Sins of the Father (13 page)

Jess ran back and put the Sharps back in the scabbard. He mounted Gray and stopped to check the four men. They were all dead including Galt Dixon. Jess then rode out to the man who was lying in the trail. The man was still alive, but fading fast. Jess got off his horse and walked up to the man, his Winchester at the ready.

The man was holding his chest with both hands but the blood was running out quickly. His face was a pale white and he was breathing hard. He looked up at Jess barely able to lift his head. “Do I know you, Mister?”

The man put his head back down in the sand. “What the hell did you shoot me for? I was running away. I didn’t shoot at you.”

“Do you work for Rance Madden?”
“Yeah, I work for him.”
“Then that’s all the reason I need.”
The man gasped his last breath as Jess watched.

Jess had watched many men die and it did not bother him. “Well, that’s five men down and who knows how many more to go,” Jess said to the dead man.

Jess swung back up into the saddle and headed towards town. He didn’t try to hide the bodies. He wanted them to stay where they were, as if to send a message. Besides, the horse running back to the Madden ranch would alert the other men who would come out and check. Taking out Galt Dixon was a real bonus since Dixon was, indeed, fast with a gun.

Jess made his way around town and back up to the cave on the north ridge. It was just about dusk and he wanted to get at least one shot off before it got too dark. He placed himself back in the cave far enough that no one would be able to see the muzzle flash or the smoke from the Sharps. He was looking through the telescope and he found his target. A man walked out of the jail holding a scattergun. He didn’t have a badge on so Jess figured him for one of Madden’s men. He got the man in the sights of the Sharps, which was propped up on the tall forked branch that Jess had cut off a tree in the woods where his packhorse Sharps was still tied up. He fired, and the slug hit the man in his right side, throwing him to the ground. Jess took his telescope and watched. Three men came out of the saloon and ran over to the man. Before long, a dozen men were standing over the dead man and they were all trying to see where the shot had come from. Jess studied their faces, placing them in the back of his head so that he would remember them later. A few of them looked up at the ridge but no one thought that the shot could have come from that far off. There was one man who was giving all the orders to the other men. Jess didn’t know if this man was Madden, but he figured it must be. If it wasn’t, he must be one of Madden’s top men because all the other men listened to him. The men were running all around the town trying to find out who had shot the man down in the street. They found no one.

Then, Jess spotted Pattie Nate standing on the porch of the saloon. The man who had been yelling all the orders walked back to the saloon and was waving his hands around yelling at Pattie Nate. Then the man slapped Pattie so hard that she fell back onto the porch against the wall of the saloon. Jess’ temper spiked instantly, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment without possibly giving his cover away. He looked at the man again through the telescope and said to no one but himself—”Mister, I don’t care if you are Madden or not, you just earned a death sentence for that.”

About a half hour passed and it began to get dark, so Jess rode down the slope and retrieved Sharps and went back into the forest about three miles. He made camp next to a small stream and opened a can of cold beans. There would be no fire tonight. No hot coffee and no hot food. He did not remove the saddles or saddlebags from either horse. He had to be ready to mount up and ride quickly. He put out a few strings with cans, leaned back against a tree, and fell off to a restless sleep.

Clyde Tustin was the man Jess had shot while he was trying to run away from the ambush. His horse came strolling back to the barn at the Madden ranch. Grant Hull and Denzel Matheny were in the barn when the horse walked in and nickered. The two men turned around to see Tustin’s horse standing in the doorway.

“Hey, ain’t that Tustin’s horse?” asked Matheny. Hull walked over and took the reins of the horse. “Hell yeah it is. I wonder what the hell happened to Clyde? He rode out of here escorting Galt Dixon to town to meet the boss. Something ain’t right. We better get a few men and go looking for Clyde.”

Hull and Matheny rounded up two more men and rode out towards town. About a half hour out, they found Clyde lying in the middle of the trail, lying there as though he was taking a nap. He had both hands on his chest and when Hull moved his hands; they exposed a large hole in Clyde’s chest.

“Hey, hollered Matheny, I see there are more bodies up here.”
They rode over to the other bodies. Galt Dixon and two men lay dead on the trail and another man lay dead in the tall grass about a hundred feet off the trail in the tall grass.
“Who the hell do you think did this?” Matheny asked.
Hull was standing over the body of Galt Dixon. “I don’t know, but the boss is sure going to be pissed about it. He was paying Dixon here a whole lot of money.”
“Yeah, and he will want to know right away,” replied Matheny, as he looked over at one of the other two men who had rode out with him. “Clevis, you go into town and tell the boss what’s happened.”
“Yes sir, I’m already moving,” said Clevis Danville, as he spurred his horse and headed in the direction of town.
“Who in the hell could have taken down four men along with Galt Dixon?” asked Rory Clement.
“It couldn’t have been just one man,” answered Matheny.
“I bet it was Henry Thornton’s men. They’re trying to repay us for our attack the other day,” replied Grant Hull.
“Well, maybe old Thornton needs another licking,” said Rory Clement.
“I have a hunch you might be right, Rory,” replied Matheny. “Rory, go back to the ranch and bring out the wagon. We have to bury these men.”
Rory headed back to get the wagon. Matheny and Hull waited with the bodies and they each rolled a cigarette and smoked them.
Clevis Danville had ridden fast to town. When he arrived, he headed straight for Jed’s Saloon where he knew he would find Rance Madden. Madden was sitting at a table with Treat Knudsen. He sat down at the table and poured himself a whiskey from the bottle on the table. “Boss, I got some bad news to tell you.”
“It wouldn’t be the first bad news today.”
“Why, what happened?” Clevis asked, almost afraid to tell Madden about Galt Dixon.
“Someone took out one of our men today. Shot him down in the street and we don’t know where the shot came from. I’ve had men looking all over and around town, but they haven’t found who did it.”
“Well, my news is a whole lot worse. We lost five men today on the trail into town, and one of them was that Galt Dixon feller.”
Madden stood up so fast the chair went flying back and toppled over. “Jesus Christ! Galt Dixon was my best man and I never even got to use him! Henry Thornton will pay for this,” he said as he grabbed his chair and slammed it back down and sat back down. “Treat, get together another group of men and go back out to Thornton’s place and burn it to the ground!”
“I’ll round them up and go out late tonight. I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening, boss.”
Treat Knudsen went to round up some men. Rory poured himself another whiskey while Madden just sat there and steamed in his thoughts.

TUMPY
W
ATSON HAD SENT
four men to the Thornton ranch. None of them were gunslingers, but they all knew how to fire a rifle and they didn’t have a problem with getting paid to throw lead. That gave Thornton a better chance at protecting his property and his men. Thornton was in bed asleep, but he had men posted in all four directions watching for an ambush. There was one clump of trees on the north side that was only about fifty feet from the house. Lindsey Stanton was sitting down in the middle of the clump of trees, affording him a good spot to watch from. He heard something and he kept squinting his eyes and looking in the direction it was coming from. He finally spotted

someone who was crawling on their belly straight for the clump of trees. He didn’t know who it was, but he knew it was trouble. He waited until the man, or whatever it was came within fifty feet of where he was. Then, the man who had been crawling suddenly stood up and began running towards the clump of trees. Lindsey Stanton never even warned the man. He fired his Winchester and the man fell forward with a heavy thump.

Victor King, who had been on guard in the barn, had also spotted someone crawling on the ground and as soon as Stanton had fired his Winchester, this man stood up and started to light a large stick with cloth wrapped around it. It had just barely ignited when Victor fired his Winchester and the man fell backwards, the grass catching on fire from the stick.

Gunfire was now coming from all four directions, slugs hitting the house and the barn. Thornton had his men reinforce the areas that his men would fire from in the house earlier in the day. They had nailed fourinch lumber on the inside, below and around the sides of the windows of the ranch house. That way his men would only take a slug if they were exposed in a window. Thornton had one window in each direction manned, each man had at least two rifles and one shotgun with them, and they were putting down some heavy fire at Madden’s men.

All of sudden the gunfire stopped. Thornton could hear horses running off in the distance. Thornton and his men waited for a full five minutes before coming out to assess the casualties. Lindsey Stanton lay dead in the clump of trees, a bullet to his head. One of Madden’s men had saw the muzzle flash coming from the clump of trees and saw a shadowy figure of a man and fired off several rounds, one of them hit its mark. Victor King lay dead just inside the large door of the barn. Thornton sent his men around the house to find Madden’s men. They found four dead men. Thornton ordered his men to strip them of their weapons and ammunition and bury the bodies in the morning in one grave. Thornton figured there would not be another attack tonight and so he let a few extra men get some sleep. He was hoping that Stumpy would be sending more men soon.

Dana Stevens came into the ranch house after they were done and had guards in place again. “Boss, they were trying to burn us out. Both men we found close to the house had torches and were trying to throw them at the house and barn. One of them caught the grass on fire, but we put that out. Lucky we were on guard and ready for them this time.”

“It wasn’t luck, we planned to be ready. Reinforcing the windows and doors with lumber saved some men today. There’s a dozen slugs stuck in the boards of all four windows.”

“Well, I hope Stumpy sends a few more men. We took out four of Madden’s men and lost only two men, so that gives us an advantage, but not much of one.”

“Hell, Madden’s probably hired a dozen more men. We don’t have any advantage. We just have to wait it out and hope for a miracle.”

Henry Thornton went up to his room and got into bed. It took him awhile to fall asleep. He kept thinking about the dire predicament he was in and he wasn’t sure that he would survive it. He had worked so hard for so many years to build up his herd of cattle, and now he was on the verge of losing it all, because of one greedy man with a lot of money. He had no idea that Jess Williams had already taken out six of Madden’s men today and that’s why the attack took place tonight. For all he knew, Jess Williams had left and would not come back or even worse, had been hired by Madden. He finally fell off to a restless night of sleep.

ess woke up to gunfire that was off in the distance. He was sure that the gunfire was coming from the direction of Henry Thornton’s
ranch. That gave him an idea. He figured that if it
was Madden’s men who were attacking Thornton’s
ranch again, they would be riding back into town
along the trail. He swung up in the saddle and turned
Gray in the direction of the trail going into the west
end of town. He hid inside the trees just off the trail.
Then he spotted four riders. They were riding slow
and talking back and forth amongst each other. As
they neared the spot where Jess was, Jess stepped out
from behind a large tree. They didn’t even notice him
until he spoke.
“Hey, you men work for Madden?” asked Jess. The four men, obviously surprised, stopped and turned their horses towards Jess.
Treat Knudsen was the first to speak. “Who the hell wants to know?” Knudsen asked sarcastically. “I asked you first and I expect an answer and if not, I’ll have to expect that you do work for Madden.”
“And what the hell are you going to do about it if we do work for Madden? In case you can’t count, it’s four against one.”
“I can count just fine.”
Jess slicked his pistol out, thumbed his first shot, and fanned the next three. Jess’ first shot caught Phillip Ryan in the chest. His second shot found its mark knocking Fred McAllister out of his saddle. Jess’ third shot caught Lester Kennedy in the face, entering just below his left eye. Treat Knudsen was the only man out of the four who got off a shot, which came so close to Jess’ head he swore he could feel the heat from it; but then Jess’s fourth shot caught Knudsen in his left side as Knudsen spurred his horse at a dead run, firing back at Jess causing Jess to duck behind a tree. Jess fired off two more rounds but in the darkness and a target that was moving away quickly, he missed with both shots. He had thought about going to get his Winchester, but he figured that the man would be out of sight before he could get it. He had tied Gray up about a hundred feet inside the woods. Jess thought for a moment about waiting here to see if more of Madden’s men came along the trail, but he figured he would stick to his original plan. He would hit and run, moving each time he hit any of Madden’s men. That way, they would not be able to pick up on any pattern. He would keep Madden and his men guessing and wondering about where the next attack would come from.
Nine men down and one man wounded in one day,
Jess thought to himself. Not a bad day’s work. He headed back to his camp and he still kept Gray and Sharps saddled and ready to ride.
Jess woke before the sun came up. He moved Sharps to a new location with some fresh grass to feed on by the same small stream. He gave Sharps an extra twenty feet of rope so that he could eat plenty of grass. He rode Gray slowly through the trees around town, keeping himself well out of sight of any of Madden’s men. About two hours after daylight, he found himself on the trail heading east from Madden’s ranch. He rode about five miles out and made a small camp just off the trail. He used small pieces of dried branches so that no one would be able to spot the smoke from the small fire. He cooked up some coffee, warmed another chunk of pan bread, and opened another can of cold beans as he waited. Treat Knudsen had ridden into town in the middle of the night. He was wounded badly but he would live. As Doctor Hammond was cleaning out the wound, which had went straight through, Rance Madden, walked in.
“What the hell happened out there?” Madden asked.
“They was waitin’ for us, boss. We lost four men during the attack, and as near as I could tell, Thornton only lost two men.”
“Damn it, that’s bad.”
“It gets worse,” replied Knudsen.
“Worse? How the hell can it get worse?” “Well, we were riding back to town and got stopped by a man who came out from the woods. He asked us if we worked for you. We had words back and forth, but he just skinned leather and starting shootin’. He killed Phillip Ryan, Fred McAllister, and Lester Kennedy and shot me after I took a shot at him. I ain’t never seen anyone draw a pistol and shoot so fast, boss. He had three of our men shot before I even got my gun out of its holster, and he shot me a split second after I got off a shot. I rode like hell and I’m lucky to be alive.”
“Did you get a good look at him? Did he say who he was?”
No on both accounts, boss. His voice sounded young but he stood his ground. I don’t know if he’s working for Thornton, but if he is, we’ve got a serious problem. Any man that faces down four men has got to have gonads the size of a bull and no fear about dying. That’s a dangerous man.”
“I’ll bet you that whoever this man is, he’s the same man who shot Galt Dixon and the four men who were escorting him into town this morning. And I bet he’s the one who shot our man out in the street. Doctor Hammond said that the bullet he removed was a large caliber, probably from a buffalo gun.” Knudsen was wincing in pain from the stitching he was getting from Doctor Hammond. “Well, whoever he is, we’ve got to take him down before he gets any more of our men. We’ve lost thirteen men today by my count. I hope you have more men on the way and quickly, boss.”
“You can count on it. Finish getting patched up and get some rest.”
Madden walked back to Jed’s Saloon. He sat at a table with Vernon Foster and Leonard Sand. They were sharing a bottle of whiskey and Pattie was serving them up some steaks. Pattie’s left side of her face was black and blue from Vernon Foster’s right hand, which he had used earlier to slap her. Foster smiled at his work as she served him his steak. She wanted to say something but she knew better. Foster would just slap her again.
“Why don’t you take one of them steaks and put it on your face,” said Foster, grinning, “might make an improvement on your looks.”
Pattie said nothing, she simply returned to the kitchen and they could hear her crying. Jed started to head to the kitchen to console Pattie, but when Madden saw him going towards the kitchen, he stopped him.
“Jed, you leave that bitch cry until she can’t no more. She deserved what she got and a whole lot more.”
“Yeah,” added Vernon Foster, “she’s lucky we ain’t used her for a pin cushion, if you get my drift.” “All right, enough of that,” said Madden. “Vernon, you were supposed to hire me some more men. Tell me some good news.”
“Boss, I got good news and then I got better news for you.”
“Keep talking.”
“Well, I got six men coming in from Holten. Seems they were on their way to a job down by the Mexican border, but when they found out how much you were paying, they decided to come here. They should be here either tomorrow or the next day. Then, I got four more men coming in from Dodge City, all tough men, too. I told them to bring any more men they can find along the way, also. They won’t get here for at least three more days. I saved the best for last, though.” Vernon Foster waited and smiled at Madden, knowing how impatient he could get, but he knew that the news would earn him some extra points with his boss.
“What the hell are you waiting for man, spit it out!”
“All right, take it easy, boss. Have you ever heard of a man they call the Reaper?”
“I can’t say that I have. Who the hell is he?” Leonard Sand sat straight up at the mention of the Reaper. “I know about him, they say he is one of the best in his field. I hear he’s a gun tipper.” “What the hell is a gun tipper?” Madden asked. “I’ve only seen it once before, but some men fix up their holster so that the holster swivels on the belt. That way, they don’t have to pull the gun out of the holster, they just swivel it and fire. It’s kind of tricky at first but they say that if a man practices with it long enough, he gets mighty fast.”
“He is mighty fast, and fearless, too. They say he’s not playing with a full deck,” said Vernon. “It seems that he used to work for one of them gun companies back East for a long time. He designed guns and learned how to shoot them. The story goes that he wanted to design a pistol and the owner of the gun company didn’t want him to. The owner said the design was too expensive to manufacture and sell. Well, the Reaper, whose real name is Jake Morgan, went behind the owners back and made up one of his guns based on his design. Well, the owner fired him and Morgan paid for the gun. Then, he had a special holster designed for the gun and went about practicing with it. He tried to sell the design off to a few other gun makers, but no one wanted it. It bothered him so much that he headed out West to become a hired gun. He is one of the best and he’s worth every penny.”
Madden was smiling now. “How much does he want?”
“He charges one thousand dollars to kill a man. He doesn’t care how you want the job done, as long as you pay.”
“That’s a hell of a lot of money for killing one man,” replied Madden.
“Well, you paid four thousand to have Sheriff Steele and Tex shot and they didn’t even finish the job. Now you’ve got this new man who killed nine of our men today. Maybe you might want this Reaper fellow to find and kill him, whoever he is.”
“Maybe you’re right, if we can find out who he is. He’s a ruthless one, that’s for sure. So, when will this Reaper fellow get here?”
“He said he would get here in about four days or so.”
“I wish it was sooner, but at least by that time we might know who this new man is that we are dealing with and if he’s working for Thornton. We’ll have some more men in a few days and I have the word out all over the area, so I expect a few more to show up on top of what you have coming. In the next three days, we should be back up in force enough to finish Thornton off.”
“Boss, when all this is over, what are you planning to do with Marshal Reedy and his deputies?” asked Leonard Sand.
Madden thought about that for a minute. “Well, if we let them go, they’ll just go and get a small army of U.S. marshals and deputies and come after us. I say we use them as hostages for now, but in the end, we take them out of town, shoot the whole bunch of them, and bury the bodies deep. We’ll do it at night so that no one in town knows what happened to them. They’ll never find the bodies.”
“Yeah, but what about Sheriff Steele and his deputies?”
“Looks like Reedy and his deputies will have some company when they cross over to their next life,” said Madden, an evil smile on his face. Pattie Nate was in the kitchen and she heard what Madden was planning to do with Reedy and Steele. She almost panicked but there was one thing that helped keep her from losing it. She had also heard about a new man that had been attacking Madden’s men. She only knew of one man capable of killing nine men in one day and not getting caught. That man was Jess Williams. He must have gotten her message and was here to help. She prayed that Jess could stop this madness before Madden murdered the man she loved.