Some forty miles away, Captain Russell Fogg and his men were nestled in the Santiago Mountains. For a good portion of the morning, the men had been resting their mounts--and themselves, as well as monitoring the movements of the two groups of MT riders. The spot they were in afforded a good view of the basin between the Santiago, Del Norte and Woods Hollow Mountains. By now, it had become fairly obvious that Tanner had done to the Fogg place, much what Captain Fogg had done to his own. Tanner's men had been scouring the Wood's Hollow and Santiago mountains, searching for the Fogg outfit, all to no avail. In fact, the tracks indicated that they had already been to the spot where Fogg was now hiding.

None of this was new to Captain Fogg however. He had played cat and mouse, cutting, slashing and running for almost four years against Union troops during the War Between the States. He'd had many close calls, but had always come out ahead. They could afford to wait Tanner out. When Tanner's men became tired of the search, or got widely separated. Fogg would attack again. He would repeat this process until the Tanner forces were decimated, and Tanner himself, eliminated. He was not worried except that he wondered where Nighthawk was, and what he was up to.

Nighthawk often disappeared on excursions for various reasons, but he had always come through, when Captain Fogg had needed him. Well, things would work out. Nighthawk or no Nighthawk. Fogg was supremely confident in that regard. Too bad for Tanner, he thought, that he had no such man as Nighthawk to scout for him. Had that been the case, Fogg would have had to hightail it toward Mexico. There would have been no way to slip the Tanner posses now searching in vain for the elusive guerrilla fighters. For now though, Fogg would have to wait. * * *

Back in Olsen's Falls, the town was perplexed. By now they knew, that Tanner was off chasing after the Foggs. But Several Murdoch riders had come to town with Cora Murdoch, to pick up supplies for not only Moose Murdoch, but the town's new Marshall, Jack Duane. Cora quickly spread the word that Tanner had been responsible for the destruction of the BAR-O ranch and the massacre of its owner and crew, via the Esperanza gang which he had hired. Cora had also strongly insinuated that Tanner, might have hired the Esperanzas to murder Sheriff Malcolm Orr, so that he could replace him with his own men. Anyhow, it was known that Ballard, had virtually sided with Murdoch and was trailing the Esperanza gang, backed by a Murdoch posse, in order to retrieve the kidnaped Lancer girl.

It was, to say the least, quite an unusual turn of events. The town had been well aware that both Duane and Ballard were Tanner gunmen, but due to the fact that they had shot up the bank robbers two days before, they had been all too eager to accept them as sheriff and marshal. Now apparently, both men, were openly supporting Murdoch and disavowing Tanner.

Thus, the town was about equally divided. All believed now, that Nighthawk did not murder the sheriff, but rather that the Esperanzas did, along with Joe Bolton and the BAR-O hands. Yet only about half of the town could bring itself to believe that Tanner had hired them and was thus, ultimately responsible. The banker and mayor both spread the word that Murdoch was merely seeking to obtain revenge upon Tanner for shooting him, and many truly believed this. After all, Tanner, for the most part, had been good for the town. But that was the town's mood when Cora and the riders escorting her, departed with their supplies, and headed back toward the Murdoch ranchhouse. At about that time, Logan and Charlene caught up with Brazos Murdoch and his posse. * * *

Needless to say, the Murdoch crowd were elated at the sight of Jesse and Charlene riding into their camp at the back of Diablo Canyon. Nevertheless, they all mourned the loss of Zach Baynes, who was like an uncle to not only Jesse and Charlene, but to Brazos, and even a bit, toward Johnny Lancer. But they wasted little time either in rejoicing or mourning. At the moment, they had one major problem and that was how to catch the Esperanza gang and put an end to their depredations once and for all.

They finally agreed to Ballard's suggestion, Which was, to station ten men, (five on either side of the canyon), behind rocks with repeaters. The bulk of the men would remain in hiding but on horseback, behind a hill that extended out past the canyon's entrance. Less than an hour after the trap had been set up, Emillio Esperanza rode in with what was left of his gang.

The fatigued gang leader was wary, looking for sign, but seeing only what Brazos Murdoch had wished him to. It appeared to Esperanza that, for all intents and purposes, Murdoch and crew were awaiting Esperanza's envoy some three miles up the canyon. Thus, Esperanza proceeded on into the canyon, just far enough to allow the trap to be sprung. A lookout fired the shot, indicating that Esperanza was in place, and the bulk of the Murdoch posse came charging around the corner. Esperanza quickly started for the canyon opening, but was immediately faced with the posse. He whirled his men around and started galloping up the canyon in the opposite direction. As the Esperanza gang came within range, gunfire opened up on them and instantly emptied several saddles. There was virtually no time to react. With only ten men left, Emillio made a break, charging into the posse. During the melee however, few of the bandits had any time to gather their thoughts and react. The one thought had been escape. Within seconds, all of the bandits were down, most of them, already dead. Seventeen men had opened up on them from horseback while ten had been firing from resting positions behind the canyon rocks. Brazos was disgusted.

The only ones left alive were mortally wounded. Brazos had wanted Esperanza himself to be taken alive. Unfortunately, he had caught a bullet in the teeth almost immediately, and had been one of the first to go down after his men had turned around and tried to charge their way through the mounted Murdoch posse. The only good thing to come out of it was the fact that Joe Bolton's old cook, Erastus, had not been accidentally killed in the melee. Both Charlene and Jesse had warned the men to be extremely careful not to shoot him. Erastus had been a true source of comfort for both of the women during their captivity. As it turned out, he did suffer a bullet wound in the left arm, but it was only a painful flesh wound. The bone was not even broken.

There were four bandits who were alive, but just barely. "What are we gonna do with 'em boss?" one of the men asked Murdoch, whom the men acknowledged as their leader, despite the fact that legally, the posse was headed up by the duly appointed sheriff, Colt Ballard.

Brazos glanced about for a moment, scratched at his beard while he was thinking then said, "There's enough trees in this canyon, hang every mother's son of 'em, alive or dead. Make 'em an example. Well leave a sign lettin' folks know that this is what happens ta murderers and comancheros. Hang em all!"

"Hold on, Murdoch. I'm the sheriff here, an even though the men of the posse are yours, I got ta try an' get the living bandits back ta Olsen's Falls fer trail. It's my job. And I reckon, there's quite a reward on Esperanza's head. I'll bring his body in and the men can split it up. But we need the body as proof of his death." Ballard argued.

Brazos glared at him a moment then gruffly said, "Hell, alright, Ballard. I didn't know you took yer job so danged seriously. But I guess I ain't got no quarrel with that. Hang the dead ones then."

"Hell Grizzly, you like hangin' so much I reckon maybe we ought ta bring 'em back ta the ranch and hang 'em all outside yer window. Give ya somethin' ta look forward to ever mornin so's you'll get up, stead a layin' around in bed all day." Lancer chided.

"You don't shut up Johnny, I might just hang you up outside my bedroom window--by yer balls! Now that, would cheer me up some!" Brazos retorted grinning, bringing a much needed chuckle out of a few of the men and breaking the tension.

By the time the hanging chores had been completed, only one of the gang remained alive. The canyon was a ghastly sight, with bodies suspended helter-skelter wherever there was a tree. Nevertheless, Murdoch was right. It would (and later did) serve as a warning for any would-be desperadoes for many years to come.

The tired posse then turned north. The bulk of the men would return to the Murdoch ranch. Even though the only bandit remaining alive could not even speak (being wounded in the throat), Ballard was determined to return to town with him, alive or dead. Logan opted to go with him, along with Lancer, just in case there were any Tanner gunmen who wished to dispute his new role as sheriff, i.e., as the REAL sheriff, not merely a Tanner lackey. * * *

Several miles to the northeast, Fogg made his move and came down out of the Santiago Mountains. It was a mistake. After watching Terrell's group head up into the mountains to the north of him, he decided that it was safe to come down. It was a mistake because, earlier, Duke Collins had finally located Fogg's whereabouts, and their maneuver had been merely a ruse to draw Fogg out into the open. Tanner's group, to the south, had only disappeared from view. Thus, the two groups nearly collided while rounding either side of a hillock overlooking the plain. The results were instantaneous.

Tanner went down immediately as his horse, was struck by a bullet. Both sides grabbed for their guns, and the Foggs' pistols began taking a terrible toll upon Tanner's men--at first. Suddenly, almost as if on cue, Terrell's group charged Fogg's men from behind.

Terrell had doubled back, guessing that Fogg would attempt to slip between the two posses and return to the ranch. Terrell descended upon them almost immediately after Fogg ran into Tanner. Fogg's men were being fired upon from both sides, He wheeled his horse around and led his men in a charge straight at Terrell's group. They broke through, but Fogg lost eight men in the process. They broke for the shelter of the mountains. Tanner and Terrell's groups fanned out on either side and literally herded Fogg and his men toward a slope, too steep for a horse to negotiate with any kind of speed. Fogg and his men immediately dismounted and sought shelter behind the various jumbles of cactus, foliage and rocks. The MT men did the same, and a slow, drawn-out shootout ensued. That was not the type of fighting Fogg was accustomed to.

Even so, Fogg's men were still taking out Tanner's with disastrous regularity. Thus, Collins suggested that the group split up once more, Half would keep Fogg pined down by rifle fire while the other half inched their way around behind the Fogg's.

The maneuver took several minutes and cost nearly as many men, but on Collins' signal, the men began opening fire at the Foggs' backs. Several went down before the rest could achieve cover. All of a sudden there were startled exclamations coming from several of Tanner's men. These were soon drowned out by piercing Comanche war-whoops.

The top of the slope behind the Foggs was suddenly covered with warriors. Immediately, Collins and his men beat a hasty retreat. Too fearful to take cover as they ran, several were cut down by the remainder of Fogg's men, who, noticing Nighthawk amongst the Comanches high above them, made no attempt to escape.

Tanner was completely taken by surprise, and his own remaining men mounted up and headed away from the Foggs on the run. Even so, another arm of the Comanche force was rushing to cut them off. Nonetheless, they reached the plains as the Comanches chased them south. They then, on Collins cue, cut east toward the Woods Hollow Mountains. It was the only place to make a stand. There was simply no way to outrun the Comanche on horseback. It was widely known that the Comanche were simply the best horsemen in the world.

Tanner's men eventually made it to the slopes of the Woods Hollow Mountains and this time, it was they who sought shelter amongst the rocks. The Comanche toyed with them for about an hour before leaving off and heading north. By that time, Fogg and his men were long gone.

Tanner had his men wait another hour, in order to make certain that the Indians had really left, before venturing forth from behind the relative safety of the rocks. Although the MT posses had killed a number of them, the Indians had far outnumbered Tanner and could have killed them all, had they waited long enough. Tanner was puzzled by this. What he did not know was that Chief Tenkiller, had made a similar deal with Nighthawk, as the one he had made with Baynes the day before. Only in this case, the cattle and horses he'd be receiving would be Tanner's, left totally unguarded at his ranch. Tenkiller had split his warriors in half. One group to steal the livestock from Tanner, the other, to head toward Murdoch's ranch in order to receive their due payment for services rendered.

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