Hutchins, slightly older and taller was as uneasy as his companion, but was not so sure what he would do. ‘Raymond ain’t going to like us leaving. He’ll only have the cook and Hoppy Ferris left – no working cowhands.’

  ‘That’s his problem. He was happy to have us go off hangin’ anyone we suspected of bein’ rustlers, but he’s doin’ nothing to protect us now. We were promised the full protection of the law but that did nothing at all for the others.’

  As he spoke, Lonsdale walked to the bunkhouse door and looked out at the sun as it hovered on the top of a distant mountain range and threw its last long shadows across the land. A rifle crashed and he might have seen the red muzzle flash that stabbed from the deep shade on a nearby hill but only the stricken man would ever know. A big express bullet with the tip scored to make it break up had torn into his lower abdomen and punched his doubled-over body back through the open doorway.

  Hutchins stared for a second, jumped over the fallen man and attempted to slam shut the door. A second shot went through the pine as though it was cardboard. Splinters flew from the back of the door as the 350 grain slug started to deform before continuing its path through the cowhand’s body scattering broken pieces of bullet as it went.

  Chico hurried back to where he had left his horse. He was not sure of his second hit but would be able to find out soon enough.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Monty McLeod looked skywards as if seeking an angel to come down and solve his problems. But as his jurisdiction did not extend upwards, he was forced to contend with the dilemma himself. ‘These ranch crews are being decimated,’ he bellowed at Crossley-Hunt. ‘You’re shooting cowhands, Connell’s shooting cowhands. There’s a crazy sonofabitch out there shooting cowhands and even young Coulter has tried his hand at shooting cowhands. Why isn’t someone shooting rustlers for a change?’

  ‘Could it be that ranch employees are easier to find than rustlers?’ the Englishman asked. He seemed to be enjoying the sheriff’s frustration.

  ‘I’ve got a good mind to arrest you for murder, Crossley, or whatever you call yourself’

  ‘If you had arrested the men who lynched those alleged rustlers, Sheriff, this problem might not have occurred. I notice none of them reported the killing to you. Adams tried to kill me and I defended myself. I will continue to defend myself through your legal system with all the resources of my employer if such action becomes necessary.’

  Any further discussion was cut short when Connell walked into the office. He was surprised to see the company man in town, but was even more surprised when he heard the reason for his visit. ‘I knew that you and Adams didn’t get along,’ he said, ‘but I didn’t expect him to be taking shots at you.’

  Crossley-Hunt had his own ideas but was reluctant to express them in the sheriff’s presence. ‘You never can tell with some people,’ he said cautiously. ‘But right now if Sheriff McLeod has no more objections, I have two horses to care for and will have to get a room for the night. I’ll return to the Diamond R tomorrow.’

  ‘Wait a while and I’ll come with you. What I have to do won’t take long.’ Connell dipped into his pocket as he spoke and tossed a cheap metal star on the sheriff’s desk. ‘Here’s my badge, Sheriff. I’m quitting.’

  Though taken by surprise. McLeod was not greatly upset. The new deputy had posed unexpected problems. Nevertheless he demanded, ‘Why?’

  ‘I don’t like taking money under false pretences. I was hired to solve a rustling problem and there is none. Someone is playing games and I want no part of it. Either the Cattlemen’s Association are being played for fools or they are in some sort of dirty deal. People are prepared to kill just to conceal what is really happening here. I don’t intend to be a hired gun for those who are behind all this murder.’

  Anger flashed across the sheriff’s face. ‘Are you implying that I’m working for murderers? What are you being paid to throw in with the rustlers?’

  ‘I’m glad you mentioned pay, McLeod, because I have some money coming, two weeks’ pay plus the allowance for using my own horses. How do I go about getting it?’

  ‘If it was left to me, Connell, you’d get nothing, but I’ll get you a cheque in the morning. It has to be counter-signed by a member of the Association. Jack Coventry’s coming to town tomorrow and I’ll get him to do it. Now if that’s all you need, you can get out of my office.’

  ‘I’ll come with you, Tom,’ Crossley-Hunt said.

  McLeod bellowed, ‘I didn’t say you could go anywhere.’

  The Englishman looked him straight in the eye. ‘Feel free to try stopping me any time you like. But I really would not advise it.’ Then he turned about and walked out the door.

  Connell watched until the company man had left the office and backed out after him. He had seen the sheriff’s hand almost involuntarily moving toward the butt of his gun and was not sure how well the big man could control his anger. He had a feeling that, given the opportunity, McLeod was quite capable of shooting a man in the back and concocting some sort of cover story afterwards.

  The sheriff glared after the pair but dared not try to stop them. He had been around long enough to recognize dangerous men when he saw them. Then his gaze fell on Roberts watching wide-eyed from the corner of the room. ‘Find Chico for me,’ he ordered.

  The big deputy shrugged his shoulders. ‘Hell, Monty. He could be anywhere. He just comes and goes. I haven’t seen him around for a couple of days.’

  ‘Start asking around. Someone will know where he is.’

  Connell took the Englishman to the local livery stable and waited while he arranged accommodation for the two Diamond R horses. When Crossley-Hunt had attended to that task, he suggested that he spend the night at the shack he had been allowed to use while in town. It had a spare bunk and they would be able to discuss matters away from any eavesdroppers.

  The company man agreed and, as the town’s only restaurant was closed, he was happy to accept the invitation to a meal as he had not eaten for many hours.

  They had almost reached the shack when a horseman came down the road. Connell recognized the wiry, ambling pony that Chico had ridden when he was with the posse. Though plain in appearance, the little roan had a long-striding walk that left many bigger horses behind. It was too dark to recognize the rider and if he saw them he gave no sign of recognition, but both men knew it was Chico.

  ‘I wonder what he’s been up to,’ Crossley-Hunt said quietly. ‘I don’t altogether trust that man.’

  ‘You and me both,’ Connell agreed. ‘While we were at the Diamond R, he let slip to me that Coventry has fifteen hundred cattle on the trail and heading this way. He might have been stringing me along, or might have just been careless, but close-mouthed characters like that usually don’t say things they don’t want other folks to know.’

  Later that night as they were about to turn in, they heard a horse come pounding up the street.

  ‘There’s trouble,’ Connell said. ‘Nobody gallops like that in the dark without a good reason.’

  Next morning they found out the reason. The messenger was a cowboy from the Diamond R. Their foreman Ed Adams and Crossley-Hunt the English supervisor had not returned to the ranch. A frantic messenger from the Double T had also advised Jensen that two men had died in an attack on the ranch leaving the Double T with no working cowhands. The boss of the Diamond R was seeking to raise a posse to rid the area once and for all of rustlers.

  Coventry was strutting around the sheriff’s office like a bantam rooster when Crossley-Hunt and Connell went there in the morning. He glared at the latter as he came in. ‘The sheriff tells me you’ve sold out, Connell. You had a big reputation but it will be a pretty poor one after I’m finished with it.’

  The former deputy tried a shot in the dark. ‘My reputation will be better than yours when the other ranchers find out about those extra cattle coming in on a range that is already overstocked.’

  The little rancher was visibly shocked and the surprised reaction from McLeod showed that he, too, was disconcerted by the news. His thin lips compressed for a moment as if to stifle an unguarded comment. When Coventry finally spoke, he said lamely, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘That’s good,’ Connell said cheerfully. ‘It’s nice to know that you are not a range-grabbing skunk. Now if you’ll countersign that cheque that the sheriff is holding, I’ll be on my way.’

  McLeod glared at Crossley-Hunt. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I still have a responsibility to the Diamond R. After arranging a funeral for Adams, I intend to collect the cowhand who brought the message and our late foreman’s horse and return to let Jensen know what’s going on.’

  ‘Will you be joining the posse?’

  ‘That depends upon the posse’s intentions. If we are after those who attacked the Double T, I will. But if this posse is intended simply to wage war on the smaller ranches, I won’t be with you, nor will any man in my company’s employment.’

  ‘But we need those men. Raymond has no hands left and I can only spare a few. You don’t know how things are here,’ Coventry protested.

  Crossley-Hunt replied, ‘I don’t think anyone really knows that. But one thing is sure, the situation is more complex than just a matter of rustling. Now if you will excuse me. I’ll be getting about my business.’

  Outside the office, the company man asked Connell, ‘Will you be moving on now?’

  ‘Eventually, but first I’m going to warn the small ranchers to expect trouble. If they’ll trust me, I might hang around a while until all this blows over. Watch your back, Cliff, because I don’t think Adams came after you on his own account.’

  ‘I agree with you there; you and I could both be marked men. Remember that note that was slipped under my door? Where can I find you if I need you?’

  Connell thought a while. ‘We might be able to keep contact through the Coulters.’

  A knowing smile came to Crossley-Hunt’s face. ‘Of course, the presence of Mary Coulter would not have anything to do with that idea.’

  ‘I hardly know the girl,’ Connell said defensively, as he mounted his horse. ‘Watch your back.’

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Mary Coulter steered her pony along a narrow ridge that offered a good view of the grasslands on both sides. It was against her parents’ better judgement that she was out alone when such tension existed in the community. A range war was brewing, the pessimists said, for news of the attack on the Double T had spread and the larger ranchers were sure to hit back. Her brother Bob was several miles away on the southern end of the same range of hills.

  Their father was gathering a force of small ranchers together ready to meet any threat that their youthful lookouts sighted.

  Mary spotted Connell when he and his two horses were a single dot in the distance. It was some time before she could discern any details and at first she wondered if she should report the newcomer’s presence. Then she recognized the horse that the former deputy was riding. Its white blaze and bright chestnut coat showed distinctly in the clear morning air. Much relieved, she rode down off the ridge on a course that would intercept the former deputy. In doing so, she failed to notice another tiny dot in the distance.

  Chico would have stayed on Connell’s trail if the sun had not caught a silver concho on the bridle of Mary’s pony. Someone was on the crest of the range ahead. With the instincts of a man who had been hunted before, he changed course riding into the pines around the base of the hills. He already had a fair idea where Connell was going and it was safer to avoid observation than to stay on his tracks. He would climb the range on its rougher, northern end where the person on the crest could not see him.

  Connell saw the grey pony and its rider coming toward him through the timber on the slope. Resisting the urge to hurry, he held his horse at the same rapid walk until they met.

  ‘Howdy, Tom,’ the girl greeted cheerfully. ‘Are you back after rustlers again?’

  ‘Not this time, Mary. I’m out of a job. I quit yesterday. I figured though that Ben and the others should know that trouble is headed this way. Coventry and McLeod are raising a posse. Two of Joe Raymond’s cowhands have been murdered and it’s not hard to guess who is being blamed.’

  ‘Is the Diamond R supplying men for the posse?’

  ‘Cliff is agreeable as long as they don’t ride in here shooting. I think he’s trying to keep control even though the hands are loyal to Jensen.’

  Mary frowned. ‘Why would it benefit small ranchers like us to kill men on the Double T? They’re no worse than the others and the Diamond R is much closer. It’s more likely that someone has a grudge against Joe Raymond and his men.’

  ‘Were they in any way connected to the lynchings that were going on here?’

  ‘There have been rumours to that effect, but nobody knows for sure.’

  ‘If they are right,’ Connell said seriously, ‘someone on your side has a good motive for murder. That same person might also just like killing people so it might not be a good idea for you to be out here alone.’

  ‘I’m out here watching for that posse you came to warn us about. Pa was one jump ahead of you. He reckoned that the Association would hit back at us after they lost so many men recently. My brother Bob’s at the other end of this range just in case they come from that direction. They won’t catch us by surprise when they come.’

  ‘I don’t like you being out here alone with a killer loose, Mary.’

  A determined look came across the girl’s face. ‘Maybe you don’t, Tom, but I have a job to do. I’ll be careful. If you are looking for Pa, you’ll find him and the others at the big flat along the creek. Just go over the range and turn south when you hit the creek.’

  ‘I’ll do that,’ Connell said. ‘Meanwhile, you be careful.’

  Barely a quarter-mile away, Chico sat quietly among the trees watching as Connell rode away. At first he thought that the girl had been waiting for the former deputy until it dawned on him that she was watching for McLeod’s posse. He had deliberately made himself scarce to avoid recruitment. He would need more freedom of movement to kill his next man.

  Crossley-Hunt, with two cowhands, arrived at the Double T before the riders coming from town and the Wineglass ranch. He found Raymond scarcely daring to move outside the house. The attack on the ranch had shattered his confidence. His workforce had been reduced to a cook and a semi-crippled odd job man. His foreman and four cowhands were all dead and left him with the distinct impression that he was also on the killer’s list. It would be impossible to guard against a long-range rifle shot and Raymond knew it.

  ‘Come into the house,’ the rancher said nervously when the others had ridden up. ‘There’s a madman loose and you could be a target outside.’

  The Englishman followed Raymond inside and was amazed at how much the man had deteriorated since their last meeting. The aggressive self-confidence was gone and fear was now ruling his life. Though not expecting to hear the truth, he asked the rancher, ‘Why do you think that your men have been singled out by this killer?’

  ‘It’s because it was my turn.’

  ‘Your turn – for what – to get killed?’

  ‘I forgot – you wouldn’t know. It doesn’t matter.’ Raymond was suddenly aware that in his distress, he had said too much. The sound of horses outside saved him further embarrassment. ‘Sounds like the others are here,’ he said hastily.

  Dust swirled around the ranch-house yard as McLeod, Roberts, Coventry and half-a-dozen men brought their horses to a halt.

  The sheriff dismounted as Raymond and Crossley-Hunt emerged from the house. He greeted Raymond but ignored the Englishman. ‘Now, Joe,’ he continued. ‘Show me where all this shooting took place.’

  ‘You might need someone good at trailing,’ Raymond told him. ‘Is Chico with you?’

  McLeod shook his head. ‘No. The shiftless little sonofabitch has wandered off somewhere. Like all ’breeds, he’s never there when he’s needed. I can track a bit if I have to. Now let’s see where everything happened.’

  The sheriff examined where the two cowhands had been standing and expressed some surprise at the hole in the bunkhouse door. By sighting through the hole he was able to determine the approximate location of the shooter. Leaving the others, he walked up into the trees and soon found where the rifleman had been. Two long brass shells from a .45/.75 showed that he had the right place. Calling for the others to bring the horses, McLeod followed a trail of hoofprints and overturned stones up the ridge to its crest. He was panting heavily when he reached the summit and had been forced to stop several times to catch his breath. The ground was stony in places and it was only by close examination that he could see where the horse had been.

  A black tail hair caught in a bush was no help in determining the colour of the killer’s horse as many different coloured horses had black manes and tails. The hoofprints also told him little. They were around average size but the animal could have been a pony with larger than usual feet or a big horse with small feet as many quarter horses were.

  ‘We’re hardly likely to catch up with the killer at the rate we’re going,’ Coventry complained. ‘Let’s think ahead. We can cross over to Alder Creek and see if we pick up those tracks again. I’m sure that’s where our killer came from.’

  McLeod was not so convinced. ‘I don’t know, Jack. Those tracks are so blamed ordinary that I might not recognize them again. There’s nothing distinctive at all about them.’

  Raymond supported Coventry. Surrounded by armed men, his confidence had returned slightly. ‘Jack’s right. That killer came from the Alder Creek bunch. Let’s turn the place inside out until we find a man with a .45/.75 Winchester. There are not a lot of those new rifles about.’

 

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