Guns on the Border

The ranger lingered inside the abandoned building long enough to see how things were going to go for Jefferies before leaving him there to face Prew’s men alone. But upon hearing Jefferies and Sway Loden talk back and forth, he realized that this young army captain knew how to handle himself. While the men’s attention centered on Jefferies and Loden, Sam slipped out in a crouch and moved along the shadowed building, the bag of explosives on his shoulder.

In moments he walked along the path Jefferies had told him about. Using the toeholds on the seemingly impossible-to-climb stone wall, he got to the top, then dropped to the ground on the other side and headed out silently to the horses.

On the street, Loden said to Jefferies as the men drew closer around them, ‘‘You’ve got some serious explaining to do, Kid.’’ He stared coldly into Jefferies’ eyes.

Without coming back too strong, Jefferies returned the stare and replied with a shrug, ‘‘What is there to explain? I got shot. These people took me in and treated me.’’

‘‘What about us?’’ Hubbard White cut in, stepping forward, his hand resting on his gun butt. ‘‘Tell him what happened to me and Riley here.’’

Jefferies gave White and Hallit a curious look. ‘‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’’ he said. Then he said to Loden, ‘‘I don’t know what these two have told you. But the fact is they came up to the old mission to finish me off. A lawman showed up and ran them away. As you can see, I’m all right now.’’ As he talked he rounded his wounded shoulder as if to prove its fitness. He nodded toward Sabio and Caridad. ‘‘I have them to thank for saving my life.’’

Loden had listened, looking Jefferies up and down, finding no fault with his story. ‘‘Nothing against you, Kid, but they were sent to make sure you didn’t get left behind alive.’’

‘‘I understand that,’’ said Jefferies, making sure everybody there heard him. ‘‘I’m sort of new here, but I know how this life works. I learned a few things from my uncle.’’ He gestured toward the body still hanging up high in the tree. ‘‘I knew when that bullet hit me that I was in trouble if I couldn’t ride. That’s why I did my best to get out of sight and lay low. I wanted to stay alive.’’ He looked all around and added, ‘‘Does anybody fault me for that?’’

‘‘Keep him here. We’ll let Prew decide,’’ said Cherokee. He turned a suspicious stare from Jefferies to Sonny and Koch. ‘‘I’m going to catch up with Prew and the others. We’re going to have a serious talk about you two having my cousin’s horse as soon as I get back.’’ He stepped his horse over and gathered the reins to the two animals Sabio and Caridad had been riding.

Sonny and Koch only returned Cherokee’s stare as he backed his horse a step, turned it in the street and rode away, leading the two spare mounts behind him.

The two shrugged. Sonny said, ‘‘We found Wind River Dan’s horse out there is all. Cherokee’s wanting to make a big deal of it.’’

‘‘You heard Cherokee,’’ Jefferies cut in. ‘‘Now that I’m all mended, fit to ride, shoot, do anything it takes to earn my share’’—he gazed coolly at Sway Loden— ‘‘when do I go to work?’’

Loden scratched his jaw, liking the way the kid had managed to look out for himself long enough to heal up and walk back bold as brass—When do I go to work?

‘‘You’ve got grit in your belly, Kid,’’ Loden said with a trace of a chuckle. He looked at the gun on Jefferies’ hip. ‘‘Where’s your horse, Kid?’’ he asked.

‘‘Just outside of town,’’ said Jefferies. ‘‘I’ll go get it after a while. I wasn’t about to ride in here unannounced, especially not with you in that bell tower. I’ve seen how good you are with a rifle.’’

Loden grinned, clearly liking the comment. ‘‘That was wise thinking,’’ he said. Glancing around at the men, he added jokingly, ‘‘Hell, I might have shot you thinking I’d just seen a ghost.’’

The men chuckled; so did Jefferies, realizing he was back in with them for now. He still had to get things smoothed out with Prew, but it shouldn’t be a problem, he told himself.

As he’d spoken to the men, he’d noted the looks on Caridad’s and Sabio’s faces. He knew that neither of them liked seeing him back here or hearing him talk this way. Yet he was doing it for them, he reminded himself. Soon they would understand.

‘‘Kid, if you like whiskey for breakfast, I want to buy you a drink!’’ said Riley Hallit, laughing at his own humor. He stepped close enough for Jefferies to smell the alcohol already on his breath.

‘‘Sounds good to me,’’ said Jefferies. Hallit threw an arm around his shoulder and directed him toward the cantina.

‘‘One thing,’’ said Jefferies, stopping and turning toward Sabio and Caridad. ‘‘I want everybody to hear me plainly. You’ve all got the whores el capitán sent here.’’ He gestured a hand toward Caridad. ‘‘I have taken quite a shine to this woman all the while she was taking care of me. I’m letting everybody know, she’s mine.’’ He looked all around. ‘‘And as long as she’s with me, I’m not sharing her. Does that set well with everybody?’’ He glared at the men with a half-menacing look in his eyes.

‘‘Aw hell, Kid,’’ said Hallit, ‘‘that’s just the little cleaning gal who swamps the cantina. You can have her. Right, men?’’

A couple of faces looked disappointed. ‘‘He said, ‘Right, men?’ ’’ Loden called out in a louder tone, giving them a stern look.

‘‘There you have it,’’ said Loden. ‘‘Unless Prew says otherwise when he gets back, she’s all yours, Kid.’’

Jefferies nodded gratefully. ‘‘All right, then, now that I have a woman of my own anytime I want her, let’s go get that drink.’’ He had pulled it off, he told himself. He’d made his move in time to keep these men away from Caridad. Things were going good. But as he turned away and headed for the cantina, he saw the smoldering anger in Sabio’s fiery eyes, and the look of hurt and disappointment in Caridad’s.

Farther up the street, in the gray morning light, Klevo Kerchkow had dragged himself to his feet and now came staggering forward, bareheaded, a Colt dangling in his broad hand. Jefferies froze at the sight of him and did some quick thinking.

‘‘Everybody hold it right where you are!’’ the Russian called out in a thick and pained-sounding voice. ‘‘I want the man who did this to me!’’

‘‘Look at my head!’’ The Russian, bowed his head, showing a large whelp with a bloody split down its middle. ‘‘Whoever did this is going to pay with his life!’’ he shouted.

‘‘Damn, what a lick,’’ Loden said, stifling a chuckle under his breath. ‘‘But if you don’t know who did it, how’s he going to pay with his life?’’ Loden looked at the others for support. ‘‘It looks to me like you got sleepy again and walked smack into a post somewhere.’’

‘‘You want to make a joke? I’ll show you a joke!’’ the Russian fumed, gripping his gun handle tightly.

‘‘Easy, Klevo,’’ White cautioned. ‘‘Around here we don’t blame folks unless we’ve got some proof. Like Loden said, it looks like you walked into a post and drew yourself a goose egg.’’

‘‘I did not walk into a post. I was grabbed and thrown into it!’’ the Russian insisted, eyeing each of the men in turn.

‘‘Oh, I see,’’ said Loden. ‘‘So you admit there was a post involved?’’ He grinned, hearing the rest of the men make little effort to stifle their laughter.

Jefferies relaxed and let the men have their fun at the Russian’s expense. So far so good, he told himself.

After he’d finished a couple of shots of whiskey with the rest of the men, Jefferies left the cantina and walked out of town along a footpath to where his big paint horse stood alone, still hitched in the same spot where he and the ranger had left their animals earlier. He looked all around, unhitched the horse and started to step up into the saddle. But the sound of Sam’s voice stopped him.

‘‘I wish you wouldn’t pop up unexpected like that, Ranger,’’ he said, watching Sam step forward from the brush, leading his Appaloosa behind him. His Colt was in his hand.

‘‘And I wish you’d let a person know when you decide to change a plan the way you did back there,’’ Sam said, nodding toward Esperanza. ‘‘You might have gotten us both killed.’’ As he spoke he lowered his Colt into his holster.

‘‘Sorry, Ranger,’’ said Jefferies, ‘‘but what else could I do under these circumstances? I wasn’t about to leave her to that bunch of wolves.’’

‘‘Strange, how they never bothered her before,’’ Sam said, curious. ‘‘I believe that ole holy man has some sort of power. It always protected her before. He wouldn’t have let anything happen to her. I don’t know how, but I believe it.’’

Sam paused, then said, relenting, ‘‘No, I suppose I couldn’t. If you hadn’t done something, I likely would have. As long as you were still missing, they might have killed Sabio. You showing up made everything all right again.’’

The ranger offered a thin smile. ‘‘I’m never as angry as I look most times,’’ he said. ‘‘You made a good move, as it turned out. I was thrown off at first, not knowing how to set up those explosives. That’s one reason I stayed around here, hoping you’d come back alone for your horse.’’

‘‘Don’t worry. You’ll do just fine, Ranger,’’ said Jefferies. ‘‘Cut as much fuse line as you think you need for the grenades, shove one end down into it, light it with your cigar and throw it where you want it.’’ He grinned. ‘‘Easy enough?’’

‘‘That’s not what I mean,’’ Sam said. ‘‘I can figure out how to light a grenade and throw it. I meant what is it you had in mind? You’ve got enough dynamite to make some big changes in the countryside. You must’ve had something in mind.’’

‘‘You’re right. I do have a target in mind,’’ said Jefferies. ‘‘I’m here to do two things. It’s important to bust up Prew and his men, kill them if I can. My other objective is to keep any more military ordnance out of Capitán Luis Murella’s possession.’’

‘‘Yes, by blowing it up,’’ Jefferies replied. ‘‘A raid this size, Prew is going to need wagons to haul away his plunder. Once I knew when he was going to make the raid on the army train, my plan was to get to his wagons along the high trail and blow them up, his men along with them if I could.’’

‘‘No,’’ said Jefferies, ‘‘the plan is still the same. Only now I’ve got to get Caridad and Sabio away from Prew and his men before I carry it out.’’

Sam studied the concerned look on Jefferies’ face. ‘‘You really do care for that young woman, don’t you?’’

‘‘I told you I do,’’ said Jefferies. ‘‘I have since I first laid eyes on her.’’ He looked a little embarrassed. ‘‘I didn’t mean for something like this to happen. But it has. When I leave here, she’s going with me.’’

‘‘I know he’s like family to her,’’ said Jefferies. ‘‘He can go with us or stay behind, as far as I’m concerned.’’ He paused, then said, ‘‘I hope she’s not going to hate me for acting the way I was a while ago. I’ve got some tough explaining to do once I find a chance to get her alone.’’

‘‘That’s what I figured. But I doubt if he’ll be putting in a good word for me,’’ Jefferies said.

‘‘That’s your personal matter,’’ Sam said with a trace of a wry grin. He paused for a moment in contemplation, then said, ‘‘Maybe it’s for the best, you being back in with the gang for a while. You can get more information inside there than out here.’’

‘‘That’s what I think too,’’ said Jefferies, ‘‘now that the cards have fallen this way. I’ve already heard that Prew and most of the men are out on a dry run right now, checking out the train along the border. As soon as they get back, they’ll all be ready to go do the real thing.’’

‘‘A dry run?’’ said Sam. ‘‘That doesn’t sound like Desmond Prew to me. What’s making him so cautious?’’

‘‘I don’t know,’’ said Jefferies, ‘‘but that’s the story I heard from Loden. Cherokee Jake rode out to catch up to him.’’

‘‘Maybe I better get on his trail, see what he’s up to,’’ said Sam. ‘‘He’s known to turn as tricky as a fox when it suits him.’’

‘‘He’s got over a full day’s head start on you,’’ Jefferies cautioned. ‘‘Cherokee took three spare horses with him. I suppose he’ll ride them all three into the ground getting there.’’

‘‘Riding horses into the ground isn’t my style,’’ said Sam. ‘‘I know a few trails over these hills.’’ He eyed the paint horse. ‘‘Having two horses would help, though. Didn’t your dear departed uncle leave you his horse, in Esperanza?’’

‘‘Yes, he did,’’ said Jefferies. Without another word on the matter, he handed Sam the paint horse’s reins.

‘‘Before you leave, store the dynamite in a cool dry place,’’ Jefferies said. ‘‘When Prew gets back then I’ll know you’re back too. If you need to find me, there’s a widow who lives in the third adobe on the right when you leave the rear of the cantina.’’

‘‘I’ll stay out of sight, and keep the dynamite cool and stable,’’ said Sam. ‘‘As soon as you know the raid is ready to take place, manage to be in the bell tower the night before. At midnight, use two matches to light a cigar. I see the two lights flash at midnight, I’ll get the explosives and be ready to go the next morning.’’

‘‘All right, then,’’ said Jefferies. ‘‘We’re back in business. I just need to straighten things out between me and Caridad.’’

‘‘Good luck with that,’’ said Sam. He nodded toward Esperanza. ‘‘You better get back there before Prew’s men start getting suspicious.’’ He turned with the paint horse’s reins in hand, but before he walked back into the cover of the brush where his stallion stood waiting he said, ‘‘Be careful, Jefferies.’’

‘‘Yeah, you too, Ranger,’’ Jefferies replied. ‘‘Don’t let Cherokee and Prew catch you trailing them.’’