Red River Revenge (Remington Book 1) (7 page)

H
oofbeats pounded
the ground as the five horses barreled toward the lawmen’s quiet camp. Grit and dust, kicked up by the fast-moving animals, hung in the air like a gray cloud in their wake.

Remington and his men were ready for the charging horsemen. Just after the bushwackers started in their direction, the three deputies had crawled across the ground on their bellies, rifles in hand, loaded pistols tucked into their belts. They had crawled from their bedrolls to the far end of the clump of trees behind them, away from the horses. They hadn’t bothered to put on their boots or gunbelts.

Ned now stood next to a tree where his shape blended in with the dark foliage of the leaves. He had a good view of the charging bushwackers and was prepared to raise his rifle when the time was right. Shaw and Beck stood near other trees where they could watch the fast-approaching horsemen.

Ned glanced out at the bedrolls that were thirty feet away. The deputies’ hats still sat on their respective saddles, each one near the head of a bedroll. Ned hoped the bushwackers would think that the lawmen were still asleep in the bedrolls, although he couldn’t imagine anyone dumb enough to ride into a trap. If the riders had realized how far their voices had carried, they would use more caution than they seemed to be using, riding out in the open that way. Maybe they knew, and maybe they had a trick or two of their own to try on the lawmen.

Remington’s muscles tautened as he watched the men looming up on them. His nerves felt like they were coiled tight, ready to spring. The rifle felt suddenly heavy in his hands. He held the butt of the weapon with one hand, his finger near the trigger. His other hand was cupped under the barrel, ready to raise it.

Ned didn’t like the odds, five against three, but he knew that he and his men had the advantage. They knew where the attackers were and they could judge when and where to fire.

The seconds ticked by and the men seemed to come at them in slow motion. The closer they got, the bigger the men looked. Ned knew that Harvey was a big brute of a man. He tried to figure out which rider was Harvey, but all of the men seemed to be the same size. From what he could see, Ned figured Paco Gaton and Peter Van Hook had plenty of big brutes to call on when they needed someone to go out and remove the barriers that got in the way of their profitable, but illegal cattle rustling business.

Remington knew one thing. Paco Gaton and Nor- ville Haskins weren’t among the five bushwackers who were storming down on the lawmen’s camp. Gaton was a short, small man and although Haskins was tall, Lina had said that he was lean and round-shouldered. None of the attackers could be considered lean.

Ned eased his finger around the trigger, and waited. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly. The riders were close enough now for Remington to see that they carried their rifles in one hand pointed toward the ground, while they held the reins with the other hand. They were also close enough so that Ned would have no trouble picking off at least one of them. Still, he waited.

“Now!” shouted one of the riders when they were some twenty feet from the bedrolls. All five men instantly dropped the reins, brought their rifles up and fired into the bedrolls. The loud blasts exploded the stillness of the night. The horses, still in a forward motion, carried the riders closer to the blankets and the men fired again. The second round of explosions reverberated through the air.

The horses neighed and snorted and bumped into each other in the confusion.

Ned raised his rifle, took aim, and shot at the closest rider. The man’s horse bucked just at that instant and Remington’s shot caught the man in the lower leg.

The wounded man cried out in pain and dropped his weapon as he reached down for his leg. The rifle clattered to the ground and bounced onto one of the bedrolls.

“Oh, shit!” cried one of the other riders.

Frank Shaw and Ted Beck opened fire an instant after Ned had shot. In the mass of confused horses that were going one way and then another, both men missed their marks.

The wounded man grabbed up the loose reins that had fallen to his saddle. He jerked his frightened horse around and high-tailed it for the road, still holding his leg, and still moaning in pain.

“They ain’t there,” one man called but. “Where are they?”

“They’re in the trees, Harvey, you dumbass!” another one shouted. “Shoot ’em!” The man whipped out a pistol and fired blindly at the middle trees, missing the lawmen at one end of the line of trees by a good five feet, and missing the deputies’ horses at the other end by at least ten feet.

Remington drew his pistol out of the band of his trousers and fired at Harvey before the fisherman could get his own pistol out of its holster. Because Harvey’s horse was constantly changing directions in the confusion, Ned knew when he fired that he didn’t have a clean shot. The bullet caught Harvey’s hat and sent it sailing in the air.

“Shit! I’m getting out of here!” Harvey cried. His horse bucked and while he was struggling to find his reins, Frank Shaw fired at him. Shaw missed him, too. “Don’t shoot! I’m leaving!” Harvey shouted. He tossed his pistol to the ground as if to prove that he was no threat to them. He snatched up the reins, and headed for the road to join the other man who was already riding toward the river front.

The three remaining bushwackers fired at the trees, trying to pinpoint the obscure lawmen. They came close a couple of times, but with Ned and his men returning fire, the riders kept their horses on the move.

One of the lawmen’s bullets grazed the shooting arm of a nearby rider.

“I’ve been hit!” the man cried. His hand fell open and before the pistol tumbled from his grip, he snatched it up with the other hand. “You bastards!” he shouted. He fired left-handed into the trees. When the misdirected bullet thudded into a high tree branch, the man gave up and headed for home, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

The two men who remained kept their distance as they rode around in circles and peered into the dark trees. They took aim a couple of times, but didn’t fire.

“Come on, Jake. Let’s get the hell out of here,” one man said after a minute.

“But Paco said Van Hook wouldn’t pay us unless we killed ’em,” said the man with a bushy beard.

“To hell with both of them,” said the first man. He took off as the others had done.

The bearded man looked back into the trees one more time and then followed his comrade.

Ned and his deputies waited in the trees until the bushwackers were well away from the camp before they emerged.

“I’m glad that’s over with,” Ned sighed as he walked over to the bedrolls. “We’d better check the horses to make sure they weren’t hurt.”

“I’ll do it,” Tom Beck offered. He sat down on his bedroll and tugged his boots on, then headed for the horses.

“It isn’t over, Ned,” Shaw said as he slipped into his own boots. “They’ll be back.”

“Not tonight.” Ned reached down to his blankets and picked up the rifle that had fallen from the wounded man’s hand. “Not a bad rifle. I’ve never seen fellows like that who tucked their tails between their legs and ran off like frightened pups. From the size of them, I thought they’d be pretty tough.”

Shaw laughed. “I guess Van Hook figures big is brave.”

Beck returned from the trees. “None of the horses were hit, but I think the exchange of gunfire scared the shit out of them. I just stepped in it.” He glanced down at one of his boots, then walked away and scraped it back and forth across the damp grass.

“It scared the shit out of me,” Ned laughed. “From what that one fellow said, I think Paco Gaton was the one who hired those fumbling idiots.”

“I think so, too,” said Beck as he checked his boot. “But Van Hook’s footing the bill. He’s the big man in this operation.”

“That’s what I figured,” Ned said as he sat down on his blanket.

Frank Shaw strolled over and picked up the pistol Harvey Cardin had tossed to the ground. He handed it to Ned. “Here’s another gun to add to your collection. So Harvey, the fisherman, turned out to be a rat.”

“It looks that way,” Remington said.

“I’m sure as hell glad we didn’t stay at the hotel,” Shaw said as he shook his head. “We’d have been trapped rats.”

“I wonder where Paco Gaton and Norville Haskins are staying,” Ned said. “It’s obvious they aren’t down in Texas where I thought they’d be.”

“Why do you say that?” Beck asked.

“Because you said it was a day’s ride to the Red River Station from here and Harvey wasn’t gone that long. We saw him leave the fish house and go across the street to the saloon about two this afternoon. I figure it’s close to four o’clock in the morning now.”

“That’s fourteen hours,” Shaw said.

“Could he ride that far and back in that time?” Ned asked.

“No, he couldn’t have ridden that far that fast,” Beck said.

“Harvey’s a fisherman, according to Madonna,” Shaw said. “Maybe he went by boat.”

“Not to the Red River Station. That would have take him a lot longer.”

“Don’t forget, Harvey and the others spent an hour searching the River Front Hotel for us,” Shaw said. “You gotta figure that time in.”

“That’s right,” said Remington. “I figure Harvey must be one of those friends of Gaton’s Killbuck warned us about.”

“I think so, too,” Beck said.

“I think he was watching for us,” Ned said, “and I think he would have spotted us anyway, but good old Harvey got damned lucky when we decided to have lunch at the fish house.”

“He sure did,” Shaw said, “but he had nothing to report to Gaton except that we were in town looking for him and that we’d probably be staying at the River Front Hotel.”

“Do you suppose Harvey saw me talking to Killbuck out back of the restaurant?” Ned asked.

“No,” said Beck. “I kept my eye on the saloon while you were gone, and he didn’t come out.”

“Do you think Gaton and Haskins are staying in town?” Ned asked.

“No,” said Beck. “If they’d been staying at the River Front, Harvey could have gotten word to them in a hurry and they would have tailed us out to Killbuck’s place.”

“You’re right.”

“My guess is that Paco and his friend are staying in some little place near the river. I figure Harvey took his boat downstream and met them.”

“Then we’ll have to go looking for them,” Ned said. “If they’re hiding out, it might be hard to find them.”

“I don’t think so, and again, this is just a hunch,” Beck said. “I think that when Harvey reports back to Gaton, which probably won’t be until tomorrow morning, I think Gaton and Haskins will high-tail it down to Van Hook’s ranch to tell him. If we’re lucky, we’ll find all three men at Van Hook’s.”

“I hope you’re right, Frank,” Ned said with a sigh. “It would be nice to arrest all of them in one swoop of the handcuffs.”

“I’m sure it won’t be quite that easy, Ned,” Shaw laughed. “We gotta earn our money, don’t we?”

Shaw plopped down on his blankets and started to remove his boots. “Don’t you think we should get some sleep before dawn?” he said with a big yawn.

Ned looked at the star-studded sky. “Hell, it’s almost dawn now. By the time we get our gear stowed away, it’ll be time to head for Killbuck’s place.”

“Aw, shucks,” Shaw said.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Remington said as he put his boots on. “After tonight, I’m definitely not going to take Lina Miller with us.”

“Would you care to place a little bet on that?” Beck said.

C
harlie Killbuck was already
in the shed, saddling his Indian pony by lamplight, when the three deputies arrived shortly before dawn.

“I am glad you are here,” Killbuck said when he saw them. “I heard gunfire a while ago and I thought maybe someone had ambushed you as you rode out here from town.”

“We didn’t stay in town, Charlie,” Ned said.

“You didn’t? I thought you were going to stay at the hotel.”

“We changed our minds. But there was trouble,” Ned said. “Some of Gaton’s friends found us where we were camped out.”

“You were not hurt, were you?” Killbuck looked at each man.

“No,” said Ned as he eased out of the saddle.

“Did you kill these men?”

“No. We nicked a couple of them, but they ran off scared before we could do much damage.”

“I am glad you are safe, but the men will try again.” Killbuck shook his head. “If not those men, then others will try to kill you.”

“We know,” Ned said. “That’s why it’s important for Lina to go back to Galena with Tom Beck this morning. It’s just too dangerous for her to ride with us.”

“Lina is in the house getting ready to ride with us,” Killbuck said. “She asked me to saddle up her pony.”

“She can’t go,” Ned insisted.

“Yes, I can,” said Lina as she came into the shed. “I’m all ready.”

Ned whirled around to face the girl and as he did, he caught the delicate scent of her perfume. She carried heavy saddlebags over her shoulder and wore boys’ clothing: a fresh brown shirt, clean, dark trousers and polished boots. Her long, dark hair was tucked up under the same black, wide-brimmed hat she’d worn the day before. She had added a brown scarf to her clothing and tied it around her neck. Ned wondered if she had done that because he was wearing a brown scarf around his neck.

“Lina, it’s just too dangerous,” Ned told her. “Some of Gaton’s friends found us earlier this morning. And they came after us with guns blazing. Can’t you understand how dangerous this is?”

“You survived, didn’t you? Well, so can I,” she said smugly. “And don’t be too damned surprised if I end up saving your butt.”

Ned was surprised by her language, but realized that the girl was doing everything she could to go along with them.

“Lina, please listen to me,” Ned said.

“I’m going to Texas with you,” she said in her stubborn way. “And if you won’t take me, I’ll just follow you anyway.”

Remington stared down at the dirt floor and kicked at the hard ground with the toe of his boot.

“All right, Lina, you can go with us, but I can no longer be responsible for your safety.”

Lina smiled. “I can take care of myself,” she said, “and I can shoot my way out of any mess you get us into.”

Ned resented her smug attitude, but he didn’t say anything. He knew the girl couldn’t possibly realize what kind of dangers they would face. He hoped she could shoot as well as she said she could.

“You’ll do as you’re told without question,” he told her harshly. “And you’ll follow all of my rules.”

“What rules?” she asked.

“For one, you won’t wear any damned perfume on this trip,” he said, “and I’ll think of the other rules as we go.”

“You don’t have any rules, Remington,” she giggled. She slid the heavy saddlebags off her shoulder and handed them to her uncle.

“You aren’t taking your whole wardrobe with you, are you, Miss Miller?” Ned said as he nodded to her saddlebags. “We have to travel light and all you need is one change of clothes.”

“That’s all I’m taking, Mr. Remington. Besides a few necessities I’m taking along, the rest of the contents of my saddlebags is food for the trip. There are several tins of food that won’t spoil in the heat, and I brought along some smoked fish and venison, and dried veal. I took the liberty of making a few sandwiches for all of us and I baked some cookies and pastries.”

“This isn’t a picnic, Miss Miller.” Ned hated himself for being so sarcastic when he actually appreciated what she had done.

“I’m well aware of that, Mr. Remington.” Lina stared at him with her deep blue eyes. “And if we’re going to be riding together, I think we should be on a first-name basis. May I call you Ned?”

Remington smiled. “Yes, Lina, you may call me Ned. And if everybody’s, ready, we’d better get going.”

“Do we have to ride through town?” Frank Shaw asked.

“No,” said Charlie Killbuck. “We will cut across the fields and go west for a couple of miles before we turn south to get to the narrow part of the river where we will cross it.”

“Good,” said Ned as he watched Lina slide up onto her saddle. He noticed that she was quite comfortable with her spotted pony.

Lina rode out of the shed first and waited for the others.

“Go ahead,” Killbuck told the deputies as he walked over to the lantern. He turned the wick down until it flickered and sputtered, and waited until the flame died out completely. Then he mounted his pony and followed the marshals out of the shed. The gray sky was already beginning to lighten in the east.

Killbuck led the way, with Lina right behind him. Once they were beyond his pasture and into a more wooded section of the land, Ned never saw the riverfront town again.

When they got to the narrow part of the river two hours later, Killbuck told them they would stop long enough to water their horses before they crossed.

Lina slid down easily from her mount. She led her horse down to the edge of the water and let him drink his fill. The others watered their horses and when they went back up the bank, Lina was sitting on the ground removing her boots.

“Better take your boots off unless you want to spend the rest of the day in squishy boots,” she said, “Everything else will dry but quick enough in the heat of the day.” She stood up and tucked her boots under the thongs that held her bedroll in place behind her saddle.

Ned glanced at the two deputies, shrugged his shoulders, then sat on the ground and took his boots off. The others did the same.

“You men probably didn’t have breakfast this morning,” Lina said after all of the boots were securely in place. “Would you like a pastry?”

“No thanks,” Ned said, “I’m not hungry. But I want to fill my canteen before we ford the river.”

Killbuck and Lina waited on their horses while the three deputies filled their canteens. When they were ready to go, Charlie led the way. They all held their weapons high in the air as the horses walked out into the chilly river. When the water was chest high on the animals, they began to swim. A few minutes later, the horses sogged up on the bank on the other side of the river.

Water dripped from the riders’ socks and pantlegs as they emerged from the river and Ned was glad that he had removed his boots. His socks would dry soon enough and then he could put his boots back on. He now had a little more respect for Lina Miller.

Charlie Killbuck led them across an uninhabited stretch of land and except to stop to rest their horses every hour, they pushed on at a steady pace. They put their boots back on about ten o’clock, when their socks were finally dry. They never saw another person as they rode and about noon they stopped long enough to eat some of the sandwiches Lina had fixed.

Ned was glad that Lina had brought the food and he told her so. After the men were through eating the sandwiches, Lina offered them cookies and pastries. Not wanting to ride on a full stomach, the men took only one cookie apiece and washed it down with water from their canteens.

They pushed on and it was nearly six o’clock in the late afternoon when they finally spotted the main body of the Red River, which they would have to cross to get to the Red River Station. Still, they had not seen another person.

“I think we should bed down here for the night,” Charlie Killbuck said. “We do not want to cross the river after dark. The Red River Station is a busy place and we do not know what awaits us over there.”

“Yes,” Ned agreed. “It will be better to arrive in full daylight, when we are well-rested.”

Charlie Killbuck led them to a thick stand of cottonwoods and found a place where they could spread their bedrolls out among the trees. There was a small stream nearby that fed into the Red River. They took care of their horses first and tied them up for the night. Ned insisted that there be no fire built that night and after the blankets were in place, Lina brought out the food from her saddlebags.

They ate the rest of the sandwiches, which Lina insisted wouldn’t last another day, and shared a tin of peaches. They snacked on smoked fish and raw carrots from Killbuck’s garden. When they were through, Lina brought out the sweets. This time, they each took, a rich pastry, and two of the cookies that were beginning to crumble in their tin.

It was dark by the time they finished eating. The stars seemed closer than they had the night before and Ned could see the glow of the low, rising moon, through the trees.

“You’re a good cook, Lina,” Ned said as he stood up. “Thanks for bringing this food along.”

“Yes,” said Tom Beck. “We were getting a little tired of hardtack and beans.”

“Goodness, is that all you men have been eating?” Lina said as she took her hat off and let her long hair tumble free. She started to clear away the mess from the meal.

“It seems like it,” Frank Shaw laughed. “But your food was delicious, Lina.”

“Lina is a good girl, except for her stubborn streak,” Killbuck said proudly. “And she is a good cook, but I ate too much.” He patted his stomach. “It is a good thing we will not ride tonight.”

“I’m glad you all liked it, and there’s plenty more for tomorrow,” Lina said.

“You’ll spoil us,” Ned said.

“You deserve it,” Lina said. “It must be hard being a marshal when you have to be out on the trail so much and you have to carry all your food and your whole kitchen with you.”

“Our whole kitchen?” Shaw asked.

“I mean your utensils and pots and pans.”

“It isn’t so bad,” Beck said. “We can pick up supplies when we pass through the towns.”

“Just wait till you sleep on the hard ground tonight,” Shaw said. “Then you’ll know how much fun being a marshal is.”

“I’m looking forward to sleeping out under the stars,” she said. “Ned, would you mind walking down to the stream with me so I can fill my canteen?”

“You aren’t afraid of the dark, are you?” he teased.

“It’s a little scary out there,” she said as she peered out at the dark, shadowy trees.

The girl was being honest and Ned resisted the urge to say something sarcastic. “Sure, I want to fill my canteen, too. Anybody else?”

“As long as you’re going that way,” Tom Beck said as he handed Ned his canteen.

“Mine, too,” said Shaw. “I don’t think I can move another muscle.”

“I’ll take yours, Uncle Charlie,” Lina said. Canteens in hand, Ned and Lina walked toward the stream, ducking around low branches.

“It’s brighter out here than I thought it would be,” Lina said as they neared the water.

“We’re out away from the dense trees,” Ned said. “It’s a bright, starlit night out and the water reflects the starlight.”

Lina looked up at the stars, then down at the water. “I see that now.”

“The moon’s coming up over there and when it’s a little higher, it’ll be even brighter.”

“Good, it isn’t so scary.”

Just as they reached the stream bank, an owl hooted from a nearby tree. Lina gasped and reached for Ned’s arm.

“It was only an owl, Lina.”

“I guess I’m not as brave as I thought I was,” she said with a self-conscious giggle. She quickly let go of his arm.

“I reckon I wasn’t either the first time I spent the night outside,” Ned said as he began to fill the first of the canteens. “You’ll get used to the night noises, and if you’re smart, you’ll learn to recognize them.”

“Is that what you do?” Lina dipped her canteen into the edge of the water.

“Yes. I listen very carefully to all of the sounds. That way, I can tell when I hear a noise that shouldn’t be there.”

“That’s a good idea,” Lina said.

“It’s a necessity in my line of work. But, it’s really no different from sleeping in a house. You get used to the house creaking and settling. You hear the clock chime. You hear the cat or dog roaming around the house. You expect the tree branches to brush across your windows when it’s windy. These things don’t scare you because you’re accustomed to them. But let a strange noise creep in and I’ll bet you hide your head under the covers.”

“You’re right,” Lina said. “From now on I’ll pay more attention to what’s around me.”

“It could save your life.”

“I guess you and your men are plenty smart about such things.”

“We’ve learned from experience. As lawmen, we have to stay one jump ahead of the criminals we’re tracking, or we’re dead meat.”

Lina looked over at him as she withdrew the canteen from the water. “That’s a terrible way to put it.”

“But it’s true,” Ned said. “And since you insisted on coming along on this trip, I want you to learn as much as possible. The time may come when you won’t get a chance to use your expertise with a pistol unless you’re smarter than the other fellow.”

“What else should I know?”

“Being aware of your surroundings is probably the most important thing,” Ned said as he filled the third canteen. “Look over your shoulder, and watch your backtrail. Scan the countryside and watch for places where you can take cover if you need to. Watch for distant spools of dust that would indicate a wagon or a rider. Smell the air and learn to recognize the different odors. Watch the weather so you don’t get caught out in a bad storm.”

“That’s a lot to learn in a short time.”

“You can train yourself to be observant. It’ll become second nature to you.” Ned pulled the canteen from the water and stuffed the cork in it. “Another thing. Always keep your horse at an even pace except for the times when you need a short burst of speed. And stop to rest him once in a while. If you push your pony too hard and get him lathered, he’s likely to drop dead on you. And without your horse, you’re...”

“Dead meat,” Lina laughed.

“You’re learning. Are you ready to head back to camp?”