CHAPTER 10
“I may not be here the next time you come,” Janey said. “What?” Big Ben raised himself up on one elbow and looked down at her lying beside him.
The cover came up only to her waist, leaving the rest of her bare body revealed to him. A bar of light slipped in around the edge of the drawn shade, falling upon her right breast and making it gleam in the light.
Ben frowned. “What do you mean you might not be here? Where would you be?”
“I don’t know.”
“Janey, that doesn’t make sense.” Since she’d told him her real name, he insisted on using it when they were together. “I mean, how can you say you aren’t going to be here, but not have any idea where you will be?”
“It’s just that I can’t stay here any longer. I can’t take the chance. They might find me.”
“You can’t take a chance on who finding you? Janey, are you in trouble with the law? If you are, I can afford a lawyer. Hell, I can afford an entire army of lawyers. I don’t care what you did. I know I can get you out of it.”
“No, it isn’t that. I’m not in trouble with the law. It’s my pa and my brother that I’m afraid of.”
“Why are you afraid of them?”
“Ben, do you really think I want them to know that I wound up doing what I do?”
“I don’t think of you in that way.”
“Of course you do. How else can you think of me?”
“I can think of you as my wife.”
Janey sat up in bed and looked at Ben with a surprised expression on her face. “What?” Her voice was so weak that she could barely be heard.
“I said you could be my wife.”
* * *
Marshal Wallace found the Jensens in the hotel dining room. “If you two will come down to the bank, I’ll see to it that you get your reward money. As it turns out, in addition to the five-hundred-dollar reward for Emerson Cox, there was another two hundred dollars bein’ offered for Clarence Haggart. So the total comes to seven hundred dollars. That’s a pretty good sum of money.”
“Yes, sir, it is,” Emmett said. “I wouldn’t have killed the man for the money, but neither I nor my boy had any choice in the matter. What’s done is done, and I have no regrets at taking the money.”
* * *
Ben Conyers parked the surrey in front of the bank, and set the brake. “Wait here, I’ve got some business in the bank, but it’ll only take a couple minutes,” he said with a smile. “Then we’ll go out to Live Oaks Ranch.”
“Where is Live Oaks?” Janey asked.
“It’s just north of Fort Worth. One hundred and twenty thousand acres of the finest land in Texas. You’re going to love it there.”
“I know that I will.” She watched Ben tie off the team, then walk into the bank.
One hundred and twenty thousand acres, he had said. She remembered making the vow never to be the wife of a farmer, but when she’d made that vow she was thinking about the forty acres she had lived on with her family.
The family that she no longer had.
As she was sitting in the carriage she saw the marshal approaching. She knew that, technically, Chicago Sue was violating a city ordinance by running a house of “entertainment,” but she knew, too, that the ordinance was aimed at the rowdy, bawdy houses, more than it was at the Palace Princess Emporium, which actually passed itself off as a private club. Fights, stabbings, and even occasional shootings occurred in the bawdy houses. Such a thing had never occurred at the Palace Princess Emporium, and because of that, neither the marshal, nor any of his deputies, had ever made an official visit.
The marshal stopped at the corner and looked back as if waiting for someone. Appearing from behind the building, two other men joined him.
Recognition dawned and Janey drew a quick, alarmed breath. Her pa and brother were headed right past the surrey! No way they would not see her! She looked around in panic. What could she do?
“Marshal Wallace?” someone shouted.
Marshal Wallace held out his hand to stop her pa and her brother, then he turned his attention to the man who had called out to him. So did Emmett and Kirby.
At that moment, Ben came out of the bank, smiling up at Janey. “We’re all set.”
“Ben, it’s them!” Janey hissed.
“What? It’s who? What are you talking about?”
“Those two men down there with Marshal Wallace. That’s my pa and my brother.”
“Have they seen you yet?”
“No.”
“Come back into the bank with me until they’re gone. No, wait, they might be going to the bank.” Looking around, he saw the Elite Dress Shoppe and smiled. “Come.” He pulled her from the surrey. “We’ll go into the dress shop. It’s for sure and certain they won’t be going there.”
He lifted her down, then put himself between her and the men. “Stay in front of me and keep your head down.”
Although it was only a few steps from the surrey to the dress shop, Janey held her breath and clenched her fists, waiting to hear her name called. She breathed a sigh of relief when they went inside.
“Yes, can I help you?” a female clerk asked.
“Do you have any ready-made dresses? Not everyday work dresses, mind you. I want something fine and beautiful, for a beautiful lady.”
“Indeed we do, sir,” the clerk replied.
“Good, then help her find something, would you? And you can take your time.”
* * *
In the bank, the chief teller counted out seven hundred dollars and handed the money to Emmett. Emmett turned and gave half the money to Kirby.
“That is a great deal of money to be carrying with you,” the bank president said. “I would be very happy to open an account for you.”
Emmett nodded. “Thank you, but we won’t be staying in town long enough to have an account. We’ll be moving on today.”
“I don’t know where you are bound, but if you are looking for a good place to settle down, you won’t find any place any better than Dallas.”
“I’m sure Dallas is a nice town. But my son and I have itchy feet. I’ve seen the Atlantic Ocean. Now I have a hankering to see the Pacific.”
The bank president didn’t understand. “Why? Once you’ve seen one ocean, you’ve seen them all.”
“The boy hasn’t seen either ocean,” Emmett said.
As his pa and the banker were talking, Kirby saw a newspaper lying on a table in the middle of the bank, and he walked over to glance at it.

MISSOURI BUSHWHACKER
TO BE TRIED IN SALCEDO
ELMER GLEASON RODE WITH
BLOODY BILL ANDERSON
 
Elmer Gleason, who is one of the most malevolent men ever to come out of the late war, has been captured in Salcedo. It is said that when he rode with Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson he kept a string of ears severed from the heads of his victims, be they man, woman, or child.
Although those who followed their conscience to fight for the South have been paroled, the villains who rode with Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson can never be forgiven. The trespasses of such men are so great that only He, who is the final arbitrator of the transgressions of those who have made their temporary journey upon this mortal coil, will be able to grant them final remission and absolution of their sins.
Trial for Elmer Gleason will commence on the 28th instant.

“Pa?” Kirby asked when they left the bank a few minutes later. “How long would it take for us to get to Salcedo?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know where Salcedo is or how far it is from here. Why do you ask?”
“We need to go there.”
“We need to go to Salcedo? Why?”
“A friend of mine is in trouble there.”
Emmett frowned impatiently. “What friend? And how come you’re just now tellin’ me this?”
“I didn’t know about it until just now. I saw it in the paper while we was in the bank. We need to be there by the twenty-eighth of this month.”
“You saw in the paper that you have a friend in trouble in Salcedo, and we have to be there by the twenty-eighth? What happens if we don’t get there by the twenty-eighth?”
“It’s more ’n likely, Elmer will get hung.”
“All right. Who is Elmer?”
Kirby figured it was now or never. “Pa, there’s somethin’ me ’n you need to talk about.”
“I’m sure there is.” Emmett waited . . . impatiently.
“Well, I reckon it’s about as good a time as any to tell you.” Kirby took a deep breath. “Pa, the fella I killed yesterday. . . wasn’t the first man I ever killed. I’ve been in some battles, quite a few of ’em, only there wasn’t none of ’em big battles like the kind you fought.”
Without expanding on his own role in the battles, he told of riding with Asa Briggs and being in fights at such places as Clark’s Mill, Hartville, Pilot Knob, Glasgow, Lexington, and Newtonia.
“I was at Baxter Springs, too,” Kirby said. “That’s why I was a little hesitant about us goin’ there. I was afraid someone might recognize me.”
Emmett was shocked. “Boy, answer me, and I want you to tell me the truth. Did you burn any private houses or kill any innocent people?”
“No, Pa, we didn’t. I will say that the Ghost Riders, that’s what those of us who rode with Briggs called ourselves, from time to time joined up with Quantrill for some of the battles. And I’ve heard of some of the things he done, but Briggs was real particular about not killin’ innocent people. And none of that ever happened on those few times Asa Briggs teamed up with Quantrill. Fact is, I don’t think I woulda stayed with him if he had done anything like that.”
“What you just told me has something to do with your friend Elmer?”
“Yes, sir. His name is Elmer Gleason, ’n he rode some with Quantrill and some with Bloody Bill Anderson. Then, toward the end, he rode with Asa Briggs, ’n that’s when he become my friend. But now they got him on trial at Salcedo, on account of he rode with Quantrill and Anderson.”
Emmett gave it some thought. “You say you want to go to Salcedo. What do you plan to do?”
“I’m not sure. But if we can figure out how to do it, I’d like to rescue him.”
“It would mean violatin’ the law.”
“That might be true, Pa. But there’s also such a thing as honor, ain’t there? Seems to me, if I didn’t try to save my friend, that would violate my honor.”
Emmett looked at Kirby for a long moment, then nodded and put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “You’re right. There is such a thing as honor. But, I’ve got a feelin’ you ain’t told me ever’thing.”
“No, sir. I reckon I ain’t.”
“Is it about your ma and your sister?”
“Yes, sir. You asked me why I wanted to kill Angus Shardeen, and what I told you about him killin’ Kenny ’n his family and Merlin ’n his family is true, but that ain’t the all of it. Ma didn’t die in her sleep like I told you. She was killed by the Jayhawkers. Angus Shardeen is the one that shot her.”
“Him in particular? Or one of his men?”
“It was him in particular, Pa, ’cause I seen him do it. I didn’t have no gun or nothin’, so there wasn’t nothin’ I could do. The only reason I joined up with Asa Briggs was ’cause I wanted to go after Shardeen. I wanted to find him and kill him. But we never found him. That’s why I say that if I find him, I’m goin’ to kill ’im.”
“Seems reasonable to me,” Emmett said. “We’ll just add his name to the list of Potter, Stratton, Casey, and Richards.”
“Oh, and Pa, about the funeral for Ma? I lied to you about that, too. I told you that folks come from all over, but the truth is that the only funeral was the one that me ’n Janey give her. It was Janey that dressed her in her best dress, and I’m the one that dug the grave. Janey cleaned out the feedin’ trough, the one that was used for the milk cows, and that’s what we put Ma in. I’m sorry we didn’t have somethin’ a lot more fine for her.”
Emmett nodded. “You know, I have a feelin’ that your ma probably appreciated that a lot more ’n she would have if a whole lot of folks had showed up for it.”
“Yes, sir. I kinda hope that’s the way it is.”
“What about Janey? Did she actually run off like you said?”
“Yes, sir, she did. But I can’t hardly blame her. The same men that killed Ma used Janey, Pa. They used her bad. She left home right after we buried Ma.”
“With the gamblin’ fella?”
Kirby nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“When you started tellin’ the story, I thought it might be somethin’ like that. I reckon now I don’t hold it ag’in her so much that she left as I did. I reckon she felt like she had a good enough reason.”
She might have had a good reason to leave, but she didn’t have a good reason to take all our money with her, Kirby thought, but he didn’t share that with his pa.
“I wonder where she is now?” Emmett asked. “I wonder if she is alive?”
* * *
“Oh, it’s beautiful!” Janey was looking at herself in the mirror at the dress shop as she tried on one of the dresses.
Ben sat in a nearby chair. “Would you like it?”
“Oh, Ben, no. I mean yes, of course I like it. But I can’t let you buy this for me.”
“Why not? It isn’t like I can’t afford it.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Of course it’s the point. You like it, and I like seeing it on you.” He looked at the clerk. “We’ll take it.”
“Wonderful. I’ll just go get the ledger book and the cash box.”
“They’re gone,” Ben said quietly after the clerk left.
Janey turned toward him. “How do you know?”
“I saw them leave the bank and walk down to the Lone Star Hotel. As soon as I pay the clerk, we’ll leave town in the opposite direction.”
“Oh, Ben, are you sure it will be safe? I don’t know what I would do if they actually saw me.”
“How long has it been since either of them saw you?”
“It’s been four years since Pa last saw me, and three years since Kirby saw me.”
“What were you wearing, then?”
“What? I don’t know. Some sort of plain cotton dress, I think.”
“Nothing like this,” he said, taking in the dress she was wearing with a wave of his hand.
Janey looked down at the beautiful dress. “No, nothing like this.”
Ben saw a hat with a veil, and he smiled and picked it up. “Put this on when we leave. The way you look now, you could bump right into them, and I doubt that either of them would recognize you.”
Janey chuckled. “I think you might be right.”
* * *
Kirby and Emmett rode into Waco on the twenty-seventh and went straight to the livery stable.
“What can I do for you gentlemen?” the liveryman asked, meeting them as they dismounted.
“We need to board our horses,” Emmett said. “Is there a place we can leave our things from the pack animals?”
“Yes, sir. We got individual tack rooms you can rent for fifteen cents a night. For an extra nickel, you can rent a lock.”
“Good, that’s what we’ll do.”
“You goin’ to be here long?”
“We’ll be ridin’ out tomorrow, but I plan to leave the two pack horses here for a while. Not sure exactly how long.”
“Your horses will be a quarter apiece. That includes hay. Thirty cents if you want ’em to have oats.”
“We’ll want the oats,” Emmett said. “How far is Salcedo from here?”
“It’s about ten miles. Just follow the railroad south, and you can’t miss it. Headin’ that way, are you?”
“I thought we might take a look.”
“It ain’t that pleasant a town to visit if you want to know the truth of it. They’s a bunch of Yankee soldiers down there right now reconstructin’ us, ’n they’ve plumb took over the town. The mayor and the city marshal got no say at all. They got a Yankee captain that runs the town ’n a Yankee judge that makes the laws. The people o’ the town ain’t got nothin’ to say about it.”
“I thank you for the information.”
“But you plannin’ on goin’ anyway, ain’t you?”
“Yeah,” Emmett answered. “We’ll take the two saddle mounts tomorrow. Here’s sixty cents for them.”
“What about the pack horses?”
“I’d like to sell ’em, if you know anyone that might be interested.”
The liveryman stroked his chin and examined the two pack horses. “I might be. How much would you be askin’ for ’em?”
“Fifty dollars apiece.”
“I need to make a little money from ’em. I’ll give you thirty dollars.”
They settled on forty dollars apiece.
The liveryman gave Emmett the money. “I’ll look after ’em real good until I sell ’em. Good luck in Salcedo.”
Emmett nodded. “Thanks.”
* * *
“What do you have in mind for tomorrow?” Emmett asked Kirby in their hotel room that night.
“I don’t know, exactly, Pa. Maybe I could testify for him or somethin’.”
“What would you say?”
“I’d say that I rode with him when I was with the Ghost Riders, and I never saw him do anything bad.”
“I doubt that will help.”
“Prob’ly not. But, Pa, he’s a friend. I can’t just turn my back on a friend now, can I?”
“No,” Emmett said. “You’re right to try and do what you can for a friend.”
* * *
Emmett and Kirby followed the railroad south from Waco until they came to Salcedo, identified by a sign attached to the end of the depot, a small, red-painted, wooden building. Posted alongside the track was another sign.

CAUTION TO BRAKEMEN
NO SIDE CLEARANCE AHEAD

As they passed the depot they saw another sign that listed the passenger schedule.

NORTHBOUND TRAINS
11 AM 5 PM 11 PM
SOUTHBOUND TRAINS
9 AM 2 PM 9 PM

Leaving the track they had followed from Waco, they rode on into town where they passed a hangman’s gallows in the middle of the street. They stopped to read a sign that had been nailed to the gallows.

AT TEN O’CLOCK TOMORROW MORNING
ELMER GLEASON
THE BUSHWHACKER BUTCHER
WILL BE HANGED
ON THESE GALLOWS

“You boys here for the hangin’, are you?” asked a toothless old man.
“Have we missed the trial?” Kirby asked. “The paper said the trial was today.”
“No, you ain’t missed it. They’ll be holdin’ the trial at one o’clock today.”
“I don’t understand. This sign says Elmer will be hung tomorrow morning. How can they say that if he hasn’t been found guilty.”
“Oh, they’ll find him guilty all right. They ain’t no gettin’ around that. You called him Elmer. He a friend o’ yours, is he?”
“Elmer is what the name on the sign says, isn’t it?” Emmett asked, speaking quickly before his son could reply.
The old-timer nodded. “Yeah, that’s what the sign says, all right.”
“Then that’s why we called him Elmer. Where’s the trial to be held?” Emmett asked.
“Onliest place it can be held.” The old man pointed toward the largest building in town. “Right down there in the Scalded Cat Saloon. But iffen you’re wantin’ a drink, you’d best get it before one o’clock, ’cause that Yankee that’s been appointed judge won’t let Clyde sell any liquor while the trial is goin’ on.”
“Thank you for the information,” Emmett said.
“Sorry ’bout your friend.” The old man waved a hand as the two rode farther into town.
They passed the jail. Two armed soldiers were standing out front.
“Pa, do you think they’d let us see Elmer?”
“I don’t know. But we won’t know unless we try.”
Dismounting, the two tied off their horses, then started across the street toward the jail.
One of the soldiers stepped out in front of them. “Where do you think you’re goin’?”
“We want to talk to the prisoner,” Kirby said.
“Why?”
“That would be between us and the prisoner,” Emmett replied.
“Yeah? Well it don’t matter what it’s about, ’cause you ain’t goin’ to see ’im.”
“Take their guns and let ’em see ’im,” said the other soldier, a sergeant. “He’ll be dead by a little after three today, anyway, so what’s it goin’ to hurt?”
“All right, Sarge. If you say so,” the private said. “You boys give me your guns, ’n you can go on in.”
Emmett and Kirby surrendered their pistols, then stepped into the office. Four men were playing cards around a desk, two civilians wearing badges and two soldiers. One of the soldiers had captain’s bars on his shoulder board.
One of the men wearing a badge looked up. “What can I do for you?”
Kirby spoke first. “Marshal, the sergeant out front took our weapons and told us we could visit with the prisoner.”
“Yeah? Why do you want to visit with him?”
“We’re looking for someone and he might be able to tell us where to find him,” Emmett said.
The marshal was quiet for a moment, then he nodded. “All right. Go ahead, but I’ll tell you right now, he ain’t much of a talker. We’ve been tryin’ to get him to tell us if there’s any more of Quantrill or Anderson’s men down here, but he ain’t told us nothin’.”
“You goin’ to talk all day or are you goin’ to play cards?” one of the others asked. “I’ve got a good hand here, one that’s goin’ to get me back even.”
“Go on over there and talk to him, if you want,” the marshal said, pointing to the single cell at the back of the room.
Kirby walked to the cell. Elmer Gleason was lying on his bunk with his hands laced behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.
“Hi, Elmer,” Kirby said.
“Damn, I thought that sounded like your voice.” Elmer sat up and threw his legs over the side of his bunk. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
“Well, that was damn fine of you.”
Kirby motioned to his pa. “Elmer, this is my pa.”
Elmer walked over to stick his hand through the bars. “It’s good to meet the boy’s pa after all this time. He’s always spoke high of you, but I’m sure you know that.”
“He’s a good boy,” Emmett replied.
“Elmer, how’d you wind up here in jail?” Kirby asked.
“I got drunk.”
“Drunk? They put you in jail for bein’ drunk?”
“Not exactly just for bein’ drunk. What happened was, I was just passin’ through town ’n I stopped in at the Scalded Cat for a couple o’ drinks. Well, it was a lot of drinks, ’n I got drunk ’n wound up tellin’ that I rode with Quantrill. I figured, this bein’ a Southern town, there wouldn’t be no problem with it. Turned out they was a lot of Yankee soldiers in the saloon alistenin’ to me, ’n the next thing I knew, I was arrested and brought here.”
“Why would they arrest you for that? There’s no paper out on any of the men who rode with Quantrill, is there?” Emmett asked.
“Not that I know of, except maybe Archie Clement,” Elmer said. “But I don’t think that matters. They want me, and they’ve got me.”
“All right. You’ve visited with the prisoner long enough,” the marshal said. “We’ve got to get him ready for the trial.”
“We’ll be at your trial,” Kirby said.
“I appreciate it. And it was real nice of you two to drop by.”