by Dan Arnold
Bob grinned.
“Yes, that is what smart people might do under the circumstances. It brings into focus my reasoning as to why they won’t split up.”
“Which is?”
“First, three of them are brothers and have pretty much always hung together, to coin a phrase.
Second, any time in the past when they have split up, they have ended up being picked off, or arrested. There is safety in numbers.
Third, they are not smart. They are foolishly determined to accomplish one task, and can’t grasp the fact they are just about done for.
Fourth, and this goes back to number three; they have an agenda. They want to kill you, and while it proves they are stupid; nonetheless, they are just smart enough to have learned that killing you is not a job to be tried alone.”
He was right on each count. Still, I had one more thing to consider.
“They might force their way into someone’s home or farm and hide out there.”
“That would be very dangerous and might well attract attention. Don’t forget; they know what happens to somebody trapped in a house when they are surrounded by armed men. They need to go somewhere where they won’t raise any alarm.”
I shrugged, conceding the point.
“Now then, considering all of that, and remembering their greatest weakness.”
“And what do you believe that weakness is, beyond them just being stupid.”
“They like whores, John. Pardon me, Mrs. Sage, for being indelicate, but John has missed his nap and has become quite impatient.”
Lora scowled at him.
“So, to sum up; they will most likely stick together. They will flee into the mountains to the west, where there are no telegraph lines and there is no real law. They need to go somewhere where criminals are welcome, and the law is not, somewhere with food and shelter. They will want to be somewhere pretty close to Bear Creek. And, last but not least, somewhere where they can find female companionship. When you consider all of those probabilities, what town comes to mind?”
“North Fork,” all three of us said, at the same time.
***
I walked out with Bob to where he’d tied his horse at the hitching rail by the front gate.
“I have to ask you why you came and told me this when you could go try to collect that reward money all by yourself?”
“I’m good, John, very good, but I’m not stupid. I can’t take on all four of those men alone.”
“You’ve been pretty good at finding the stray that wanders off from the herd.”
“Yes, I have, and I know how to cut one out from the herd now and then, but this is different now.”
“How so?”
“I don’t think there is enough time. They will come for you as soon as they can drink up sufficient courage. They have nothing left to lose and nowhere to run. They are more or less literally backed into a corner.”
“ So will you come with me to go after them?” I asked
“Of course, I will go with you; I wouldn’t let you go alone.”
“In what capacity?”
“Pardon me, I don’t follow.” Bob said.
“Will you be coming with me in your capacity as my deputy, or as a bounty hunter?”
“Isn’t it enough that I come with you?”
I nodded.
“It is, yes.”
“Then we’ll just have to wait and see how things work out, at the time.”
“No, you’re a deputy sheriff of Alta Vista County. We’ll be going to recapture and arrest them. You can’t claim any reward if you are acting as my deputy.”
“John, there is a lot we don’t know at this point, and there is a lot that can go wrong in this deal. We don’t know for sure when, where, or how we will find them, not to mention how things will go once we actually do find them. I say let’s just adopt a wait and see attitude.”
“No,” Lora called from the porch. I didn’t know she was there and I wouldn’t have thought she could hear us from there.
“There can be no waiting and there is only one way it can work out. You have to go find them, and do it quickly. You go find them and if you have to, you kill them; kill them all, before they can kill my husband.”
“Yes ma’am,” Bob called over to her.
He looked at me after he had stepped up on his horse.
“I’ll tell you this; we would do well to take your wife’s advice, it’s time to put an end to them.”
He swung away, trotting his big black horse up the hill into town.
25.
When I walked back up on the porch, Lora apologized.
“I’m sorry, John. I don’t mean to butt into your business, but this involves me too. I won’t have some two-bit killers hunting for you. Please find a way to put an end to this. This is not the way I want to start our marriage . . . or for our marriage to end.”
I wrapped my arms around her, finding her a bit more stiff than usual.
“Yes ma’am. I understand how you feel. I never intended for any of this to happen.”
She put her head against my shoulder.
“I know you didn’t.”
I kissed her. “Let’s go check on those kids.”
When we got to the backyard, we found them laughing and chasing each other around in circles. Jacob had taken off his shoes and socks. Sarah was still dressed in her Sunday frock and tights.
“We’ll need to get them some play clothes,” Lora observed.
“Yeah, but it looks like we can just skip buying any more shoes,” I chuckled.
“Who wants milk and cookies?” Lora called.
***
Back in the house, we were sitting on the couch in the parlor. Jacob was sitting between us on the couch playing with a carved wooden horse. We didn’t really have anything in the way of toys. Lora was sort of humming to Sarah where she lay curled in her lap.
I figured this might be a good time to ask a few questions.
“Jacob, how did you come to be living in Al’s livery stable?”
He just shrugged.
“I mean, did you walk there or did someone give you a ride?”
“We walked,” he said.
Lora looked at me over the top of his head and nodded. This was a positive sign. “Did it take a long time to walk there?”
He shrugged again.
“Where did you walk from?”
“We walked from the farm, after . . . .”
I waited for a moment.
“Where is the farm, Jacob?”
“It’s down by Yellow Butte.”
I knew where Yellow Butte was. It was about fifteen miles south and a little west of Bear Creek. I’d heard there were a couple of big ranches down in that country, and maybe a few farms scattered along Buttercup Creek. There was a rough road through the area. Yellow Butte was the name of the huge mesa at the edge of the mountains, and the name of the only town in the area was Buttercup.
“Do you know where Buttercup Creek is?” I asked.
He nodded. “Uh huh,” he said.
“Is the farm near the creek?”
“Uh huh,” he said again.
“Have you ever been up on Yellow Butte?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is the farm near the mesa?”
He shrugged. “It’s right there. I mean we went up there all the time. It’s right behind the house.”
I didn’t want to push, but I wanted to know why they had walked all the way to Bear Creek.
“Are there many animals on the farm?”
He shook his head.
“Not no more. We turned the milk cow loose when we left.”
I decided to ask the question.
“Why did you leave?”
He was silent for a moment and stopped playing with the carved horse.
“There wasn’t no food, and I was scared for Sarah.”
I looked at Lora.
“Jacob, honey is your mother still on the farm?” she asked gently.
>
He nodded.
“Yes, Ma’am, only she’s dead.”
“Oh Jacob, I’m so sorry to hear that. Is your daddy still there?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“No, they kilt him somewheres else.”
Lora had tears in her eyes. I had more questions of course, but I needed a break.
“Let’s go see if the horses will come up for some carrots. Do you want to, Jacob?”
He shrugged again, but I could tell he was eager to go with me. The horses were always happy to come to the fence for handouts.
***
After the kids were in bed, Lora and I lay wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Wes Spradlin and I are going up to North Fork tomorrow. I expect we’ll leave a little late in the day, and we’ll be up there the whole night. Will you be okay here by yourself?” I asked.
“I won’t be alone. Consuela is coming in the morning. I think I’ll take the kids into town and do some shopping. In the afternoon, I have some people coming by to see about maybe rooming here.”
I’d forgotten about that.
“I’ll hitch up the team first thing in the morning and drive y’all into town. That will work out well, as I can drive y’all back here on our way to North Fork.”
“How convenient,” she said dryly.
I let it go by.
“When I get back, I plan to ride on down to Buttercup. I want to try and find out what exactly happened to their parents.”
I knew she understood I was thinking about Jacob and Sarah.
“Maybe they had other family in the area or a neighbor might know of someone. We could all go down there together. The kids could probably help us find the farm. We could have a picnic. They might want to go back and visit if nothing else,” Lora suggested.
“A picnic is a good idea, but no, I don’t think taking the kids down to Yellow Butte is a good idea, at least not at this point. I’m concerned about what happened to their parents. I don’t want to put those kids through any more traumas or put you in danger. I can travel faster and cover more ground alone. Besides, I have a general idea where to look.”
“That was disturbing, what Jacob said, wasn’t it?” Lora asked.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“It sounds like there might be trouble in that part of the county. I’d like to ask Jacob some more questions, but . . . .”
“You were really good with him today. So gentle and yet you were able to get answers without being too firm.”
“Thanks, but I’m sure no great shakes at it, especially not compared to you. I wish I knew more about them and could be more help to them.”
“Just give it some time, John.”
26.
“No, John! I don’t like it. I think you would be better off taking most of the deputies and a dozen or so men in a posse,” Buckskin Charlie said.
He, Bob and I were talking it over in my office, first thing, the next morning.
“I understand how you feel, Charlie, but I’ve done this sort of thing before. I’m telling you it’s better to go with a small group that moves fast without drawing a lot of attention. Besides, we don’t really even know if they went to North Fork.”
“John, there is safety in numbers,” Charlie insisted.
“So I’ve heard, but sometimes safety isn’t the first consideration.”
“Well, it should be!”
“Charlie, if we start pulling together a posse, somebody might very well send word up there ahead of us. We could ride into an ambush, or they could skedaddle before we got there. Nothing good could come from either of those events.”
“Oh, for crying out loud, John! Maybe this and maybe that! A posse would give you enough men and guns to deal with either of those problems.”
“I told Tommy Turner I had no plans to show up in North Fork with a posse. If I do, it will look like I went back on my word. I gave him thirty days to turn things around up there and I mean to give him the whole thirty days, Now, he won’t mind me showing up with a couple of men to haul in some bad outlaws, but a posse would stir up a hornet’s nest.”
“Well, I don’t like it.”
“I heard you the first time. I can take Ed or another deputy instead.”
“Like hell you will. I’m going, and that’s all there is to it, but I still don’t have to like it.”
“I don’t like anything about it,” I said. “How about you Bob? You’re being remarkably quiet this morning.”
“I’m merely waiting for you two old ladies to finish squabbling so we can put together a timetable and a workable plan.”
Charlie shot him a hard look.
“Okay. I was already planning to take the Pastor of our church, Brother Spradlin, up there today to look over a piece of property. That will be our reason for going into town. We’ll plan to get there late in the day. The rest of us go in tonight, just after dark. We split up and come into North Fork from different directions. We act like we’re just headed for the saloons, same as any other arriving riders. It will be dark, so there’s little chance anyone will recognize any of us. Tommy knows me, but nobody else in North Fork really does. Of course, the bad news is the Thorndykes know all of us on sight. We’ll have to be very careful.”
Bob smiled grimly.
“What are you smiling about?” I asked.
“Actually, they don’t know me to look at, as I have never drawn their attention. I have developed some skill at not being noticed. They only know you, Charlie, and the other deputies by sight.
Gentlemen, this is a good start. Now let’s address how we search the town. What if they are not all together in exactly the same spot? For instance, even if they are all in the same saloon, they might not all be in the same room or sitting at the same table.
You start walking into well-lit buildings and someone up there will recognize you, and it won’t take long to figure out you are searching for someone. The Thorndykes might just spot you the second you walk in the door and cut you down before you even know they’re in there.”
He was right. I had to hand it to him; Bob was good at this.
“What do you suggest?”
“I like the idea of just a few men going up there, and I agree we need to do it quickly. I’m the only one in this office who is unknown to them. They will be on the lookout for any possible threat. My suggestion is we agree on a time and place to meet up, right after dark.
While the sheriff and the Reverend Spradlin are doing whatever it is they need to do up there, I’ll make the rounds through town and see if I can locate our quarry. I won’t attract any unwanted attention. I’ll meet up with the rest of you when and where we agree to meet. If they are in North Fork and I do locate them, then we can determine how we want to take them.”
I looked at Charlie. He shrugged in response.
“Yeah, that just might work,” I said. “We might be able to make it work even more efficiently if we add another man to help you do the searching. A man they don’t know.”
“Who do you have in mind?”
“Wes Spradlin,” I said.
“The preacher?” Charlie asked. “How would he know what the Thorndykes look like?”
Bob grinned. “Oh I must say, I do like the way you think. Are you of the opinion he would serve in that capacity?”
It was my turn to shrug.
“It can’t hurt to ask. How much more unthreatening can you be than a humble preacher just checking out the town?”
“The notion is sound, but there’s nothing the least bit humble about him. He has spent a lifetime building the reputation as that of a deadly pistolero. As you know, I can personally attest to his expertise in that line of work. There is a wild and unsavory crowd up there in North Fork. Chances are somebody up there could know him from the old days.”
I knew Bob was not the kind of person who could imagine it was possible for a man to change. I knew men didn’t change without a real good reason, and I also knew
Wes Spradlin really was a different man now. But there was no point in trying to explain any of it to Bob.
“Maybe, but don’t you think it would make him seem even less likely to be involved with law enforcement?”
“Now wait a minute,” Charlie said. “Are you saying your Preacher is the same man as Wes Spradlin the gunman?”
“Yes, Charlie, they are one and the same man.”
“Jumpin Jehoshaphat!” Charlie spluttered.
There was a knock on the office door. “I expect that’s him now. Come on in,” I called.
“Sorry to bother you, Sheriff,” Shorty said as he stuck his head in the door. He made a face. “The newspaper man from the Banner is here, and he insists on seeing you immediately.”
You could have heard a pin drop in the room. We’d all seen the morning paper and had been relieved there was still no story about the jail break. The “big news” of the day was the amount of traffic through town, and especially around the square, was becoming nearly unmanageable. The collection and disposal of the manure created by so much horse traffic on the brick streets was barely adequate. Some days, the smoke from burning manure piles hung over the town.
With the appearance of the newspaper man, we could all see the likelihood there was about to be another and different kind of stinking mess.
I took a deep breath.
“Okay, Shorty, thanks. Ask him to wait a moment.”
I looked around at the other men. Worry was clearly evident. They had the same thought I did. The news was about to spin out of our control.
“Okay, y’all let me deal with this newspaper man, and then we’ll talk some more. I guess this meeting is adjourned.”
27.
Jerry Starnes was the publisher, type setter, editor and principle reporter of the Bear Creek Banner. I say principle reporter because it seemed like half the women in town carried stories to him. In the paper, he always referred to himself as “this reporter.” As in, “This reporter has learned Wallace Watkins plans to sell the barbershop at his earliest convenience. Mr. Watkins is evidently contemplating a move to Denver where he plans to open a new barbershop.”