Chapter 56

Dal Hopkins had been half asleep, half-awake as he worried about his town. He heard a man whisper something behind him in the cell. Was he dreaming? Could it really be?

HE KNEW THAT VOICE...

He’d know that voice in the middle of a windstorm on the plains or in a howling snowstorm on top of a mountain. No matter where on earth he was, he would know that voice...

Eli was here. He knew it was him! How – he didn’t know, but that was Eli Crow behind him, he’d bet his life on it.

“Marshal, you alright?” Eli asked as he pulled the scarf off Dal Hopkins’ face, rolling him over so they could look into each other’s eyes.

“Eli, how in the hell did you get here? Or am I dead? Or maybe dreaming?”

“You’re not dreaming or dead but we’re going to put a stop to this nightmare you’re in,” Eli said as he loosened the marshal’s shackles.

Dal Hopkins sat up quickly and put his feet on the floor, dizzy at first, as he looked up at Eli.

“Eli, I don’t know how in the hell you got here this quick or how you knew this was going on, but I sure am glad you’re here. Did you know they’re going to rob the bank when that gold shipment gets here later today?”

“I just found out about that a few minutes ago. This man’s name is Dan Worsten, he told me there were eight of them. He’s the third one I caught and tied up. There’s two more tied up over at Connors, if they haven’t hung themselves by now.”

“Then that means there’s five more out there somewhere.”

“Some are at the bank, so Worsten said. Do you know if the banker and his employees are in there?”

“I’m sure they are, Eli. I hope they haven’t harmed any of them. Have you seen any more around here?”

“I saw one gun in a window across the street from the dry goods store.”

“That’s an empty building now.”

“I’ll go see how many are in there, you get all your shotguns loaded and hunker down by the front door. Just keep watch and don’t let them see you.”

“Eli, my God, Son. It sure is good to see you. You be careful out there. I’ll keep this side of the street safe now that I’m not hogtied and locked up anymore.”

They made Worsten lay on the cot while Marshal Hopkins hooked him up with irons ... hands and feet hooked to the rails of the cot, gagged tied across his face, his eyes covered too.

Eli picked up another pair of cuffs on his way to the door and slipped out behind the jail after looking everything over. He felt like he may have the drop on this bunch, since they weren’t expecting anyone to discover their plans. He knew the only ones to see him so far were the ones he’d tied up and whoever was in the empty building across from the dry goods store.

He worked his way slowly down behind the buildings, past Connors Store and on to where the east-west railroad cut across the south end of town. Eli looked around the corner of the last building, back toward the other end of town. The street was still deserted.

He needed a way to get across the wide street to the train station without being spotted. The only way he could think of was to step across the tracks and crawl past the open street to the depot. The railroad bed was raised a good foot and the rails were another eight inches high where the dirt street crossed it. Tossing his hat aside, he slipped across the rails and lay flat on the other side.

As quick and silent as a deadly snake stalking its prey, Eli crawled through the sand on his belly all the way to where he was blocked from view by the train station. Rising up slowly to look around, he saw a man’s head through a window, inside the station.

That man had not been there when he arrived earlier...

He watched until he determined the man was actually asleep, then crouched low to run across the tracks and slip around back. Eli peeped over the window sill and looked right at the man who slept not six feet from him, inside the station. The man had his hat beside him on a bench seat, his feet propped up on a chair and a shotgun across this legs. His head was lolled back against the high back of the bench, his mouth was wide open.

The man died before he was completely awake!

When he felt a knife sliding across his throat, he jumped forward, twisting his head. He cut his own throat as Eli held the knife.

Eli shoved the man aside as his blood gushed down over his knife and wrist.

“Damn fool, you ought not to be so jumpy or you’d still be alive,” Eli whispered as he looked down at the man lying on the floor. His eyes were locked open with the fear of death, his mouth and his blood already attracting flies.

Eli crouched beside the man and looked through his pockets for a clue to who he was. He found a long leather wallet inside the man’s coat pocket. When he opened it, he saw what looked like thousands of dollars in one hundred dollar bills packed in there.

He looked through the man’s papers and found a piece of paper with a name and address typed on it.

Jarrell Hooker - St. Joseph, Missouri Employed by Wells Fargo, St. Joseph, Missouri.

There was a letter inside an envelope stuck down in the opposite inside coat pocket. Eli pulled the letter out and saw a photograph of a pretty young woman. He read the letter then looked at the young woman’s photograph again.

The letter had been written on Wells Fargo stationery and mailed in a Wells Fargo envelope stamped with their office seal for posting.

Eli put the letter and photograph back in the envelope, folded it and stuck the letter along with the long flat wallet, down inside his shirt. He felt in the man’s outer coat pockets and pulled out a harmonica, thinking it was a folded knife at first. He stuck it in his pouch and stood looking down at the man.

He had to wonder if this was the way Jarrell Hooker was planning to have money to start his marriage. Money that came from a Wells Fargo robbery that his wife-to-be had set up.

Eli went quickly out the same door he’d used to enter the train station. He slipped down the back side of the buildings on this side of the street until he saw the dry goods store across from him. At the back of the empty store building, Eli looked at the boot tracks in the dust on the wooden porch. There was only one man who entered and no tracks coming out. He had to assume the man was still in there.

Looking at the dried, weather-beaten boards, he knew better than to step upon them. They were warped and twisted and would surely creak and crack if he put his weight on them. Slipping down the side of the building, Eli peered in each window he came to. When he raised his head to peep over the window sill into the third window, he saw a young man, no older than Otis or Carter back home.

Eli knew he’d never be able to get inside the building and overtake him without firing a shot. After much thought, he decided to get the young man to step outside.

He made his way to the back of the store building, then reaching around the corner of the building he rapped lightly on the door three times with the barrel of his Colt. The door was at the corner near the edge of the porch and Eli stood on the ground. He heard footsteps on the floor inside and stepped back around the corner.

Eli heard the doorknob rattle, then the hinges squeak as the door opened outward. With the open door between him and the young man, Eli grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door wide. He stepped around it to hit the boy right on his chin with his right fist as the boy stood in shock.

Eli quickly dragged the boy back inside the doorway and closed the door. He rolled him over and searched his pockets. In the back pocket of his pants, Eli found a small leather wallet with just one heavy card inside. The card had the address of the Wells Fargo office in St. Joseph, Missouri printed on it. The card had a name with identification on the back too.

Jubal Hooker Certified and loyal employee of Wells Fargo St. Joseph, Missouri

Eli hooked the young man up with one cuff on his right hand, then pulled his left foot up behind him, cuffing it to his right wrist.

The young man was about to come around as Eli searched his other pockets. He had a few coins and that was all.

“Boy, can you hear me?”

“I can. Why in the hell did you hit me like that?”

“Because you and your brothers are here to rob the bank, that’s why...

“Eli Crow here, United States Marshal out of Tulsa, Indian Territory.”

“What’re you doing way up here in Kansas, Marshal?”

“Stopping a bank robbery...

“Now I want you to listen to me real close, Jubal. I’m going to let you live, but you’ll have to be real quiet and not make a ruckus or I’ll come back and cut your throat while you’re still hooked up in these irons. Do you understand what I just told you?”

“How’d you know my name, Marshal?”

“I know all about you and your brother, Jarrell, and his sweetheart, Ida Mae Stone who works for Wells Fargo office in St. Joe, Missouri. The one you were about to rob the shipment of gold and money from.”

“How’d you find all that out? No one knew about it but Jarrell and us, and we were gonna be back there in St. Joe by morning to go to work.”

“Jubal, you and your brothers will be a little late for work. Now, are you going to be quiet or am I going to have to hit you over the head with my gun this time?”

“Damn, Marshal! I’ll be quiet. I won’t make a sound if you won’t hit me again. You ain’t gonna kill my brothers, are you? If you holler at them, they’ll more’n likely give up. We’re not bad people.”

“I’ll give them a chance, just like I’m giving you one. It will be up to them whether or not they live.”

“How many marshals are here with you? You can’t take on all eight of us by yourself, and that old town marshal ain’t able to help.”

“There are only three of your gang left down at the bank, you want to make them the last of the Hooker gang?”

“No, Marshal. I’ll shut up and keep quiet. Just don’t kill me or no more of my brothers that you ain’t already killed.”

“Like I told you, Jubal. It’s up to you and your brothers. If you holler, I’ll kill every damn last one of them as soon as I see them. Then I’ll come back and cut your throat, after I take your scalp!”

“Damn!” The young man said and rolled over on the floor as best he could. Eli heard the boy crying as he pulled the door closed.

‘Why in the hell did that boy have to listen to his dumb-ass older brother? I could have used another boy like him.’ The thought crossed Eli’s mind as he stood for a moment on the back porch.

Eli knew from what the others had told him, there were only three of the would-be robbers left. One was dead, two were tied up in Connors Store, one was here, and one was in jail already.

Unless the two over at Connors Store had hanged themselves by now.

Knowing that the only three left were holed up in the bank with the banker and his employees, Eli slipped down the alley and across the street once more. He made his way down to Connors Store and looked inside the storeroom. The two young men were still hanging on.

He left them where they stood in the chair and slipped past the hotel to the marshal’s office.

He tapped three times quickly and softly before opening the door. He stuck his head in and saw Dal Hopkins with a shotgun aimed at the back door.

“Eli, you scared the hell out of me. What have you found out?”

“There’s just three of them left, Marshal. They’re in the bank. Do you know if the banker and the others are still in there?”

“They have to be, Eli. They haven’t been released and there’s been no sign of them.

“The Wells Fargo Stage is supposed to be here about an hour before sundown with the gold and money to stay overnight. Maybe we can get their attention before they unload the money and gold. That shipment will be loaded on a train coming through here headed to San Francisco tomorrow morning. No one was supposed to even know about this,” Dal told him.

“I got a letter here that shows a young woman who works up there helped set it up with her sweetheart who worked there too. They were going to steal the gold and money, then the men would be back at work tomorrow morning.”

“And just how in the hell did you find all that out and you ain’t been here two hours yet?”

“I ask a lot of questions, just like you always did.

“Marshal Hopkins, I’m going to ride out and stop that stage. I’ll ride back in with them and at least they’ll know about the holdup before they get here. I’ll take one of the horses that’s tied out back of the drygood store. I need to take the rest of them out of town and tie them up anyway.