CHAPTER 11
Flint ate dinner and supper at Hannah’s house, but he took a couple of blankets with him when he went back to the jail, in preference to using the blankets at the jail. He took the mangled mattress that had been on a cot when Ada dynamited the jail and made his bed outside the back cell. He figured if the Trasks did happen to show up, he’d be there to welcome them.
It was as Buck had figured, however, and no one showed up behind the jail that night. Flint was at Clara’s Kitchen as soon as it opened, had his breakfast, and went back with breakfasts for the prisoners. While they were eating, he went to the stable to pick up the horses.
After the prisoners had finished their breakfasts, Flint told Ada to use the slop bucket because it was going to be a while before she would get the opportunity again. She asked why, and he told her, “Because you’re goin’ for a little ride this mornin’.”
Automatically assuming this was not going to be a good thing, her first thought was that she was going to a hanging—hers. “Where am I goin’?” she asked in her usual stoic manner.
“I’m takin’ you to Tyler. They’ve got better facilities for women there. You’ll be more comfortable while you’re waiting for your trial.”
“You’re worried about Papa and my brothers, ain’t you? You can take me off to Tyler or someplace else, but you still better worry about yourself. Papa knows it was you that sneaked onto our property to get me. You were too scared to ride in and face him, weren’t you, Deputy Moran?”
“Scared half to death,” Flint answered sarcastically. “Get yourself ready to go.”
Standing nearby, waiting to give Flint a hand, Buck laughed, then said to Ralph, “You’re goin’ for a trip, too, Cox, just not as far.”
That was enough to make Ralph nervous. Already concerned when Flint was telling Ada to get herself ready to leave, he had thoughts about a hanging as well. And maybe when Buck said the trip was not as far, he was referring to the nearest tree.
Flint opened the cell door and motioned for Ada to come forward.
She did not respond, still deciding whether or not she was going to fight.
“Come on. You might as well make it easy on yourself ’cause you’re goin’ one way or another.”
She moved out the door then, watching him carefully. When he reached down to lock the cell again, she suddenly took a swing at him with a closed fist.
With catlike reflexes, he caught her arm by the wrist, twisted it around behind her, grabbed her other arm, and clamped her wrists together in his handcuffs. “I was hoping you’d learned something the last time I took you for a ride, but I see you haven’t. Let me explain this trip we’re gonna take.
“I’ll make it as easy on you as I can. It’ll be up to you how hard it’ll be, but I’ll give you an idea. You took a swing at me, so your hands are gonna stay in those bracelets the whole trip. When I let you get off your horse, for whatever reason, I’ll keep a rope on you, so you don’t go wanderin’ off. If you somehow get off the rope and try to run, I’ll warn you to stop. If you don’t stop, I’ll shoot you down. I may, or may not, bring your body back for burial. It’ll probably depend on how mad you make me. You understand?”
She didn’t reply, but the searing look of hatred in her eyes told him that she was calling him the vilest of creatures under her breath.
“Good,” he said, “Now let’s get goin’.” He handed the cell door key to Buck and escorted Ada out to the horses.
As they walked past the damaged cell, Flint reached over, took a wide-brimmed Montana Peak hat from a nail sticking half out of the wall, and pulled it down squarely on her head. “Here. This’ll give you some protection for your fair skin. I never wear one, myself. You oughta like this one, though. It belonged to your late husband. When you dynamited the jail, it landed on that nail. Been there ever since. Nobody bothered to take it. I reckon it knew you might be comin’ this way.”
When they got to the horses, he said, “Put your foot in the stirrup and I’ll help you up. This is the same horse you rode into Tinhorn.” Remembering how roughly she had been thrown in the saddle before, she did as he said, and he boosted her up. With a short piece of rope, he tied one end around her ankle, walked around the horse, and pulled the other end of the rope under the horse’s belly, and tied it to her other foot. “I won’t tie you down to the saddle, like I did the last time we took a ride. I just tied your feet on the horse, so make sure you grip with your knees pretty strong. If you slide off sideways, that rope around your ankles will hold you on the horse, but you’ll probably be upside down. Your head and shoulders will get beat to death by the horse’s back hooves. So, it’s best you keep your feet in the stirrups.”
She made no reply, but her expression told him she would kill him if she was given the opportunity.
He climbed up into the saddle. “Well, Sheriff, I expect to see you back here. Maybe not in time for supper, though.”
“Be careful,” Buck replied. “That ain’t no different than haulin’ a rattlesnake.”
“It’s a fine day for a ride. Even for a rattlesnake. I’m hopin’ she’ll relax and enjoy it.” Flint winked at Buck and wheeled the buckskin around to head for the street, turned north, and headed for what he hoped would be an uneventful ride to Tyler.
Once he was on the Tyler road, he started Buster out at a comfortable walk, planning to alternate the gait with a trot. Buster trotted about twice as fast as he walked, and by alternating the trotting with the walking, the horse could rest while he was walking and still keep moving. They would get to Tyler a lot quicker than if he just walked the horses all the way. He wasn’t sure about the sorrel mare that Ada rode, but it was a routine Buster could maintain all day.
Ada might find the trotting part a lot less comfortable than the walking, but she was not likely to complain, since she was reluctant to speak to him at all. They reached the little stream where Ada had turned her wagon off the road after dynamiting the jail in a little less than two hours. Since they were now past the turnoff that would take them to the Trask farm, Flint was no longer concerned about a chance meeting with the Trasks on their way to town.
A little farther past the place where she had left the road, he came to the notch that cut through the long ridge where Jed and Ralph had waited so long to ambush him. He heard the first sound out of her.
“Deputy,” she yelled at him.
He turned halfway around in the saddle to see what she wanted.
“I gotta pee,” she said.
Here we go, he thought, surprised that it had taken this long. “You can hold it a little longer, can’t you?”
“I gotta pee now. I’ve been tryin’ to hold it, and I can’t hold it no longer.”
“All right. We’ll stop in that bunch of trees up ahead on the left. You can go in those bushes near the spring.” He guided Buster over where the trees were the thickest and dismounted, then took his coil of rope off his saddle and walked back to untie her feet.
After he helped her down, she stood waiting for him to unlock her handcuffs. “I can’t pee without my hands.”
“I know that,” he replied. “I’m gonna unlock ’em, but I told you back in town that if you had to go off where I can’t see you, I’m gonna tie a rope around you.”
“I can’t go, if you’re lookin’ at me.”
“I ain’t gonna be lookin’ at you. This coil of rope is about twenty-five feet long. That’s plenty of length to hide you down in those thick bushes yonder. Now, hold still.” He looped one end of the rope around her waist and tied it with an extra hard double knot behind her back. “Now, I’m gonna hold this end of the rope just like this.” He wrapped it a couple of times around his wrist to demonstrate. “When you get to the end of the rope, you’d better keep it pulled tight so you can’t go any farther without pullin’ me with you. You understand?”
She said she did.
“’Cause, if I feel that rope go slack, I’m comin’ after you.”
Again, she said she understood, so he unlocked the handcuffs on one hand. He looped his end of the rope around his arm and said, “I better not feel any slack after this rope gets tight.”
She immediately headed into the thickest of the bushes.
Moving as fast as she could manage, she kept going until the rope became taut, almost pulling her over backward. With no time to lose, she turned her body in the rope around her waist, so she had the knots in front of her. Damn him! she thought as she worked feverishly to untie the first knot, leaning back to keep the rope taut. The first knot free, she was almost ready to panic before she untied the second one. She was free! She gave one more tug on the rope, dropped it on the ground, and turned to run, only to collide with him standing there. The collision knocked her to the ground. She laid there for several seconds, totally confused as he stood over her.
“Did you pee?” Flint asked.
“Go to hell,” she replied, furious to think he had tricked her.
“I’m beginning to think I can’t trust you,” he said, as he rolled her over and locked her wrists back together, then picked her up onto her feet.
Taking her by the arm, he walked her back to the horses where he settled her in the saddle again and tied her feet together. Then he tied her horse’s reins to a tree limb while he untied his end of the rope from around a little tree and wound it up in a coil. Furious, she stared at the tree as he untied the rope, and she realized how he had tricked her. Suspecting an attempt to escape, he had quickly tied his end of the rope around that tree as soon as she disappeared into the bushes, then he had circled around the bushes to be in front of her when she turned to run.
He climbed back onto his horse and led her back out to the road. Glancing back a couple of times to see how she was doing, he could only see the broad brim of the hat she wore, since her head was bowed, still in a furious rage. He heard nothing more from her all the way to Tyler, some two and a half hours after her attempted escape.
Going by the directions Buck gave him, he rode down the main street until he reached the post office. Taking a side street that ran past the post office, he came to a large two-story building that held a sign saying it was the office of Company F, Texas Rangers. Behind the building was another building, this one of stone—where Buck had been told to take prisoners.
Flint pulled the horses up to a hitching rail and took some papers out of his saddlebag. Then he took a seemingly subdued Ada down from the mare. Holding her by the arm, he walked her into the building and up to a counter.
“I’m Deputy Flint Moran from Tinhorn. I’ve got a prisoner to turn over to you,” he said to the man behind the counter. “Sheriff Buck Jackson talked to a fellow named Ron Black yesterday about her, and Black said to bring her here.” It was about fifteen minutes past noon. He hoped Black hadn’t gone to dinner.
“Right, Deputy. Wait right here and I’ll get Corporal Black.” He went into a room behind the counter and called, “Ron, I got a prisoner out here for you.”
The man came back to the counter with Black right behind him.
Black saw Ada and knew who she was. “This’ll be Ada Tubbs, right?”
Flint said that she was.
“Dynamite Tubbs, Sheriff Jackson called her. He said he’d send some paperwork with her to list all the charges against her.”
Flint handed him the papers. Black quickly scanned them, then took another look at the seemingly restrained woman. Tall and thin, plain as a mud fence, her wide-brimmed hat sitting squarely on her head.
“Sister,” he addressed her, “you’ve been a busy little woman, haven’t you?” He turned his attention back to Flint. “All right, Deputy, we’ll sign her in to the women’s section, and I’ll give this list of charges to the court. They’ll schedule her court date for trial. They’ll be in touch with Sheriff Jackson.” He turned to speak to Ada again. “The deputy got you here in time for you to get a little dinner.”
When Flint remained standing there, Black asked, “Is there something else you need?”
“I’d like to have my handcuffs back,” Flint said. “All right if I take ’em off her?”
Black laughed at that and told him to take them.
Flint pulled out his key and unlocked the cuffs from Ada’s wrists.
As he was removing them, Ada threatened softly, “I ain’t gonna forget you, Moran. They can’t hold me in here forever.”
“Why, I’ll always remember you, too, Ada. It’s been right interestin’ knowin’ you. I hope you enjoy your stay here.” He remained at the counter to watch Ron Black lead her through the door to the office behind the counter. “Much obliged,” he said to the man behind the counter and turned to leave.
It was a real feeling of relief to be done with Ada Tubbs, but Tinhorn’s trouble was not finished until her father and brothers knew she was no longer there.
* * *
It had taken only a few minutes to turn Ada over to the Rangers, so he thought there was a chance to get back to Tinhorn before Clara quit serving supper. He had to water and rest the horses before he started back, but he planned to make the twenty-six miles without another stop. His concern was for Buck’s condition after supper, knowing the battle he would be fighting by that time of night. He had no idea what they could expect from Liam Trask, but Flint knew he needed to be there when it happened.
* * *
Without asking too much of the horses, he made it back to Tinhorn just as it was beginning to get dark. Coming in from the north, the hotel and Clara’s Kitchen were two of the first establishments he came to. Since the lights were still on at Clara’s, he stopped there first.
“Howdy, Flint,” Clara greeted him when he opened the door. Since he took a quick look to see how many customers were still eating, she said, “If you’re looking for the sheriff, he just left here about fifteen minutes ago.”
“To tell you the truth, I was just stickin’ my head in to see how much time I had before you closed off the supper. I haven’t had anything since breakfast, and I could sure use something.”
She looked at the clock. “We normally start dumping everything and start cleanup in about twenty minutes. But if you don’t get back by then, I’ll fix you a plate and keep it in the oven for you.”
“That would be mighty nice of you. I’ll be back as quick as I can.” He jumped back on Buster and asked for one last lope down to the stable, noticing the light was on in the sheriff’s office when he rode past. At the stable, he told Lon why he was in a hurry, and Lon took the horses and told him he’d take care of them.
“Give ’em both a portion of oats,” Flint called back on his way out. “They earned ’em.”
The next stop was the jail, but at least it was on the way to the dining room. Inside he found Buck sitting at his desk.
“I was wonderin’ when you were gonna show up,” Buck greeted him. “Have any trouble?”
“Nope. Ada was turned over to the Rangers, so we don’t have her to worry about anymore. Everything all right here?”
“Yep, nothin’ goin’ on here a-tall. I transferred Ralph to Harper’s Feed and Supply. He ain’t too happy with his new accommodations. I reckon he was real worried a while ago ’cause I went to Clara’s to eat supper, and I swear, I forgot all about his supper till Bonnie asked me if I wanted two plates to take back with me.”
“I stopped by Clara’s on my way here, and she said she’d hold a plate for me, if I could get back pretty quick, so I’m gonna get up there right away. Then I’ll come right back here. Is that all right with you?”
“Yeah,” Buck replied. “Go get you something to eat. Take your time. If there was gonna be any trouble here tonight, I expect it would come a lot later when they think we’d be asleep. So, go on and get you some supper, then you can tell me how things really went on that trip to Tyler.”
Flint had to laugh. “What makes you think anything happened?”
“Hell,” Buck snorted. “’Cause you were transportin’ Dynamite Tubbs. And I know she weren’t gonna go peaceful.”
Flint hurried out the door and back to Clara’s Kitchen. The closed sign was turned to the outside, and only one customer was still there finishing up when he walked into the dining room.
Mindy Moore saw him come in and she sang out, “Uh-oh, here he is. Too bad we threw it all out.”
Flint Moran was still somewhat of a mystery to most of the citizens of Tinhorn, but the women at Clara’s had learned that he could respond in kind to their teasing.
“Well, in that case, just bring the slop bucket and set it down here. And bring me a spoon with it.”
She responded with a chuckle. “I’d like to see the look on your face, if I did. Do you want some coffee with your bucket of slops?”
“Yes, ma’am, please,” he replied.
Clara walked over to the cash register to accept the last customer’s money, then wished him a good evening and locked the door after he went out. “Mindy,” she called out, “bring me a cup of coffee, too,” then went over to the table Flint had chosen and sat down with him. “How was your day, Deputy Moran?” Like her young waitresses, she had some curiosity about him.
“Nothin’ special, I guess,” Flint answered. “Like every day, just tryin’ to stay outta Sheriff Jackson’s way.”
“You said you didn’t have anything since breakfast. Why didn’t you have dinner?”
“Oh, well, I had to go to Tyler. Buck sent me up there to deliver some papers to the Rangers office. And I never found time to eat dinner, I reckon. I was tryin’ to get back here to get supper. And it looks like I just made it. So thank you for that.” It struck him that Clara was asking him a helluva lot of questions about his day, which he couldn’t believe she was really interested in.
Her interrogation was interrupted when Mindy arrived with two cups of coffee. “Did you tell him anybody who gets this special service has to help clean up the kitchen and dining room?” she japed.
“She already told me if I finished everything in that slop bucket, I don’t have to do any of the cleanup, so hurry up and bring it in here.”
Mindy giggled and returned to the kitchen, and Clara resumed her interrogation. “When the sheriff was in here for supper, he almost forgot the plates for your prisoners. When I asked him if he wanted them, he said just one.”
“Is that a fact?” Flint replied.
“I asked him why he only needed one plate, and he said one of ’em didn’t want any supper tonight. Is one of the prisoners sick or something?”
He was sure now that she was really probing for some inside information about Ada Tubbs. The whole town was curious about Ada Tubbs and the fact that she was locked in a cell with a male criminal. He guessed there wasn’t much else for the town to gossip about. But he wasn’t certain that it was wise for people in town to know where Ada now was, in case someone of her family might come asking.
“I don’t know,” he answered her question. “Like I said, I was out of town all day, and I haven’t talked to Buck about anything.” He shrugged his shoulders as if in the dark, just as she was.
“Here’s your slop bucket,” Mindy said as she placed a plate piled high with food before him. “Margaret said you better eat every bit of it, or you’re washin’ dishes.” It was enough to put a halt to the questioning by Clara.
“I guess I’d better close up my register for the day,” Clara remarked and got up from the table.
“Here, let me pay you for mine, so you can close out your books, or whatever you do,” Flint said and reached in his pocket for the money. After her insistence that he should take his time, he tried to finish his supper in a timely fashion, so he could get out of their way.
Clara walked him to the door to let him out. He thanked her again and she locked the door after him. As soon as she turned around, she was met by Mindy and Bonnie.
“What did you find out?” Mindy asked at once. “One of ’em is gone. I bet you it was that Ada monster.”
“He wouldn’t say,” Clara told them. “I don’t know why they want to keep it a secret, but I know they don’t have but one prisoner now, and it’s not Ada. Flint rode up to Tyler today, he admitted that. I know it was to take that woman there. He said he had to take some papers to the Rangers office. Why didn’t he mail the papers? Because he delivered her with the papers, that’s why. That other prisoner, that Ralph Cox, he’s not the trouble the woman would be because she’s got family that might try to break her outta the jail. Cox can just sit there till the judge gets down here again to try him.”
Feeling smug and satisfied that they knew the latest news before anyone else in town, they went back to work, cleaning up the dining room.