Stampede at Rattlesnake Pass (14 page)

As the huge renegade staggered back, rubbing
frenziedly at his tightly screwed eyes as the sand seared his
eyeballs, Nantan plunged his knife into Yucatan’s black heart.

"That is one vow I have kept," he said,
staring into the sun.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jake Scudder shook his head with a humorless
smile. "That all kind of makes sense now," he said as Elly pushed
herself back along the floor to lean against the couch.

Carmen de Menendez nodded approvingly. "Go
on, Jake Scudder. Your intelligence impresses me – for a man!"

"Thank you, ma’am. But maybe we should just
ask Saul Horrocks here," Jake replied, turning to Saul. "I guess
there is no need for you to bother with that fake rope any more, is
there?"

A thin smile spread across Saul Horrocks’
face and with a shake of the head he slipped the coils of rope off
his wrists. "No, Jake, you're right. And there is no need for this
little charade any longer, either." And grabbing the neatly laid
blanket over his legs he whipped it aside and heaved himself out of
the wheelchair.

"Saul!" Elly gasped. "You . . . you can
walk!"

"Poor Elly," he replied with mock sympathy.
"Always so gullible, weren’t you?" Then his expression changed to
one of pure hate. "You sniveling little bitch! You always were Pa’s
little angel."

Elly was shaking her head in disbelief. "But
why, Saul? Why? Were you never really paralyzed?"

Saul Horrocks tossed his head back and
laughed sarcastically. "Paralyzed? Of course not! That was just a
little flesh wound – painful and suitably bloody, I admit – that I
got Yucatan to give me after he shot that old bastard."

"You? You had Pa killed? You . . . you
monster!"

Saul blew air scornfully threw his lips.
"Yeah, well, he was a monster to me all of my life, until he
thought I could be of use to him. But by then it was too late. I
wanted all he had. That is why me and my darling wife, Carmen here,
cooked up this plan with Rubal Cage and Yucatan."

Jake interrupted. "So you stole the bank’s
gold that your Pa had just borrowed, and you played the invalid.
Then you arranged to steal your own herd."

"Well, half the herd, as you already know.
It was a good cover and made everyone think that I was serious. And
as a result of all this we were going to get Elly married off to
Jeb Jackson."

Carmen de Menendez kissed her husband on the
cheek. "After we had taken the ransom he would pay, of course."

Elly stared in blank horror at her brother
and his unknown wife, as if seeing the real Saul for the first time
in her life. "And you seriously thought that I would marry Jeb
Jackson – out of gratitude!"

Carmen de Menendez scoffed. "Of course you
would. And with his help, it would get the Rocking H back on its
feet with Saul at the helm on his own. Then after a while Jackson
would have a fatal accident – maybe the two of you would – and who
do you think would inherit the Double J ranch and all that wealth?"
She put an arm about Saul’s waist and kissed him again. "Why it
would be your dear brother Saul, of course. And then I would appear
and ‘marry’ Saul – and be where I should be – the señora of the
largest hacienda north of the border."

Saul growled and nodded at the body hanging
over the window ledge. "Except we were surrounded by fools and
bunglers. Not the least of them was Rubal Cage. The stupid bastard
ruined everything."

Carmen de Menendez patted his arm. "Not
everything, Saul, my dear. It can all still work. When the lawmen
find these bodies," she hesitated a moment, then went on,
"including that of your sister – wearing Jackson’s engagement
ring."

Saul Horrocks opened his eyes wide as if he
saw bright illumination where there had only been darkness. "Of
course. And it will all be put down to Scudder."

"That’s right," replied his wife. "He is a
wanted murderer, after all. He slit poor Rosalind’s throat back in
Silver City."

Cole Lancing had been watching and enjoying
the little tableau being played out in front of him, but at this
news he experienced a flash of illumination himself. His mind went
back to his conversation with Carmen de Menendez on their journey
to the Rocking H the previous night. It was clear to him now. Up
until then he knew that Scudder had been framed for something, but
he had not realized what. But now, to his horror he realized that
Carmen de Menendez had killed Rosalind by cutting her throat.

"You killed Rosalind, you murdering bitch!"
he exclaimed, his fear of the saloon owner now replaced by pure
fury.

Carmen de Menendez spun around, having
half-forgotten Cole Lancing’s part in the scheme of things. And now
a glance at his face told her that she would not be able to smooth
things over this time. She made an instant decision and reacted by
bringing her gun around. Lancing had to die.

But Cole Lancing had seen
red and all subservience towards her was swept aside. In his mind
he heard the words she had uttered to him the night before –
"I will take care of you, Cole!"

He fired, saw the red stain spread out over
her heart as she was hurled backwards against the wall.

"S-Saul!" she gasped, her gun dropping from
her hand as she started to sag. Then Lancing fired again and her
body jack-knifed and slid down, dragging a red streak of blood on
the wall as she fell.

Saul Horrocks had stared aghast for a
moment, but now went for the gun she had dropped, blind fury and
hate written across his face. But Jake was on his feet and
delivered a two-handed haymaker that lifted him off his feet to
land in an unconscious heap in the wheelchair that had for so long
been the symbol of his lies and deceit.

"Now it is your turn, Scudder!" Cole Lancing
said, turning towards Jake.

But he was stopped by Elly’s warning shout.
"Don’t move a muscle, or I will shoot you dead!"

Lancing froze with his gun pointing at Jake.
Then slowly he swiveled his head to see Elly Horrocks kneeling on
the floor with Carmen de Menendez’s gun in her two outstretched
hands. He grinned, his lazy eye almost languid, as if he felt no
cause for fear from her.

"Do you reckon you could kill a man, lady?"
he asked, doubtfully. "It isn’t easy, you know. But if you are
going to do it, better do it – "

Suddenly another voice piped up from the
door. "Maybe she won’t need to," said Johnnie Parker, standing at
the door with a Winchester primed and aimed at Cole Lancing. "Now
if I am right, you are one of the murdering dogs who killed my
friends."

A dew of perspiration had formed on
Lancing’s forehead, and he vigorously shook his head. "I never
killed anyone, except in a fair fight."

"Is that so," replied Johnnie Parker. "In
that case I am going to give you a chance in a fair fight. Holster
that weapon."

Lancing stared at him in amazement, and then
with a contemptuous smile he did as he was bid.

Jake Scudder shook his head. "Don’t do this,
Johnnie. This man deserves a proper trial and a rope."

"Jake, stay out of this, please," Johnnie
replied. Then to Elly:

"Darling, I am going to strap on Cage’s
gunbelt. If he moves while I get it – shoot him dead!"

Elly bit her lip. "Okay, Johnnie, but I . .
. I think Jake is right."

But Johnnie had already laid down his
Winchester and reached for the buckle of Cage’s gunbelt. It was
then that Cole Lancing saw his chance. He reckoned that if he could
down Johnnie he could then easily take the girl.

His gun had just cleared leather when he
felt a thud in his chest. Disbelievingly, he looked down and to his
horror saw the handle of a hunting knife protruding from the front
of his shirt. Blood frothed from his mouth and he began to stagger
as blood flowed freely down his front.

They all watched as the rustler’s body began
to convulse. Then he fell back, his lazy eye for once momentarily
moving in harmony with the other until the convulsion ended and his
sightless eyes stared at the ceiling.

Johnnie turned and nodded at Nantan. "That
is twice you have saved me, Nantan. Thanks."

Nantan shook his head. "We are even, my
friend. I would be dead by now if you had not blinded Yucatan."

The sound of horses outside was followed
moments later by the entrance of Marshal Matt Brooks and his
deputy, Samuel McCaid.

"My God – a bloodbath, and no mistake,"
gasped Pebble-eye McCaid.

Matt Brooks advanced towards Jake. "Nantan
told me all about you, Scudder. I guess you will be glad to know
that I have the sheriff of Silver City and his posse in custody in
Tucksville. He seems mighty keen to have you hanged."

Elly had rushed to embrace Johnnie as he
staggered after all his exertions. She helped him to the couch and
then turned to the constable.

"There is only one person in this room who
needs a rope, Marshal, and it isn’t Jake Scudder." She pointed at
her brother, her voice quavering with emotion. "It is that . . .
that thing, that used to be my kin."

And between them, they explained all about
the plot, the massacre, and the murder of Jeb Jackson.

"I never did take to that sheriff of Silver
City," Matt Brooks said. "He certainly is a pitiful excuse for a
lawman. Not like my deputy here."

Despite himself, Deputy McCaid blushed.
"We're a team, Marshal. We are a team."

Saul Horrocks looked dazed a few moments
later as he came around, to find the myopic deputy of Tucksville
locking manacles on his wrists.

* * *

A week later Johnnie Parker and Elly
Horrocks were married in Tucksville, a week before the trial of her
brother Saul Horrocks.

"We wanted that monster to see that despite
all of his murdering and deviousness, that we were man and wife,"
Elly explained to Jake and Nantan.

"It will be hard," Johnnie said. "Saul
Horrocks was rotten to the core, but he is still her natural born
brother, so she is bound to be torn up about it all – especially
when he is sentenced to be hanged, which he surely will be."

They ate a quiet supper together, then the
following morning Jake and Nantan rode off together. Neither of
them had any place in particular to go, and neither knew how long
they would ride together. For now there was just one trail that
they meant to follow. That was the one leading away from so much
tragedy and so much death.

It was the trail that went through
Rattlesnake Pass.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CLAY
MORE

My real name
is Keith Souter and I was born in St Andrews in Scotland. I studied
Medicine at Dundee University and then practiced as a family doctor
in the city of Wakefield in England for thirty years. While I was
at medical school I started to write children's stories for a
family magazine, but after qualifying as a doctor the exigencies of
the job were such that the focus of my writing was on medicine. I
have also been a health columnist for almost thirty years and have
written about a dozen medical and health books. In addition I write
non-fiction books including Schoolboy Science Remembered; The
Pocket Guide to Dice and Dice Games; The Little Book of Genius; The
Little Book of Golf; Medical Meddlers, Mediums and Magicians – the
Victorian Age of Credulity and The Classic Guide to King Arthur.
Using the pen-name of Clay More I write traditional westerns with
the Black Horse Westerns imprint of Hale of London: Raw Deal at
Pasco Springs; Nemesis for the Judge; Double-Dealing at Dirtville;
A Rope for Scudder and Stampede at Rattlesnake Pass, all soon to be
reprinted by The Western Fictioneers Library. I also write
Scottish-based crime novels as Keith Moray for Hale: The Gathering
Murders; Deathly Wind; Murder Solstice and Flotsam and Jestsam. In
2006 I won a Fish Prize for my short historical story A Villain's
Tale and writing as Keith Souter started a series of historical
mysteries set around Sandal Castle, the ruined medieval castle that
I live within arrowshot of: The Pardoner's Crime and The Fool's
Folly. In the summer of 2012 the first in my series of Victorian
children's adventures begins with The Curse of the Body Snatchers
by G-Press. My website is www.keithsouter.co.uk and my blog is
http://west-uist-chronicle.blogspot.co.uk

[I am a member
of the Society of Authors, The Crime Writers' Association, Medical
Journalists' Association, International Thriller Writers, Western
Writers of America and Western Fictioneers.]

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