Revenge Requires Two Graves

by George Emery Townsend

  Chapter 41

  The Cabin

  The boys turned their mounts heading up the main street, riding straight to the plaza. “Where do we start, Ray?” asked Larry.

  He scratched his head. “Well. Generally if you want information you start at the saloon. But it doesn’t seem right going there first to ask about my mother. Maybe we could try the church or the marshal’s office?” Ray guessed.

  “Well there’s the marshal’s office over there. Why not start there?” pointed John.

  The three of them trotted over to the hitching rail in front of the town jail. They dismounted and threw the reins over the rail, tying the horses fast. As they brushed the trail dust from their clothes they stepped up onto the boardwalk. The jail door was open so they walked on in.

  “Marshal?” called John, hoping for a response. None came. “Place is empty, Ray. Now what do we do?”

  “Well, let’s step outside and look around a bit. Maybe we’ll see someone who can help.” Ray said as he stepped out of the open door slamming right into the arms of a lady who was walking down the boardwalk.

  “I am so sorry, Miss. I guess I was in a hurry and wasn’t looking where I was...you?” Ray sputtered in shock.

  “Why I thought I saw your wagon train come lumbering in, making a huge cloud of dust for all of us to have to breathe. Let me be the first to welcome you, and of course your two friends, to my new home, Ray.”

  “Samantha Foster! What the hell are you doing here?” Ray said with a sudden fear that at any moment they would be either shot or arrested.

  “Why I live here now, came out on the stage with Phillip. I’ve already met your dear mother. She had the same look on her face as you do, not very friendly, I dare say,” smiled Samantha cunningly.

  Ray suddenly felt a great fear take hold in his chest, “Samantha, you haven’t done anything to my Ma have you? I swear if you’ve touched her in any way, I’ll kill you!” He threatened.

  “Oh my, only just met after all this time and you already want to murder another Foster. I guess the trail didn’t help you grow up in the least,” insulted Samantha as she pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed her brow.

  “Just remember what I said, Samantha. And I suggest you give my family and friends a wide berth,” He finished as he stepped past her, slightly bumping her shoulder.

  Samantha just walked on with a smile on her face that just about drove him crazy.

  “Boys, we need to find Ma and we need to find her fast. I don’t like the way Samantha was acting. Let’s find that marshal.”

  The three of them headed towards the Bella Union since it was the biggest place in view with the most activity. Stepping through the two open doors, they were shocked at the elegance of the lobby. The boys had become accustomed to dirt floors, adobe walls and sod roofs.

  They walked over to the clerk’s desk and rang the bell. From the back emerged a little man Ray didn’t like from the get go.

  “Yes, may I help you...gentlemen,” he hesitated on the last word as he noticed the inch of trail dust still on their clothes.

  “Yes,” said Larry. “We’re lookin’ for a Mrs. Cooper?”

  “I do not believe a Mrs. Cooper is registered in this hotel,” answered the clerk as he began to retreat behind his curtain.

  “Hold up there a minute,” Ray said, “Do you know of a woman here in town, named Mrs. Cooper?”

  “It is not my function to keep tabs on the people and goings on of said people. Good day gentlemen,” finished the clerk as he disappeared behind the curtain.

  John walked around the desk, throwing back the curtain to find the clerk sitting in a chair reading the newspaper.

  “Sir, how dare you enter my private quarters, you have no right.” John stopped the clerk’s protest by physically lifting him by the shirt from the chair and throwing him across the small room. John picked the clerk up from the floor and slapped him twice across the face. With the clerk’s full attention, John asked the question again. “Do you know where we can find Mrs. Cooper?”

  “Oh, Mrs. Cooper, why yes, a lovely lady,” said the clerk through a bloody lip. “She lives in the little house on the end of the street. Straight down that way.” pointed the clerk.

  “Well, thank you very much for the information,” said John as he pushed a coin into the clerk’s pocket and patted it twice. “In the future, to save us both a lot of time, I’d suggest you answer my friend’s questions, straight away, understand?”

  “Yes sir, oh yes sir. Do you plan to be in Pueblo de Los Angeles long?” the clerk said obeisantly.

  “Yes. Actually we have a ranch outside of town we just took over. So you’ll be seeing a lot of us. Thanks again for the information,” smiled John as he set the man back down onto his feet and helped him straighten his collar.

  John walked from behind the curtain and advised his friends that he knew where Ma lived. They headed out with the clerk watching from the window, cursing his bad luck at their arrival.

  John led the way down the street stopping in front of the little house. “I think this is the place,” said John as he looked up and down the street to see if there were any other houses Mrs. Cooper might live in.

  “The front yard does seem to have her touch,” Ray smiled as he pushed through the gate and walked on up to the door.

  “Hold up there boys. Now what do you say you raise your hands over your heads and turn around slow like,” came the order from behind.

  As they turned they were looking down the barrel of a .44 in the hand of the town marshal.

  “Marshal, we were just looking for you,” blurted Larry.

  “Yeah, I see you were,” sneered the marshal. “Just keep those hands high and tell me who you are and what’s your business with Mrs. Cooper.”

  “This here is Mrs. Cooper’s son, Ray,” announced Larry. “We’ve come all the way from Wisconsin to find her.”

  “Well, that’s different. I heard tell you were coming,” said the marshal as he walked up and shook Ray’s hand. "Welcome to Pueblo de Los Angeles, Ray!”

  “Well thank you Marshal. May we put down our hands now?” asked John.

  “Oh yes of course, sorry, put your hands down,” laughed the marshal.

  “Well I guess if that’s it then Marshal, we’ll be going on in to see my Ma. It’s been a long spell since I saw her and I’d kinda like to go inside now,” Ray said as he started toward the door.

  “Oh, well she ain’t in there, Ray. You see, she’s disappeared. I’ve been looking all over town for her. The last person to see her was...”

  “Let me guess, Samantha Foster,” Ray interrupted.

  “That’s right. Now how did you know that?” asked the marshal.

  “Just an educated guess!" Ray said bitterly. "Tell me what happened Marshal. We need to find Ma and quick. Samantha Foster has it in for my family and may have already harmed Ma.”

  The marshal quickly laid out what he had determined.

  “That’s it Ray, last time she was seen was when she entered the pastor’s house,” he pointed out the Pastor’s home.

  “Well then, that’s where we start. Come on boys, we got some hunting to do.

  “Over at the pastor’s house, Ray?” asked Larry.

  “I can’t think of a better place to start.”

  -CKS-

  The pastor couldn’t add anything more to what he had already shared with the marshal.

  “Okay boys; let’s start by going outside and circling the house. Make bigger and bigger circles until we find Ma’s tracks. She couldn’t have flown out of this house.”

  After about an hour John found a single small boot mark behind the Pastor’s house. Upon closer examination one could tell that a small woman must have mounted a horse here. “Okay, now we’re looking for fresh hoof prints of at least two horses,” instructed Ray.

  “Why two, Coop?” asked Larry.

  “Because she wouldn’t have just ridden off; the marshal said she had dinner sta
rted back at the house. Someone forced her to ride out.”

  “Here!” called John, “I think I found them. Three sets of hooves and they took off at a full gallop.”

  “I think you’re right John. Let’s see where they take us,” Ray said as he mounted up with his friends and rode out of town.

  It took them nearly four hours before they began smelling wood smoke. The sun would be setting soon and they wanted to get a look at what was up ahead before it got dark. They dismounted and tied the horses loose so they could break free after a few hours, if the boys didn’t return.

  They were in steep rolling hills that were covered sparsely by small and large bushes. Using the available cover they worked their way to the top of the ridge and poked their heads over to see what lay on the other side. Below them and to the right was a small cabin. Smoke was drifting out of the chimney that stuck out of the flat roof. The back of the cabin was up against the ridge; it may well have been a part of the ridge wall.

  “I don’t see any one walking around down there, but there’s three horses in the corral. How are we gonna know if your Ma is in there?” asked Larry.

  “Well, one of us is going to have to go down there and take a peek,” Ray said. “Since it’s my Ma, I’ll go.”

  “All right, we’ll cover you from up here on the ridge with our Winchesters,” said John.

  Ray slipped over the edge of the ridge and slowly worked his way down the slope on his hands and knees. Not seeing anyone standing guard, he had made it all the way to the side of the cabin unseen. Pulling his gun from its holster Ray sat for a moment to catch his breath.

  Stooped over and leaning against the wall of the cabin he moved towards its front. The only window was next to the front door. He thought he could hear voices coming through the wall of the cabin but he couldn’t make out a woman’s voice. At the corner of the cabin, he slowly leaned forward to look around the corner. No one was there and the front door was closed. Ray stepped around the corner and just then the front door swung open. He jumped back to the side of the cabin and prepared for a shoot out.

  “I just need to use the outhouse, damn it. Deal me out of the next hand. I’ll be right back,” said a man’s voice as he slammed the door shut behind him.

  “Buck never comes right back when he visits the outhouse. What the hell does he do out there for so long? The place stinks to the high heaven. I run in and out, no stickin’ around for me,” laughed a voice from inside the cabin. “Now deal.”

  Ray moved back to the edge of the cabin and slowly moved around its corner. The window was fairly low and covered by a plate of glass unusual for a place like this. He snuck his face up to the very corner of the glass and tried to see inside without being spotted. In the center of the one room cabin was a table with four chairs. One man sat with his back to the front door and the other man sat to his right. They were both holding a fan of cards. It appeared that Buck, who was now busy at the outhouse, had been seated in the chair facing the door. He couldn’t see the entire room from this vantage point and wasn’t sure if his Ma was in the cabin or not. He moved under the window and came up on the opposite corner of the glass. There she was, lying on a cot in the corner of the cabin. They didn’t have her tied; Ray guessed they figured with three of them there she wasn’t going anywhere.

  The glass suddenly broke in his face followed by the sound of a .44. The bullet was meant for the back of Ray’s head. Fortunately it went high. Buck was standing in the outhouse doorway, with a .44 in his right hand and holding up his pants with his left. Larry and John opened up from the ridge. Buck’s pants dropped to the floor just about the same time he did, dead before he had a chance to wipe.

  Ray threw himself back around the corner of the cabin; hearing a lot of rustling from inside the cabin after the lantern had been blown out. In the dull light of the sunset he could still make out movement inside. Ray watched Larry and John for any signal that someone was coming out.

  “I don’t know who the hell you are out there, but we got a woman in here, and if you start shootin’ you just might hit her. What do ya say we make a deal?”

  “Let’s hear it?” answered Ray.

  “You let us ride out of here with the woman as a shield, and when we get to the top of the ridge, we’ll send her back?” offered a voice from inside the cabin.

  Ray thought about the offer for a moment but figured he couldn’t trust these men. “You let the woman walk out of there right now and I promise you we’ll take her and ride. No harm will come to you. But if you don’t let her go right now, you can rest assured you won’t leave this canyon alive.”

  “How do we know you won’t come in shooting after you have the woman?” asked the voice.

  “You don’t! But it’s the best offer you’re going to get!” Ray shouted into the cabin.

  After a few tense moments the voice final answered his offer. “Okay, she’s coming out, hold your fire,” assured the voice from the dark interior.

  The front door opened a crack and then a little wider. Mrs. Cooper was pushed out of the open door as it was slammed behind her. “Okay, there she is. Now we kept our end of the bargain, you keep yours.”

  “All right, you stay put until we’re gone. I see a face stick out of that door and I’ll blow it off, understood?”

  “Yes sir. We don’t want any more trouble from you fellas. Just take the woman and head on out.”

  Ray reached out from around the corner of the cabin and grabbed his mother’s arm pulling her out of the line of fire. “Ma, it’s me, Ray.”

  “Oh my God, my baby boy, my little Ray, I would have never left you behind, they told me you were dead,” cried Ma.

  “Not now, Ma. We can talk this all out later. Right now I need to get you far away and to safety.”

  “Larry, get the horses. Ride down here and get Ma,” Ray called.

  “That wasn’t the deal,” argued a voice from inside.

  “We ain’t gonna go climbin’ up the side of that slope with your guns behind us. No, my partner’ll bring in the horses; we’ll mount up and ride out. Just sit tight in there and no one’ll get hurt.”

  Larry and John rode to the side of the cabin with Horse in tow. Ray jumped into the saddle and pulled his mother up behind him.

  “Now like I said, I see a face or gun barrel sticking out of that door or window and I’ll fill that space with lead,” warned Ray. “Come on boys, lets ride.”

  Passing in front of the cabin door that faced the mouth of the small canyon, they kept their guns at the ready as they trotted away from the cabin. The sound of a rifle shot filled the air and Ray felt his mother go limp on his back. John and Larry filled the cabin openings with lead.

  “We didn’t shoot! We didn’t shoot! Hold your fire! We didn’t shoot! That shot came from up on the ridge. We ain’t shootin’. Look, here’s our guns,” called the men in the cabin as they tossed their weapons out the window onto the ground.

  Looking up towards the ridge Ray could see a small cloud of dust in the moon light where someone must have been sitting a horse when they fired.

  “Ma, you okay?” Ray called.

  “I have my son in my arms, of course I’m okay,” spoke Ma softly in his ear.

  “Okay, then hang on. We have some riding to do!” Ray said as he turned Horse up the slope in pursuit of the bushwhacker.

  At the top of the ridge all he could make out was a small column of dust heading towards the direction of town.

  “Come on boys, let’s get Ma home and then we can do some checking around for a tired horse.”