker left, he would be fired, too. I wonder if I could go back to Emily. She never has married again, and the kids are grown up. Maybe we could make something out of it.
He was interrupted when Dave Ennis, the banker at the Cattleman’s Bank, stopped in front of him. “That was a good job, Marshal.” Ennis beamed. He reached out and shook Heck’s hand. “Good to be rid of that bunch of snakes.”
“Well, it is. I’ve been after them for a long time, Dave, but there’s plenty more where they came from.”
“Well, you’ll get them all.” Ennis nodded.
“I don’t think so. There’ll always be bad men.”
“Just takes a little time, don’t it?”
“Takes time and men willing to die to make the peace. I don’t like to think about the young fellows that I’ve lost. Over fifty of them dead and buried in a cemetery out there.”
“Well, this bunch you won’t have to hang ’em. They’re already dead except for the Dalton brothers.”
“I’d just as soon we’d taken them alive and put ’em through the court. The Daltons are gone, but someone will take their place.”
“The whole territory is proud of you.”
“I didn’t do it by myself, you know.”
“No, I hear you had some good help. Maybe things are looking up.”
“Maybe so, but not this week. Still got work to do.”
Ennis moved on, and Heck grew tired of hearing people comment on his ability as a lawman when he knew well that it was not his achievement alone. Heck took a small feed sack out of his pocket, filled it with the cedar shavings, folded his knife, and went inside. He mounted the stairs and went right to Judge Parker’s office. He knocked on the door, and when Judge Parker said, “Come in,” he opened it.
He found the judge sitting at his desk, staring out into space. “What is it, Heck?”
“I’m tired of sitting out there being told how wonderful I am.”
Parker did not laugh often, but he found this amusing. “I don’t suppose many men find out they’re wonderful when they’re as young as you. I wish I could.”
“Oh, Judge, everybody knows you’re a great man.”
“No, they don’t.”
Heck looked down at his hand and said, “I’ve shook more hands than a politician running for office.”
Parker shook his head. “Soak it up.”
“Never was one to do a lot of that.”
“Just wait,” Parker said. “The first time some more bad men shoot a citizen up, those same folks that have been shaking your hand will be yelling at you to get off your duff and do your job.”
“That what they tell you?”
“No, they’re afraid of me, but I think most of them would like to bawl me out. But that wouldn’t be smart, so they pretty well keep quiet.”
“Well, they don’t mind tellin’ me when things go wrong.”
“You did do a good job.”
“I guess. At least you didn’t have to fool around with a trial, Judge.”
“I’m sorry the Daltons got away. They deserved the rope.”
“I heard they left the territory.”
“Yes, I heard that, too.” Judge Parker rubbed his chin and shook his head. “Good riddance, but they’ll not change. That kind never does.”
“Well, I think I’ll be headin’ out. Got a few chores to do. See you later, Judge.”
Heck left the judge’s office. As he stepped out into the street, he saw Aaron Jordan and his wife. “Hello, Aaron. Mrs. Jordan. How is Ash doing?”
She answered for the pair. “Good morning, Marshal. We just came from seeing him. The doctor says he can come home with us tomorrow. We are so thankful.”
“You’re looking fine, Mrs. Jordan.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “I feel better.”
“So do I.” Aaron Jordan beamed. “I feel like a new man with those outlaws on the run. We owe you a lot, Marshal.”
“Just do
ing my job.”
Aaron said, “I can sleep better at night now that Garth Taylor and his bunch are dead.”
Heck Thomas was a plainspoken man, often rough in his speech. He stared at Aaron Jordan and said, “You were ready to go after Ed Vernay with your gun, Mr. Jordan. How do you feel about that now?”
The blunt words seemed to strike against Jordan, and he said, “Well, I was wrong about him, Marshal.”
“Yes, you were. Real wrong. About as wrong as a man can be. Have you told him you were wrong?”
“No, he hasn’t, Marshal,” Lottie Jordan spoke up. “My husband isn’t very good at admitting he’s wrong.”
“It’s about time he learns how then. I’d hate to have seen you dangling on the judge’s gallows for shooting a man who hadn’t done you any harm.”
Aaron Jordan dropped his head and stared at his feet. He gnawed on his lower lip; then he raised his head and nodded. “You’re both right. I’ll go see Ed and tell him I was wrong.”
“It’ll do you good.” Lottie smiled. “You’re a good man, Aaron, not nearly as bad as you used to be.”
“Great Scot,” Jordan said. “That’s the nicest thing you ever said about me.”
Heck suddenly found that amusing. “You go make it right. Ed Vernay is a good man, and you two can be good neighbors for a long time.”
“Well, I’ll take my medicine. We’ll go by his place soon, Lottie,” Jordan said. “You may have to help me apologize.”
The two left, and Heck watched them go. He found it amusing that Jordan was ready to change his mind when he had been so adamantly sure that Ed Vernay had been his enemy. He would, no doubt, have shot him if he could, but now he had found out differently. Heck knew there would be no danger of that.
He turned and moved on down the street, thinking of the next outlaws he would have to run down.
CHAPTER 26
Raina and her father had made a trip into town and were in the general store. Pa went at once to look at some farm equipment that he had heard about, and Raina wandered through the store. The odors of coffee, pickles, and fresh meat filled the store. She wandered around alone.
The Western Justice Trilogy Page 73