Range War Along the Pecos, by John Theron Crow

Range War Along the Pecos

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

 
It was just after eight in the evening, and the sun was rapidly sinking over the horizon when the posse led by Brazos Murdoch arrived at Casa Bonita. Alberto Perea immediately led them to Manuel's Cantina and he entered along with Brazos, Lancer, Ballard and Logan. He was visibly taken aback at not finding his six comapadres there, awaiting his arrival.
He demanded to know the whereabouts of Jaime Cordoba and the other five members of the Esparanza gang, which had been left to guard Maggie Baldridge. Manuel lied, explaining that the huge mountain man, Zach Baynes, had shot it out with them killing them all and freeing the girl, who had subsequently departed, perhaps, for Olsen's Falls.
"I don believe joo. Thees ees mohs' unjoosual. Joo espect me to beleef that one gringo keell seex of our best men?" Perea asked Manuel in disbelief. "Si, Senor Perea, eet ees true. My wife and I buried them een the cemetary joos hours ago. Eef joo don belief me, I show you the graves an joo can deeg theem up for joorself." Manuel replied.
Logan, and Brazos were immediately suspicious. They knew that Baynes was no gunfighter and thus doubted Manuel's story. Baynes could have killed them alright, but not in a gunfight such as Manuel described. Nevertheless, the problem remained. The men were dead, and Maggie Baldridge was nowhere to be seen. Murdoch, Logan and Lancer however, wisely kept their doubts to themselves.
"Alright Perea, if this is some sort of a trick, you'll be the first ta die, I promise you." Brazos growled at the courier.
"Senor Brazos, I assure joo, eet ees no treek. Alberto know notheeng about thees!"
"Fine then, where does that leave us?" Logan asked impatiently.
"Joo geef Alberto half of the moneys like we planned, an then Alberto take eet to Emillio. Joo go to Diablo Canyon een the Chalk Mountains, an there joo weell receive eenstructions from se¤or Esperanza about exshanging the rest of the moneys for Senorita Lancer. But Alberto make no promises. Senor Esperanza weell be very deessappointed to find out that hees men are dead. I dohn' know what he weel do."
"Alright then, first of all, Maggie ain't here, so you only get half of the ten-thousand. The rest he can have as soon as we have Charlene back. I'll go along with ya as a hostage, just ta show Esperanza that we had nothin' to do with the killin' of his men." Brazos said.
"No way, Grizzly, not you!" Logan said adamantly.
"Why the hell not? I want 'em ta know we mean business and are keepin' up our end of the bargain. If I go, I reckon they'll be convinced."
"Yeah, sure, and they'll kill you one way or another sure as Hell's hot. You killed Esperanza's brother, and he's never forgotten that. He hates your guts and has sworn revenge. I'll go along as a hostage." Logan said.
Brazos scratched his chin and thought it over a moment. "Alright, Jesse. I don't like it, but you're probably right." Murdoch agreed.
"Theen eet ees settled. We go now. Joo leaf joor guns heere." Perea said.
"Nope, we'll go, but I'm taking my guns, and I'll wear 'em till I see Charlene alive. If I see she's been hurt, or there is some sort of trick, I promise you, Perea, you'll be the first to die." Logan said.
Perea grudgingly agreed and asked Brazos to give him and Logan an hour's head start before proceeding to Diablo Canyon. Brazos counted out five-thousand and handed it over to Perea, making certain that he noticed the fifteen-thousand which remained with Brazos. "You tell Esperanza, that he'll never see a penny of the rest of this unless we get both Logan and Charley back. And if Charley's been hurt, or molested in any way, we'll hunt all of you down if we have to follow ya to South America to get ya. And what we'll do ta Esperanza will make Muerte's torture seem like a Sunday picnic! Comprende?!" Brazos said.
"Si, I understan' perfectly." Perea answered. Then Perea and Logan rode out of town, Logan keeping slightly behind Perea, just to keep him honest.
They had been gone only fifteen minutes when Maggie Baldridge made her appearance. She then recounted the real story of her rescue at the hands of Jack Duane to the astonished men in the Cantina. "Where is Duane right now? I want ta see 'em!" Ballard demanded.
Maggie led Ballard, Lancer and Murdoch to the room where Duane was resting, unlocked the door, and let them in. Ballard entered first and Duane looked up at him and smiled. "Took you long enough, didn't it?" Duane chided, as Lancer and Brazos stepped into the room as well.
Ballard grinned and said, Hell Jack, I never knew a man would go to so much trouble to shirk his duty."
"Duty? What the hell are you talking about?" Duane asked.
Ballard pointed at his sheriff's badge, and reaching into his pocket, produced a similar one and held it out to Duane. "You're the new Marshal of Olsen's Falls, an I'm the sheriff. Tanner sent me out ta find ya after they appointed us. That's how I came to know you'd gotten yerself inta this fix." Ballard said.
"Well, what's going on here, then. Where is Tanner and did we patch things up with Murdoch or what?" Duane asked, looking directly at the huge bulk of Brazos Murdoch, and wondering at his presence there.
"Nope, Tanner hasn't patched things up, but I reckon I've broken off with Tanner, and I'd guess you've probably figured on doin' the same thing by now." Ballard said seriously. He then went on to explain everything that had happened from the Esperanza's massacre of Joe Bolton and the BAR-O hands, to the Fogg attack on Tanner's south section crew, on up to Lancer's gunfight with Barlow and their dropping off the injured Moose Murdoch at the Murdoch ranch.
"Surprisingly, Duane sat up, only to be ordered back down by Maggie. She explained how he wasn't supposed to be moving about. "He needs to get to a doctor as soon as possible. Sometimes he can move, and sometimes he can't. But Baynes said that he should be still until the nerves in his spine have had time to heal better." Maggie said.
"Well, its been nearly an hour. Johnny, go get Manuel ta round up a buckboard from somewhere's. Duane, Marshal or not, ya cain't go back ta Olsen's Falls right now. No tellin' what Tanner's up to, an he may be suspicious that you're on to 'em. If he is, your life wouldn't be worth a plugged nickel in Olsen's Falls. I'm gonna send two men back with you and Maggie, and they'll take ya to the ranch. I reckon you'll be comfortable there, an Doc MacDonald can take care of you alongside Paw. Sorry, but that's the best I can do right now." Brazos said.
"Hell, I owe ya a lot, Murdoch, and I appreciate it. I feel like I ought to try and go along with you boys. At the moment, I feel like I could." Duane said.
"Forget it. Baynes is more'n likely right. You be still 'til that wound gets better, or like as not, you ain't never gonna be of no use ta nobody. Hell man, rest up. We may need ya afore all this is over." Brazos said sincerely.
"That's right. I don't know what you're complaining about anyhow. Hell, if it was me, I'd be more'n happy to lay around and have a purty girl like Maggie just a fawnin' all over me all the time. Sure beats ridin' around in these boonies in this damn heat. Shoot, it wouldn't surprise me none if you contrived all of this anyhow, just to be close ta Maggie." Ballard said, winking at Maggie Baldridge, who blushed at the suggestion.
"Ballard, your just lucky I ain't faking it, or I'd get up and shove a cork in that big mouth of yours!" Duane grumbled as the others chuckled.
They soon loaded up Duane in a buckboard wagon, placing him upon an old dirty mattress and making him as comfortable as possible. Brazos dispatched two of the men to escort Duane and Maggie back to the ranch. After they had departed, the posse then set out toward the Chalk Mountains and Diablo Canyon. * * *
It was a beautiful night, a full moon, the stars all shinning brightly. Coyotes could be heard howling near the Esperanza encampment at various intervals. Most of the men were sleeping except for Emillio, a few guards and Muerte, who sat staring into the fire as if in some sort of a trance. Charlene was wide awake and had been sitting next to the campfire as well, listening disinterestedly to Emillio's stories and anecdotes.
Thus far, Esperanza had been true to his word. None of the men had attempted to molest her in any way, although the leering glances of some, left her in no doubt of what they wished to do, and what they would in fact do, given half the chance. Emillio had kept her near himself however, and none of his men had dared bother her in his presence.
They were camped in the foothills of the Chinati Mountains not more than twenty-five miles south-east from Casa Bonita. The camp was only lightly guarded however. Although the overall area was Apache country, few Apaches dared to travel in that general area, especially at night. This was because the mountains were said to be haunted by evil spirits, who manifested themselves in the form of lights, dancing about around the mountains and prairies surrounding them.
The fact is, these lights are real, and may still be seen from about nine miles east of the present day town of Marfa and are known as the Marfa lights. To this day, there is no scientific explanation for their presence or composition. Many in the Esperanza gang were also afraid of them and thus, the guards remained as near the camp as Emillio would allow. As far as Esperanza was concerned, whatever the lights were, they were good protection against the Indians and so, he had often camped in that area.
Around midnight, they were aroused by the sound of two horses approaching the camp. The guards quickly surrounded the horsemen, and the camp came alive with excitement. Charlene almost gasped when she noticed that one of the riders was Jesse Logan. She her heart sank however as she watched him hand over his guns to Esperanza and then submit calmly to being bound. They led him over to the campfire and he sat down next to her.
As Emillio and Alberto Perea were conversing loudly in Spanish, Logan asked, "Are you okay, Charley?"
"I'm fine, Jesse. No one has bothered me yet."
"Don't worry, help's on the way. We should get out of this fix sometime tomorrow, if things go as planned."
Logan was about to bring her up to date when he was instantly cut off by Esperanza. "Silencio, gringo! Joo no talk unless Emillio tell joo to talk. Comprende?!"
Logan nodded that he understood. Esperanza was clearly upset concerning the news that six of his men had been killed. He was obviously trying to decide if some sort of retaliatory measures should be taken against either Charley or Logan, or both. Finally, he seemed to accept the story Alberto had given him and decided that the man who had killed his men, had acted on his own, and that the Murdoch's were not to blame. He wanted revenge badly, but the sight of the five-thousand dollars, and Perea's insistence that he had seen with his own eyes, the other fifteen thousand, stayed his hand. For now, neither the girl nor the gunman would be harmed. Esperanza ordered his men to get some sleep. They had many miles to cover the next day.

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