by Jake Logan
After a late breakfast, he asked her if she needed anything from town, and she listed coffee as the most important thing she lacked. He promised to get her some and saddled Buck for the ride in. His main purpose for going back into town was to gather information; he hoped to get more news about Bridges’s destination.
He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she slapped her hand on the spot as if to hold it. Then she shook her head. “You know you’re different than any man I’ve ever known. You’re just plumb full of surprises. I can’t recall anyone ever kissing me goodbye before in my entire life.”
He winked at her. “Well, I’ll see ya.”
“I’ll sure be here, big man.”
He rode off for Dodge. In town he spoke to several of the liverymen and blacksmiths. None of them recalled anything about Bridges or his gang. A while later in the Elephant saloon, playing poker with two men, Slocum heard a man ask the bartender if he knew a guy named Bridges. When Slocum turned his ear that way, he learned the man’s name was Doss. Who was Doss? If Denny was there he’d probably know the man, but obviously this drover was someone looking for his man too.
The gambler named Donovan nodded, ready to deal, when he said to Doss, “I could help you, stranger. He left two days ago for Fort Supply.”
“Were there four of them?”
“Yeah, they were all riding together.”
Doss nodded. “Thanks, I better mosey along. Hoped that I’d catch him here.”
“What’s your business?” Slocum asked, looking at his new cards.
“Bridges robbed my boss. Beat him up badly.”
Slocum nodded, like he now knew all he wanted. After Doss left, he tossed in his pasteboards and went to the front window to watch Doss and two others ride off on Barr branded horses. He knew neither of the other two men. One was tall, the other skinny. But if they were that close to Bridges, they might beat him to the punch.
Satisfied he needed to be on the move, he told the gambler he needed to see about some business and left the saloon. He soon learned Doss and the other two had stabled their horses at Kesler’s Stables. If Barr had known that Bridges had stolen the money, then they probably hadn’t been wearing masks when they stole it. And the multiple rape of Minnie Farley by Bridges and his gang might have been planned by Barr, and the deal had somehow gone sour. Probably Bridges got greedy and took all of Barr’s money. This development answered lots of questions for Slocum.
If only he knew why Fort Supply was on Bridges’s list of places to go next. There was something at that outpost that involved Bridges, and Slocum might not be able to wait on Denny to get to Dodge. Best he could do was leave a note at the store for Denny. Slocum headed over to Beaver’s Mercantile and left Denny a letter telling the young man to come on to Fort Supply as soon as he could. He also left a few dollars in the envelope in case the boy needed some money.
Next he bought Meagen the coffee and some candy, then headed back to camp. When he got there, she had on overalls, her hair was braided and she was wearing a cowboy hat.
“You’re all dressed up to work,” he said, handing her the candy and the coffee in the poke.
“Well, my, my. Lemon drops.” She popped one in her mouth and grinned big. Moving it around with her tongue, she said, “I’ve been thinking you can use a cook while you’re looking for those men. I want to take my team and wagon over to my sister’s, borrow a saddle horse from them and go with you. I want those bastards caught as bad as anyone.”
“Meagen—”
She ran over and silenced him with her finger on his mouth. “I can also do other things to earn my keep besides cook.”
“These men are dangerous—”
“I know damn good and well. I was the point of their horny wrath.”
“But—”
“I’m going along with you or I’ll follow you. What will it be?”
“Lunch, I guess.”
She jumped up and down, then threw her arms around his neck and gave him a lemony sweet kiss.
With the team boarded and the wagon parked at her sister’s house and a saddle horse borrowed, they acted like they had to leave in a hurry. Despite Meagen’s sister wanting her to stay overnight, they rode on.
Meagen looked back to be certain they were out of hearing. “Guess she figured out why we were in a hurry to leave.”
“Oh?” Slocum said, acting dumb.
“Damn you.” She rode in close and gave him a playful shove. “You’re addictive.”
“I been called lots of things, but never that.”
“You are anyway. Where are we camping?’
“Across the river.”
“Good, we can take a nap.”
“Ah, sleep some,” he said.
“You can do that anytime. I’ve got bigger plans. Much bigger ones than that.” Then she laughed and pushed her cowboy hat back on her shoulders. The cord caught on her throat. “Oh, yes.”
What had he unleashed in this woman? My, my!
With the help of some laudanum, Barr slept in the back of the buckboard most of two days to escape his acute headache. Erma drove the rig hard, and his two hired hands rode ahead to learn all they could about Slocum’s, Doss’s and Bridges’s travels.
When Barr awoke, they had stopped. Goodall was talking to a woman—some well-dressed lady he hadn’t expected to find out there. Barr half raised himself. Sitting up at last, he asked Erma, who had dismounted from the buckboard, who his man was visiting with over there.
“A Mrs. Looper,” Erma said under her breath.
“What’s she doing out here alone?”
“I don’t think she’s alone. There’s a young man with her.”
“What’s his name?”
Erma shook her head. “I ain’t heard. But he sure ain’t her husband—he’s too young to be that.”
Barr cut a hard look at her, “He around here?”
“No, I only seen him when we first stopped.”
“You recognize him?”
She shook her head.
Goodall came back over and spoke in a low voice to Barr. “She says Slocum was through here a few days ago. But she ain’t never seen Bridges nor Doss.”
“Where did Slocum go?”
“To Dodge. That boy is supposed to catch up with Slocum whenever her husband arrives.”
“When will her husband be back here?”
“I’d say he was overdue now.”
“Hmm.” Barr tried to put it all together. “If Slocum had come by here, why hadn’t Doss? It don’t make sense.”
“She never saw Bridges either. But she knows about him because of Slocum stopping off and leaving that boy to help her.”
“If Slocum don’t have a posse, we might simply eliminate him when we catch him. That sumbitch is a trouble-maker.” If they even knew what he looked like—something they’d have to figure out too.
“Whatever you say, boss.”
“We’ll see when we run him down.”
“You want to camp here?” Erma asked Barr.
“No.” He gave a head toss at the woman. “The less these two know about our business the better.”
Erma climbed back on the seat with a scowl and undid the lines. Then she clucked to the team and drove on, leaving dust in her wake. Barr’s men stood in the stirrups and galloped past her.
“You ever see that boy he left with her?” Barr called out to them.
“I didn’t know him.” Goodall reined up short and shook his head.
“I just wondered why Slocum left the boy.”
Goodall shrugged his shoulders. “How would I know that?”
“Never mind.” Barr lay back on the pillow. His man was no help. Oh, how would he ever shake all this headache business? The buckboard jolted him hard. Damn, this bucking ride was hard on him too.
13
In the morning, Slocum and Meagen rode south, leading the packhorse. They learned from a freighter they met on their way in the afternoon that Bridges and the others were a good
two days ahead of them. But Slocum didn’t worry about the distance, and they trotted down the well established road that led to the Indian Territory and Fort Supply.
That night he and Meagen camped well off the road near a small stream. He gathered enough dry wood and sticks that she had plenty of fuel to cook supper over a wood fire instead of using cow chips. His efforts pleased her, and she soon had coffee brewing on the flames.
“Will you know Bridges when we meet him?” he asked her.
“I won’t forget that conceited bastard’s face for anything.”
“I’m sorry to bring the subject up, but I’ve never met him.”
She nodded. “He’s as tall as you are. Thinks he’s ladies’ man.” She wrinkled her nose. “He’s really not. Wears a handlebar mustache with some gray in it.”
He could read the hatred seething behind her eyes. Then she swung her attention back to the sizzling bacon and turned it. “I want to kill him.”
“Don’t let your anger overload you,” he said. “We’ll catch him.”
“Yes, but every hour he breathes in this world is an hour too long for me.”
Slocum understood the fire in her intentions. The same kind of anger drove him on this long chase—what they’d done to Charley’s wife, Minnie, stung him deep inside. Perhaps because he’d arrived too late to save his old friend’s life, the whole matter made his stomach upset whenever he reflected on all that had happened.
Short of the Indian Territory line later the next afternoon, they found a trading post. Slocum wanted to check it out, so he left Meagen with the horses and crossed the road. The door to the low-walled adobe building was covered with a well-worn buffalo hide. He pulled the hide aside and ducked past it.
In the dim candlelit room, he discovered a bearded man standing behind a counter made of planks on barrels. The place stunk of the body odors of many unwashed customers and the horse shit they’d tracked inside on their boots.
“Welcome to Hell.” the man said.
“You the devil?” Slocum asked, amused.
He shook his head and smiled. “Young’s my name.”
“Slocum’s mine. I’m looking for four men who came through here in the last few days.”
“What’s your business with them?”
“They murdered some men and raped some good women. The leader was called Bridges.”
“Big guy with a mustache?”
“That’s the leader.”
“They ain’t here. Rode on, I guess. They stopped by and bought a few pints of cough medicine.”
Slocum nodded. He knew that most of Kansas had joined the prohibition business, and what this man called “cough medicine” was really whiskey in a pint bottle that could be stuffed in your boot—a practice that eventually led to the term “bootlegger.” The Indian Territory’s borders, patrolled by deputy U.S. marshals out of Fort Smith, had been dry for years, and so liquor in that land was not only scarce but commanded a higher price.
“When were they here?” Slocum asked.
“Yesterday, I reckon. You have a posse?”
Slocum shook his head.
The man frowned at his reply. “They looked pretty tough for one man to buck up against.”
“I appreciate your concern.” He thought about buying a bottle of “cough medicine,” but passed on the matter, paying the man two dollars for his information and leaving.
“What did you find out?” Meagen asked, holding out his reins for him.
“They were here yesterday.”
Stone-faced, she nodded. “We’re close to them, then?”
“I think so.” In the saddle, he twisted around, looking back up the road, wondering where that boy was at. Surely by this time Mrs. Looper’s husband had shown up. But Slocum saw nothing. They rode on.
In the late afternoon, they found a moon lake with cat-tails growing around the edge. Several ducks burst out of the water and took wing.
“How deep do you think that water is?” Meagen asked.
“Maybe knee-deep out there a good ways.” Most playas like this weren’t much deeper than that, though this one might be.
“I don’t care. I need a bath if you don’t mind.”
He took off his hat and wiped his sweaty brow on his shirtsleeve. “That won’t hurt. We’ll hobble the horses. I’ve got soap and one towel.”
“Sounds delightful. You can scrub my back.”
“Sure.” He’d been so involved in his pursuit of the outlaws, the notion of her as woman hadn’t been something he’d thought about. For the first time in two days, he began to consider her as a woman rather than as simply his companion—slender and willowy, she wasn’t hard to look at, not at all.
After hobbling the horses, he fetched the soap and two towels out of his saddlebags. She shook her head at the sight of the two towels. “You said you only had one.”
“I lie—sometimes.”
She ran over and hugged him. With a flip of her head, she tossed her light brown hair back. “What happens out here is between you and me?”
“Sure.”
With his reply, she squeezed his face between her palms and kissed him—hard. He dropped the towels and soap in the grass, then gathered her lithe figure in his arms. Her tongue was hot and challenging. What an awakening he’d discovered.
Out of breath, she buried her face in his chest. “I lay awake last night, wanting to crawl into your arms again. I sure needed you to hold me again.”
“Why didn’t you wake me? Life’s too short not to enjoy every passing hour.”
“I was afraid that you hadn’t enjoyed me the night before or that I might appear too demanding.”
He lowered his forehead to the top of her head. “I really enjoyed you. I hope you can enjoy it again.”
“I will, Slocum. I promise you I will.”
They began to undress in the bloody sundown’s glow. In minutes she was naked, wading out into the lake ahead of him. Her small, shapely rump brought a smile to his wind-sore face.
She turned in the knee-deep water, and her pear-shaped breasts looked like they were capped by pointed stars. “This must be as deep as the water gets.”
He hurried out, caught her, turned her toward him and then kissed her hard on the mouth. “It’s good enough for me.”
Her body lathered up, she looked like a snow princess to him as he tossed handfuls of water on her to rinse away the residue. When she was at last free of the suds, she set in to scrubbing him, and her small hands on his skin stirred him. With the soap at last rinsed away, he swept her up in his arms and waded to shore. He set her down near their horses and ran to untie a bedroll. Why did everything take so long when you were in a hurry?
At last he rolled the ground cloth out, and they dropped to their knees on it with their lips locked. Soon she scrambled underneath him and reached beneath his belly to clench her fist around his erection. The nose of his dick poised at her gates, he eased himself inside, up to her restrictive ring. She raised her butt off the bedroll and closed her eyes for his swift entry, clutching his arms until he thrust his full length all the way into her.
Her moans made him glance down, worried about causing her pain. But the slow grin on her face convinced him—she wanted no holds barred. He gave her all he had, and she arched her back for more. Her small heels pounding his calves, he flew into a fury on top of her.
Underneath him, she tossed her head from side to side, lost in passion’s wildfire. Soon he felt a tingling in the bottom of his scrotum. He drove his bullet deep inside and fired his gun—she half fainted and then came back groggy.
“Oh, my God....” She clung to him. “Don’t leave me yet.”
So he stayed on top of her for yet another round. Totally spent after that second go-round, they fell asleep without any supper.
Sometime later he awoke, and careful not to rouse her, he eased out from beneath the covers. Under the stars he got up, and with the cooler night air sweeping his bare skin, he went to check on the horse st
ock. He unloaded them and went back on his tender soles to the bedroll. He swept his feet off and crawled in against her warm form. She reached back, patted his leg, then let her hand rest there. The warmth of her soft touch followed him back into sleep.
Barr barely made it from the wagon to his bedroll. Erma half supported him and, in the dying sunset, helped him ease down on his pallet.
“We’ve been riding so hard after these men,” she whispered. “You need to rest for a day or so and get your strength back.”
“Easy for you to say,” he grumbled. “Those bastards have all my money.”
“Hmm,” she snuffed through her nose. “And if you caught these robbers, then what could you do to them?”
“I could kill them. I guarantee you I could. Now hush up. Here comes the help.”
“You know this man Slocum is only a short distance ahead of us?” Goodall said, coming up to squat in front of Barr.
“You find his camp?”
“No, but the last freighter I talked to said that he saw him only a day ahead. I just wondered what you wanted to do about him.”
“Kill the son of a bitch. He ain’t of any value to me.”
“There’s a woman riding with him,” Goodall said.
“She could be a witness against us.”
Goodall shook his head. “I just wondered if you had any interest in her.”
Barr shook his head. “Handle it.”
“We can do that.”
“Oh, and be careful. He ain’t no dumb hick farmer. A man hired him or was going to hire him as a gun hand.”
“Only takes one bullet.” Then Goodall, with his buddy Kittles, went to collect some more cow chips for Erma’s cooking fire.
“I thought you were going to use Slocum to get Bridges for you?” Erma asked in a whisper after the men left.
“This whole damn thing has gone on too long. They’ll have all my money spent before I get them at this rate. Better to eliminate him. One less problem.”
“What about your foreman Doss?”
“What about him? He couldn’t find his ass. He’s ahead of Slocum somewhere, I guess.”