THE RELENTLESS SUN beat down upon the grassland as the two horsemen guided their mounts from the bloody sands of Apache Springs toward the waiting covered wagon which had not moved an inch since the mysterious vigilante had left it less than an hour before.
They could see the faces of the occupants of the prairie schooner watching them as they crossed the high grassed range which fringed the edge of the sprawling desert a mile or so beyond the stationary wagon. It was obvious by their expressions that they had heard the sound of the incessant gun battle.
Only the face of the wagon driver, Cal White, showed no alarm in his seasoned features as he chewed on the stem of his pipe and watched the two riders nearing the wagon. He had expected to see the long-framed horseman Uriah Moon returning unscathed. White knew that Moon did not die as easily as other men tended to do.
Uriah Moon gripped his long leathers tightly and pulled them back against his chest as he and the young cowboy, Billy Rocco approached through clouds of dust.
Even at distance the riders could see the golden haired females watching them as they hastily disembarked and stood beside the wagon. Cal White watered and fed the two sturdy horses harnessed between its traces before climbing back on to his high perch to chew on his pipe.
‘Here comes Uriah, girls,’ the handsome June Marcus said as she stood with her hands resting upon the shoulders of the Hooper sisters. It was after she had spoken that it dawned upon her than none of the troopers who had accompanied the vigilante into town were not with him.
The alert Betty Hooper had also noticed.
‘Where are the soldiers, June?’ the youngest Hooper sister asked her guardian. ‘And who is that cowboy with Uriah?’
June was wondering exactly the same thing herself.
‘I don’t know, child,’ June replied honestly.
‘I bet they’re dead,’ Betty said.
‘Don’t say that.’ Josie pushed her sibling.
‘Quiet, girls,’ June Marcus said as her eyes watched the pair of skilled horsemen approaching through the arid terrain which separated them from Apache Springs. There were so many more questions filling the widow lady as she anxiously watched the two riders advancing toward the stationary wagon.
She had heard the seemingly relentless sound of gunshots ringing out from within the heart of Apache Springs just like the veteran wagon driver and the youngsters. Yet she knew nothing of what had occurred.
Her eyes had not witnessed the bodies which had been cut down in frantic mayhem. June Marcus did not know how lucky she was for that small mercy.
Uriah Moon slowed his gelded mustang as he and the young cowboy drew nearer the four awaiting souls. Then as they got closer the vigilante eased back on his reins and stopped his mount. Billy Rocco also pulled back on his leathers and halted his quarter horse and grinned at the watching quartet.
White clambered back down from the driver’s seat and moved closer to the pair of riders. His wrinkled eyes could see that both men had been in a gun fight and his flared nostrils had caught the scent of smoke lingering on their six-guns.
‘Where are the troopers, Moon?’ White asked as he rested a hand on the shoulder of one of his team.
Moon dismounted at the same time as the cowboy and moved to the veteran soldier. He did not speak at first as he lifted a long metal ladle and scooped out water from the barrel attached to the side of the wagon. After he quenched his thirst he handed the ladle to Rocco and then moved to the side of the curious old soldier.
It was as though the wagon driver already knew the answer to his question but needed to hear it before he could accept it as reality.
Moon exhaled and glanced at the three females before moving closer to the old timer.
‘Two of the critters are dead and I ain’t sure where the third one is, Cal,’ he muttered before again glancing at the concerned faces of the females. ‘I got me a feeling he’s getting himself drunk and if I was a drinker, I’d have joined him.’
White squared up to the vigilante and looked up into his expressionless face. He nervously touched the sleeve of the tall figure beside him.
‘What happened, Moon?’ he asked. ‘It sounded like the fourth of July from here but by the looks of you and that wrangler, it was a bit more lethal than simple fireworks.’
That was an understatement and Moon knew it. It had been a bloody but brief battle which was not of the vigilante’s making and he still did not fully understand what had occurred.
Moon narrowed his eyes. ‘I don’t know exactly what happened, Cal. Me and the boys heard the shooting before we even got there and we rode into the crossfire. We had to fight for our lives just to survive. Unfortunately, the troopers were a tad green and two of them got shot off their horses before we knew what was happening. Damned if I can figure it, but one thing I do know is that the girl’s uncle is dead and they won’t be able to stay there like we thought.’
June passed Rocco and stood close to the vigilante.
‘I heard that, Uriah,’ she stated. ‘Their uncle is dead?’
Moon touched the wide brim of his Stetson and gave a respectful bow to the beautiful female. He stroked his beard and exhaled before speaking.
‘Yep, Drew Bowen was cut down by a bunch of gun-toting hombres, June,’ Moon reluctantly informed. ‘It looked to me that he was trying to escape from them but the gunmen riddled him and his horse with lead in the middle of the street.’
‘But why?’ she asked the tall emotionless character as she covered her mouth with her hands. ‘Why him? Of all the folks in Apache Springs, why did he have to get himself killed?’
Moon stroked his beard as he too attempted to work out why the one man they were seeking had been slain.
‘I’m not sure, but then them hombres turned their guns on the boys and me,’ Moon recalled as his fingers pulled his tobacco pouch from his vest pocket and began rolling a cigarette. ‘It was loco and two of the troopers were killed even before we had time to dismount. All I know for sure is that the leader of the gunmen was a varmint named Buck Bryce. He was waiting to be hanged in El Paso when he somehow escaped.’
June looked tenderly at the tall man.
‘Why would this Bryce want to kill the girl’s uncle?’ she wondered. ‘Does that make any sense, Uriah?’
‘I don’t understand any of it, June,’ Moon admitted before adding. ‘But that Bryce character was no fool. He was a paid assassin. Drew Bowen must have wronged him somehow by my figuring. Anyway, we left a lot of dead back there outside Bowen’s house. A hell of a lot of dead.’
June looked to the girls as they embarrassed Rocco and danced around him playfully. She then returned her attention to the vigilante as he expertly rolled the gummed paper between his long slim digits.
‘I’m no lawyer but by my reckoning the girls must be Drew Bowen’s next of kin, Uriah,’ she said knowingly.
His eyes glanced at her as he raised the cigarette to his lips and ran his tongue along its gummed edge. He was thoughtful as he placed the pouch back into a vest pocket and then placed the paper tube into the corner of his mouth.
‘What you mean, June?’ Moon asked as his thumbnail ignited a match and raised it swiftly to his cigarette. He filled his lungs with smoke and then tossed the blackened match at the surrounding sand. ‘You mean they should inherit all his money and things?’
The widow lady led the tall vigilante further away from the young girls as they teased and taunted the grinning Billy Rocco. When June was sure that she could not be overheard she stopped and watched as Moon sucked in more smoke.
‘That’s exactly what I mean, Uriah,’ she said.
Moon did not know much about such things. He tilted his head as his icy blue eyes studied her handsome features.
‘Sounds about right,’ he agreed. ‘If that’s the case then Josie and Betty should be mighty wealthy young ladies. The trouble is they could not be left here in Apache Springs on their lonesome. They’re too young and innocent.’
June looked at the sandy ground. ‘I’ve grown kinda fond of those girls, Uriah. I’ve been acting as their guardian for a short while now. I wouldn’t mind continuing until they no longer need me.’
Moon started to silently nod.
He knew she was right. He blew a line of grey smoke into the bright cloudless sky and nodded as he rested a hand on her slender shoulder.
At that very moment the sound of horses filled the arid plains and made the vigilante stretch to his full height and look over the shoulders of the closest of the wagon horses. He glanced at his young cowboy pal.
‘Who is that, Billy?’ Moon drawled as he tossed the cigarette away and rested his hands on his holstered gun grips. ‘I sure hope it ain’t more trouble. I ain’t reloaded my guns yet.’
The cowboy managed to move away from the mischievous young females and looked around the tailgate of the covered wagon at the advancing horsemen. His grin grew wider as he recognized the riders. Rocco turned to the vigilante and smiled.
‘Don’t go fretting, Moon,’ he said. ‘That’s my boss, Ken Major. Him and the boys must have heard the ruckus and come looking to see what’s happening.’
Moon was relieved as watched the approaching horsemen.
‘Yeah, I remember him and the rest of his Double K cowboys.’ He nodded and led June to the wagon tailgate and looked at the cowboy. ‘He’s the only honest rancher in these parts.’
‘He must have heard the shooting, Moon,’ Rocco said.
Uriah Moon raised an eyebrow as his ice blue eyes looked down at the attractive female. ‘I reckon he’ll be able to help sort things out for the girls. Majors is one of the good guys and you can trust him.’
June smiled. ‘So you think it’s a good idea, Uriah?’
‘Yep,’ Moon drawled. ‘what I know about Majors is that he would never cheat folks. It just ain’t in his nature.’
Moon’s words soothed June. She gave a sigh of relief as the tall figure moved away from her side. The vigilante walked toward the approaching riders and stood squarely before them. He did not shy an inch as the horsemen stopped their mounts a few feet away from his imposing frame.
Moon gave a nod to the rancher.
Ken Majors dismounted and walked up to Moon. The sight of the haunting figure answered every question which burned like branding irons into the rancher’s curiosity.
Majors moved closer to the mysterious figure who stood motionless with his narrowed eyes studying not only himself but also his riders.
It was like being watched by a ghost. A ghost who rested his hands upon the grips of his holstered six-shooters as the gentle breeze moved his long beard.
‘I might have figured that you would be behind all that shooting that me and the boys heard,’ Majors said wryly. ‘Who you killed now?’
‘A heap of hombres,’ Moon retorted. ‘I didn’t get their names, Majors.’
Even as the rancher stood beside the vigilante, his attention had already been attracted to June Marcus who stood in the warming rays of the sun. To Majors it was like looking at a goddess. He returned his attention briefly to Moon.
‘Any particular reason?’ Majors added.
Uriah Moon slowly nodded and turned his head to face the rancher. It was obvious to the vigilante that Majors attention was on the handsome widow lady.
‘Yeah, I had me a reason. They were trying to kill me,’ the vigilante replied.
Ken Majors shrugged as he continued to look at the handsome June standing at the wagons tailgate. She was standing beside the two fair-haired youngsters with her hands on their shoulders.
The rancher lifted his hat off his grey hair and smiled at the attractive female. He nervously stepped closer to June and held his Stetson across his pounding heart.
‘Howdy, ma’am,’ Majors said in a kindly fashion. ‘My names Ken. Ken Majors of the Double K ranch.’
She nodded and smiled. They began to talk as though they were old friends and soon became oblivious to everyone else within the vicinity of the covered wagon.
Moon glanced at Billy Rocco and gave a knowing nod. He strode toward the young cowboy and paused for a mere moment before continuing on to his gelded mount. The cowboy tracked the vigilante down the side of the wagon.
‘I got me a feeling that I ain’t needed around here any longer, Billy,’ Moon muttered as Billy stopped and cast his attention on the Hooper sisters.
Cal White looked up from his pipe at the tall figure as Moon picked up his long leathers, grabbed the horn of his saddle and mounted the mustang in one fluid action.
‘Where you going, Moon boy?’ the wagon drivers enquired as he sucked the flame of a match into his pipe bowl and puffed a massive cloud of smoke into the arid air.
Moon steadied the gelding and glanced at the wagon driver before turning the horse back toward Apache Springs. His eyes darted back at June Marcus deep in conversation with the rancher and then to the young cowboy trying to fend off the advances of the playful youngsters.
The expressionless vigilante returned his attention to the wagon driver. If there was one thing besides killing that Moon was good at, it was being able to read a situation. He could tell that his mission was finally completed and it was time to ride away.
Time to admit that it was pointless submitting to his basic instincts when it came to someone like June Marcus. Moon knew that he was no good to her class of female. In his opinion, she deserved better. A lot better.
She had already been hurt by the loathsome creatures who had been hiding within the depths of the infamous Lucifer’s Lair. They had made her a widow long before her time.
Moon wanted her more than he would ever admit, but had resisted his carnal urges knowing that she would probably find someone better.
The vigilante suspected that by the way she and the rancher were talking, June might just have found her destiny.
That pleased Moon.
He glanced at the wagon driver and touched the brim of his wide hat.
‘I’ll be in the hotel for the night,’ Moon drawled as he gathered up his reins in his hands and squinted across the sun baked expanse between the wagon and the remote town. ‘Then I finally get to ride to pastures new.’
The wagon driver pulled the pipe stem from his mouth in utter surprise by the statement. He raised his voice in surprised shock.
‘You’re going? What about us, Moon boy?’ White asked as he pushed the pipe back between his lips and again puffed like a laboring locomotive on a steep incline. ‘What we gonna do without you? You can’t just abandon us out in the middle of this desert.’
Uriah Moon smiled and looked at White.
‘I got me a feeling that you’ll all be guests of the Bar K ranch tonight, Cal,’ he stated before turning his skittish animal toward the array of buildings. ‘I reckon you’ll all have yourselves a fine time. I’ve got things to do.’
The veteran trooper squinted hard at the tall horseman as Moon patted the neck of the mustang. It was nearly impossible to work out what the mysterious Moon intended to do at any given moment. The vigilante was a conundrum and not even the slickest of men had ever been able to figure out what his next move might be. White pointed his pipe stem at the haunting vigilante and jabbed at the air between them.
‘Why you headed to the hotel for?’ White wondered as he scratched his unshaven neck. ‘How come you ain’t coming to the ranch with us? What can you get at that hotel you can’t get with us?’
Moon did not have to think about his answer. He lowered his head and stroked his long silver beard in a fashion more akin to those who pamper their pet hounds.
‘They serve a powerful cup of coffee there, Cal,’ He stated before adding. ‘And I’m in sorrowful need of a powerful cup of coffee.’
White had no notion of what Moon actually meant.
The gelded mustang reared up and kicked out at the blue skies like a prize fighter, before returning its hoofs to the churned up sand and responding to its master’s spurs.
The powerful mount thundered away leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.
‘Coffee?’ the confused wagon driver repeated before shaking his head.