Sins of the Father (3 page)

He untied the packhorse, Sharps, and tied him to a small tree and mounted Gray with the Sharps and the ammo pouch. He headed Gray down the hillside to the right and up the other hillside, allowing Gray to go as fast as he could on the rocky terrain. He only hoped he would get there in time. He got to where the three men had been. There were two horses still tied up to a tree and a cloud of dust on the trail below the hill. Luckily, for Jess, that side of the hill was quite rocky and had slowed the man’s escape down the hill; but now the man had hit flat ground and was at a full run. Jess found a good boulder and placed the Sharps on it and sighted the man in. He was going to lose him so he did what he had to do, even though he didn’t want to. He shot the man’s horse out from under him. The horse tumbled forward, throwing the man about ten feet into the air and he landed in a cloud of dust. “I’m sorry,” he said to the horse, knowing the horse couldn’t hear him.

The man crawled upright and was trying to run, but he was slowed down by his right leg, which had either been broken or badly injured by the fall. “Well, you’re not going to get too far,” Jess said to no one but himself. Jess took careful aim and his first shot landed just to the right of the man and about six feet in front of him. The man turned around and was screaming back at the top of the hillside where Jess was. “Yeah, that’s it, stand real still for me,” said Jess as he fired off his second shot, which hit the man right in the middle of his chest. The man fell back flat on the ground. Jess didn’t see the man move, but he couldn’t be sure that he was really dead. He took careful aim and put two more shots into the man, making sure he would never get up again and saving Jess from having to walk Gray down the steep slope of the rocky hillside to make sure the man was dead.

Jess retrieved his packhorse and rode down the hillside towards the wagon. He had put the Sharps back in the scabbard, but he had his Winchester across his lap, just in case. The people were still in the wagon, probably afraid to come out and wondering if Jess was a savior or just a new robber. Jess hit flat ground but stayed about a hundred feet from the wagon. “Hey in there, I don’t mean you any harm. I’ll put my Winchester away and my pistol is holstered. I’ll walk up slowly.”

“You’re damn right you will; we ain’t taking any chances right now,” the man in the wagon replied.
“I don’t blame you one bit. Just be careful with those rifles.” All three of them in the wagon had their rifles aimed directly at Jess. “You don’t have to worry anymore about the three men up on the hillside, they’re all dead.”
“What about the one that got away?” the man in the wagon asked.
“He didn’t get away. He’s lying on the ground over on the other side of the hill with three fifty caliber slugs in him.” Jess finally reached the back of the wagon and the man, woman and the boy looked him over real good.
“What’s your name?” asked the woman.
“My name is Jess Williams, ma’am.”
The woman put her rifle down and looked over at her husband. “Hadley, I think he means us no harm. After all, he shot those other men and he could have just kept shooting from the hillside at us if had wanted to. I think we have found a friend in this Godforsaken place.”
Hadley nodded in agreement and put his rifle down. “Put your rifle down, son.”
The young boy did as he was told and as he did, a little girls head slowly rose up from behind the back of the wagon. “Hi, my name is Jessica,” she said as she reached her hand out to shake hands with Jess. Jess took her hand and helped her out of the wagon and the other three jumped out of the wagon.
“Father,” said the woman, “I think introductions are in order.”
Hadley nodded as he put his hand out and shook hands with Jess. “Mighty grateful you were passing by and saved us. We would never have survived if you hadn’t and I would hate to think of what would have happened to the women. Anyway, my name is Hadley Brown and this is my wife, Jane, my son, Harold, and my youngest, Jessica.”
“Well, I’m mighty glad to meet you and I’m glad I happened to come along at the right time. You sure were in a whole heap of trouble.”
“You’re not wrong about that. What in the hell’s a matter with people out here? Hell, we didn’t do anything to those men. We was just passing through on our way to a new homestead outside of Abilene, up in Kansas. We came through these two hillsides and they just opened fire, killing my horses right off.”
“Where are you folks from?”
“We’re from back East where people don’t shoot at each other, unless they have a good reason.”
“Well, Mr. Brown, men out here don’t need any reason to start shooting. Sometimes they want your money and sometimes they just need to kill someone to make their day go a little better. It doesn’t make any sense to me either, but I see it all the time.”
Jane looked at her husband and Jess. Well, I might as well start a camp and get a fire going and feed everyone. All this excitement has sure got me hungry.”
Jess looked back up at the hillsides. “I don’t think you want to make camp here, ma’am. I suggest we find some better surroundings first. This is a great ambush spot for any other men who might be looking for someone to rob.”
“Well, how do you suggest we move the wagon? Both of our horses are dead. Can we use your two horses?”
Jess grinned. “No, ma’am. Those are two of the finest long horses you’ll ever see. They won’t be pulling any wagons, now or ever.”
“Well, then what do you suggest we do, pull the wagon ourselves?” Jane asked; sounding a little agitated.
“There are two horses tied up behind the top of that hill over there. I have a hunch the men that owned them won’t be using them any longer. Hadley, unhook your wagon from your dead horses. I’m going up there and retrieve them.”
“Don’t you want me to go up and help you?” Hadley asked.
“I think I can handle retrieving two tied up horses.”
“No, I mean burying those three men?”
Jess grinned at Hadley. “Hell, those men don’t deserve it and besides, the vultures have to eat, too.”
“Well, I can’t argue with you on that, but that isn’t the way things are done back East.”
Jess mounted Gray. “Hadley, you are going to find that most things are done a whole lot differently than back East. You might as well start learning to adjust to it.”
Jess retrieved the two horses and a couple of brand new Winchester rifles from the dead men. He looked over and the vultures had already found the third dead man down in the flat land. He felt no remorse for killing the man, but he shook his head in sorrow for shooting the horse. He went back and helped Hadley hook up the two horses to the wagon and they traveled a few hours until they found a nice stream with a rocky ridge close by. Jess had them set up so that the ridge protected them from one angle.
Jess started to unpack some of his things and as he did, he watched the Brown family unpack the wagon. Each one of them had their tasks to do and they all went about it like little ants scurrying around and moving around each other as they did their assigned duties. Harold immediately went around gathering up firewood. Harold looked to be about ten and had a thick head of dark curly hair. Jessica, who looked to Jess to be about seven or eight, went about using two buckets to refill the water barrels on the wagon. She had long blond hair and seemed to always be smiling. Jane got some food out and got ready to cook supper. Jess figured her to be in her early twenties and she had short blond hair and was very pretty and petite. She had piercing deep blue eyes and they had not gone unnoticed by Jess. Hadley took care of the horses and checking out the wagon for damage from the onslaught earlier. Hadley was probably in his early thirties and he was of a slight build and not very physically strong. Jess noticed all of these things but he would not say anything, he kept such things to himself. Jess unpacked his bedroll and removed the saddles from both of his horses and got out some coffee. He started the fire with the wood that Harold had piled up neatly by a small hole he had dug with a shovel.
Jane had four boxes sitting around the campfire that held all the cooking supplies and they used them for seats. She was setting up to cook and looked at Jess apologetically. “We only have four boxes but we can have Harold sit on the ground so that you can have a seat, Mr. Williams.”
“No need for that, ma’am. I always sit against my saddle, or on it. Hell, a seat would spoil me.”
“I’ll have to apologize for the meal, too,” said Jane. “I don’t have any meat left at all. Just potatoes and some carrots I’m afraid. We usually take time each day to hunt for meat but today was not our ordinary day.”
Jess smiled at her and walked over to his pile of stuff on the ground. He retrieved two large rabbits he had shot in the morning. “Well, I just happen to have these two rabbits I shot this morning. I’m sure it will be enough to make a pretty good stew.”
Jane almost cried. “Mr. Williams, you are certainly a savior. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Can you whip up some biscuits?”
Jane smiled. “I certainly can.”
“That will be all the thanks I need, and call me Jess.”
Jane took the rabbits and immediately went to cleaning them, cutting them up and making the stew. She let it cook a long time while they all sat there and talked about what had happened that day. Jess made more coffee and he realized he was really enjoying the company. It made him feel like he was part of a normal life to some degree. Jane finally served the stew and some wonderful biscuits just as she had promised Jess. They all ate in silence and devoured every bit of stew and every biscuit, the last one going to Jess at Jane’s insistence. Jess made another pot of coffee and Jane and Jessica went to the stream to clean the pans. When that was all done, they all sat back down around the fire, which had been replenished with some fresh dry wood by Harold.
Jane put Jessica and Harold to bed in the wagon and came back to the fire where Jess and Hadley were sipping hot coffee. “So, Jess, where are you bound for?”
“Actually, as luck would have it, I’m heading for Abilene myself. I figure I might ride along with you, if you don’t mind?”
You could see a relief come over Jane’s face. “Jess, I would feel so much better if you would. I mean my husband here is no coward and will fight when forced to, but the way you handled those men today, well, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“You should be proud of your whole family, Jane. You were putting up a good fight in the face of insurmountable odds today. Most people would have just given up, which always ends up being a mistake. Those kind of men have no respect for human life or anything else for that matter.”
Hadley looked over at Jess’ pile of things, the Sharps propped up on the other saddle. “What the hell kind of rifle is that? Sure shoots a hell of a long way and it sounds like cannon.”
“That’s a Sharps rifle. Some of the buffalo hunters use them. It shoots straight and quite a long distance. I used it to kill those rabbits today.”
“They didn’t have any heads on them,” responded Jane.
“No sense messing up the meat and besides, it’s good practice for me.”
“Practice for what?”
“I’m a bounty hunter. I track down the worst of men and collect the reward money on their heads.”
“I’ve heard stories of such things but I’ve never met a real bounty hunter before,” said Hadley.
“So, you hunt men for money?” Jane asked.
“Yes.”
“How many men have you killed so far?”
“I’ve lost count.”
“You are such a young man. What could have possibly happened to you that would make you hunt men for a living?”
“It’s kind of a long story and one that I don’t often like to talk about since it’s not a very happy one. Let’s just say I have my reasons. And I don’t hunt down horse thieves or cattle rustlers or even bank robbers unless they kill some innocent people in the process. I only hunt down the murderers and the men who would rape or kill innocent women.”
Jane laughed a confused laugh. “So, you kill men for money, but you actually have standards and a set of rules that you go by?”
“I’ve never thought of it that way, but, yes, I guess I do.”
“Well, Jess, I’m just thankful that you showed up today when you did. I’m afraid of what would have happened if you hadn’t. I was really worried about the children.”
Jess lowered his head for a moment and then looked back up at her. “You should always be worried about them out here. Some men out here don’t make any distinction between little girls and grown women, and the worst of them can’t even make a distinction between little boys and grown woman if you grasp my meaning.”
Jane looked at her husband and nodded back at Jess. They all turned in and Jess slept extra lightly during the night. He didn’t want to see any harm come to these people. They were a nice family. He was in protective mode.

HE RIDE TO
A
BILENE WAS SLOW
and uneventful. The wagon broke down a few times and on one rainy day, it got stuck and they tried
to push it out and couldn’t. Jess tied Gray and Sharps
to the team and that finally got them moving again.
Jess shot a few rabbits each day and shot a pretty nice
deer on one day. They feasted on the venison until
they couldn’t eat any more. Jess had noticed Jane
looking at him quite a bit with those piercing blue
eyes. He felt somewhat uncomfortable about it,
although he didn’t want to feel that way. He had
already decided that he would not allow himself to
get distracted by any woman, but she was hard not to
look at. He simply kept pushing it from his mind. His
only thought was to get this family to Abilene alive
and safe.
They made camp about four hours from Abilene.
That way, they could arrive in town by noon and that
would allow Hadley to supply up and then get to their
homestead, which was about two hours out of Abilene. Jess watched as the family went about their respective duties exactly as they did every day when they made camp. After supper, they sat around, sipping hot coffee and talked about their new life out in the West.
“We’ll have to live in the wagon until we get the house built. I figure we’ll start with just one room to get a roof over our heads and then we can add on two more rooms as we get the time,” said Hadley. “Yeah, and I’ll start collecting the stones and rocks we need for the fireplace so mother can cook,” added Harold, seemingly excited about the idea of a new home.
“And I’ll help mother keep the house clean and wash the pots and pans,” said Jessica, not wanting to be left out. She looked over at Jess. “Are you going to come and live with us, too?”
Jess almost choked on his mouthful of hot coffee. There wasn’t a time that Jess looked at Jessica that he didn’t think about his little sister Samantha. Jess was tongue-tied and couldn’t think of what to say when Jane came to his rescue.
“Mr. Williams is always welcome to stay with us for a while if he needs to but he won’t be living with us, Jessica. I’m sure he has more important things to do than to keep looking after us.”
Jessica frowned for a moment but then that smile came back. “Well, you visit us then.”
Jess finally got his composure back. “Jessica, I have a hunch that might happen.” Jess turned to Hadley. “Hadley, if you need help loading up a supply wagon with lumber for the house, I’ll be glad to help you load and unload it.”
“That’s mighty nice of you to offer, Jess. I might take you up on that. By the way, you never said why you were heading to Abilene.”
Jess didn’t know whether or not to tell them the whole story. He didn’t want to burden this family with his horrible story about his family and his life. “I’m just looking for someone,” he answered. “Would this someone have a bounty on his head?” Hadley asked.
“I’m not sure but it’s possible. That’s not why I’m looking for him, though.”
“Then why are you looking for him?”
“Let’s just say that it’s personal.”
“I’ll not ask any more about it. I know when to keep my mouth shut,” said Hadley, knowing that Jess didn’t want to talk about the matter. “Well, I suppose it’s about time to turn in for the night.”
Jess nodded and told Hadley that he would finish another cup of coffee before turning in. Jane and Hadley went to sleep and Jess sat there and watched them go through the same motions they did every night. They moved the children around to make room for them to sleep. Jess had come to like this family. He had really enjoyed his time with them and he considered them as friends. Jane looked out at Jess one more time and said goodnight. Jess replied with the same.
Then his thoughts turned in another direction. He wondered if he would find his father in town tomorrow. He decided he would help Hadley out with the lumber and make sure they were out of town before he looked for his father. He didn’t want the children to see what might take place if he found him and they were there. He dumped his cup out and threw a few small pieces of dry wood on the fire for a little warmth and then turned in for the night.