CHAPTER 17
Texas Ranger Matt Conway pulled his horse up to the hitching rail in front of the Tinhorn sheriff’s office and dismounted. It was still fairly early on this Monday morning, so Flint was in the office while Buck was at the saloon for his usual late breakfast. Busy cleaning his rifle, Flint looked up when Conway walked in the door. “Sheriff Jackson?”
“No, I’m Deputy Moran. The sheriff stepped over to eat a bite of breakfast.” He took notice of the Ranger’s badge pinned to Conway’s vest. “You lookin’ for Ada Tubbs?”
“As a matter of fact.” Conway laughed. “And it sure woulda been nice if she was locked up in your jail.” He extended his hand and Flint shook it. “I’m Matt Conway and I came down to see if you folks could tell me how to get to her pa’s house. We followed her trail outta Tyler all the way to Athens with no trace a-tall. So, they sent me down here to check out her daddy’s place, in case she went back there.”
“I’d be glad to take you out to the Trask place,” Flint said. “You probably wanna talk to Sheriff Jackson, so why don’t we go across the street. You musta left Tyler early to get here this time of mornin’. Do you need to get something to eat? If you do, you missed the dinin’ room for breakfast. They’ve already closed. If you’re hungry, you can get something across the street at the saloon. But I ain’t recommendin’ it. The sheriff eats there most days because he likes to eat later in the mornin’.”
Conway looked lost in the conversation.
“I’m tellin’ you all this to keep you from gettin’ hoof-and-mouth disease, or something worse. But if you’re real hungry, the coffee’s all right, and so are the biscuits. Anything else, you’ve been warned.”
“Well, I sure appreciate all the information.” Conway chuckled. “I might try the coffee.”
They walked into Jake’s Place and found Buck sitting at a table talking to Jake. “Buck, this is Ranger Matt Conway from up Tyler way.”
Buck nodded cordially and Jake got up out of his chair. “Here, let me get outta the way, if you boys need to talk some official business. Can I get you anything? Something to eat. Some coffee? Something stronger?”
“I believe that’s the whole menu.” Buck chuckled. “You want anything, Mr. Conway?”
Conway took a look at Buck’s plate before he answered. “I’ll take a cup of coffee and a couple of those biscuits. And throw in a piece of that ham with ’em.”
Jake picked up his coffee cup and moved it to another table not quite out of earshot, then went into the kitchen to give Rena the order.
“I was wonderin’ if you boys wouldn’t be showin’ up here in Tinhorn before much longer,” Buck said. “There weren’t no sign of her in Athens, was there?”
Conway shook his head.
Buck continued. “We figured Ada musta thought out some way to throw you on the wrong track.”
“She stopped at a store right outside of Tyler and bought some things. It’s at the crossroad leadin’ to Athens. She asked the store owner where that road went and he told her. She musta figured he’d watch to see which road she took.”
“Like we say here,” Buck said, “she’s crazy as hell, but she ain’t dumb. The telegram said she killed a guard. How’d she do that?” When Conway told them of the brutal killing of the guard, Leon Rafer, Buck remarked once again, “She’s crazy as hell.” He paused when Rena brought the Ranger coffee and a plate and let him take a couple of sips and a bite of a biscuit before continuing. “So you want Flint to take you out to Liam Trask’s place, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Conway responded. “That’s what I want, or at least tell me how I might find it myself if you can’t spare him.”
“Things are pretty quiet around here today, so we’re glad to help the Rangers any way we can. He’s been itchin’ to ride out there, anyway, to take a look around.”
“If you rode all the way from Tyler this mornin’, you’re gonna need to rest your horse. It’s about ten-and-a-half miles out to Trask’s,” Flint told him. “We can throw your saddle on another horse and let yours rest up while we go up there. ’Course, if you’re goin’ right back to Tyler tonight, you could lead your horse up to Trask’s ’cause you’ll be halfway to Tyler.”
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” Conway said. “It depends on what I find. I didn’t bring a packhorse with me, but if I pick up a strong trail I’ll get on it, anyway.”
“Let me remind you, Flint,” Buck declared in an official-like tone, “you’ve got a job here in this town. You ain’t a Texas Ranger, so you take Mr. Conway to the Trask place and then you come home.”
* * *
Conway decided he would lead his horse up to Trask’s place, just in case he picked up a trail that took him farther west or north. Flint figured the Ranger planned to go on back to Tyler all along, and that was the reason for no packhorse. So while he was eating his biscuits and ham, Flint went to the stable and saddled Buster. Then he led Jed Tubbs’ horse back to the saloon and Conway threw his saddle on him.
Rena put the rest of her biscuits and ham in a sack and gave them to Flint. “Here. It’ll be close to dinnertime by the time you get where you’re goin’.”
“Why, that’s mighty kind of you,” Flint told her. “I’m beginnin’ to think all those bad things Jake says about you ain’t true.”
“Everybody knows Jake’s the biggest liar in town,” Rena said.
* * *
They made the trip up to the path that led into Trask’s farm in about two-and-a-half hours, taking it easy on Conway’s horse. The first thing Flint noticed as they approached the house was the empty pasture beyond the barn. They pulled up to look the place over before riding on into the yard. There was no sign of anyone about, but they did not think it wise to assume that to be the case. Flint had been convinced Liam Trask and his son, Vike, had fled somewhere to the south of Tinhorn, and would not come back. The question in his mind was, did Ada come back, and if so, would she have stayed there? As a precaution, before going into the house, they rode beyond it and went in the back of the barn when they found that the back door was open. When they found no horses, and no sign of anything of useful value in the tack room, they felt pretty sure no one was in the house, either, and rode their horses straight through the barn, up to the back steps of the house, and tied them there.
Inside the house was ample evidence of the evacuation of Trask and his sons, which Flint assumed happened before they tried to free Ada from the jail. The question he and Conway came to find an answer for was whether or not Ada actually came there first. The one room that was obviously Ada’s was in disarray, as were the others. But the short hanging rod on the wall had half a dozen dresses, and the dresser drawers were filled with feminine undergarments and stockings. The first impression was she had not returned to her home, but then Flint saw the definite proof that she had been there. On the floor in the corner of the room, he recognized the gingham dress she’d worn ever since he kidnapped her from the outhouse path. Lying near it were the shoes he recognized as well.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Conway swore when Flint told him. “She did send us off on a wild goose chase. She set that whole thing up with that visit to the store. Now the question is which way did she go from here?”
“I’ve gotta believe Trask and his son came back to get the horses that were in that pasture,” Flint declared. “I think there’s a chance she went with ’em. But if she didn’t, I think she mighta gone to the same place on her own.” He looked at Conway and shrugged. “If I was a Texas Ranger, that’s the trail I would follow. And a trail left by fifty horses ain’t a hard trail to follow.”
“If you were a Texas Ranger,” Conway replied, “you woulda probably brought a packhorse with you. I was so damn sure that woman was headed for Injun Territory, I didn’t bother with the packhorse ’cause I just knew she didn’t come this way.”
“Maybe she didn’t. I was just sayin’ that’s what I would do.”
Conway agreed. “That’s what I have to do. I think you’re right about those horses. Her father was movin’ ’em someplace he thinks is safe. She could very well be goin’ to the same place. I just made the job of followin’ her a whole lot tougher on myself.”
“I’d go with you, if I wanted to lose my job. You heard the sheriff when he told me to get myself back to Tinhorn. But maybe we can make it easier for you. I can leave this extra horse with you for a packhorse. I saw a sheet of canvas out there in the barn. We oughta be able to cut it up in some strips and rig you up a pack saddle. It looks like these folks were in a hurry to get outta here, so we oughta check that smokehouse on the other side of the barn. There might be some cured meat still hanging in there. We can look in the kitchen for anything you could use. Hell, they musta left something you could cook.” He could see from Conway’s expression that he was up for it, so they got right to it.
By the time they were finished, Conway figured his horse was rested and watered enough to start again. Flint took another look at the makeshift pack saddle they had made out of canvas strips to make sure it wasn’t going to come loose and dump the load of dried beans they’d found in the pantry. The bags that held them looked suspiciously like Ada’s drawers.
“I believe it’s gonna hold together,” Flint decided.
“Flint, I appreciate your help on this job,” Conway said after he climbed up into the saddle. “I don’t think I woulda thought of that canvas pack saddle.”
“Glad I could help,” Flint replied. “Wish I could go with you. If I was you, I’d be extra careful if you do catch up with that woman. There ain’t no tellin’ what she’s capable of.”
“You don’t have to tell me that,” Conway said. “Not after I saw the job she did on Leon Rafer.” He gave him a little salute with his forefinger to the brim of his hat and rode out of the yard to follow the trail left by fifty horses.
“Good huntin’,” Flint called after him, then stepped up into the saddle and turned Buster back toward the Tyler-Tinhorn road. He had mixed feelings about the tracking of Ada Tubbs. He had no great desire to go with Conway to track Ada and her family down. Buck was right. It was the Rangers’ job now. Flint should be satisfied that he had helped put a Ranger on her trail. But the trouble with Ada started out in Tinhorn, and it bothered him to think the Tinhorn lawmen didn’t take care of the whole job.
* * *
Well past the dinner hour, but not quite time for supper, Flint rode back into Tinhorn and left his horse with Lon Blake. As usual, Lon wanted to know where Flint had been, so he told him the Texas Rangers were after Ada. They briefly discussed the Rangers’ chances of catching her. Since he was closer to the boarding house than he was to the jail, he decided to go by his room first to get a clean pair of socks. He had worn a hole in the heel of his right sock, and it was beginning to irritate him. He walked around to the back of the house to the back steps and his preferred entrance. He changed his socks, pulled his boots back on, and was just locking the door when he turned around to find Hannah standing in the kitchen doorway, smiling at him. “Oh, howdy, Miz Green.” he blurted. “You took me by surprise.”
She laughed politely. “I looked out the window and saw you sneaking around to your room,” she teased. “Some of my guests think you go out of your way to avoid conversation.”
“Is that what they think?” Flint asked, pretending to frown. “I reckon they’re smarter than I thought.” He laughed. “No, it’s just that it’s quicker to go straight to my room if I walk through the yard.”
“Missed you again at dinner,” Hannah commented. “You and the sheriff eat at Clara’s?”
“No, I had to ride halfway to Tyler to help a Texas Ranger, and I didn’t get back till right now.”
“So you missed dinner again. How are you gonna keep your strength up if you don’t eat when you’re supposed to?”
He laughed again. “I don’t miss many meals. That’s for sure.”
“Well, I made a good guess. I had a craving for a fresh cup of coffee, but I didn’t want to waste coffee on myself. So, when I saw you coming this way, I put my small pot on the stove, and it oughta be just about ready by now. I’ve got a couple of biscuits left from dinner and some apple butter. I’m inviting you to join me for coffee.” When he hesitated a few moments, thinking he should let Buck know he was back, she said, “No, I’m insisting you join me for coffee.”
“When you put it that way, I reckon I’d better say I’d be pleased to pieces to sit down and have some coffee. I am kinda hungry.”
“Good,” she gushed and held the kitchen door open for him. “Just follow me.” In the kitchen, she pointed to a chair at the table. “Sit yourself down. We’ll have our coffee at the kitchen table. It’s cozier than the dining room.”
He did as she instructed, realizing he could use some coffee and biscuits since he had insisted Matt Conway take all the biscuits with him that Rena had given them that morning.
However, Flint was beginning to feel a little discomfort as a result of Hannah Green’s sudden special attention to him. Hannah was an attractive woman, no denying that. She had to be a few years older than he, but not so many that it wouldn’t work out. But he wasn’t in the market for any permanent arrangements with a woman. And she was so doggone nice, he did not want to hurt her feelings.
She poured two cups of coffee, placed a plate before him with a couple of biscuits on it, and put a jar of apple butter beside the plate. “Do you want me to butter your biscuits for you?”
“Ah, no, ma’am. I can do it.”
She took a sip of her coffee. “This is so nice. I’m glad you came home and gave me an excuse to make coffee.” She gave him a sweet smile. “You know, Flint Moran, every time I see you come in the house, I can’t help but think of my niece. She’s about your age, maybe a little younger. Her name is Nancy. She’s written me that she’s thinking about coming to see me, and I just bet you two would be the best of friends.”
“Whoo, boy!” Flint blurted in total relief before he could catch himself. When Hannah looked alarmed, he quickly explained. “Hot coffee. I took a big gulp, and it was hot.” He grabbed the spoon beside the apple butter jar and spooned out some of it on the biscuits. “I just thought about Buck. He’s waitin’ for me to get back to report. If I take too long, he’ll come lookin’ for me. I really do appreciate you doin’ this for me. I hate to be a bother.”
“Not at all,” Hannah said. “Like I said, I was craving some coffee for myself.”
He quickly finished and thanked her again. “I’d better get goin’. I’m sure I’d like your niece, if she’s anywhere near as nice as you are.”
Buck was in the office when Flint walked in. “I was just about ready to go look for you, but I got my usual report from Lon Blake that you were in town somewhere. I figured you’d eventually come in to tell me what you found up there at Trask’s.”
“Ada was there, but she ain’t now,” Flint said. “Somebody went up there and took the horses. Ranger Matt Conway is following the trail left by the herd of horses, and he wants you to telegraph Ranger headquarters and tell them that. End of report.” He paused, then said, “And we’re now missin’ one horse. Conway took it for a packhorse.”
Buck naturally wanted more details than that, starting with, “How do you know Ada was there?”
Flint told him about the dress and the shoes, then told him about the making of the rig for a pack saddle.
“I bet that was your idea,” Buck remarked. “I hope that Ranger knows what he’s dealin’ with in that woman.”
“I think he does. He got a look at what Ada did to that guard.” He chuckled when he thought of something else. “I don’t think he’ll ever go off again without takin’ a packhorse.”
* * *
Later that day, Ranger Matt Conway was thinking those same thoughts. He had followed the broad trail left by Liam Trask’s horses until it began to get too dark to see, then stopped at the first place that looked suitable for his camp. He guided his horses to a creek bank close by the path he had followed since leaving Flint. After taking the saddle off his horse, he unloaded his packhorse, watching carefully to make sure he remembered how to put the rig back together again in the morning. He considered the dried beans he had brought, but he had no means, nor the time, to soak them properly, and he had no pan. He resigned himself to having a supper of water and the bacon he’d found in the smokehouse, saying a silent prayer of thanks for Rena’s biscuits. He told himself it was a lesson he was being taught.
Breakfast the next morning was the same fare, bacon and the last biscuit, with an even stronger craving for a cup of coffee.
After putting his pack saddle back together properly, he took up the trail again, alternating his pace between walking and trotting. The trail led him eventually to a river he could only guess might be the Angelina. The herd of horses had crossed over the river, then continued south again. It was late afternoon when he saw ranch buildings up ahead, and what was most likely the end of the trail. He rode a little closer before he saw the pastures beyond a thin ribbon of trees, probably lining a stream, he figured. There were many more than fifty horses in the string of pastures. The question before him now, to ride on in to inquire, or to set up someplace to watch the house and barn.
That decision was made for him when he realized he had already been spotted. A rider sat watching him from the top of a low ridge to his left. Movement in the line of trees on his right told him another rider was on that side. Conway reached up, took his badge off his vest, put it in an inside pocket, and nudged his horse with his heel toward the ranch buildings.
Entering the barnyard, he saw a couple of men come out of the barn to meet him, so he guided his horse toward them. Off to his left, the back door to the house opened and another man walked out to stand on the small porch to watch.
“Howdy,” Harley Fletcher greeted him, while his brother, Justin, walked around to the other side of him.
Conway returned the greeting. That was all that was said for a few awkward moments until Vike Trask came out of the barn to join them.
“I swear, mister, that’s some pack saddle you got on that horse,” Vike said. All three men laughed at that.
“Yeah, ain’t that somethin’?” Conway replied. “But sometimes you gotta go with whatever you got. Somebody stole my packhorse, so I had to make one.”
“Dang,” Harley said. “That is tough luck. What brings you out to this part of the county?”
“Horses,” Conway answered. “I was hired to find a source to buy good horses, so I came to get a look at the stock. I see you’ve got plenty of horses, so I must be in the right place. What ranch is this?”
“What ranch are you lookin’ for?” Harley answered, a wide smile spread across his face.
“Well, you see, that’s just the problem,” Conway answered. “I had the name of the ranch and the directions on how to get there in a notebook that was on my packhorse. And I hate to admit it, but I can’t remember the name to save my soul.”
“Was it Fletcher?” Justin asked.
“That sounds right,” Conway replied, “I believe it was Fletcher. Is this the Fletcher ranch?”
“What is it, Harley?” Malcolm Fletcher called out from the kitchen steps.
“Feller says he was lookin’ for the Fletcher ranch ’cause he’s lookin’ to buy some horses,” Harley answered.
“He is?” Malcolm went down the steps to join them. “Howdy. I’m Malcolm Fletcher. I own this ranch. We’re fixin’ to drive our horses to Fort Worth to the market. How many are you lookin’ to buy?”
“Not as many as you’ve got out there in that pasture.” Caught in his hoax, Conway was forced to continue.
“Maybe it weren’t us you were supposed to find,” Malcolm suggested. “Maybe you was lookin’ for the Trask farm. They’ve got a smaller herd.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Conway said, not at all comfortable with the situation since Malcolm casually mentioned Trask. He was afraid they were suspicious. Four of them now stood around him and his horses, and they were all grinning like dogs eating yellow jackets. “Well, it was nice meeting you folks. I reckon I’d best turn around and see if I can find the Trask farm.”
Before he could turn his horse, Malcolm took hold of the bridle and held him. “What’s your hurry? It’s too late to find Trask today. You might as well step down and take supper with us. We don’t get the chance to entertain many visitors. Right now, we got some folks from back up your way that’s visitin’. I know they’d like to say hello.” He turned his head toward the house and yelled, “Ada, there’s somebody out here to see ya.”
Conway’s body went tense immediately as he looked at four drawn guns aimed at him. He felt his blood stop in his veins when he saw the tall, lanky woman step outside the kitchen door.
Malcolm called out to her. “Ada, is this your deputy sheriff from Tinhorn come to see ya?”
“No, that ain’t him,” Ada called back. “I ain’t ever seen him before.” She walked out and stood with them.
“He ain’t?” Malcolm responded. He had thought for sure this was Flint Moran, the deputy who was chasing Ada, Vike, and their father.
“I coulda told you that,” Vike said. “I didn’t know you thought it was Moran.”
Back to Conway then, Malcolm demanded, “Then, who the hell are you? Pull him down from there, boys.”
Harley and Justin grabbed Conway and pulled him off the horse. Each holding one of Conway’s arms, they stood him up before their father. Vike stepped behind him and relieved him of his weapon. By this time, all the Fletcher and Trask families had come to witness the action.
Malcolm started searching through Conway’s vest and shirt. “Uh-oh, wait a minute, what is this? Folks, we have caught us a genuine Texas Ranger.” Back to Conway again, he asked, “Mister, what in the world were you thinkin’, to come ridin’ in here like this?”
Since in his mind, he was already dead, Conway calmly responded, “To tell you the truth, Mr. Fletcher, since I got up this mornin’, I’ve made one mistake after another, and I reckon this last one is the biggest.”
“I swear, I kinda like this feller’s attitude,” Malcolm remarked, then jumped, startled when a gun went off right beside him, and Conway clutched his chest and collapsed.
They all reacted to the sudden shot and turned to see Ada standing there, the Colt Six-Shooter still pointing toward the fallen man.
“He was a Texas Ranger,” she offered calmly in explanation, turned around, and went back into the house.
Her blatant act of extermination, as heartless as killing a rat in a trap, was the shock that brought a cold fact to the forefront. As Ada coldly stated, he was a Texas Ranger, and now the question to be answered was, how did he know to come here, looking for Ada? That was going to be the topic of discussion around the supper table that night, and whether or not it was to have any effect upon the plans to rob the Tinhorn bank.
Malcolm Fletcher was understandably concerned that the Trasks’ arrival on his ranch had put them all in jeopardy.
It was Ada who was worried the least of all, and she offered her reasons why. “I spent enough time in the Tinhorn jail to learn how the sheriff and deputy think. Buck Jackson doesn’t want his deputy working outside the town limits of Tinhorn. Jackson expects Moran to do the job he’s paid to do. That’s why they ain’t come looking for Papa and Vike.” She looked at her father. “They think they’ve run you out of town, and for Buck Jackson, that’s all he wants. Besides, he knows he has hurt you with Kyle’s death. They have turned me over to the Rangers, so they have washed their hands of me. As for this Ranger today, you saw that he came alone. If they thought I was down here near Nacogdoches, there would have been more. They sent him alone just to make sure I was not back at our farm. He saw the big trail the herd of horses left, so he followed it. He was just lucky, or unlucky, as it turned out for him. They don’t know where he is, and if they come lookin’ for him, they’ll go to our old homeplace north of Tinhorn. They don’t know where we are, and the Tinhorn sheriff doesn’t care where we are.”
A lot more was discussed on the issue, but generally, both families agreed that Ada was probably right. And their activities should continue as planned.