Back in Olsen's Falls, Jesse had just entered the hotel where Murdoch and his men were staying due to the fact that Ma Cunnigham's boardinghouse was full. He asked the clerk which room Moose was in and upon receiving the answer, headed that way. When he reached the room the cleaning lady informed him that Moose had already risen and was down in the bathroom getting a bath. When Logan got there, he found both Moose and Brazos bathing away, each in a separate tub. He was unable to keep from laughing.

"Hell's bells, what a sight to see. A moose and a grizzly bear playin' away in their bathtubs."

"Aw, shut up, ya little runt." Brazos growled. Logan laughed again at the sight of Brazos Murdoch who just barely was able to squeeze into the tub.

"Hell Brazos. I'll bet them Mexicans love it when you take a bath. Why they only have to carry a couple of shotglasses full of water ta finish fillin' the tub after you get in. How many bars a soap you gone through, twenty?" Logan chided.

Brazos stood up and boomed, "By Gawd there's enough water in here ta drown yer sorry little ass, Logan, an I'm a fixin' ta do it too!"

Over in the next tub, Moose was about to choke from laughing. Logan stared at Brazos in spite of himself, almost in awe. Old Zach Baynes had sure given him an appropriate nickname when he'd named him grizzly. Brazos Murdoch was the hairiest man he'd ever seen, covered almost from head to toe with hair. And his sheer size and bulk never ceased to amaze him.

Just as he was wondering whether Brazos had bigger arms than Lance Nighthawk, Moose, having managed to contain his laughter asked him, "Well Jesse, you got somethin' on yer mind, or did you jest come in here ta gander at us bathing beauties?"

"A lot has happened while you two BEAUTIES, have been gettin' yer beauty rest." Logan said, then, he related the day's latest events.

"Captain Fogg, Emillio Esperanza, and Johnny's back and in trouble again. Hell boy, you weren't jest whistlin' Dixie when you said a lot's happened." Moose mused aloud.

"So Lance Nighthawk's in town." Brazos said almost in awe. "I've been a wantin' to swap punches with that halfbreed fer a long time. Settle it once and fer all who's the strongest man in the country." Brazos drawled.

"You may get your chance son, but don't start anything right away. I don't want trouble with Fogg if we don't have to have it. Fact is, he may save us quite a bit of trouble by whittlin' down Tanner a bit. Hell, he might even beat Tanner and his men, who knows. That would be doin' us some favor." Moose said.

"That would be true, but unless they killed Tanner himself, he'd just continue to bring in more and more gunmen, and he will probably have the law and the army on his side, at least the troops from Fort Stockton. And we all know that Fogg is none too popular in Texas, even out here." Logan said.

"Be that as it may, seems ta me that right now, Fogg can only help us out. As fer Esperanza and his gang, we'll worry 'bout that later. Did you say that that Nighthawk told you that Zach Baynes would be back from the Bend country any day?" Moose asked.

"Yep, that's what he said. Haven't seen him though." Logan replied.

"No, you wouldn't. He'd head out to the ranch first and finding us in town, would probably head down here." Brazos said.

At that moment, the back door opened up and a gruff voice said. "Right as rain, boys."

Zach Baynes, clad from head to toe in old greasy buckskins, walked in carrying two buckets of heated water. "Figured you boys might be gettin' cold by now, what with you spendin more time jawin'; than bathin'." Baynes said.

"Baynes, you old buffalo fart, that's a good way ta get yerself shot, slippin' up on us like that." Moose growled, but was unable to suppress the fact that he was glad to see his old friend and mentor again.

"Shitfire Moose, you boys are rusty as hell. I could'ev had all three of ya had I wanted to. Well, maybe not Jesse over there. At least, he's still got enough sense to pay attention." Baynes said, looking at Jesse who although grinning from ear to ear, had him covered with a Colt 44.

"Well, HAVE you been out to the ranch house then?" Logan asked.

"Yep. So has Lieutenant McCormick, and Johnny Lancer." Baynes replied. He then recounted how both him and Lancer had on separate occasions, slipped past the cowboy sentries adding that Lancer had been caught by the cook and he hadn't, and how he'd hidden in a closet. He then related the conversation that Lancer and Cora had held and that he'd decided to leave before Lancer did. How he had then beaten Lancer and the army to Olsen's Falls and waited until Lancer arrived.

Logan then asked, "If you saw Lancer in those rocks up above, then did you see Charley ride out, and in what direction she went?"

"Yep. In fact, one of the reasons I took so long gettin' here was that I circled back out of sight through a gully ta catch up to her. Had ta follow the gully though because Lancer has a telescope of some sort. Didn't want 'em ta see me. I caught Charlene at the point where she had to ride down inta the gully to cross it, and called her over. I then asked her where she was headin'. She said that she was goin' out ta Apache Springs ta camp out for a day or two and ta be alone with her thoughts."

"Logan was almost ecstatic but then asked, "Did you tell her that her brother was back, and is Johnny still up above the town by the spring?"

"No, I didn't tell her. I figured it would be best not ta upset her. She might have decided ta return ta town, an' Johnny would'ev tried ta see her then. That would mean he'd be runnin' the risk of runnin' inta the army or the Masons an I figured it'd be better fer him ta meet her outside a town somwhere's. I may'ev been wrong though. Lancer left the rocks just about a fifteen minutes ago ta follow her. She had over an hour's head start on 'em though. I guess he had ta wait around and see what the army was plannin' on doin' afore he lit out after her."

"You did the right thing, Zach. "Moose said. "Johnny won't hurt her, and the Mason's don't know he's here yet. If she'd come back to town, Johnny would have tried ta see her and might have run into the army and the Mason's as well. Right now, I want all of you to keep the fact that we know his whereabouts a secret from the Mason's. They'll hear that he's in the territory from the army, but we don't have ta tell 'em that we know exactly where he's goin'. With any luck, he'll see her and then ride on." Moose said.

"Sorry Moose, but I want to be a bit more sure than that. Unless you fellas need me, I intend to ride out to Apache Springs and talk to Lancer. I want to know exactly what's on his mind."

"I wouldn't do that. He spoke about drawing against you last night almost casually." Baynes said.

"I know, you made that clear. But that was before Cora told him that she thought Charley was in love with me." Logan said.

Just thinking about what Cora had said about Charley loving him made his heart skip several beats and yet, at the same time, made him feel almost invincible, as well as being as happy as he'd ever remembered being in his life. He knew she liked him a lot. He'd never done more than kiss her on the lips though, and she'd kissed a number of other men before as well, including Tommy Mason. He'd been secretly afraid that she'd never love him because he was a known gunman with a reputation, and her brother, was the same yet had only brought her grief.

Moose said, "Jesse, go ahead. I figure that we won't need you. If Tanner comes back ta town, He'll like as not have his hands full with Fogg and his bunch. I doubt he'll try anything against Bolton before we are out of town tomorrow. Just be careful. The rascal that shot you last night might be up ta tryin' again."

"Yeah, speakin' a which, what exactly did happen after you were shot, Jesse?" Baynes asked. Logan hurriedly filled him in on the details wanting very badly to be out following Johnny and Charley Lancer.

"Jared Ransom huh? Hadn't seen that ole codger in several months, but I had run into him a while back up in the Guadalupe Mountains. You said you wondered why he never tried to make good his threat ta kill ya, Jesse. Well, I'll tell ya. I hadn't told ya before cause I figured you'd get hot about it."

"Go on." Jesse said, his curiosity, for the moment, getting the better of his urge to leave.

"Well, after you'd had yer little set-to with him, as you recall, you returned to the ranch fer a spell. Ya told me about it and I didn't say much other than ta mention that I knew him and to warn ya ta watch yer topknot. Well, as you may recall, I left the ranch a few days later sayin' I was goin' back up inta the wilderness fer a spell. Fact was, I was goin' after Ransom. Now I gave you and the Murdoch boys some good trainin' in mountain man ways, and Moose here as well. But time goes by, and a different kind of livin' tends ta dull what ya learn out in them woods. Fact that I was standin' out there all the while a listenin' to ya and could'ev had the drop on ya when I came in, shows ya jest what I'm talkin' about. All of you, cept fer Shane, have gotten rusty. And as all of you know, if'n ya remember anythin' I taught ya, that can mean the difference twixt life and death out in the mountain man's world.

"Logan, I knew that Ransom wasn't jokin' or blowin' off hot air. He'd of killed ya shore as Hell's hot. You'd never have seen it comin'. You were just damned lucky he missed last night. There must be some sort of a glare coming off that window at night. It ain't like him ta miss like that. Anyhow, I finally got on to his trail, and trailed him back ta his wife with the Southern Cheyenne, like I figured he'd go. Now I got a few friends with the Cheyenne too, both the Northern and Southern branches. Now Ransom had purt near worn out his own welcome with 'em on account of the fact that he'd stooped ta leadin' the army in tracking some of their northern brothers after they'd massacred about a dozen or so buffalo hunters who'd been huntin' on their land. The only reason they put up with him a'tall was because he'd married hisself into the tribe. The short of it is that they weren't about to stop me from havin' my say with him. I broke a few of his ribs, and then cut off his left little finger. I then told him that if'n I ever heard of him commin' after you or even threatinin' you again, I'd come after him and start by cuttin' his balls off, then take it from there. I also told him I'd do it in front of his wife. I reckon that spooked him. I would of killed him then and there, but the chief, Little Wolf, wouldn't have it since Ransom's wife, Running Moon, was his aunt. That's why the old badger has let you be."

Baynes went on. "Now if Tanner was able ta convince him ta come after you, he must have made him one hell of an offer, and promised him some sort of protection. Either that, or old Ransom's just been havin' some mighty hard times and is hard up for cash. Anyhow boy, you be damned careful. You start rememberin' what I taught you, and not jest rememberin', but livin' it! Last night, I could have killed everyone on Mooses' ranch including Lancer, without breakin' into a sweat. You remember that too, Moose, cause Ransom, might have been able ta do the same thing! Don't ever put everday cowpokes in charge of guardin' yer place when a man like Ransom's on the prod!"

"Hell Zach, at the time, I had no idea we were talkin' about a seasoned mountain man. I thought it was just some drygulcher, maybe a buffalo hunter. And you well know that we've been at peace with the Comanche for nearly two years now thanks ta Shane. I won't make that mistake again. But that brings me ta ask another favor, Zach. I've committed myself and the boys ta go out and help Joe Bolton Bury his son and a couple of the cowhands that were with him last night. I'd like you ta get back to the ranch and make certain Ransom don't make a stab at it."

"No problem, Moose. When ya'll get back, I'll see about findin' out where the old codger's holed up. I reckon its about time I made good on a promise I made to 'em a few years back." Baynes said grimly.

Logan decided against protesting. He wanted to deal with Ransom himself, but Baynes was right, he had gotten rusty, and Ransom had the advantage of being able to pick any time or place. Perhaps, he should stick to gunfighting. He had a feeling he'd be kept more than busy on that score within the next few weeks, if not days. Logan said his goodbyes, then went out to the livery stable to get his horse.

Top of This Page | Front Page | Next Chapter

Copyright © 1999 by John T. Crow
All rights reserved.