Chapter Two

Back in Maxwell, Jackson Tate was worried. ‘I don’t like the way that sheriff was questioning us. He’s suspicious and smart with it.’

‘Yeah, I didn’t figure on this town having a post office where you can send a telegram. In a few days, we’ll have the army crawling up our asses,’ remarked Silver. ‘I hope Seth’s well enough to ride by then.’

‘Never mind him. We can’t afford to wait around that long,’ said Tate.

‘We can’t just leave him here!’

Tate brought his face up close to his companion’s. ‘Do you really mean that? Do you like your buddy so much you’re willing to hang alongside him?

Silver swallowed hard and there was an uneasy silence. ‘Look, Tate. Maybe we’re being too hasty here. If Billy did a good job, we’re all in the clear aren’t we?’

‘Sure I did a good job,’ Gaunt cut in. ‘I’m one man though, and we couldn’t leave no dead Apaches lyin’ around to make it look perfect. Maybe once the army gets here and they take a closer look, it won’t seem so good for us.’

Tate nodded. ‘Billy’s right. We thought the only people we’d have to convince were a bunch of hicks who don’t like Apaches anyway. This is different.’

‘So what do we do?’ asked Silver.

‘We think up a good excuse and leave here right now. We can say we’ll be back in a few days to talk to the army, except we won’t of course.’

‘Then what about Seth?’

‘I can take care of him,’ said Billy, examining the blade of his knife.

Silver reached for his gun. ‘Goddamn you, I’ll blow your head off!’

‘Cut it out!’ Tate told them both. ‘No one’s going to do anything to Seth. Is that clear? I don’t want a posse on our tails ready to hang us all for murder. Besides, he’s not dumb enough to admit to anything so we’ll just leave him here.’

‘To hang for what we all did,’ said Silver.

Tate shrugged. ‘If you feel that bad about it you can stay with him. I’m sure me and Billy could make good use of your share.’

At that moment there was a knock on the door before Rosie Carver entered. ‘There’s some ham and eggs downstairs for you all whenever you’re ready.’

‘We’re much obliged to you Ma’am,’ said Tate. ‘It’ll be just what we need before we have to set off again.’

Rosie frowned in puzzlement. ‘I don’t understand. Didn’t the sheriff ask you to stay here?’

‘Oh, don’t worry. We’ll be back by the time the army arrives. It’s just that we were already on our way to visit a friend of ours, an old prospector who has a claim about thirty miles south of here. Unfortunately he’s been taken ill and his son’s gone out there to take care of him. The message we had is that things don’t look too good, and we’d like to make it on time to pay our last respects, if you see what I mean.’

Rosie Carver was a warm-hearted, sympathetic woman, the kind who would cry over a sick cat or dog. ‘Oh, how sad! Is there anything I can do?’

‘We could use some fresh horses,’ Silver told her. ‘Is it OK if we leave ours here and pick them up on our return?’

‘Of course it is. Now you just have a good feed and I’ll get my boy, Stevie, to saddle up those horses for you while you’re eating. We’ll give you the best we’ve got and look after your own mounts until you get back.’

The three men exchanged sly grins as soon as the woman’s back was turned, and then followed her downstairs.

‘I almost forgot. What about your friend, the one who was shot?’

‘You don’t need to worry about him,’ Gaunt told her. ‘Seth’s fast asleep. I figure he’ll sleep for a long time.’

By this time, Callaghan and his companions had finished loading their grim cargo on to the back of the waggon and wrapped the bodies in mail sacks. When they arrived back in Maxwell, the townspeople stopped what they were doing and bowed their heads, and men removed their hats as the waggon passed them, before finally stopping in front of the small Methodist church, constructed from timber and painted white. The Reverend Samuel Endicott stood solemnly on the steps and intoned a few words of prayer.

‘We’ve no undertaker or chapel of rest here, Reverend. Is it all right if we put these poor folks at the back of the church someplace until I get their coffins made?’ asked Selby.

‘This is God’s own house, Linus. I can think of no better place,’ the minister told him.

Once the bodies were inside the church Selby drove the waggon back along the street to the way station.

‘You’ll need backup if you’re gonna arrest those men,’ said Carver.

‘I haven’t had call to fire this in a while, but I’m with you’, added Prentice as he checked his revolver. ‘God forgive me, but I never would have plucked a bullet out of that murdering bastard if I’d known what I know now.’

‘After what I’ve seen today, you’ll get no argument from me on that score. Mind if I tag along too, Luke?’

‘I’d appreciate it. Fuller won’t be able to give us any trouble but the others may put up a fight.’

Rosie was clearing plates from the table when they strode into the dining room. Her husband asked where their guests were and she explained that three of them had left to visit a dying friend but would return in a few days. ‘Mr Fuller will be well enough to travel by then, won’t he Doc?’ she asked Prentice.

Carver quickly told her what they had found at the scene of the massacre. ‘Those men are the worst kind of killer, Rosie, so it’s very important we find out where they’ve gone.’

The plate she was holding fell from her numbed fingers and broke into several pieces as she realized the full horror of what her guests had done, and the danger she herself had been in. Her husband gently assisted her to sit down.

‘Think, Rosie. Did you see which direction they rode off in?’

She shook her head slowly. ‘No, but they said their friend was south of here. That’s all I can remember.’

‘They’ll be heading east toward El Paso and the border I should think,’ said Callaghan. ‘How long ago did they leave?’

‘An hour ago, maybe.’

‘They’ve had a head start, but their horses will be tired. Perhaps we can catch them up,’ suggested Prentice.

Rosie’s hand flew up to her mouth. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I let them have fresh horses and they left theirs here. What a fool I am!’

‘Wait! They must have robbed that stage, and they won’t have risked bringing what they stole here, so they must have hidden it someplace,’ said Callaghan.

Carver turned from comforting his wife. ‘You’re right, Luke. Fuller will know where it is. If we can make him talk, and they’ve had to make a detour, we can cut them off!’

The four men rushed upstairs and burst into the injured man’s room, Callaghan in the lead. Fuller awoke with a start and struggled to sit up as Selby drew back the curtains. Light flooded through the open window and the outlaw blinked as his eyes adjusted to it.

‘What the hell . . .’ he began.

Callaghan held up the bullet Prentice had removed from Fuller’s stomach. ‘Recognize this? The man who shot you was on that stage. The game’s up now. Your friends have run off so you’d better start talking.’

‘That bullet don’t prove nothin’ and you ain’t got evidence worth a spit!’ declared Fuller belligerently.

‘The bullet holes in the coach can only have come from a revolving rifle like the one you had in your saddle-bag. There were no dead Apaches, only passengers with your bullets in them. How do you explain that?’

‘I never said we killed Apaches. We just chased ’em off.’

Callaghan noted that the man’s tone was less certain, and there was fear in his eyes as he looked at each of his accusers in turn. Drawing back the bedclothes, he pressed down hard on Fuller’s wound so that the killer screamed in pain.

‘Your friends aren’t coming back,’ Carver told him. ‘Your one chance is to help us.’

‘Turn state’s evidence and maybe you’ll go to prison instead of hanging alongside your buddies,’ added Prentice.

Callaghan released his grip and Fuller groaned with relief. ‘Help us and we’ll help you. Where did they hide the money?’

There was just a moment’s hesitation before his features broke into a grin. ‘So that’s it, is it? You want the money for yourselves. Well, you won’t get a cent unless it’s gonna be share and share alike!’

An exasperated Callaghan rammed the muzzle of his Smith and Weston under Fuller’s chin. ‘I swear if you don’t talk now I’ll blow you damned head off right here in this room! One . . . two. . . .’

‘OK, OK! We buried the loot at that old mission. There’s a statue of some saint with birds around him. Dig around by the feet and you’ll find it.’

‘Saint Francis,’ said Selby. ‘My late wife was a Catholic,’ he added by way of explanation.

Callaghan produced a set of handcuffs and manacled Fuller’s wrists before hauling him to his feet. ‘The first thing I’m going to do is put you in a cell.’

‘Hey you can’t do that! You promised to help me!’ the hapless prisoner yelped as he grimaced with pain.

Digging up the buried loot in the heat of the afternoon took longer than Tate and his companions expected. The three men were tired from their exertions earlier in the day, having ridden hard since dawn to their rendezvous with the stage.

‘We’d best get a move on,’ said Tate. ‘We’re pretty exposed out here.’

Silver leaned on his spade for a moment and swigged water from a canteen. ‘There’s nobody to see us. What would anyone be doing out here?’

‘We’re out here so why not someone else?’

‘Yeah, I was sure I heard horses when I put my ear to the ground a minute ago,’ added Gaunt.

‘Aw, c’mon and quit that Apache shit. I’m sick of it,’ muttered Silver as he bent down to resume digging. A moment later he struck something and let out a grunt of satisfaction. Reaching down, the gunman pulled a leather saddle-bag out of the sand and held it up.

‘Good, the others should be just underneath it. Let’s hurry,’ Tate urged him.

‘Give me a hand with these,’ said Silver as he dragged the other bags out from the ground beneath him. Gaunt flung them out of the trench they had dug and the three men climbed out to load them on to their horses.

‘Hold it right there!’ called Callaghan from behind the remains of what had once been an ornate pillar.

Silver instinctively reached for his gun but a bullet struck the ivory handle before his hand was halfway there. The sound of the shot echoed around the crumbling walls that surrounded them. As the three outlaws looked for a means of escape, each of their four pursuers emerged from a different hiding place, all armed with guns and ready to use them.

Tate reluctantly raised his hands and his two companions followed suit. At Callaghan’s command, they slowly unbuckled their gun belts and tossed them on to a pile. Doc Prentice deftly gathered them up but without taking his eyes off the captives.

‘There’s no need for all this, Sheriff. I’m sure we can come to some arrangement,’ said Tate.

‘Yeah, nobody would blame you if we happened to get away and there’s plenty of cash here to go around,’ added Silver.

‘Let me guess,’ replied Callaghan. ‘You’re about to suggest a split with equal shares all round. Am I right?’

Tate shrugged. ‘Something like that. Those folks back in Maxwell can’t be paying you much more than a hundred dollars a month. I bet even a professional man like the doc here gets pretty lean pickings in these parts.’

‘You make me sick to my stomach, Tate. I ought to fill you full of holes right here and now!’ Matt Carver could barely control his anger as he stepped forward.

‘Easy, Matt. These men will be dealt with by the law,’ the sheriff told him. ‘I’ll shoot the first one who moves, though, so be warned,’ he added with a glare in Tate’s direction.

Selby uncoiled the length of rope he was carrying and bound each man’s hands behind his back.

‘How in hell are we supposed to ride like this?’ demanded Silver.

‘They’ve got a waggon back there, that’s what I must have heard earlier,’ said Billy.

‘That’s right, just up the valley. We’ll lead your horses while you three walk in front. The first one to try anything gets a bullet,’ Callaghan warned them.

Once the saddle-bags were loaded on to the backs of the horses, the prisoners were marched the short distance to where the waggon stood waiting. To Callaghan’s alarm, however, it no longer stood alone. The vehicle was surrounded by a band of Apaches, all armed with rifles and the rifles were pointed at them. Both the captors and their prisoners froze as the man who appeared to be the leader of the group nudged his appaloosa forward. It was a fine animal, standing at over fourteen hands in its mottled white coat. The man riding it had strong features, as if carved out of teak, and he held himself erect in a braided jacket that had once belonged to a colonel in the Mexican army, probably an officer he had killed. Callaghan lowered his revolver and gestured to his companions to do the same.

At that moment, Gaunt stepped forward and spoke to the Apache leader. Neither Callaghan nor his companions understood a word, but the young man’s tone was defiant. The Apache replied in a voice that oozed contempt as his followers looked at one another and sniggered.

‘It don’t look like you’ve made things a whole lot better, Billy, maybe even a whole lot worse,’ remarked Silver.

‘What exactly did you say?’ asked Callaghan.

‘I told him I was brought up by Apaches to be a warrior and asked if I could join them.’

‘It doesn’t look like he agreed,’ said Callaghan drily as the Apaches gathered around them.

Gaunt swallowed hard. ‘He said even his youngest child couldn’t be captured and bound by white men.’

The sheriff and his friends quickly found themselves bound and herded on to the waggon alongside Tate and his men. They set off at a steady pace, gradually climbing higher on to a low range, heading east.

‘I thought you said the Apaches around here were friendly,’ said Tate to Callaghan as they trundled through shrublands of mesquite and creosote bush.

‘I haven’t seen much of them in recent years but I don’t recognize any of these ones. They look different.’

‘They’re what white men call Mescalero Apaches. You usually see ’em nearer the border or in Mexico,’ said Gaunt.

‘What are they doing this far out?’ asked Tate.

The younger man shrugged. ‘How should I know?’

‘I thought you were supposed to be the expert, the Apache warrior and all that,’ jeered Silver.

‘At least he can talk to them. That might turn out to be useful.’

‘Useful for who, exactly?’ demanded Carver, but Tate did not reply, and the men all lapsed into a morose silence as their journey continued. The waggon was driven along a narrow dirt track that wound upwards, the wheels perilously close to the edge as they reached the top of the range. By late afternoon they had emerged on to a plateau and halted outside a network of caves. Callaghan heard a faint rushing sound, and looked up to see where the mountain stream above them trickled into a waterfall, a rare sight in a desert as arid as this.

Their captors prodded them with rifles and gestured for them to climb down. They were then hustled through the mouth of the largest cave and were greeted by the most unusual sight. The richly furnished interior was brightly lit by candelabras attached to the walls on each side, which had been painted white. Rugs of silk and fur covered the ground beneath their feet, while the chaise longe and ornately carved chairs of Spanish design would not have been out of place in a grand villa or palace. One of the chairs was occupied by a man wearing a plum velvet jacket, ruffled shirt and highly polished leather boots inlaid with gold. As he rose to greet them, Callaghan noticed that he wore gold rings on almost every finger.

‘Allow me to introduce myself. I am your host, Don Hector Luis Jimenez Salinas.’ He then stepped forward and gave a slight bow, allowing Callaghan to observe him more closely. Salinas had a head of thick black curly hair, matched by a neatly trimmed beard, and appeared to be in his late thirties. When his stunned captors remained silent, he frowned slightly.

‘I believe it is customary for guests to introduce themselves also, even in this uncivilized country,’ he remarked coldly.

‘Is it customary to tie them up?’ asked Callaghan.

Salinas smiled briefly, showing a row of white teeth. ‘That is a good point, Señor, but I suspect you would not have come had the invitation not been made forcefully, and I have been most anxious to make your acquaintance.’

‘Why, what do you want?’ demanded Tate.

The Mexican came closer and looked the outlaw straight in the eye. ‘Surely that should be obvious to you, should it not? The burnt coach, the men killed by arrows and those scalped passengers were part of an ingenious plan, I think. Unfortunately, my Apache friends found only an empty treasure box at the scene. Now it is time to discover what was in it.’

A group of Apaches then stepped forward and threw down the contents of the saddle-bags they had taken. One of the bags split open and a pile of silver dollars spilled on to the ground.

‘Very impressive, Aldo, very impressive indeed,’ Salinas told the Apache leader who then leaned forward to whisper in the Mexican’s ear. Salinas nodded and then gestured for Gaunt to approach him.

‘Aldo tells me you speak his language very well. He thinks you must have fired the arrows and taken those scalps. Is this true?’

‘What if it is?’ asked the younger man suspiciously.

Salinas gestured to one of the Apaches who quickly cut the outlaw’s bonds. ‘I could use a white man who possesses such rare talents.’ Gaunt hesitated for a moment, taking a sidelong glance at Tate.

‘Loyalty is a precious thing, my friend, but one can take it too far. I am sure you would not wish to share the fate my associates reserve for their white enemies, no?’

‘So long Tate,’ muttered Gaunt as he moved over to stand beside his new boss.

‘Just what is it you intend to do with us?’ asked Silver, unable to hide the tremor in his voice.

Salinas placed a hand over his heart in a mock gesture of sadness. ‘It is a matter of sincere regret to me that I cannot find suitable employment for you all, but I bear a heavy burden of responsibility with many mouths to feed. Gentlemen, I am left with no other choice but to leave you at the mercy of my Apache friends who will deal with you as their traditions and their consciences dictate.’

At that moment, having somehow wriggled free of his bonds, Linus Selby lurched forward, his hands extended in a bid to seize their tormentor by the throat. It was a brave but futile gesture and a knife struck him through the heart before he had gone more than a few paces. He crumpled to the floor like a broken puppet without uttering a sound. Billy Gaunt then withdrew his weapon, wiped the blade on the dead man’s shirt and put the knife back in its hiding place inside the top of his boot.

‘I pride myself on being a good judge of character,’ remarked Salinas with a nod of thanks in his new recruit’s direction as two Apaches dragged Selby’s body away.

‘God damn you Salinas, you won’t get away with this!’ shouted Callaghan. ‘You haven’t just killed a bandit, that man was a law-biding citizen. Look at those mailbags. Any fool can see you’ve taken an army payroll at a time when the whole South West is under military control.’

The Mexican smiled as he delivered his reply. ‘I think General Sheridan is more than happy to turn a blind eye to my activities. Before I hand you over to my friends, I wish to show you something. Come!’ Then he turned to his Apache subordinates and signalled for them to bring the captives forward. They then followed Salinas to the back of the cave where a series of crates stood stacked up against the wall. He picked up a crowbar and wrenched one of them open. It was packed with rifles.

‘These are destined for the soldiers of Benito Juarez, rebels against the Emperor Maximilian. That is a cause much beloved by General Sheridan and even the President himself, I understand.’

‘I wouldn’t have put you down as a revolutionary,’ remarked Callaghan.

‘Well, the Emperor is running short of funds and has become an unreliable customer, especially since the French withdrew their troops. Besides, the rebels pay more. So, you see, gentlemen, hanging me is unlikely to be high on the General’s list of priorities.’ Salinas then picked up one of the rifles and stroked its barrel almost lovingly. ‘The Henry rifle is superior to your standard carbine with greater firepower. I also have some of those new rifles that came out last year, Winchesters, which are even better.’

‘I see you are playing with your toys again, Hector.’ All heads turned to look at the young woman who now stepped out of the shadows of the cave. She was dressed in a tightly fitted blue riding outfit that accentuated the generous curves of her tall figure. Her full lips were set in a firm line that indicated disapproval as she glanced at the prisoners. ‘Why are these men bound?’ she demanded.

Salinas waved a dismissive hand in her direction. ‘It is not your concern, Christina. Besides, they will soon be gone from here.’

She responded with a flood of invective in Spanish, which clearly had no effect on Salinas as he merely shrugged and muttered an oath under his breath. Enraged by this, Christina raised the riding crop she held in her gloved right hand and struck out at him. Salinas was a man of quick reflexes and he seized her wrist, holding it in an iron grip until the girl cried out, dropping her intended weapon to the ground.

‘My sister has a temper, as you can see. I shall have to redouble my efforts to find her a suitable husband,’ the Mexican told his prisoners, although the remark was obviously intended to goad her.

Christina removed the small hat she wore and unpinned the waves of jet black hair piled beneath it. ‘Never will I marry any man associated with your evil work. I’ll die first!’

‘That can always be arranged, dear sister,’ Salinas told her with a sly smile. He glanced at his Apache confederate as he continued. ‘Perhaps I should just give you to Aldo. I have seen how he looks at you with that hunger in his eyes, a hunger that can only be satisfied in one way.’

The woman gave an involuntary shudder. ‘You wouldn’t dare,’ but her tone was uncertain.

Salinas briefly caressed her aristocratic features. ‘Perhaps not, but don’t push me too far or you may find me a less than loving brother.’

Christina turned her attention to Callaghan and the other captives. Her almond eyes widened in surprise when she saw the tin star pinned to his chest. ‘I see you are a man of the law, Senor. How do you come to be here?’

‘I was about to arrest Jackson Tate and Judd Silver over there along with Billy Gaunt when Aldo’s men captured me and my friends.’

‘Why were you going to arrest them?’

‘They robbed a stage and killed a whole bunch of people.’

‘Hector, can’t you just let these people go? They’ve done you no harm, after all.’ Christina looked pleadingly at her brother.

‘Don’t be foolish! How long would this hideout remain secret if I did that? Besides, they are Aldo’s prisoners and he has the right to do with them as he pleases. That’s always been our arrangement.’

She looked pleadingly for a moment at the Apache leader, but the look in his eyes told him what she would have to do even to have a hope of changing his intentions. Christina squeezed Callaghan’s arm and then briefly gripped his bound hands. ‘I am truly sorry, Senor, but I have done all I can. Please tell me your name so that I will know whose soul I must pray for.’

‘I’m Luke Callaghan, Miss, though I reckon your brother’s soul may be more in need of prayer than mine.’

‘May your noble sentiments accompany you to the grave,’ said Salinas with a mocking gesture of farewell.

Callaghan and his two remaining companions were now hustled out of the cave by Aldo and his men. As they did so, Tate shouted back at the Mexican. ‘Kill me and you’ll never find the rest of the money, Salinas, never!’

Salinas held up his hand for a moment and the Apaches stopped in their tracks. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I never hide all my loot in one place at once, and this time there was a big haul. I split it but you won’t get the rest unless you make a deal.’

The bandit stared hard at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. ‘That was a nice try, but you’ll have to do much better.’

Moments later, they were back outside in the harsh glare of sunlight. The Apaches mounted their horses but the prisoners were made to walk, trudging down from the range until they reached the endless expanse of desert sand. Their captors kept them walking for several miles and then suddenly stopped. The four men were then made to lie down, arms and legs spread wide while stakes were driven into the ground, their wrists and ankles bound separately to each one. Aldo himself tied Callaghan, grinning as he reached inside the sheriff’s sleeve to pull out the penknife Christina had furtively passed to him earlier. He then tossed it a few inches away where it lay just outside the lawman’s each.

‘Darkness comes soon. Tonight, you freeze, then sun will rise and tomorrow you burn. All of you dead by end of tomorrow, but meantime you suffer as white men make Apaches suffer.’ It was the first time they had heard Aldo speak English and his words, chilling in their simplicity, made it clear that a lingering, unpleasant death awaited each of them. The Apaches then mounted their horses and rode away.

None of them spoke, each man thinking of his own fate. Doc Prentice lay next to Callaghan. He let out a groan and the sheriff turned to see that his friend’s face was flushed and sweating.

‘Take it easy Doc, you’ve got plenty of time to die.’

‘I need one of my pills. They’re for my heart . . . God damn it!’ The horse doctor gasped with pain. ‘My chest . . . It’s never hurt this bad until now.’ He groaned once more and his breathing started to come in short, shallow bursts.

‘Save your strength, don’t try to talk,’ Callaghan urged him.

Carver lay to the left of Prentice. ‘Try not to worry, maybe we’ll get lucky and somebody will come by. Hang in there, Doc.’

Prentice did not respond. His breathing became more irregular, his eyes closed and he lapsed into unconsciousness. Moments later, he stopped breathing altogether.