Ralph Compton Death Along the Cimarron (8 page)

“Why does he keep saying you're partners, David?” Ellen asked, avoiding Earl's eyes, ignoring his overtures.

“Ellen, it's a long story,” Dave replied promptly. “I'll tell you everything about it as soon as—”

“Come on now, Davey,” Earl cut in. “We can't be having secrets in this happy family of ours, now, can we?” He gave Waddell a wink, then said to Ellen, “You see, Davey and me has had ourselves an arrangement for some time now. I bring up border cattle—what you might say is beef of questionable origins. I give Davey here part of the herd just to let me hide them out here awhile in the upper grasslands. Then I crossbrand them, take them back down, and push them to the makeup herds heading for Abilene or Dodge City. We all make a little—Davey, the rest of the boys, and me—and nobody gets hurt.” He grinned and crossed his wrists on his saddle horn.

“Cattle thieves? Rustlers?” Ellen looked back and forth between her husband and Earl Muir in disbelief. Then she said to Dave Waddell, “You've been involved with a cattle-rustling operation? All those cattle that have shown up here, and you told me they were strays that wandered onto the grazing range ... all the while they were stolen?”

Before Dave could answer, Earl stifled a laugh and said, “Oops, I sure hope I haven't spilled the beans on you, Davey. That was not my intention.”

“Ellen,” Dave said, fighting to keep control of his voice and to keep his wits about him, “you'll have to let me explain everything to you.... And I will, I swear I will, only not right now, not right here. This isn't the time or place!”

Ellen Waddell saw beads of perspiration form on her husband's forehead.

“Yeah, you best go along with your husband, Missus Ellen,” Earl said, including himself in their conversation. “There ain't time for explaining things now. We've got to get our horses changed and get moving.”

“Get moving?” Ellen stepped hurriedly down from her saddle and stood by her husband's side. “Earl, tell them to leave,” she whispered dose to his ear.

“Yep, you heard me right,” said Earl. “We've got to cut out of here fast. You heard the shooting last night—you said so yourself. We killed everybody in that town and left it burnt to a cinder. I reckon we'll soon have somebody dogging our trail. I don't want them coming out here sniffing around, maybe getting you to tell them where we might be headed. I like you, partner, but I've got to tell you: I'd kill a man before I'd leave him to jackpot me to the law.” Earl gave Dave a hard stare.

“Earl, we can't go with you,” said Dave, with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “We're heading north, going to take a few days of holiday in Denver.”

“Well, that's just fine. We'll head right along with you,” said Earl. “Never let it be said that I'd spoil a holiday for anybody.”

“Our plans are already made, Earl,” said Dave, slipping an arm around his wife's waist as if to protect her. “We prefer traveling just the two of us. You don't have to worry about either of us telling the law about you. I stand to lose as much as you do if I did something like that. I don't want to get arrested for harboring stolen cattle.”

“I beg to differ with you, Davey,” said Earl, “but you don't stand to lose as much as I do.” Pointing a gloved finger at him, Earl stepped his horse closer as he continued. “They'll drop the charges on you just to get to me.” He turned his horse sideways to them and leaned slightly down. “I can't afford that, partner, now can I?”

Before either Dave or Ellen could say another word, Earl leaned farther down, snatched Ellen under her arm, and swung her upward. Ellen let out a short scream and batted her fists against Earl's shoulders as he held her against his chest. He stepped his horse back as Dave Waddell lunged at him.

“Let her go, Earl! Let her go!” Dave shouted. He grabbed at Earl's stirrup, but Earl cocked his boot and kicked him back a step.

“Now you've gone and done it, partner,” Earl said, seeing Dave stagger backward, his hand going for his pistol. Earl drew his first, aimed it, and cocked it, keeping Ellen against him, giving Dave nothing to shoot at but his wife. “You was going to shoot me, I do believe!” Earl said in mock surprise. Dave stopped cold and spread his hands away from his gun belt.

“Earl, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!” said Dave. “Just let her go!”

Earl shook his head. “No, no, partner. I just can't overlook something like that. I suppose I'm going to have to go on and kill you.” He leveled his pistol out at arm's length.

“No, wait!” Ellen shouted, squirming against Earl's arm. “Don't kill him, please!” She spoke quickly. “It's me you want, but don't kill him! If you kill him, you'll have to kill me too—I swear it! Leave him alone, and I'll go with you. I'll do anything you say! You have my word! Just let him live.”

“Well, listen to this,” Earl chuckled, letting his pistol slump, not as intent now on shooting Dave Waddell. “This little honey of yours ain't no fool, Davey. She knows this ain't really about you saying anything to the law.” He lowered his pistol and hugged Ellen up closer, pressing his beard-stubbled cheek to hers. “We're going to get along fine, you and me,” he said, half whispering his words to Ellen as he watched the sickened expression on Dave's face.

Backing his horse without taking his eyes off Dave Waddell, Earl called out over his shoulder. “Sherman, get over here and give me a hand.”

Sherman Fentress kicked his horse forward, snatching Ellen Waddell from Earl's arm as Earl held her out to him. “Keep an eye on his little filly while I step down and talk some sense to my partner here.”

“Earl. Let her go, please!” said Dave Waddell. “I'm begging you.” Almost sobbing, Dave stepped forward, still carefully keeping his hands away from his guns as Earl slipped down from his saddle and swaggered up to him, pulling off his right glove one finger at a time.

“Davey, get a grip on yourself.” Earl threw his arm across Waddell's shoulders, drawing him close almost in a headlock, the same way he had earlier. “Listen to me, partner. We can kick this subject back and forth and call it anything we want to.” He slipped Dave's Colt .45 from its holster and shoved it down behind his belt as he continued speaking. “But the fact is, I'm taking that woman with me.... I'm doing as I please with her, and I'm keeping her as long as it suits me. You might as well understand and get used to it.” He spread Dave's suit coat open, eased the small .36 caliber pistol from his waist, and held it barrel first in his hand, hefting it, judging its weight. “When I'm through with her, you can have her back.”

“No, Earl, please, for God sakes!” Dave begged, his eyes filled with tears. “Don't do this.... That's my wife.”

“Wives, cattle, horses, what have you.” Earl shrugged. “It makes no difference to me.... I take what I want. You ought to seen this coming from a mile down the road. Hell, man, I'm a thief and a killer. You think her being your wife means a damn thing to me? You ought to have had better sense, dangling something as sweet and pretty as that little redheaded woman before my eyes. I'd be a fool not to take a taste. What made you think you could deal with the likes of me and ever come out ahead?”

“Earl, please—”

Dave Waddell's voice fell silent as Earl bowed him forward at the waist and crashed the butt of the Navy Whitney against the back of his head. Seeing her husband fall face forward into the dirt, Ellen screamed long and loud, scratching the outlaw and jerking free from Sherman Fentress's grip. She hit the ground at a run toward her husband and didn't stop until Earl's strong hand caught her by her arm and slung her away. She landed in the dirt and came crawling toward Dave Waddell. Earl swooped an arm down, caught her around the waist, and held her hanging down his side, kicking and screaming. “He'll be okay ... just wake up with a headache is all. You gave your word you'd come with me, no trouble. You ain't backing out on it, are you?” He flipped the Whitney around and cocked it in Dave Waddell's direction.

Ellen caught hold of herself, seeing the gun pointed at her unconscious husband's head. “No, wait!” She settled down immediately. “I won't cause any trouble, I promise. I'll keep my word.”

“All right then, that's more like it.” Earl eased his grip and let her stand on her feet. He slipped an arm around her thin waist and hugged her up close. “I swear, woman, since the first time I laid eyes on you from a distance, it's been all I could do to keep my hands off you.” He nuzzled his face into her long, flowing red hair, the scent of her seeming to overpower him for a second as he closed his eyes.

“I won't be any problem from now on,” Ellen said in a soft, relenting voice. “Whatever you want, I'll do it.”

Earl's breath quickened at the sound of her voice. “Lord, what a waste, something like you hooked to the likes of something like him.” He shook his head as if to dear it. “But that's over now.” Then he turned, pulling her back to the horses. “Come on, let's get these horses swapped out and put some miles between us and Haley Springs. I've got to get an ambush set up for a couple of real tough gunslingers who're going to be on our trail.” He grinned and spoke to Ellen as he dragged her along. “The more you get to know me, the more you'll come to realize that I'm a man who likes staying one step ahead of the game.”

Ellen looked back once more at where her husband lay crumpled in the dirt, a trickle of blood oozing down the back of his head. Then she forced herself to swallow the bitter taste in her mouth and follow Cherokee Earl at a quicker pace, trying her best to keep up with him.

“Where we headed from here, Boss?” asked Sherman Fentress, hoping nothing would be said about the way the woman had broken free from him. But Earl was letting nothing past him.

“I reckon the first place ought to be a doctor so's you can have your face looked at. You've let this little girl scratch you like a wildcat.” He walked steadily on, pulling the woman behind him. The men laughed as they stepped down and led their horses toward the corral.

Sherman turned red and touched his fingers to the stripe of blood along his cheek. “Aw, this ain't nothing. She just wiggled loose is all.” He hurried to catch up with Earl.

“Yeah, wiggled loose,” Earl said wryly. “Go help swap out some horses. We've been here long enough.”

“But where are we headed from here, Boss?” Sherman persisted. “We told Billy and Frisco we'd meet them along the south trail.”

“I lied, Sherman.... Those two are on their own. I used them as bait for the woman gunslinger and the old man. We're going to throw a little raid on the next town up the line, get ourselves some real money. Then we're heading north of here, where there's good ambush country. By the time Billy and Frisco tangle with the woman and the old man, we'll be higher up, able to look down at anything on our trail. This is how I'm going to play it—instead of looking all over for them, I'll keep them looking for me, right up until I'm ready to kill them.”

Within moments, Cherokee Earl and his men had swapped their tired horses for fresh ones from the corral. As the group gathered at the corral gate, Earl looked over at where Dave Waddell stirred slightly in the dirt. “Hold these for me, Turley,” he said, handing Dirty Joe the reins to Ellen's horse. “I've got one last thing to do before I leave.”

Ellen gasped as Earl turned his horse toward Dave Waddell. Hearing her, Earl looked back over his shoulder. “Don't worry. I ain't going to kill him. Bullets cost money.”

As he rode his horse across the yard, Sherman Fentress said to Dirty Joe in a hurt tone, “I don't know why he didn't ask me to hold the reins. I'm the one he was always asking to do stuff like that.”

“Because you messed up, you idiot.” Dirty Joe laughed. “You let this woman scratch your face and make a fool of you.” He jiggled the reins to Ellen's horse, grinned, and winked at her. “Ain't that right, sugar?”

Ellen looked away from Turley's leering face.

“Don't talk to her that way, Turley,” Sherman warned.

Turley laughed; so did Jorge and Avery McRoy. “Boys, I believe Sherman's gone lovestricken on us.”

“Sí,”
said Jorge, “and I think it is not such a wise thing, to fall for the boss's woman.”

Dirty Joe's voice fell quieter, iust audible to those near him. “The boss's woman today, maybe. But who can say about tomorrow? He might decide what's good enough for himself is good enough for all of us. I don't reckon ole Sherman here would object to that, would you, pal?” He gave Sherman a sly look.

“You best watch your dirty mouth, Joe, I'm warning you!” said Sherman Fentress, his hand dropping to the pistol handle on his hip.

Ellen listened closely to every whispered word, knowing that her only chance out of this was to keep her wits and weigh every possibility. Halfway across the dirt yard, she saw Cherokee Earl turn in his saddle upon hearing Sherman's angry voice. “Can't you men be this close to a woman without it turning you into lunatics?”

The men fell silent. Earl shook his head and rode the last few steps over to Dave Waddell, who tried to struggle to his feet. “You lay right there, Davey,” said Earl, bumping his horse into Waddell, sending him back face down in the dirt. “I like looking down at you.”

“Don't—don't take her ... please,” Dave gasped, dirt-streaked tears streaming down his face, a string of spittle dangling from his lips.

“Oh, I'm taking her, Dave. That's already been settled.” Earl grinned, drawing the Whitney from his waist. As he continued to speak, he opened the percussion gun's cylinder and dropped out all of the loads but one. “But I want it to be said that I was a good sport about this.” Then he closed the gun and pitched it to the ground a few feet from Waddell's dirt-crusted hands.