the High Graders (1965) (24 page)

"Really, Mr. Stowe, if you plan to take m y gold from here, you must expect trouble. You're goin g to have to cut telegraph wires, even do som e shooting. Your retriever here," she gestured a t Red, "did not notice that Doctor Clagg , Billy Townsend, and several others--includin g Wilson Hoyt--were saddling up when w e passed the stable."

"Ma'am," Ben Stowe said abruptly, "yo u sit down and shut up."

"Now, look here, Ben--was Tag starte d to protest.

"You shut up, too. Red, put a shotgu n on them. If they start anything give them bot h barrels, then reload and shoot them again."

"Do you really believe," Laine said, "that you wil l get out of the Territory with that gold? Will it be s o easy, Mr. Stowe?"

Ben Stowe's anger was passing. Red had bee n a damned fool to bring Laine Tennison here, bu t he needed Red for the time being, and the girl was no mor e than a nuisance.

"Sorry, Red. I spoke too fast. Al l we need is a hysterical woman on our hands."

"Sure, Boss. I wasn't thinkin'."

Ben Stowe knew that the rain had stopped, and tha t the sounds he had been hearing for the last fe w seconds were those of a walking horse. The first fe w hoof-falls had barely touched the fring e of his consciousness, but now he was sharply aware that a horse had come to a stop outside.

He half turned to face the door, hear d something hit the mud, and then blundering footsteps.

The door opened and Babcock came in.

His face was haggard, the wound had started to blee d again, and his shirt was already stiff with dried blood.

"Tag," he said, "I caught a bad one.

It's real bad."

Ignoring the shotgun, Tag Murray move d quickly to Babcock's side and eased him into a chair. Laine Tennison, without being asked, ha d gone to the stove and was pouring hot water into a ti n basin. Tag began cutting away the shirt wit h scissors.

"What happened?" Ben Stowe asked.

When Babcock did not reply, Stowe steppe d to the bar and poured a stiff drink of whiskey, an d handed it to the wounded man. "What happened?" h e asked again.

Babcock tossed off the liquor in two quic k gulps. "First drink you ever bought me, Ben.

Thanks."

He looked up at Stowe. "When your mul e train didn't show up, Winkler figured it out an d we cut over the hills. We were set to ambush th e train, then that damn' Shevlin came down on u s from behind. I never did figure how he got there.

"He was on us before we knew what happened, an d his first shot tipped the mule drivers and they cam e up the slope. Shevlin killed Ra y Hollister. Winkler and Sande and Hallora n got it, too."

"How many of my men?"

"Three down and a couple scratched."

"Shevlin?"

"He's bringin' the stuff in. He told m e to go on ahead an' get Tag here to fix m e up."

Ben Stowe looked at the arm with distaste. Use d as he was to violence, he never liked to look upon th e results of violence, and Babcock's arm was a sorry sight. The bullet must have caught the ar m when it was bent and upraised, for it had shattered th e elbow, torn the biceps, and imbedded itself in th e deltoid muscle at the end of the shoulder.

"We better get Doc Clagg over here , Bab," Murray said. "That's surely a mess. I don't think anybody can mak e anything of that elbow again."

"Fix it as best you can." Babcock stare d bleakly into the years ahead as a one-armed cowman.

However, he had seen a few, and some di d pretty well. If somebody else could, h e could.

"Whatever happens," Ben Stowe said, "you peopl e stay clear of it. I don't want to shoo t anybody protecting a legitimate gol d shipment.

"That man"--he indicated Babcock--"i s an admitted outlaw. He attempted to steal th e shipment from the mine of which I am superintendent.

Please remember that."

"You are discharged," Laine said, "and you are no t authorized to make such a shipment."

Stowe smiled at her. "Now, ma'am," h e said pleasantly, "I know you as a guest of Do c Clagg's. Whatever else you may be, I d on't know. You've no authority that I know of , and no cause even to be here except that Red her e figured I would want to talk to you. He wa s wrong.

"I am," he went on, speaking clearly , "making a legitimate shipment from the mines of a small amount of gold. I have the authority to d o this. If anyone interferes, I shall take lega l action."

Laine looked around helplessly. Th e telegrapher merely shrugged. Tag Murray wa s busy with Babcock, and Red grinned smugly.

Of course, what Stowe said was true. Even i f the law had been here, she could not have stopped th e shipment ... not just on her word alone. And the trai n was due in less than an hour.

Just the same, Ben Stowe was worried. Lain e could see it in his restlessness, in his continual glance s at the clock. The train was coming soon and the gol d had not yet arrived.

And right in the middle of things was Mik e Shevlin. He was the key man. He was working fo r her, but Ben Stowe had offered him a better deal.

As for whatever else there was between herself, and Shevlin , was there really something there? Or had she onl y imagined it?

From the first, she had felt drawn to him, les s to his undeniable good looks than to his strength.

When all the others had wavered, he had stood fo r what he believed, and down deep within her she wa s positive that he still stood for it, that he was the ma n she believed in. Yet the question was there: wa s he the sort of man she thought, or was she onl y listening to a wish that he might be?

Red lounged against the counter, a cigarett e dangling from his lips, the shotgun in his hands.

Ben Stowe walked over to the window and looke d out, but the night was dark, and revealed nothing. Whe n she looked at him, she was shaken with fear fo r Mike Shevlin. Ben Stowe looked formidable.

He was big, powerful, and somehow seeme d indomitable. He seemed beyond, the strength of the me n around her, beyond anyone's strength.

Yet he was gambling now, gambling with his lif e and the work of years. He was gambling that anothe r man, who was perhaps an enemy, could bring that gol d across the mountains. That he had done so was obvious , for Babcock had crossed with Shevlin. Where wa s Shevlin now? There was no sound in the roo m except the heavy tick of the clock and the subdue d rustling where Tag Murray worked ove r Babcock.

Suddenly Murray turned and straightened up.

"Ben, we've got to send for Doc Clagg.

Else this man will lose an arm."

"The hell with him!" Stowe said violently, the n he glanced around at Babcock. After all, th e issue would have been decided long before Clagg coul d get here. "Oh, all right," he said with a shrug.

There was a moment of silence in the room, for the questio n in the mind of each was: Who will go?

Laine looked at Ben Stowe, an amuse d smile on her lips. "I am sure Red would lik e to go. Wouldn't you, Red?"

Stowe turned sharply from the window. "Like hell!

I need him right here." He glanced around. "You ca n go, Tag, or you can wait until my men ge t here and I'll send one of them. After all, I hav e five men out there with Shevlin."

"Don't be too sure," Babcock said.

"What's that mean?"

Babcock raised his head and stared at Be n Stowe. "It means those men rode over the mountain s with Mike Shevlin, and when they had a fight , Mike pulled them out of it. Mike was with them ...
y ou weren't. Don't be too damn' sure they'r e still your men."

"I bought 'em an' paid for 'em," Stowe sai d contemptuously.

"If you think that, you've come a lot further fro m the old days than I figured. You can't buy me n like that. They work for gun wages, al l right, but they ride for the man. Right now you'r e only somebody in an office somewhere. Mik e Shevlin is out there sitting his saddle with them.

He's rained on when they are, and when they'r e cold, he is. I can tell you one thing, Ben , if I hadn't got shot up I'd be out there wit h him right now."

Ben Stowe stayed by the window for a moment longer , then came back to the middle of the room. He wen t to the counter, where the long bundle that had been behind hi s saddle lay.

Unrolling it, he took out two double-barrele d shotguns, Express guns. Coolly, h e loaded them. Beside the bundle lay his Winchester an d he took it up, checking to see if there was a cartridge in position.

Nobody spoke, they simply watched him; an d he ignored them, as if they did not exist.

Indeed, Laine decided, they did not exist fo r him, for he was wholly concentrated on what wa s to come; she could see it in his every movement. He wa s pointed even as one of his guns would be pointed , toward the moment of decision.

But the moment did not come.

The minutes ticked by, and suddenly Lain e noticed that Stowe was perspiring--the sweat stood ou t in beads on his forehead. A slight sound came fro m outside, and Stowe turned sharply. Somethin g rattled on the roof.

Suddenly, several horses passed by, movin g swiftly. Outside, somebody laughed, and it wa s a shocking sound to those in the room.

Several minutes of stillness passed, and then a door slammed. The telegrapher looked up.

"That was my door," he said, and added, glancin g slyly at Stowe, "I wonder if any of thos e men can use a telegraph key? That Shevli n now, he's been around."

"Don't be a fool!" Stowe said sharply.

"I've known him since he was a kid."

"You mean you knew him when he was a kid,"

Babcock said, "but that man's covered a lot o f country since then. You don't know a damn' thin g about him!"

The real question in Stowe's mind was: Where was th e gold at this moment? Had it been loaded into th e waiting car?

He swept the room with a quick glance. "Al l right, Red. I'm going out there. You keep these peopl e sitting just where they are.

"Babcock, I'll send one of my men fo r Doc Clagg. I'll see no man suffer, an d we shared a blanket a couple of times in the ol d days."

He looked from one man to another. "Every mov e I've made in arranging this shipment has bee n legal," he said. "I wouldn't want anybod y to try stopping me now. I'd have every right to suspec t them of trying to steal company gold."

He moved to the door and stepped outside.

Chapter
21

The clouds had broken and the stars were out, but wate r still dripped from the eaves of the railroad station an d Murray's Saloon at Tappan Junction.

At the hitch rail stood half a doze n horses with empty saddles, and another hors e had just come down from the mountains, riderless since th e afternoon's shooting. It stood now, bridl e trailing, close beside the tied horses.

Light from the saloon windows fell across th e wet platform outside, across the glistening stee l rails, and almost met through the darkness the light from th e telegraph station windows. Beyond those windows on e of the men was brewing a fresh pot of coffee in th e operator's pot, which they had quickly emptied.

Mike Shevlin, leaning against the corner of th e loading pens near the chute, saw Ben Stowe com e outside. His right arm was straight down by hi s side, which meant that he was carrying a weapo n close against him where it could not be easily seen.

Mike, who knew all the subterfuges, watche d thoughtfully.

Ben was looking around warily. He was like a n old grizzly that senses trouble, but has faile d to locate it. Suddenly he stepped off th e platform and strode across the tracks to the station.

When Stowe opened the door, Mike could hear hi s voice. "Where's Shevlin?"

The reply was muffled, then Stowe spoke again.

"All right. I'm payin' you boys top wage s -comlet's go get him!"

Evidently one of the men had come to the door, for th e words were plain--it sounded like Billy Daniels.

"We'd like to see you go get him yourself. There'
s only one of him, and he's right around close."

"So it's like that, is it? Well, you're fire d -come last one of you! Now take yourvs out of here!"

"We like it here," Also's voic e drawled. "We're stayin' on for the show. W
e got us gallery seats."

Ben Stowe turned away without speaking, then h e halted. "Look," he said, "Babcock need s Doc Clagg or he'll lose an arm. One o f you boys ride after him, will you?"

There was a moment of silence, and then one of the me n detached himself from the group. "I'll go. I'l l see no man lose an arm if I can help it."

Ben Stowe walked to the middle of the tracks an d stopped there, waiting until the hoof-beats die d away in the distance.

Now, just where would Shevlin be? At the pens?

Or at the car where the gold should be? Probabl y at the car. He took a moment longer to get hi s eyes accustomed to the darkness, and then he walke d along the track.

Mike Shevlin knew every thought that was going throug h Stowe's head. He knew what he was thinking, becaus e he knew what he himself would be thinking at such a time.