Chapter 15

Cowboys, Indians, and Banditos

Bowing Eagle climbed the side of the courthouse wall, grabbing windows ledges and brick grout. As an expert in the wilderness, he had excellent climbing skills to climb mountains and huge rock formations that were out in the desert.

Once he reached the top, glanced about and saw another figure with a long rifle in hand about twenty feet away. It seemed that he was observing the streets of Clayton. Bowing Eagle had to disarm him. Problem was he only had a bow and quiver full of arrows. He frowned knowing that he had to use hand-to-hand combat with a very armed gunman. He then quietly climbed over the top ledge and his foot was now on the roof of the courthouse. Like a cat, he said he was, slinked silently over to the shadowy man. In one swift snake-like move, Bowing Eagle placed his right hand over his mouth as his left disable the gunman’s arm. They both struggled for a moment until Bowing Eagle twisted his head so fast it snapped. The gunman fell on the roof as Bowing Eagle frowned at him. Not what he wanted to do, but he had no choice.

He walked over the front of courthouse where the gunman was, crouched, and prepared his weapon. He looked about and saw in the distance, on the other side of town, near the general store a man in a white had on his horse. He wondered if that was Lightning Bear’s uncle. He continued to crouch and examined the scene.

John Fox trotted past the general store, glanced over in the alleyway between the store and the jailhouse, and saw some one behind it. It looked suspicious to him. He looked over to where Luke and his brother were just talking amongst themselves. John Fox wondered if he should tell them, he then remembered that Luke never like him. He decided to check it out for himself. He dismounted, grabbed his rifle and headed into the alleyway.

Just as he got to the end, he hears a deafening sound. It was an explosion. Someone was breaking the prisoners out of jail he thought. He got to his feet and ran out with his gun pointed at the assailant. El Cato just rescued his little brother from the jailhouse, and mounted their horses when he noticed John Fox.

“Stay where you are!” John said wearily.

Bowing Eagle heard the explosion and aimed his bow at the jailhouse. He hesitated a bit, and lowered his weapon. He had good eyes as he saw the man in the white hat aiming his gun. Unfortunately, at his angle he could not see whom he was aiming at. He figured El Cato as he continued watching.

Fox never shot a man before only game and he was nervous. Even though he has nothing left to live for, he did not fear death.

El Cato and Paco laughed at him and said, “Amigo, you think you can shoot me with that big slow gun?” He quickly drew his Colt and fired at Fox. “Mine is faster Ha Ha.”

Fox fell to the ground, dead. Bowing Eagle was shocked. He wanted to shoot his arrow, but he had no target.

At the edge of town, Lightning Bear heard the shot and the explosion and knew it was El Cato. He told his men to follow as gallop towards the source of the commotion. He then saw John Fox, dead on the ground as the Mexicans laughed at his body. Lightning Bear was enraged. Even though he hated Fox for betraying the tribe, it was no way to honor him, by laughing after he was dead.

He drew the gun Jacob gave him. He never had any practice firing it before. He thought it would be as easy as shooting an arrow. He aimed and pulled the trigger. Missed. He tried again. Missed. He pulled once more and only heard clicks. It was empty.

El Cato looked at the oncoming onslaught of Indians and frowned. He told his men to evade and destroy the town. He looked back to Lightning Bear, aimed his Colt, and fired. Lightning Bear grunted and fell off his horse. He felt the bullet rip through his lungs as he crashed on the ground.

Bowing Eagle was now more horrified. His friend was now dead, and he could not do anything to help him. Anger started to build up in him. He wanted El Cato. He aimed his bow waiting for a clear shot.

The Mexican leader laughed and rode off to join the others. One of Jicarilla men saw this and stopped by Lightning Bear. Lightning Bear told him to forget him and to continue the fight. His eyes fell as blood trickled from his lips. Lighting Bear was dead. The Jicarilla warrior was angered, yelled in a war chant to his fellow Indians.

When El Cato got in range, Bowing Eagle aimed once more. Then suddenly the whole roof shook as he heard a deafening sound from the other side of the courthouse. It was an explosion that knocked him off his feet. His first thought was of Jacob. He wondered if he was all right, as he knew that he was in side. He saw fire and smoke bellowing from the west end and knew it will not be safe to stay on the roof, but he promised that he would keep an eye out for the sheriff or the judge.

Bullets flew every which way as Carl, ready with his Winchester in hand, took refuge in his ho-tel. He figured the sheriff’s men would handle it, but as he peeked out the window, he saw three of the hired gunmen shot dead by El Cato’s men, including Luke. Carl had counted there were about twice as many Mexicans as there were gunman, including himself.

Glass shattered above him as a bullet ripped over his head. Carl cursed to himself as the bullet hit the cubby where he kept the keys. The last thing he needed was to repair the damage to the hotel, even though gunfights like this are not that rare to happen in Clayton.

He peeked out once more and to his surprise, a tribe of Indians showed up and joined in the fight. The Indians armed themselves with bows and arrows as well as tomahawks. This perplexed Carl. Why would a pack of Indians invade Clayton at a time like this? Dumb Injins, he thought. This was not a gunfight; this was an all out war.

A body suddenly fell past the window as he knew it was a watchman that was posted on the rooftop. Carl cursed again. He then saw a Bandito galloping around the courthouse lighting a stick of dynamite. Moments later he heard another explosion.

“Carl! What happened now!?” Sara asked franticly.

“Court house got hit!” he replied, “Now git back to the bar! There’s no place for a lady up here.”

She pouted knowing he was right as she walked back to the saloon. Then two blast of gunfire scared the wits out of Sara just as soon as she pushed the door to the saloon. The shot took out a chunk of wall, just to the left of her. She screeched and immediately hit the floor in defense. This angered Carl as he readied his weapon, aim his gun through the shattered window, and shot the nearest Mexican bandito.

He looked back to his wife and asked, “You alright?”

She looked back to Carl and nodded. She then crawled on her hands and knees back to the bar.

A minute has passed and from Carl’s ears, it seemed that the gunshots were diminishing. He was not sure if that was good or bad. He took a one more peek. He saw the Indians with their tomahawks chopping the banditos like meat. However, the Mexicans were shooting them one by one. He did not see any more hired gunman. He figured El Cato and his men as well as the Indians finished them off. Carl wondered if this would ever end.

At the end of the street where the courthouse is, Carl saw El Cato and his brother stop in front of the door. He wondered what the Mexican was up now.

One of the doors of the courthouse swung open. Gray smoke bellowed out and so did Jacob, carrying the judge. He coughed and hacked, the he looked up to see El Cato and his brother aiming their guns at him.

Grinning from ear to ear, El Cato said, “Hola Amigo. We got to stop meeting like this. Now my question is, is he alive?”

At this point Jacob was pissed off at El Cato and was not sure what he was thinking of doing. He could kill him, but holding the judge with both hands seemed impossible to access his knife.

“Yes, but he needs medical attention,” he replied sternly.

“What a coincidence!” El Cato said as he aimed at the judge’s heart, “I can ease his pain real quick.”

“You son of a bitch,” Jacob said arrogantly, “You can’t do that!”

“You know you’re right. I might kill you too, and we can’t have that,” said El Cato, “Why don’t you put him down and step away. I got a judgment of my own to do.”

Bowing Eagle looked down, saw his friend with El Cato, and wondered how the scene was going to unfold. He pulled his bow, aiming at El Cato’s dark heart now that he had a clear shot, but he hesitated. Perhaps Jacob could talk some sense into the bandito.

Jacob looked at his advisory’s eyes and replied, “No. It’s not right. You want to kill him; you got to kill me first.”

“Alight, Paco matarlo,” El Cato ordered.

Paco hesitated as El Cato repeated his order.

Paco cocked the hammer back on his gun, as Bowing Eagle adjusted his aim. The arrow was now in insight of Paco’s heart. In addition, as if time slowed down for the apache Indian, he fired his arrow. The arrow flew through the air and hit Paco’s chest. Paco grunted and fired his weapon completely missing Jacob’s heart, but it hit his shoulder causing him to drop the unconscious judge on the ground. Paco slumped forward, and then slid off his horse.

Jane and Gabe stopped, saw this while they were fleeing to the station, and cried in horror. Jane fearfully turned and ran back to the courthouse as Gabe tried to restrain her.

El Cato was enraged. He looked up and saw Bowing Eagle reloading his bow. Jacob glanced up as El Cato aimed and fired at Jacob’s friend. Bowing Eagle seemed to disappear from view and this angered Jacob. Like lightning, Jacob took the knife out and flung it at El Cato, blade in hand. The knife pierced right in his throat. Blood spew out as El Cato gargled as he tried to grab his throat, but he fell off his horse and landed on the ground dead.

Jacob sighed in relief even though he felt great pain in his shoulder; he knew it was all over. He looked up at the roof of the courthouse and wondered if Bowing Eagle was ok as she saw the smoke spew from it. Jane and Gabe ran over to him. Jane hugged and kissed him like never be-fore.

“Oh my god Jake,” she said frightfully, “I thought he was going to kill you.”

“I know,” he replied, “Me too.” He looked to his brother and asked, “You ok little brother?”

Gabe nodded, “Yeah that was some knife throwing.”

“Not really, I was aiming for his shoulder,” he replied as he slightly smiled.

“Oh my God, Jake you‘re bleeding,” said Jane looking at his shoulder. She took off her Habit tore the stitched and tended to Jacob’s wound. She wrapped the black cloth around his shoulder and his forearm and knotted it. She then looked down at the judge and asked, “Is he ok?”

They all followed her gaze as they heard a grunt from him.

Jacob knelt down and asked, “Judge? You ok?”

Marshall opened his eyes and replied wearily, “Judge? What’s a judge? Who-who are you?”

The trio looked at each other perplexed. Then Jacob realized that he must have amnesia, from when the bust hit his head. He needed a doctor as the judge fainted once more.

Carl and the other town folk came out to them. They saw the fire as Carl ordered the locals to fetch some buckets and water from the tower. Jacob forgot about the fire and told Gabe and Jane to help. Carl told Sara to fetch the local doctor for the judge. She acknowledged and scurried off. It took the town’s folk about an hour to subdue the fire with the help of Jacob, Gabe and Jane.

The local doctor ran out as fast as he could with Sara. He was tall thin gentleman with jet black hair and mustache to match. He carried his dusty black bag over and saw the chaos. He tended Judge Marshall first. He took out a roll of bandaged and began to work. He told Sara that he needed to lie down on a soft bed. She acknowledged and helped him bring the judge back to the hotel.

As the smoke residue floated to the sky, Carl came over to them and they surveyed the after-math. What a mess Jacob thought. Carl looked to the trio smiled and patted Jacob on the back.

“You three look like you need a beer,” he said slyly.

The three chuckled and laughed lightly as they accepted his proposal, except Gabe.

“Not for me.” He said as Jane and Jacob looked him a bit surprised, “I think I learned my lesson. No more beers. It’s unhealthy.”

The couple laughed at that comment as Carl just smiled knowing what Gabe’s been though. They then heard rustling noises coming from the courthouse. They turned only to see Bowing Eagle stumble out from the side. They all ran to him as Jacob noticed that he was injured. His shoulder was bleeding too.

Jacob smiled at him and said, “You ok? You look you need a doctor?”

Bowing Eagle shook his head and replied, “No, I’ll be fine.” He looked at El Cato’s body as he saw the knife was plunged in his neck. “You would make an excellent warrior Jacob.”

They laughed once more at the Chiricahua’s remark.

Bowing Eagle smiled and said, “It looks like my work here is done. I must now return to my home.”

Jacob held out his right hand in gesture of friendship as Bowing Eagle shook it. He then said, “Thank you; for everything.”

“You are most welcome,” replied the Chiricahua warrior as he turned to Carl, “I hope both of our people would live in harmony now.”

Carl looked at the Indian not sure what to respond then said, “Only time will tell.”

Bowing Eagle nodded and walked off to his horse, which was waiting for him by the hotel. The trio watched as he mounted his stead waved good-bye and rode off out of town. The others waved back. Jacob wondered if he‘d ever see him again. Only time will tell.