‘Banks Fagan fixed the whole deal,’ Crocker moaned, looking at the men who stood alongside his bed and conscious that his words were being taken down by the banker’s secretary. ‘He knew those city boys and brought them in for it.’
The time was shortly after nine on Sunday morning and Crocker lay on a cell bunk in the Mulrooney jail, his shoulder swathed in bandages, feeling eagerness to lighten his own load by incriminating his boss. Dusty, Mark, Courtland, the local justice of the peace and the banker’s secretary stood in the cell to hear Crocker’s confession. Both the judge and Courtland showed visible signs of having been at the Buffalo the previous night and having taken part in the brawl.
‘Who rigged the challenge between Miss Woods and Miss Gilgore?’Dusty asked.
‘Banks. Him and the mayor’s been looking for a way to wreck Mulrooney and Banks thought up the idea of having the bank robbed. Only he aimed to get rid of the gang and split the money two ways with me. He knew that fuss between Kate and the Woods dame would blow wide open and when his scout brought Dongelon’s sign, he saw his chance. He had contacted the city gang and they were ready to move. So he had the Brownton printer run off those signs and spread them round town. Knew neither dame’d back down and figgered the noise’d last long enough for the gang to do their work. I was to watch ’em and make sure they brought him the money, then we aimed to gun them down and split the take two ways.’
‘Got that, ma’am?’ Dusty asked the secretary.
‘Yes.’
‘Have him put his mark on the statement, How’s about it, Judge?’
‘Brownton’s not in your jurisdiction, Captain Fog,’ the Judge replied.
‘Not as marshal, but as deputy sheriff it is,’ Dusty told him.
‘Then I’ll go make out the warrant for Fagan’s arrest. Can you serve it?’
‘I reckon we’ll give it a try,’ Dusty said quietly. ‘There’s another thing, Judge.’
‘And that is?’
‘The riot at the Buffalo last night. I reckon five dollars a man might just about compensate Miss Gilgore for the damage.’
‘That’s reasonable,’ agreed the judge.
‘Then I’ll start with you and Mr. Courtland, or did you get that lip from walking into a door?’
For a moment the judge spluttered, then he gave a laugh and dipped his hand into his pocket. ‘Come on, Courtland,’ he said. ‘Pay your fine like a good citizen.’
‘All right,’ Courtland replied. ‘How about the others, Captain Fog?’
‘I’ll get round to them, don’t you worry about that,’ Dusty promised.
While awaiting the arrival of the warrant, Dusty found he had another problem dropped into his lap. Big Sarah arrived, looking like she brought bad news—which she did. ‘It’s Miss Freddie and Buffalo Kate,’ she said.
‘What about them now?’ Dusty groaned, although he could have guessed.
‘Kate sent word across that she’s coming for a showdown at ten o’clock, and she aims to run Miss Freddie out of town.’
‘That figures,’ Dusty grunted. ‘The damned fool women. I’ve enough on my hands right now without those two starting again. I can’t stay in town. If I don’t take Fagan soon, he’ll get to hear we captured his boys and’ll put out.’
‘Somebody’s got to ask a fool question,’ Mark drawled. ‘Might as well be me. Why not tell Freddie and Kate to forget it?’
‘That’s a fool question all right,’ grinned Big Sarah, ‘Those two gals’ll never rest easy until they know who’s boss; and they’ll have this whole town split down the middle siding one or the other before a week’s out. Let’s leave ’em settle it this morning. I reckon I can keep it off the streets.’ Recalling the efficient manner in which Sarah coped with the riot at the Buffalo, Dusty grinned and nodded. ‘I reckon you can at that. Mark’ll be here at the jail—’
‘And happen he’s any sense, he’ll stay here. This’s woman’s work and too dangerous for a man.’
Mark remembered the battle at Bearcat Annie’s place in Quiet Town, where only nine women had been involved, and felt inclined to agree with Sarah.
Ten minutes later the warrant for Banks Fagan’s arrest arrived. Dusty, Waco, the Kid and Derringer checked their guns then went to collect their horses. In the office Mark sat down to write up the log and Sarah put her badge on straight, winked at him and left the building making for the Fair Lady.
One thing was for sure, Freddie did not intend avoiding a clash but aimed to avoid too much damage to her place. Already the girls had removed the chandelier and packed away all the glass-ware, covered the bar mirror with wooden boards and fitted shutters across the inside of the windows that overlooked Main Street. In the center of the bar-room Freddie, dressed as on the previous night, stopped directing the final preparations and nodded a greeting to Sarah.
‘I’m sorry you won’t be in on this, Sarah,’ she said. ‘Can I do anything for you?’
‘Sure, give me the key to the front doors and line the girls up for a search.’
‘Is that necessary?’ Freddie smiled. ‘This is between Kate and I.’
‘Likely,’ Sarah said dryly. ‘Only I aim to search Buffalo and I don’t play any favorites.’
It was an argument Freddie could well understand. She gave the order and her girls formed a line along which Sarah went, patting over each girl in turn to make sure no lethal weapons were carried. To further lessen the chances of serious injury Sarah ordered the removal of rings and bracelets, dropping them into a buckskin bag she brought for the purpose. At the end of the search, she accepted the front doors’ key from Freddie and left the saloon.
On her arrival at the Buffalo, Sarah met with a cool reception until Kate arrived. The big blonde saloonkeeper wore a man’s shirt, jeans and moccasins and like Freddie had no jewelry on. Kate gave the order which allowed Sarah to search and disarm the Buffalo girls, trusting the female deputy’s word that Fair Lady had been given the same treatment.
Five minutes after the search, Sarah watched the Buffalo girls troop into the Fair Lady and locked the doors behind them. Just as she turned from the door, Sarah found a procession descending on her. Led by Lily Gouch, the staff of the brothel came towards the saloon.
‘I just heard and figger to help Miss Freddie,’ the madam stated.
‘They’re about even numbered,’ Sarah replied. ‘If you want to help Freddie, send your gals back to the house and have them start tearing up bandages.’
For a moment Lily Gouch stood undecided. Then she gave a shrug. She had seen enough of Sarah in her official capacity as deputy to know the girl could be trusted, so turned and gave the order to her girls.
‘How about me?’Lily asked as the girls departed.
‘Sun’s warm,’ Sarah replied, ignoring a crash and yells from inside the saloon. Why not sit on the porch across there with me and we’ll wait until the noise dies down before we open the doors.’
‘You’ve got a good idea there,’ Lily answered. ‘I reckon we might have a tolerable long wait.’
And Lily proved to be right.
Kate and Freddie faced each other, each with her girls standing in a watchful half circle behind her. One look told Freddie that Kate came to fight, although she never doubted that. Kate felt just as sure that Freddie did not put on that outfit because she aimed to back down and run.
‘This’s between you and me,’ Kate said.
‘My girls know it,’ Freddie replied.
‘Do you want to pull out?’
‘Let’s stop talking, you’re too fat to waste your wind.’
‘Am I?’ yelped Kate and swung a right.
The fist caught Freddie’s cheek and staggered the girl, but she caught her balance and bored in as Kate rushed her. Ramming her left hand into Kate’s belly, Freddie chopped a right to the blonde’s cheek and clipped her again with the left. For five minutes, while their girls yelled encouragement, Freddie and Kate fought with their fists like two men. It became apparent that Kate took the worst of the exchange. Although her blows landed heavier, Freddie got in three to Kate’s two. Twice she put Kate down, but hit the floor herself when a good, solid blow landed.
Jumping forward, Kate raised her foot. Freddie had started one of Kate’s eyes swelling up and blood trickled from the blonde’s nose. Pain and anger made Kate start the rough-house tactics. However, before her foot could crash down on to Freddie, the brunette caught her other ankle and brought her down. Then Freddie made an error in tactics. Flinging herself on to Kate, Freddie found that she had caught a tiger by the tail. In a close-quarters, roll around brawl, Kate had the advantage of weight and experience. Not that this showed at first for they twisted and rolled over and over on the floor, scattering their girls before them, throwing wild slaps, punches and bites at each other, entwining their legs or flailing them wildly. First one then the other would gain the upper position, raining blows on the under-dog until violent heaving and pitching threw her off and put her underneath. However, Freddie found herself being harder and harder pressed to turn the heavier girl.
With a heave, Kate twisted Freddie from her and threw a fat leg over the other girl’s body, sitting on Freddie’s stomach and grabbing at her hair. Although Freddie tried, she could not turn Kate over. Her struggles did prevent Kate from taking advantage of the upper position, but it was only a matter of time before the weight licked her. Desperately Freddie swung her fists up at Kate and made the blonde lean back to avoid the blows. Then Freddie brought up both her knees, driving them into the blonde’s back. Even this might have failed to move Kate, only Freddie had a bit of good luck.
At first the girls obeyed their bosses’ orders and kept apart, but the ebb and flow of the fight round the room had caused them to mingle and join in a circle. Tension rose higher with the excitement as the girls screamed encouragement to their respective bosses.
Among the girls, Babsy buckled down to a top-class job of encouraging Freddie with her usual gusto. Then somebody bumped into her hard enough to make her turn and look who it was. Of course it had to be Ginger. Recognition was mutual and the reaction immediate. Four hands shot into hair and the two girls spun around, struggling with each other, crashing into Kate just as Freddie rocked her off balance. The impact threw Kate from Freddie and, as if triggered off by Babsy and Ginger, everybody in the room started fighting with her neighbor, in some cases without seeing, or caring, that she tangled with a friend and fellow-worker.
Feet kicked and trampled over Freddie before she could force herself upright. Shoving a couple of struggling girls aside, she threw herself at Kate just as the big blonde rose to her feet. With hands locked into hair, they reeled back and Freddie smashed Kate into the bar with enough power to wind the blonde. It was now Freddie’s advantage. Releasing the blonde hair, she whipped two slaps then a punch across Kate’s face, rocking her head from side to side. Then Kate had some luck for a swarm of screaming, fighting girls descended on them and forced them apart. Freddie spent the next couple of minutes fighting her way clear of the girls but the moment she and Kate met again, they found more girls impeding their business.
A screeching girl leapt on to Freddie’s back and two more tangled with Kate. Reaching over her shoulder, Freddie grabbed her attacker’s hair, bent double and shot the girl forward on to the floor. At the same moment Kate managed to grab her two assailants by the necks and crack their heads together. Dropping the limp girls, Kate looked at Freddie.
‘This’s no good!’ Freddie gasped, knocking aside another girl. ‘Let’s go into my office!’
‘Sure!’ Kate gasped.
They fought their way across the room with an effort and entered Freddie’s private downstairs office. To prevent further interferences Freddie locked the door. It seemed that she anticipated using the office for this purpose, for all its furniture but the big desk, which had been shoved back against one wall, and the safe had been removed.
‘How about a drink before we start again?’ Freddie asked, wiping blood from the side of her mouth. ‘There’ll be nothing extra in this one.’
‘I found out what happened,’ Kate replied leaning against the wall and sniffing through a nose which felt twice its normal size. ‘Damned fools.’
‘Did they do much damage in the fight?’ Freddie inquired, taking a bottle of brandy and two glasses from the desk cupboard.
‘I’ve hardly a whole chair or table left.’
‘Can you afford to replace them?’
‘No. I paid out all I had to buy the Buffalo in town. Things had been as slack in Brownton as down here and my overheads ate away my savings.’
‘Look,’ Freddie said, handing Kate a drink. ‘I feel responsible—’
‘Don’t offer me charity’ Elate warned.
‘Sip that brandy and shut up,’ Freddie answered. ‘I’m not thinking of offering charity. I think you and I could make a good team. I have some capital and you have experience. Let’s be partners.’
Kate gagged as the brandy went down the wrong way in her surprise. She stared at Freddie for a moment and gasped, ‘Are you serious?’
‘My father always told me to be serious when discussing money. Is it a deal, old girl?’
‘You’ve got a partner,’ Kate grinned and held out her hand.
‘We’ll have the lawyer tie it up in the morning, or whenever we can get out of bed,’ Freddie said, shaking hands with Kate,
‘Huh?’
‘Just because we’re partners doesn’t mean our little party’s over,’ Freddie explained. ‘I can’t bear suspense and we’ll both want to know who is boss.’
‘You know something,’ grinned Kate. You’re right at that. Put the glasses away, junior partner, and let’s away to the ball.’
After Freddie had locked away the glassware, she and Kate circled each other, then closed and the fight resumed with as much ferocity as they had shown when still rivals.
In the bar-room an equally hectic and wild battle raged. It may have started as Fair Lady against Buffalo, but now nobody cared who she fought with as long as she fought. It became a matter of kick, punch, slap, scratch at, bite on and tear hair from the nearest body regardless of who the body worked for.
Only Babsy and Ginger managed to stick together and it went hard for anybody who tried to come between them. Both girls gave out with a considerable amount of energy for they always threw themselves whole-heartedly into anything they found themselves doing. All went reasonably well until Ginger ripped the shoulder strap of Babsy’s dress and tore the material down the side. Staggering back a couple of paces, Babsy screeched like a scalded cat. One look at Babsy’s face set Ginger flying for safety behind the bar. Babsy followed her and tackled her. Kneeling on Ginger’s body, Babsy gripped the red-head’s dress and tore at it until she ripped it off. With a howl of rage, Ginger threw Babsy off and dived at her, hands grabbing cloth. Neither would be seen again for some time but notice of their presence showed in screams, scuffling sounds, ripping noises and the occasional piece of a garment which flew up into the air.
Freddie and Kate fought on, ignoring the lessening sounds of strife from the bar-room. First one then the other appeared to be on the verge of victory during the wild thirty minutes they fought in the office. Each time the apparent loser would manage to rally just in time and fight on. They fought with their fists like two men, showing a fair knowledge of wrestling in throws and holds, using women’s tactics in their struggle for mastery. At last both were on their last legs and the bar-room had been silent for some minutes. Both were naked to the waist and mottled with bruises as well as sporting four blackened, swollen eyes between them, bloody noses and puffed-up lips. Their hair resembled twin dirty mop heads and a fair amount lay scattered around the room. Freddie’s tights had no knees and the right leg no longer had a foot, while Kate’s jeans left leg flapped open along its seams.
A shove from Freddie sent Kate down on to her back and as Freddie dropped on to the blonde, two plump, powerful legs locked around her waist. The pain was intense and Freddie fought to free herself. More by accident than design she managed to rise, although with the legs still around her. Sliding her arms under Kate’s legs, with the blonde hanging down to the floor before her, Freddie fell backwards. With her knees against Kate’s back, Freddie used their leverage to lift the blonde’s torso from the floor. Kate came erect and fell forward, her head striking the wall. Instantly everything went black and Kate collapsed in a limp heap on top of Freddie. Not for a few seconds could Freddie wriggle from under the plump body. Sitting up with Kate crumpled on her knees, Freddie reached out a hand meaning to pull the blonde into a sitting position and deliver a coup de grace. The effort proved too much for Freddie and she slumped forward over Kate’s limp frame.
‘Sure quiet in there,’ Lily Gouch remarked, looking across the street.
‘Let’s go pick up the pieces,’ Big Sarah replied.
Quite a sight greeted them as Sarah unlocked the doors. One thing was for sure, neither saloon could claim a definite, or even possible, victory. Tables had been overturned, chairs broken or thrown aside, odd items of clothing lay or hung around the room; but not one girl remained on her feet. They lay in piles, pairs, singly and every one of them sported marks of the fight
‘Go get your gals, Lily,’ Sarah said. ‘This’ll’ve cleared the air a mite.’
As there still appeared to be activity in the private office, Sarah went around the girls to see if any might be seriously injured. Apart from scratches, bites, bruises and a little minor blood, there appeared to be nothing to worry her. Missing Babsy and Ginger, Sarah searched for them and found them behind the bar. Both girls always boasted they never did anything by halves and so it seemed. They lay side by side, bruised, battered and as naked as the day they were born.
Chuckling, Sarah crossed the room to the office. After a louder than usual crash it had gone silent When she unlocked and opened the door, she found Kate and Freddie piled on the floor,
‘Oh no!’ Sarah groaned. ‘If it’s a draw we’ll have this lot again as soon as they’re well.’