Chapter 3: Tracking A Killer

Janie and Marge McLane were standing on the porch, waving as Hoyt and the two Moore sisters rode up to the house and stopped.

The girls still wore the ragged and torn buckskin shirts Hoyt had given them back in Canyon De Chelley. They bounded to the ground, unashamed of the fact their naked butts were exposed.

Marge McLane smiled as she reached out to the sisters. “Hoyt, have you brought more women home with you?”

“Mrs. Marge, this is Elvie and Elsie Moore. Their parents were killed by the Indian Outlaw, Red Wing. They were being held captive when I killed the Indian and rescued them. They have something to ask of you and Janie.”

Janie quickly ran down the three steps, reaching out to hug Hoyt. “Hoyt, you’re the best man, Momma and I have ever known. I hope you’re planning to let these girls live here with Momma and me while you’re out hunting more outlaws.”

“Janie, they’ve asked me if they could live here. I told them they’d have to ask you and your momma ... I got to tell you on the front end, before you tell them yes, they want to live here as my women.”

Marge McLane paid no attention to what Hoyt said, as she reached for the Moore sisters. “You young women come with me. We’re going to get you bathed and your hair washed. Then, we’ll get each of you dressed in one of Janie’s gowns, until we can get some everyday clothes for you to wear. I hate that your parents were killed, but I’m so happy that Hoyt saw fit to bring you back here with him...

“Now, both of you give Janie a big hug and a hello, so we can go inside and get you some bathwater heated. Janie and Hoyt will want to be alone for a few minutes while he’s taking care of the horses.

Janie reached out her arms to gather both sisters as she told them, “Come give me a hug, girls. We’re going to be just like three sisters from now on. Goodness, both of you are as grownup as I am and I’m a year older!” she told them as they clung to her, crying as she held both of them against her bosom.

Elvie told her, “Thank you, Janie. We were hoping you’d like us and let us be Hoyt’s women too.”

“You girls just go inside with Momma, while I help Hoyt with the horses. We’ll talk more about this when we’re in bed tonight.”

“You mean we’ll get to sleep with you tonight?” Elsie asked, smiling through her tears.

“Yes you will, and every night from now on, too. Now go with Momma and get yourselves cleaned up. We’ll be eating supper before long and you’ll get to help with the housework too, while you live here.”

“Hoyt, what happened to Buck?” Janie asked as they led the three horses toward the barn.”

“That damned Indian Outlaw – Red Wing – killed him for no reason. I took his horse, but I’m sure he stole him from someone. He’s wasn’t a man to deal on horses or make plans to live with one woman.”

“He sure is a tall one, even taller than Buck. What name have you given him?”

“I sort of thought about calling him – Chelley – so I’ll never forget about Buck, or that stinking-ass Indian who shot him, up in Canyon De Chelley.”

“Come over here out of the doorway, by the feed trough, Hoyt. I want to make you forget all about losing Buck, and I want to show you how proud I am for letting those Moore sisters live here with Momma and me while you go off to do your Bounty Hunting.”

“Janie, did you fully understand why they wanted to live here with us?”

“Yes, and I’m glad to have them here with us. They’ll be good company for Momma and me. Besides, it’ll soon be time to plant our fall wheat and they’ll be too busy to think about being in bed with you and me by the time you get back.”

“Janie! I can’t believe you’d just pull your dress over your head right here in the barn with it still daylight outside! Are you that happy about having two sisters?”

“Hoyt, I have always wanted a sister. Now that I have two, I plan to teach them the things Momma taught me about being a woman. I am so happy right now, that I need you to take me right here in this barn. Drop your trousers, Hoyt Malone, your woman needs you!”

Hoyt wasn’t sure how long he’d be gone, or even where they’d send him once he reached Phoenix. He’d taken an old sawbuck packsaddle off the wall in the McLane’s barn, and rigged it on one of the horses he’d taken from Red Wing’s corral. With his extra clothes and camp supplies packed away inside the canvas, he tied the horses’ a sack of feed across the top.

He left Apache County for Phoenix at daylight that morning...

“I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone. I’ll try to mail you a letter if I’m gonna be traveling far off,” he told Janie before kissing her goodbye.

Six long days out of St. Johns, Hoyt rode into Phoenix.

Following the directions he’d gotten from a man he met at the town limits, he rode up to the U.S. Marshals Office and asked to speak to the man in charge.

“Hoyt, we’ve got two favorable reports about you, from the lawmen over in Apache County. We have an opening for a Deputy U.S. Marshal, if you’re a mind to hire on.”

“Sir, with all due respect – for the time being I’d just as soon take the bounty money on anyone you send me after. Maybe one day, I’ll save back enough to settle down and become a respectable lawman.”

“Then you’re likely to make a good haul on this first one we have for you. He’s wanted for murder, kidnapping, and bank robbery. He killed the banker’s wife and her sister during the robbery. There was a town deputy nearby when the shooting took place in the bank. He ran toward the bank just as the man came out with the sacks of money, walking behind a young man he’d taken hostage. The banker ran out and yelled for someone to stop the man, that he’d robbed the bank. The deputy said he was pretty sure he hit the man in his left leg below his knee, when he shot at him. We found blood on the boardwalk, and again near the hitching rail behind the livery stable, when we were hunting for him. That was where we found the body of the young man he’d taken hostage in the bank.

“ ... The bank has a reward of twenty-five hundred dollars, above the twenty-five hundred we have on him. Of course, the bank would like to recover as much of the stolen money as they can, so they’ll more than likely offer you a percentage of what you recover...

“I’ll take you over there now. After I told him you’d be here this week, the banker said he wanted to meet with you personally about the stolen money before you head out.”

On their way over to the bank, Hoyt asked the Marshal if they had any leads on where the man may be, since it’s been nearly a month.

“He was reported to have purchased a train ticket from Flagstaff to Denver, on the first day of this month. The man at the depot in Flagstaff told the local sheriff. The sheriff sent us a telegraph, telling us the ticket agent remembered the wanted poster with the man’s picture on it.”

“Do you have one of the wanted posters? I’d like to have one to identify him by, if I ever run upon him.”

“I have his full name and description, with another picture of him, besides the wanted poster, back in my office. I also have a map of Colorado I can let you have. You’ll need it, if you’re ever going to track this killer down.”

Edson Hargrove, the bank president, waved the marshal and Hoyt into his office as soon as they were introduced.

“Mr. Malone, I am willing to personally pay you two thousand dollars above the bank’s reward, and the reward offered by the law, just because he killed my wife and sister-in-law. Besides that, my bank is prepared to pay you ten percent of any money you may recover for us.

“When Marshal Walker told me your name and that you were headed this way to take the case, he gave me the names of St. Johns Town Marshal, Willys Freeman and Apache County Sheriff, Braden Wills. I sent each of them a telegraph inquiring of your reputation, and both men sent me a telegraph telling me that you were a man of upstanding character and a very capable young man... and, that you were just down on your luck. I’ll take them at their word and trust that you’ll return all the twenty-five thousand of stolen money, or, whatever part that’s left of it ... if and when you recover it.”

“Twenty-five thousand?

...”I’m not sure about me being all that – upstanding character and capable stuff – like you said they said about me, but I’m glad they spoke up for me like they did ... You can rest easy, that if and when I do recover your money, or any part of it, I’ll bring it back here and turn it over to Marshal Walker. That way, I’ll know that he’s counted it, and when it’s turned over to you, we’ll have three counts on any part of the money that’s been recovered.”

“You’re a good man to do business with, Mr. Malone. I’ll put my trust in you, the same as Marshal Freeman and Sheriff Wills ... And, since you now stand in good favor with Marshal Walker over here, you stand in good favor with me. I wish you luck in your manhunt, and I wish you a rich and well deserved reward upon your return.”

U.S. Marshal Jed Walker, advanced Hoyt a hundred dollars against the reward and also gave Hoyt a Deputy U.S. Marshal’s badge, with a paper identifying Hoyt as a duly appointed Special Deputy U.S. Marshal, just in case he needed official identification.

Hoyt bought a ticket to Flagstaff so he could talk to the man who recognized the bank robber, James Wharton.

He was surprised that his big Paint horse, Chelley, walked right up the ramp into the stock car with the other horses. His packhorse was already in the car, and he figured that’s why Chelley loaded so easy.

He tossed his saddle and bridle on the seat next to him in the passenger car and propped his feet up to get some rest. When the Porter tapped him on his shoulder and told him they’d be in Flagstaff in a few minutes, Hoyt pulled his watch out and looked at it. It seemed to him that he’d barely closed his eyes, when the Porter woke him.

They had a thirty minute layover to take on water, and Hoyt hurried to the ticket window at the depot, to see if the same man was on duty who had recognized James Wharton, the bank robber.

“Deputy, he used the name, Jim Barton, but there was something about him that made me think I had seen him before ... Then later, I remembered the Wanted Poster and went to look at it. Sure enough, it was him ... but the train had already pulled out by then. I sent word to the sheriff that I was pretty sure it was him, but I never heard anymore about it.”