Outlaw Pass (9781101544785) (15 page)

Finn turned to Adam and remarked sarcastically, “The woman's the very definition of the word
lady
.” Adam couldn't help grinning. He had to admit that he had never met anyone like her. “I guess we're campin' here,” Finn said, and dismounted. He and Adam unsaddled the horses and relieved the mules of their packs, gladly leaving the cooking to the women.

After the animals were taken care of and left to graze, Adam took his rifle and climbed up to the top of the ridge to the south of their camp. Making his way through a scattering of pines that skirted the lower third of the hill, he found the upper part almost barren of trees. Near the top, he found a spot that allowed a long look over the way they had come, even though the rapidly growing darkness limited his vision. Still, he stood there for a while, wondering how clean a getaway they had accomplished, him and his little party of misfits. The thought caused him to shake his head in disbelief, and brought images of his father when they showed up at the Triple-B—if they showed up. Then a picture of Jake formed in his mind—wild and carefree; his younger brother's need for excitement and adventure had led him to his ill-fated rendezvous.
We've all got a path to travel,
he thought,
some more rocky than others. No use crying about it.
Holding his rifle by the barrel, he propped it on his shoulder and started back down to the camp.

 

About a half day behind the fugitives, a posse of six men was also in the process of making camp. Deputy Sheriff Ed Bellou had been assigned by Sheriff Ainsworth to lead the posse. There was no doubt in Ainsworth's mind that the mysterious stranger who had suddenly shown up in Bannack was a gunman hired by the vigilantes. The night before, the bartender at the saloon had happened to walk to the back door in time to see the two prostitutes follow the gunman, who had already seriously reduced the number of outlaws that preyed on the Bannack trails. Ainsworth had severely chastised him for not coming to tell him immediately, even to the point of threatening to hang him as an accomplice. It was Ainsworth's feeling that the man was probably heading back to Virginia City to continue his stalking of Henry Plummer's agents. He could think of no plausible explanation for taking the two prostitutes with him, but it was fairly easy to speculate on the presence of Michael Finn. Evidently, Ainsworth thought, part of the deal was to escort Finn out of the territory, for which he would be paid for his services with gold from Finn's claim.

The mission of the posse was twofold, then: to eliminate the miners' hired gunman and to confiscate Michael Finn's gold. There was one other item: the theft of a horse from Art Thompson's stable. It was of no real importance to the men of the posse, other than to lend an air of legitimacy to the job. Finn's attempt to smuggle his gold out from under the noses of Plummer's army of outlaws was not even known until that morning. Ainsworth had already given orders to find Adam Blaine, convinced that he had been hired by the vigilantes. One of three men who had been keeping an eye on Finn's activities, a grubby little man named Blackie, rode in to town early that morning to report Finn's departure. Blackie informed Ainsworth that there had been no fire or sign of life of any kind in the Irishman's camp that night, so he had ridden down in the ravine to find the camp deserted. With something at stake of greater value than Adam Blaine's life, Ainsworth hurriedly assembled a posse. He assigned Blackie to the posse, along with two more of the many outlaws in the gulch with only one name. One, a bony, bald-headed man called Skinner, was reputed to be an expert tracker. The other was a short, potbellied man named Cox. To round out the six, Jesse Doyle and his partner, Sykes, were added, especially since Jesse had talked rather loudly of his intention to settle with the rifleman himself. As soon as the posse left, Ainsworth went to the telegraph office to send a wire to Henry Plummer in Virginia City, informing him of the possibility of a huge gold shipment being smuggled out of Bannack. He assumed the fugitives would take the common road to Virginia City.

“There ain't no doubt about it,” Skinner said after tracking the party of prostitutes and the gunman to a high ridge above the town where they hooked up with Finn. “That ol' bastard is leadin' three mules, and there's three other horses with him.” It was a fact that the others could have figured out without Skinner's unique tracking ability, for there had been little effort to hide the tracks in the dark.

It also took little thought to confirm that the hired gun was in cahoots with Finn, because he had been spotted leaving Finn's camp the day before. As for the other two riders, there was little doubt of their identity, since the two prostitutes were still missing. “I figured they had to turn back east,” Jesse said when they came to the point where the fugitives had changed directions, “'cause they sure as hell weren't gonna keep headin' north into the mountains.”

“They're headin' for the Beaverhead,” Ed Bellou said. “We shoulda figured that. We coulda cut 'em off and been waitin' for 'em at the river.”

“Why do you figure he took them two whores with him?” Blackie asked.

“Hell, who knows?” Bellou replied. “Maybe he's got needs he can't do without.” His comment caused a wave of chuckles among the group of men.

“He must have powerful needs if one whore ain't enough,” Skinner remarked.

“We'll catch 'em,” Jesse said, finding no humor in their task. “They can't be makin' very good time with them mules and two women along.”

Had they known how accurate Jesse's remark had been, they might have been tempted to push on in the dark, for their prey was only a half day's ride ahead. As it was, however, they decided it not worth the risk of losing them in the event they might have changed directions again, possibly intent upon heading toward Butte instead of Virginia City. So they went into camp where they were, with intentions of getting started again at first light. To a man, all silent speculation was centered upon the three mules and how much they might be carrying—and how much each individual's share might amount to, especially if they were to decide not to cut Plummer in on a share. It was easy to figure that Plummer was not entitled to a share, since he had had no hand in tipping them off, as he did in the stage and freight shipments. Then there was Ainsworth to be concerned with, making another split in addition to six ways already. Jesse realized that he was not the only one speculating on Finn's gold when Sykes poured a cup of coffee and sat down beside him.

“Reckon how much gold that old fart has on them mules?” Not waiting for an answer, he went on, speaking softly lest he be overheard. “I wish to hell Ainsworth hadn't sent them extra fellers with us. We coulda done without them three jaspers, split that gold three ways and skedaddled down to Texas.”

“Hell,” Jesse retorted, “we coulda done it with just the two of us. All we need is to get one clear shot at that damn big gunman. Settle his hash and the rest of 'em ain't gonna cause no trouble a'tall.”

“That sure is a fact,” Sykes replied. “Somethin' to think about. I reckon we'll see what's what tomorrow.” There was no more discussion between them, but the thoughts never strayed far from their minds. They were not alone in their mutinous thinking.

“Them two are sure doin' some serious talkin' over there,” Skinner commented as he and his two friends sat apart from Jesse and Sykes. Like them, the three had been watching the trails around Bannack and Virginia City, preying on innocent travelers, all under the direction of Henry Plummer. Plummer's army of outlaws was so extensive, however, that not many of the smaller gangs had any real contact with the others. Consequently, there was a feeling of competition between them, certainly no sense of loyalty, and even a sense of suspicion. After all, they were all callous cutthroats and bushwhackers.

“They might be of a mind to helpin' theirselves to that load of gold dust on them mules,” Cox suggested. It was an easy thought to speculate upon, since it was on his mind as well.

“It's bound to be a helluva lot of gold ol' Finn is packin' outta here,” Blackie said. “He'd been diggin' in that ravine he was camped in for a long time before we started keepin' an eye on him.”

“Yep,” Skinner said. “I bet there's enough gold on them mules to set three smart fellers up for life. Sure makes you think about it, don't it?”

“I can't see why those two jaspers are ridin' with us on this job, anyway,” Blackie commented. “Hell, we were the ones settin' on that claim all the time, waitin' for Finn to make his move. They didn't have nothin' to do with it. Matter of fact, Bellou said they were the ones that messed up that stage job a few days ago. They got no right to share in this job.” He snorted in disgust for emphasis. “In the first place, we don't need this many of us to take care of two men, and one of them a gray-headed old miner.” He paused to throw the dregs of coffee from his cup. “That's got to be an awful lot of gold dust they're carryin'.”

“Won't be near as much after Plummer, Ainsworth, and Bellou get their cut of it,” Cox pointed out.

“I know what you're thinkin',” Skinner said. “But if we was to do somethin' like that, Plummer would be after us before the sun went down.”

“To hell with Plummer,” Blackie growled. “If we was to take that gold and cut out for Mexico or somewhere, he ain't likely to catch us before we're long gone from this territory. And he ain't likely to go that far to look for us once we're out of here.”

Ed Bellou walked over and sat down near them, effectively ending the conversation, but the seed was planted, and the soil was fertile in the minds of the three, just as it was in the minds of Jesse and Sykes. “We oughta catch up with 'em before late afternoon tomorrow,” Bellou speculated.

“I expect so,” Skinner replied. “Ainsworth sent a lot of us just to take care of two fellers and two whores. He musta thought we'd run into trouble.”

Bellou shrugged indifferently before answering, “Well, there's that one feller who's mighty handy with a rifle, and Ainsworth figures there's enough of us to surround'em and kill the whole bunch without takin' too many chances ourselves.” This was, in fact, the reasoning behind sending six men to do a job three should have been able to do, but Bellou was there to make sure the gold was returned to the sheriff's office in Bannack. He was young, handy with a gun, and loyal to his uncle, Albert Ainsworth. He was also smart enough to notice that his posse was split into two separate factions, with Jesse and Sykes on one side of the fire, and Cox, Blackie, and Skinner on the other.

Adam paused for a moment to look down at the two women sleeping close to the dying fire. A chilly mass of air had descended upon the hills during the night, bringing the temperatures down to a more normal level for this late in the summer.
They must have gotten cold
, he thought, for sometime before dawn they had moved close together for warmth. He looked over toward the stream to see if the horses were all right before rekindling the fire. Finn stirred and rolled out of his blanket, aroused by the sounds of Adam feeding more wood to the fire. “Chilly,” he commented, then stumbled off downstream to answer nature's call. Adam answered with a grunt and continued to tend the fire. Once it was blazing to his satisfaction, he went to the stream to fill the coffeepot.

By the time he returned with the coffee water, Bonnie was up and sitting by the fire, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders. “Good morning,” she offered painfully. Not satisfied with his pace of progress, she reached for the pot. “Here, give me that. I'm dying for a cup of coffee, and you look like you're gonna take all day to make it.” He willingly relinquished it. When she had the coffee working on the edge of the fire, she reached over and gave Lacey's toes a little shake. “Rise and shine, honey. Let's make a little breakfast.” Before she started it, however, she took a walk downstream to answer the same call Finn had just heard. Passing him on his way back, she commented, “Wouldn't hurt you to walk a little farther from camp, old man, at least till you get past some of those bushes.”

“Huh,” he snorted. “It ain't like you ain't ever seen one before.”

“Never seen one that small before,” she retorted, and continued past the clump of bushes she had referred to.

While Bonnie and Finn were both out of earshot, Lacey moved up beside Adam at the fire. “I want to thank you for coming back for me,” she said. “I don't know if I really did before, so I want you to know I appreciate it.”

“You did already,” Adam replied. Then, noticing the concerned look in the young girl's eyes, he softened his tone and said, “Don't worry, Lacey. I'll do the best I can to get you outta here to someplace where you'll be better off.” The look of gratitude told him she had needed the reassurance. She even smiled, and it occurred to him that it was the first time he had seen her smile. He began to see why Jake had made promises he couldn't keep.

 

In the saddle again, the party continued their journey along the creek bank. To Adam's way of thinking, it was poor country to try to hide in, with hills all around them, barren of trees. It seemed that every gulch and valley they rode through was a perfect spot for an ambush, so he kept his eyes moving all the time. All it would take was for someone to guess where they were heading and cut them off instead of tracking them. There weren't that many choices regarding trails to take in this wild part of the territory. As an extra precaution, he left the others and climbed a hill every two miles or so, to take a look ahead and behind. He could hope that no one in Bannack was aware of their flight yet, but he knew he couldn't count on it.