Blood Feud

by David Robbins

“Give me my mountains,” Nick said.

  Beyond the bayou they crossed a series of dunes. From the top of the last Tallulah pointed at an old building. “That’s the Roost. It used to belong to pirates. It’s where we meet.”

  Nick scanned the beach. “I don’t see anyone.”

  “It’s early yet but we’d better hurry if you want to hide.” Tallulah descended the dune, sand flying from her small feet.

  A side door hung by the top hinge. Inside, the building was as silent as a tomb. After the bright glare of the sun, the dark was near total.

  “Hold up,” Nick said. “I can’t hardly see.”

  “Your eyes get used to it,” Tallulah said, but she stopped. “We wait too long, others might come.”

  “Damn it all.”

  “Here,” Tallulah said, and clasped his hand. “I know the way with my eyes closed. I’ll help you.” She didn’t wait for him to agree but moved along winding halls and across open spaces vague with deep shadows. Finally she stopped in front of a door.

  “You can hide in this closet. When you hear voices, come out but be careful.” Tallulah let go of his hand. “It’s the best I can do.”

  “Thank you, girl. You’ve done right.” Fulsome gave her the five dollars. He groped at the door and worked a wooden latch. “Now scoot. Whatever you do, don’t let on to anyone.”

  Her teeth were white in the darkness. “Duck your head, mister. The ceiling is kind of low.”

  Nick ducked and stepped through and the unmistakable muzzle of a gun jabbed him in the face and others on the sides of his head. He froze and blurted, “What the hell?”

  Lantern light flared, revealing a large room filled with boys and girls from six to sixteen. Half a dozen pistols and derringers and knives had been brandished. They were all grinning at the joke they had played. To the right and left stood two of the older boys, their cocked six-guns against Nick’s temples. In front of Nick stood a figure in a wide-brimmed black hat and a frock coat holding an irory-handled Lightning. His grin was the widest of all.

  “How do you do, Deputy?”

  “Shannon,” Nick said.

  Chace relieved him of his revolver, then stepped back. “Keep him covered,” he said, and slid the Lightning into a pocket. “Bet you didn’t expect this.”

  “It was slick,” Nick admitted.

  “You wanted to see me and here I am.”

  “What now? You murder me and have your street rats bury me in the sand?”

  “There’s a notion.” Chace chuckled and turned and the others parted to make way.

  The older boy on Nick’s right said, “Walk slow and keep your hands at your sides and you get to go on breathing. Were it up to me I’d kill you here and now but he says not to.”

  “What you’re doing is against the law. You know that, don’t you, boy?”

  “The name is Zeke. And you know what you can do with your law. All that matters to us is us.”

  Across the room were a table and two chairs. Chace pulled one out and motioned for the deputy to take the other. Chace propped his feet up, took off his black hat and set it on the table, and laced his fingers behind his head.

  Surrounded by urchins, two revolvers gouging him, Nick eased into the chair and placed his hands on the tabletop. Zeke and the other boy stepped back but didn’t lower their weapons. “Well, then?”

  Tallulah came and stood at Chace’s side. He smiled and stroked her hair and said, “Thank you, little one. You did right fine.”

  “It was easy. He’s not very smart.”

  Nick surveyed the patchwork of faces. “Got yourself your own army, have you?”

  “They’re not mine,” Chace said. “They’re free as birds to stay or not. But they do sort of look up to me.”

  “I’ll say,” Zeke said to the deputy. “He’s more to us than anyone ever and we won’t let you take him or harm him.”

  His comment caused a stir of hostile murmuring. Resentful looks were cast Nick’s way. One girl moved a knife across her throat as if slitting the deputy’s throat.

  “You are chock-full of surprises,” Nick said.

  “I could say the same of you coming this far to find me,” Chace said. “Why couldn’t you let it be?”

  “Be serious, boy. You killed how many? And you expect the law to roll over and pretend it didn’t happen?” Nick made a clucking sound. “Sheriff Wyler won’t rest until you’re caught. You kill me, there will be another after me. You kill him, the same. You have gone from a nobody to the most-wanted criminal in Madison County.”

  “I never thought of myself as a criminal,” Chace said.

  “Maybe you should start. When you break the law that’s what you are. And you’ve broken it so many times, you can’t ever set your life right again.”

  “You talk about right. Was it right that those who raped my sister should be fancy free? Was it right that those who killed my pa and his brothers didn’t pay?”

  “It was the law’s to do, not up to you.”

  Chace scowled and started to come out of his chair but didn’t. “That’s your answer to everything. The law. Like we should bow and scrape to it and do whatever it says to do and our own feelings be damned.”

  “Good people make the laws to keep bad people like you in line,” Nick said.

  “That how you see it?”

  “How else?”

  “Laws are made by the high and mighty to keep the rest of us under their thumb. We can’t do this or we can’t do that even when what we want to do is right.”

  Nick went to fold his arms and Zeke pressed the revolver to his ear and he stopped. “Make all the excuses you want but killing ain’t ever right. You have to answer for what you’ve done.”

  “What am I to do with you?” Chace said.

  Just then a commotion broke out. A boy was shouting, “Let me through! Let me through!” An opening was made for him and he rushed to the table and said excitedly, “They were followed.”

  Both Chace and Deputy Nick said at the same time, “What?”

  “I’m on lookout on the roof,” the boy said to Chace. “I saw Tallulah bring this one over the dunes and a while after a man snuck up and is lying out there now, spying on the place.”

  Chace looked at Nick. “You don’t say.”

  “It’s not my doing,” Nick said. “I’m alone.”

  “He’s lying,” Zeke said. “Let me spatter his brains and be done with him.”

  “Hold your temper,” Chace said. “We kill a lawman and we’ll have tin stars after us from now until forever.” He donned his hat and said to the boy who had brought the news, “Take us up there. Zeke, you and Floyd bring the deputy and watch him careful.”

  The route was precarious. It involved climbing a rafter that had collapsed and was propped against a back wall. Handholds had been carved but one slip and they would plummet forty feet. The boy on lookout warned them where the roof was weak and might collapse under their weight. Under his guidance they crawled to where a tilted slab hid them from view below and beyond. He peeked over it and said, “The man is still there.”

  Chace took off his hat. He slowly raised his head high enough to see over and then glared at Deputy Fulsome. “You son of a bitch.”

  “Why are you so mad all of a sudden?”

  “If that’s not a Harkey I’m a gosling. And where there is one there are bound to be more.”

  “You’re seeing things,” Nick said.

  “Take a gander. But don’t show yourself or we’ll chuck you over the side.”

  Zeke and Floyd moved in close and jammed their six-guns against Nick. He looked, and went on looking, and then sat with his back to the slab and said, “Something ain’t right here.”

  “That something is you.”

  “No,” Nick said. “As God is my witness, I’m not working with the Harkeys. How he got on to me, I’ll never know.”

  Chace stared at the deputy for so long, Nick fidgeted. Finally Chace said, “Damned if I don’t believe you.
But if that’s so, either they latched onto you on their own or the gent you work for set you up as bait.”

  “Sheriff Wyler?”

  “Think about it,” Chace said. “He sends you after me. He lets the Harkeys in on it so they can follow you and when you find me they can make buzzard meat of me.”

  “The sheriff wouldn’t do a thing like that.”

  “He sent you all this way,” Chace said.

  “I tell you Wyler treats everybody fair,” Nick insisted. “He’s a stickler for the law you think so little of.”

  “Whether he is or he isn’t I have two problems. How to deal with those Harkeys and how to deal with you.” Chace slid his hands into the pockets of his frock coat and drew both ivory-handled pistols and pointed them at the deputy.

  “Any suggestions?”

  “I say shoot him,” Zeke urged.

  “We’ll throw his body in the sea and the tide will take it out,” Floyd said.

  “Let the fish eat him,” said another boy.

  “What to do, what to do,” Chace said.

  29

  The room was small and smelled of odors Nick Fulsome would rather not have breathed. He paced and paced and paced some more, the lantern casting his shadow on the wall. By his watch over three hours had gone by when the bar outside grated and the door swung open.

  “You can come out,” Chace Shannon said.

  Nick cautiously emerged.Tallulah was holding Chace’s hand. A lot of the other hawkers were there, twenty or better, many armed. Enough that if Nick made a break, he wouldn’t get two steps. “What’s the idea of keeping me cooped up so long?”

  “I had to decide,” Chace replied.

  “And have you?”

  “Yes.”

  Nick put his back to the wall and bunched his fists. “What’s it to be? A bullet to the brain? If so, you can start the dance now. I’ll be damned if I’ll go quietly.”

  “I thought I’d feed you and we’d shake hands and I’d send you on your way,” Chace said.

  “Was that a joke?”

  “Honest.” Chace crossed his heart with a finger. “Follow me.” He walked down a hall to a flight of stairs and up them to a room that overlooked the dunes. The window had long since been broken out and a warm wind blew. “Your friend is still out there but he can’t see us from where he is. Have a seat.”

  In the middle of the room a blanket had been spread and on it were a plate of food and a glass of water. The food consisted of beans and peaches and several slices of buttered bread.

  Nick hunkered and drank half the glass in thirsty gulps. “I was thinking you might starve me to death.”

  “I’m not cruel.”

  “Is that so?” Nick drained the rest of the glass. “Tell that to Ezriah Harkey. They say you did things to him even a Comanche wouldn’t do.”

  “He had to be persuaded to talk.” Chace opened his frock coat and sat cross-legged. “I want you to take a message to Sheriff Wyler for me. Will you do that?”

  “What message?”

  Chace gestured. “Eat up. You must be hungry.”

  Nick picked up a spoon, and hesitated. “How do I know you didn’t taint it somehow? Could be you aim to poison me.”

  Chace reached over and took a slice of bread and dipped it in the beans and then in the peaches. He bit and chewed and swallowed. “Feeling foolish yet?”

  “You are a funny boy.” Nick scooped up beans and ate with relish. With his mouth full he said, “And you haven’t said the message.”

  “In return for me sending you back alive, Sheriff Wyler leaves me be.”

  About to spoon more beans, Nick laughed. “You’ve got gall.”

  “What?”

  “It’s uppity, you thinking you can tell the sheriff what to do.” Nick shook his head. “He’s the one wearing the badge.” He folded a slice of bread and dipped it in the bean sauce. “You could help your cause another way, though.”

  “I’m listening,” Chace said.

  “Give yourself up and come back with me. I promise you can keep your hands free and your pistols until we get there. You turn yourself in, the judge might be more lenient.”

  “Life behind bars instead of a necktie social? That’s your idea of lenient?”

  “It’s better than being on the run. And you’d be doing your clan the best favor you could.”

  “I must have overlooked that part.”

  Nick spooned peaches into his mouth and smiled in delight. “If there’s anything I like more than peaches, I have yet to come across it.” He motioned in the general direction of the dunes. “That Harkey out there is one of a hundred or better who want your blood spilled more than they want anything in this world.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “How about this?” Nick lowered the spoon. “So long as you’re free, the Harkeys won’t rest until they’ve found you and bucked you out in gore.”

  “I say again, tell me something I don’t know.”

  “Have you thought about what it will cost the rest of the Shannons? You’ve ignited the feud again, boy. There’s already been killings on the main street of Wareagle and it won’t stop there. It will be the old days all over again. The Harkeys will take out their anger at you on your kin. Bushwhacking. Raids in the nights. Cabins burned. Shannons go missing with no clue.” Nick thrust the spoon at Chace. “Is that what you want?”

  “I was hoping the Harkeys would blame me and leave the rest of my kin alone.”

  “You’re hoping wrong. But if you come back and turn yourself in, the Harkeys won’t have cause to keep the feud going. The killing will stop.”

  “I don’t know,” Chace said.

  “I’m telling you it’s for your own good.”

  A clatter from outside drew Chace to the window. A buckboard was approaching along the rutted track into town. Zeke was handling the teams. In the bed of the buckboard was a large crate. Chace turned and looked at Floyd. “It will be soon.”

  Floyd nodded.

  Nick went on eating. He finished the beans and scooped up the last of the peaches and cleaned the plate with the slice of bread. Patting his stomach, he sat back and said, “That was damn decent of you, Shannon.”

  “You may not think so after I set you straight on a few things.” Chace leaned against the wall. “To start, all that talk about the Harkeys is hogwash. I turn myself in, the feud will go on anyway. It’s not just me they want dead. It’s all the Shannons.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt to try.”

  “That’s like saying to a buck that it won’t know if the hunter will shoot until it steps in front of the rifle. The Harkeys hate me and mine. I see now that it was wrong of me to run off. I need to get back and finish what I started.”

  Deputy Fulsome stood. “Like hell. Unless you kill me, I’m placing you under arrest. You’re going back with me to stand trial. Will you come along peaceably?”

  “Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.” Chace turned. “Floyd, let’s get it done.”

  “Get what done?” Nick asked.

  Floyd stepped to the door and said, “Now.” Other boys filed in, seven, eight, nine, ten of them, the biggest and oldest of the hawkers. At a nod from Chace they spread into a ring around the lawman.

  “What is this?” Fulsome said. “What are you up to?”

  “I have those Harkeys to take care of and I can’t have you meddling. So I’m getting you out of Galveston.” Chace grinned. “Will you come along peaceably?”

  Nick glared at the boys who had surrounded him. “Go to hell and take the rest of these pups with you.”

  “I was thinking New Orleans.” Chace nodded at the boys. “All of you at once.”

  “We should just shoot him,” a large boy said.

  “You’ll do as I tell you, Harold.”

  “I agree with him,” Floyd said.

  Chace sighed. “Do I still run things or not?”

  “You do.”

  “Then all together, if you please.”<
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  The boys swarmed Nick Fulsome. They piled on the deputy and grabbed at his arms and legs and attempted to wrestle him to the floor. For a few moments it appeared they would succeed; Nick acted surprised that they would dare try. Then he exploded into movement. He tore his right arm free of the two boys holding it and punched each in the face with two swift blows. Pivoting, he clubbed the boy holding his left arm and once his arms were free he beat at the others while kicking out with his legs. The next instant he was free and in a boxing stance, and when Harold came at him and sought to wrap his arms around his, Nick slammed several punches that knocked Harold back. Whirling, Nick blocked a swing by another boy and unleashed an uppercut that sent him tottering.

  A path to the doorway was clear and Nick took a bound but before he could get any farther another boy tackled him and down they crashed. Nick lashed out with a boot to the face and was about to rise when four more piled on top of him. In a melee of fists and feet, Nick made it to his knees. He punched a boy in the gut. He slugged another. He heaved upright and turned to the doorway again only to have a pair of husky boys come at him from either side. They imitated his boxing stance and traded a flurry of hits that ended with the boys bloody and backing off and Nick sidling toward the door. Harold barred his way. Nick sought to batter him down by brute force but Harold was the biggest of all the boys and absorbed the punishment. Several others leaped to help him. Nick became a whirlwind.

  The thud of punches was constant. A boy cried out and went down with a broken nose. Another gripped his knee and buckled. Nick was almost to the door.

  That was when Chace unfolded and drew both Lightnings. He came up unnoticed and slipped behind the lawman and slammed the right-hand revolver against the back of Nick’s head and then the left-hand revolver and the right and the left and Nick took a faltering step and collapsed, unconscious. Chace slid the pistols into his pockets. “Truss him,” he commanded.

  Rope and a gag were produced and presently Deputy Nick Fulsome was bound wrists and ankles and gagged tight.

  Chace studied the ropes. “This ain’t enough. When he comes to he’ll raise a ruckus. We have to make it so he can’t move. Bend his legs back and up and tie them to his arms.” The boys jumped to comply and he added, “Don’t bend them more than you have to. I don’t want him hurt.”