Bloody Trail (23 page)

Rob closed his eyes, and soon was unconscious.
Spike feared he was dead at first. Then the blacksmith realized
someone was standing over him—it was Derrick McCain.

“
How is he?” Derrick
asked.

“
Not good,” Spike answered
shortly. He drew a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “Not
much I could do for him under the circumstances. We need to round
up our animals and hightail it back to the nearest doc.”

“
That would be in Tahlequah—a good
two-day ride from here.”

“
He won’t make it,” Spike
said.

“
No.”

Just then, Sheriff Satterlee and Billy made
their way over.

“
Sheriff.” Spike nodded at
Satterlee. “It sure as hell is good to see you.”

Satterlee grinned. “You boys got yourselves
into a jam. Wouldn’t be right for me not to come help you out of
it.”

“
What happened?” Billy asked. “We
thought you were back in Wolf Creek.”

Satterlee squatted beside Rob, giving a
cursory glance to the temporary bandage. He shook his head. “I got
to thinkin’ ’bout ridin’ back to Wolf Creek. I’m a law man. Here
y’all were, trackin’ down these sonsabitches, and me goin’ home.
Couldn’t do it. I had to turn around and come back to help. Been
trailin’ you now for days, but I just couldn’t push my horse any
harder in this heat.”

“
It all worked out,” Marshal
Goodson put in as he approached the others. “I kept an eye on this
bunch until you came back to claim ‘em” He stuck his hand out.
“U.S. Deputy Marshal Atley Goodson.”

“
Sheriff George Washington
Satterlee. Much obliged.” Satterlee’s expression became serious
again as he looked down at Rob. “We need to figure out what’s best
for him. Where’s the nearest town?”

“
Tahlequah,” Derrick answered.
“Too far.”

“
There’s a place a few miles east
of here,” Goodson said thoughtfully. “Tamaha. Not big, but close.
And there may be someone there he can stay with ’til he’s well
enough to ride. They’re good people over there.”

“
I’ll stay with him,” Billy
volunteered.

“
No,” Spike said. “I’ll
stay.”

Derrick and Satterlee exchanged a questioning
glance.

“
You, Spike?” Satterlee asked
incredulously. “Thought there wasn’t any love lost between you two.
It’s no secret y’all fought on opposite sides—”

Spike gave a faint smile. “Rob never fought in
no War, G. W. He was just a boy. Too young. I reckon all of us can
stand to learn a thing or two. I understand some things about
Mister Gallagher I didn’t know before.”

“
Such as?” Billy asked.

But Spike shook his head. “He’ll tell you
someday, maybe. I will say this—anybody who’s seen his father
killed in cold blood by vigilantes from the ‘other side’ has a
right to hate. And sometimes, it takes a long, long time to see
that all men aren’t alike. There’s good and bad on both sides, gray
and blue.” He looked around the group. “And I know there’s more’n
one of us that’s thought like that, had the same type of thing
happen in their own families. I just hope some day we can get over
all that’s happened in the past during that godawful war, and
afterward.” He paused. “Today is my day, I guess.” He looked down
at Rob, a wry smile touching his lips. “He’ll never believe he wore
my cap.”

Satterlee snorted. “He’ll never believe you’re
the one who saved him.”

Spike nodded and met Satterlee’s amused
expression. “He’ll believe, all right. Once I get a chance to talk
to him.”

Charley limped toward them, leading his and
Derrick’s mounts. “You comin’ with me?”

“
Now, hold up a minute, Charley,”
Spike said. “Looks like you’re wantin’ to go on after the one that
got away. We’ve gotta get Gallagher, here, to a doc. That’s gotta
be the priority—not chasin’ that damn owlhoot farther up into the
mountains.” He glanced past Charley toward the steep, rocky trail
that let into dense cover.

“
Not askin’ you to string along
with me, Sweeney,” Charley replied curtly. “You want to see to
Gallagher, go on.” He glanced at Derrick again. “Comin’,
McCain?”

Before Derrick could reply, Sheriff Satterlee
said, “No, he ain’t. An’ neither are you. We’re gonna get this
wounded man to help, before Danby’s man that escaped can get back
to their hideout and bring hell down on us. For all we know they’ve
got more men waiting there.”

“’
Fraid I have to agree,
Blackfeather,” Goodson spoke up. “I’m going to have to accompany
y’all over to Tamaha to get this man some medical help.” He nodded
at Charley’s bloody leg. “Looks like you could use tendin’
yourself.”

“
All I need, Marshal, is a hank of
red hair on my coup stick. That’d be the best medicine I could get.
You don’t need all of us to go see that Gallagher gets treated. I’m
after Davis.”

Sheriff Satterlee’s expression had softened.
“I gather you know that bastard and have some history with him. I
can sympathize with that. The fact is, though, Jim Danby hit our
town with a small army—and we’ve sent almost the whole bunch to
hell where they belong. That’s a pretty good job of work. It’s a
shame that one got away, but there’ll be other days.”

Goodson gave the Seminole a slow smile. “Don’t
put me agin’ you, Blackfeather. I’m on your side. But I’ve never
figured out how to be two places at once. I can’t ride with you and
McCain and show these men where to take Gallagher, here. And right
now, Gallagher needs me more than you need your all-fired
vengeance.”

“
I don’t need you, Marshal
Goodson,” Charley replied evenly.

“
Yes, you do. I won’t tolerate
vigilantes down here in my territory. It’s lawless enough as it is,
with less than two hundred of us marshals at any given time to see
to it. And right now, like I say, I can’t be in two places at once.
Once we get Gallagher seen to, I’ll be glad for your help—as a
deputized member of a legal posse. That might be a few days. Now,
if you’ll excuse me, I need to go make a record of these dead men’s
names, best I can figure, and see about rounding up the other
horses.” Goodson turned away, the subject closed.

Charley’s face was impassive, but his eyes
glittered with anger and determination.

“
Charley, he’s right,” Derrick
said with a sigh. He reached for the reins that Charley held in his
left hand. “We’re tired, the horses are exhausted and Gallagher’s
gotta have a doc or he’s not gonna make it. You need one, yourself.
Look at you—you’re barely standin’ on that leg.”

“
Well, you sure changed your tune,
McCain. Ready to quit and go home. But there’s still one of ‘em out
there. The one I want. And I ain’t ridin’ over to Tamaha to get
this lead dug out. I’ll do it my own self.”

Derrick shook his head. “Damn stubborn mule.
There’ll be another time. I’ll come back with you.”

Charley gave a short, mirthless laugh.
“Thanks. For nothin’. By now, he’s gone, for sure. Probably sittin’
up there with a bunch of other bastards at Demon’s Drop where he
knows damn well we can’t get to him.”

Derrick remained silent for a long moment, his
gaze holding Charley’s. “That’s right, Charley. He may already be
there, or near enough to where we’d do nothin’ but get our own
selves killed by whoever else is up there. You’re in no shape to go
after anyone right now. I’m not ready to die today. Are
you?”

He put his hand on Charley’s shoulder as the
Seminole started to turn away, then slipped his shoulder under
Charley’s arm as he faltered from the weakened leg.
“Charley—remember that night when we talked. You said you were
gonna be watching me. You talked about balance. Well, that’s what
I’m askin’ you for right now. Balance. We got to weigh the good
against the bad. The right of goin’ on after this other Davis
against the wrong of not seein’ to our own wounded, our own
horseflesh—our own selves.”

Charley watched Derrick now, listening, but
still ready to turn away at a moment’s notice, though he leaned
heavily on Derrick now.

Derrick continued quickly. Charley’s weight
let Derrick know his ability to stand was waning, fast. “We can’t
let Gallagher die out here so you and I can go off after vengeance
for something that happened six years ago. This is what I learned
from the War, Charley. The minute I turned against Danby and
defended you, refused to do his bidding, I became a man again. Just
a man. No blue or gray. No black, or white, or even red. So, I’m
asking you today, to come back to Wolf Creek with the rest of us.
Let’s see to our own. Let’s patch up their wounds and the rips in
our own hearts and souls that never seem to quit trickling our
life’s blood, no matter how many years pass. Don’t let that damned
war steal the rest of your life, Charley.”

“
I’ll never put it behind me until
I see that bastard dead. I have to see it done before I die,
McCain.”

Derrick put up a hand. “All right. Come home
and heal a little first. We’re all only men. We all have a breaking
point.” He hesitated. “I promise you, in a few weeks, we’ll head
back this way, and I’ll help you track Clark Davis down.” He
reached to pull his bandanna from his pocket, motioning Charley to
the ground. “Let’s at least tie up your leg and get the bleedin’
stopped.”

“
The trail will be cold,” Charley
said doggedly, lowering himself to sit on the parched earth. But he
stretched his leg out with a grimace, and Derrick encircled it with
his bandanna. “We’re so close now!”

“
Derrick’s right, Charley,”
Satterlee spoke up. “We don’t want to lose any more good men going
after one bad one. We’re out of our jurisdiction now,
anyhow.”

Charley snorted. “I don’t give a damn about
jurisdiction. He killed Sango! That boy was under my protection.
Don’t you understand?”

“
Reckon I do,” Satterlee said.
“But I know this, too. We’ve all lost a brother, father—someone in
this War and what came after in these years past. I know your two
boys were killed. And I know this Sango was like kin to you. We do
understand—all of us. You ain’t the only one, you know. Hell, we
have four good men in shallow graves back yonder, not to mention
Haskins and his wife, that are still waitin’ on a proper burial,
one of ‘em my best friend.” Satterlee turned away to leave Derrick
to finish tying up Charley’s wound. The sheriff shook his head as
he walked toward where Goodson and Billy were hoisting Rob
Gallagher up into the saddle in front of Spike Sweeney on Sweeney’s
horse, hurrying to put a supporting hand to Rob’s side.

Charley’s gaze followed the sheriff to where
they worked to get the wounded man in position. “Guess we can’t
leave him to bleed to death,” he muttered.

“
Or you, either, you damn stubborn
Indian.” Derrick muttered as he stood up.

“
There’s been enough blood on this
trail we’ve followed to last me a lifetime,” Charley said roughly,
“…after I see Clark Davis dead.”

“
I’ll help you, Charley. That’s a
promise.”

Charley threw him a sidelong look as Derrick
put a hand out to pull him up. “Seems you found something on this
journey you didn’t know you had.”

“
What’s that?” Derrick stood close
by as Charley tested his leg to see if it would bear his
weight.

“
A brother, Cherokee.”

Derrick laughed. “Not just Carson, Charley.
After what you and I have been through, I consider you a brother of
sorts, too.”

Charley turned away to hide his smile. “You
and me? A Seminole and a Cherokee?”

Derrick glanced up the mountainside toward
where Marshal Goodson stood. “Now you’re talkin’. You didn’t
mention my white half or your black half, my gray or your
blue.”

After a minute, Charley said, “They say we
both come from one of the five ‘Civilized Tribes.’”

Thunder rolled in the near distance, the
summer storm that Charley had predicted on the way. The wind had
picked up.

Derrick looked around the group. Spike
Sweeney, carefully holding Rob Gallagher’s body against him as they
waited for the others to mount up. Rob, the first one hit in the
firefight in spite of his arsenal of weaponry and his diligent
practice. Young Billy Below, who stood, expertly securing the
string of horses—including the one carrying the money from the Wolf
Creek Savings & Loan—in preparation for the long ride back.
Sheriff G.W. Satterlee, who had tossed the rules of the law he
loved so much to the wind and soothed his conscience by returning
to help them, maybe making the difference between their success or
their deaths. Deputy Marshal Goodson, who had thrown in with them
in his own need to keep things legal and had lent his support to
their cause. And Charley Blackfeather, whose friendship had, as far
as Derrick was concerned, turned out to be almost the biggest
surprise of all—aside from learning the truth about his own family.
They’d done what they set out to do—fought back for their town and
shown Danby and others like him that Wolf Creek took care of its
own. They’d recovered the money in the process; though that had not
been the reason they’d come together as they had, men of all blood,
who just a few years ago would have killed each other for wearing
gray or blue. They’d lost much, Derrick thought, the citizens of
Wolf Creek. But look at what we’ve gained. And now, it was over—but
life would never be the same in their town.