Read [Texas Rangers 05] - Texas Vendetta Online

Authors: Elmer Kelton

Tags: #Texas Rangers, #Western Stories, #Vendetta, #Texas, #Fiction

[Texas Rangers 05] - Texas Vendetta (9 page)

BOOK: [Texas Rangers 05] - Texas Vendetta
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Andy feared he might have to hold Farley in the saddle, but Farley hunched over the horn and stubbornly refused help. The horse’s every step hurt him.

They rode back down the road they had come on for what Andy thought must have been two or three miles. He saw lamplight in a window. “Farmhouse,” he said. “Maybe they’ll help us.”

Farley’s voice choked with pain. “If they ain’t Hoppers.”

“Even if they are, maybe they don’t know what happened in town. No need in us tellin’ them.”

Andy strode up onto a wooden porch and knocked on the door. He heard a floor squeak as someone walked across it. The door opened, and a woman stood there, a shotgun in her hand. A cold feeling came to Andy’s stomach. He recognized Jayce Landon’s wife.

Her voice was like ice. “You’re one of them Rangers. What do you want here?”

“I’ve got a hurt man outside. He needs help.”

She looked at Farley but offered no sympathy. “You-all brought my husband back and turned him over to them Hoppers. Now you’ve got the nerve to ask for my help?”

An old man’s voice came from a back room. “Who is it, Flora?” He came out carrying a pistol and squinted at Andy in the dim lamplight.

She said, “It’s them Rangers, Papa. By rights we ought to shoot the both of them.”

The bewhiskered old man poked the muzzle of his pistol toward Andy. “What you got to say for yourself?”

“I need help for my partner. He’s been shot.”

“By who?”

“By one of the Hoppers.”

The pair’s hostility began to fade. The old man said, “Thought you was in league with them, fetchin’ Jayce in like you done.”

“That was our job. But afterwards we stood guard on the jail to keep a mob from bustin’ in. We didn’t know Jayce had already broke out.” He allowed a hint of accusation into his voice. “But I’ll bet you knew it.”

A satisfied look passed between the pair. The woman spoke first. “We ain’t ownin’ up to nothin’. But if you’re lookin’ to catch Jayce, you’d better have some damned fast horses. He left town on the best runner in the county.”

“Right now I’m just interested in gettin’ help for Farley Brackett.”

The old man’s attitude quickly mellowed. “Brackett, you say? Is he the one that gave them state police so much hell durin’ the Yankee occupation?”

“He’s the one.”

“Lord amighty. Bring him on in here, boy. We’ll see what we can do for him.”

The woman still seemed reluctant, but she deferred to her father’s judgment. Andy helped Farley out of the saddle and up the step.

The old man said, “Any enemy of the Hoppers is a friend of ours.”

Farley growled, “I ain’t their enemy, and I ain’t your friend.”

The old man appeared to take no offense. “He’s probably half out of his head. Set him in that chair. Let’s see how bad he’s hurt.”

They took off Farley’s blood-soaked shirt, then peeled his long underwear down to his waist. Flora Landon held a lamp close and examined the wound, probing with her fingers while Farley ground his teeth. Andy got his first good look at her face. He thought her handsome, at least for a middle-aged woman. He figured her to be about thirty.

She said, “Looks to me like the bullet glanced off of the ribs. Gouged a pretty good hole comin’ and goin’, but it’s a long ways from the heart. If he’s got one.”

Farley winced against the pain. His face was pale. “Ain’t the first hole I ever had shot in me.”

She frowned. “If you get blood poisonin’ it may be your last. Grit your teeth, because this is fixin’ to burn like the hinges of hell’s front door.” She washed the wound with whiskey. Andy thought for a moment that Farley might faint. She said, “We’ll bind them ribs good and tight.”

The old man said, “A broken rib is liable to punch a hole in his lung and kill him deader than a skint mule. Be better if he didn’t ride horseback for a while.”

The woman studied Farley with her first hint of sympathy. “I don’t see where he’s got a choice. Right now them Hoppers are probably searchin’ all over Jayce’s and my farm. When they get through there they’ll be comin’ here. I don’t think you Rangers’ll want to be around.”

Andy said, “I was wonderin’ if you folks have got a wagon I could borrow.”

Flora looked questioningly at her father. He said, “This man faced up to the Hoppers and led them scallywag state police on a merry chase. You bet he can have my wagon.” He jerked his head at Andy. “Come on, boy. Help me catch up my team.”

He walked out onto the porch and stopped abruptly. “Daughter, you’d better come and look.”

Andy saw flames in the distance. He could not guess how far away they were.

Flora gasped. “They’re burnin’ down our house, mine and Jayce’s.”

The old man nodded. “This place’ll be next.”

Andy heard horses coming. “Sounds like they’re already here.”

Flora declared, “Be damned if they’re goin’ to burn my papa’s house.” She reached inside the door and grabbed her shotgun.

The old man’s bony hand pushed the shotgun muzzle down. “This house ain’t nothin’ but lumber and nails. I can build a new one. But the Lord Hisself can’t build a new me or you.”

Andy said, “It’s too late to run. You-all get back inside and blow out the lamp. I’ll talk to them.”

Flora said, “I doubt as they’re in a listenin’ frame of mind.”

“They’ll listen to me or they’ll answer to the state of Texas.” He made his voice sound more confident than he felt. He stepped out to where he had tied his and Farley’s horses. He lifted his rifle from its scabbard and got Farley’s as an afterthought. He stood in the moonlight on the edge of the porch, his own rifle in his hand and Farley’s leaning where he could reach it without much of a stretch.

He counted seven horsemen. An eighth followed behind. The deputy Big’un was in front as the riders came to a stop. He recognized Andy. “You Rangers again. Seems like you’re everywhere.”

“We try to be where we’re needed.”

“You know who we’re after.”

“Jayce Landon isn’t here. I can vouch for that.” He really couldn’t. He had not seen anything here except the front room of the house. But the imperious lawman did not need to know that.

Big’un declared, “You Rangers have stepped way over the line. You helped a fugitive get away.”

“He didn’t escape from us. We delivered him like we were ordered to. He was the sheriff’s prisoner. It was the sheriff’s responsibility to see that he didn’t bust out.”

“I expect that woman of his knows where he’s at. This is her daddy’s house, and I’m bettin’ she’s in there.”

Flora came out onto the porch, shotgun in hand. Andy started to tell her to go back inside, but he knew she would not heed him. She looked like a woman who would charge a bear with a willow switch.

She said, “I’m here, Big’un Hopper, and here I’m stayin’. It don’t take much of a man to burn my house down, but it’ll take a better man than you to run me out of this country. You or any of your other line-bred Tennessee ridge-runner kin.”

The deputy moved his horse up closer to the porch. “If we ever find out you helped Jayce get away, you wouldn’t be the first woman ever hung in Texas.”

Andy shifted his rifle to point at Big’un. “There’ll be no more talk about hangin’, especially of a woman. You’d better back away if you don’t want the whole Ranger force swarmin’ this county like a nest of hornets.”

“It ain’t the Rangers’ business to take sides in a local affair.”

“It is when it comes to killin’.”

Hopper seemed not to hear. “Flora Landon, I’m placin’ you under arrest for aidin’ and abettin’. You come down here.”

She did not move. “You come up here and get me if you don’t mind a load of buckshot in your belly.”

For a minute Andy was not sure which way the pendulum would swing. Big’un seemed to weigh his chances, and anger appeared stronger than caution.

Farley Brackett walked out to join Andy and the woman on the porch. He held his arm tightly against his ribs, but in his hand was a pistol. He said nothing. He let his eyes deliver his threat.

Looking at Farley, the deputy took fresh stock of his situation. “Somethin’ about you seems familiar to me. But I don’t recollect that I heard your name.”

“I’m Farley Brackett.”

The name jarred Big’un. “From down in Colorado County? Somebody told me you was dead.”

“I ain’t heard about it.”

Andy said, “And I am Andy Pickard.” That name carried no weight with the deputy, but Farley’s had drawn his full attention. Andy thought it was time to try to close the conversation. “You’ve got no grounds to arrest Mrs. Landon. You’re trespassin’ here on her daddy’s place. You’d best be movin’ on, or you’re biddin’ fair to see inside one of your own cells.”

Big’un reluctantly began to cave. “You Rangers won’t be stayin’. We can wait till you’re gone.” He pulled his horse around and started back in the direction of town. The other men followed, some grumbling about not finishing their job.

Flora looked at Farley. “Big’un almost lost his breath when he heard your name. You must’ve left some deep tracks.”

Farley started a shrug but pain stopped it. His face pinched. “Would you have shot him in the belly?”

She replied, “I don’t say anything I don’t mean.”

She went back into the house. Farley was ordinarily sparing with admiration, but he said, “There, Badger Boy, is what I call a woman!”

In the house, Andy said, “That was brave talk outside, but the Hopper bunch has got killin’ on their minds. It would be smart if you folks left here for a while.”

The old man told his daughter, “Get your stuff together and we’ll go with these Rangers.”

She resisted until her father said, “There ain’t no shame in runnin’ when it’s the only way out. Jayce has done it. At least we’ll live to hit them Hoppers another day.”

Andy asked, “Where’s Jayce runnin’ to?”

The old man shook his head. “If I was to tell you that, you’d go after him.”

“We would if it was our orders.”

“Jayce ain’t an easy man to warm up to, but he’s the only son-in-law I’ve got. That’s why I ain’t tellin’ you. Let’s get that team hitched up. I don’t fancy bein’ around to entertain that bunch when they swaller a little more panther juice and come back.”

 

 

Andy did not ask at first where Flora Landon and her father wanted to go. He simply turned the team away from the direction of town and the fire still burning in the distance. He and Flora sat on the wagonseat. Farley lay on blankets in the bed of the wagon. Flora’s father rode Andy’s horse. Farley’s was tied on behind, trailed by the little pack mule. They traveled a couple of miles in silence, though Andy stopped the wagon several times to listen for sounds of pursuit.

He saw a new fire and knew the house they had left was burning. The old man cursed under his breath. “I’ll build it back, and I’ll bury a couple of Hoppers in the backyard for good luck.”

Flora said, “I’ll help you dig the hole.”

Andy asked, “You-all got kinfolks you’d like to go to?”

Flora said, “Not till things die down some. We’d bring more trouble on them, and they’ve got trouble enough just bein’ Landons and kin. Where are you headin’?”

“To Colorado County, to some folks that will take care of Farley.”

“Mind takin’ us with you? Papa and me need to be scarce for a while.”

“What about your husband? He won’t know where you’re at.”

“We’ll come back when the Hoppers ain’t lookin’. They’ll find out that their houses can burn just as easy as ours did.”

The bitterness in her voice reminded Andy of what Farley had said about feuds. Often starting over some trivial incident, they tended to grow out of all proportion into a senseless succession of brutal killings. Andy had heard of one bloody vendetta that began over nothing more than mistaken accusations about a few missing hogs.

He doubted that Flora knew the origin of the Landon-Hopper feud, but he asked anyway. That started a mild argument between her and her father.

She said, “It was when Old Man Hopper shot at Jayce’s daddy and took a chunk out of his shoulder.”

“No,” the old man countered, “that come later, after one of them Hopper boys and his cousin tried to beat up on Jayce’s granddaddy That old man whipped the britches off of them all by hisself, then whittled a swallow fork in the Hopper boy’s ear.”

The talk left Andy with a feeling of futility. Families killed one another though they could not agree on what had started the fight. It was a process with no foreseeable end.

Farley became feverish, drifting in and out of reality. From time to time he mumbled incoherently. At other times he was lucid enough to ask, “Where we goin’?”

Andy would tell him, “You’ll see.” He feared that a better answer would touch off an argument.

Flora occasionally checked the bandage while Andy stopped the wagon. She asked, “How’d he get that scar on his face?”

Andy told her he had brought that home from the war.

She said, “I have a feelin’ he’s got other scars on him that don’t show. He must be a hell-bender in a fight.”

Andy admitted, “He takes care of himself.”

“Didn’t do so good this time, did he?”

“Somebody shot him from out of the dark. He didn’t have a chance.”

Seeing the Brackett farm took Andy back to a terrible night when Reconstruction state police had shot up the house in the mistaken belief that Farley was there. They killed Farley’s father, Jeremiah, and wounded his mother. Ironically, Farley was miles away at the time.

Lying in the wagon, Farley was unaware of Andy’s destination until they were within a hundred yards of the house. He pulled himself up to look over the sideboards. Sight of the place jarred him out of his dreamy state. “Damn you, Badger Boy, I didn’t want to come here.”

“You need lookin’ after. Who’ll do it better than your mother and your sister?”

“They won’t want to see me.” Farley made a feeble try at getting up, but he hurt too much to do it on his own. He managed to say, “I’ll whup you, boy, soon as I get my strength back.”

“You can try. Right now you couldn’t whip a sick kitten.”

Andy shouted as soon as he thought he was within earshot. “Hello, the house.”

A young woman stepped out onto the porch, shading her eyes with her hand. “Andy?”

BOOK: [Texas Rangers 05] - Texas Vendetta
10.64Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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