Chapter 16

Capt. Johnson nearly fell out of his chair from laughing when they told him why they gave Ray all the credit for solving this case. He "sadly" informed them that they still had to write up a report, but he would need more detail to justify sending them on this assignment. He pointed out that it would be easier, next time, if they just let the credit fall where it belonged.

"I swear to Goshen, I think the cap'n enjoyed that!" complained Sean as they left the office, headed for lunch.

"Yeah, it looked that way to me, too," said Ezra.

Bullets sprayed every which way as wild shooting broke out on the street. Sean and Ezra dove for cover behind a watering trough before looking to see what was the cause of all the shooting. Two groups of cowboys were standing in the street with about 50 yards separating them. There were three men on one side and four on the other and they were blazing away at each other with their pistols.

One of the main problems was that they were shooting without bothering to aim, first. At that distance, it was well nigh impossible to shoot accurately with a pistol, you had to be very deliberate with your actions to stand any chance at all of hitting your target. Furthermore, they were triggering off shots as fast as they could cock their guns, so the bullets were flying in bunches. Fortunately, by shooting that fast, they quickly emptied their guns.

Strangely, they didn't try to reload, but charged at each other with bare hands for a regular brawl. At this point, the bystanders, including several Rangers, rushed up to overpower the brawlers. This was more difficult than it should have been, the brawlers fought as if they were insane! Finally, the brawlers were overcome by the pressure of shear numbers and they were carted off to jail; Laredo had a large jail, so there were separate cells for each one.

Sean remarked, "I swear to Goshen, ya'd think they'd been chawing Loco Weed."

"Yeah, it was like that time in Chaney. What do ya 'spose could of happened?" wondered Ezra.

"I'm gonna kill that trail cook! I bet he was feedin' the boys Loco Weed when he was 'sposed to be feedin' 'em Dandelion greens. When word of this gits around, won't nobody work fer me again," moaned a bystander.

"Don't worry about it, Charlie. Folks'll laugh 'bout this fer a week an' then fergit 'bout it. Weren't nobody hurt. Ya'll be OK," responded his friend.

"Boys, we got a problem with some bank robberies. I need ya to run down to Hickham county an' put a stop to the foolishness."

"Shore thin', Cap'n. The sheriff's office's in John's Ford, ain't it?"

"Right; ya an' Ezra should get there in about three days of easy ridin'."

They rode into John's Ford in the early afternoon, three days later. Sheriff Tom Abernathy was in his office, so they didn't have to hunt him up. "Howdy. Ya Sheriff Tom Abernathy? I'm Ezra Woodpacker and this here's Sean Murphy. We're the Rangers from Laredo ya asked fer, sent down here to he'p find them bank robbers."

"Howdy, men. I'm powerful glad to see y'all. There's 10 or 12 in the gang an' I ain't been able to git my posse together quick enough to cotch 'em. They seem to be workin' a pattern and should hit Juniper next, but I can't hold a posse around jus' waitin' fer 'em to show up."

"Ifen ya want, the three of us could ride over to Juniper and wait fer 'em to show up. Are ya sure that Juniper is the next place they'll hit?"

"I'm 'bout as sure as I kin be! Y'all, the Juniper marshal, an' me could give the bandits a right warm welcome, 'specially ifen they ain't 'specting us. Ifen we leave in the next few minutes, we kin be in Juniper afore supper."

"Let's go!"

The three lawmen rode into Juniper and got to Marshal Jim Jones' office before he closed up for supper. "Howdy, Jim. These are the Rangers I asked fer. This here's Sean Murphy and that there's Ezra Woodpaker. Fellers, meet Jim Jones, the marshal of the fair city of Juniper, Texas."

"Yep, Juniper's a right lively place. We got three saloons an' two bordellos. Thin's jump around here on Saturday night."

Ezra grinned and said, "Truth is, when we're on a job, we're care more 'bout the quality of the hotel and the restaurants, though we don't ignore the saloons."

"Our hotel should meet yer high standards, they even change the sheets once a week, whether they need it or not!"

"That sounds good enough, but I'm hungry. Let's go find a decent restaurant."

The four lawmen discussed the bank robbery situation while they ate, and even Ezra acknowledged that the restaurant was "tolerable."

The "Bank of Juniper" was a large and prosperous concern, befitting the character of the town. The next morning, the four lawmen called on the owner/president/manager of the bank and told him of their suspicions regarding upcoming bank robbery. Naturally, he was concerned, but the presence of two Rangers went a long way toward calming his fears. The plan was for Ezra and Jim Jones to wait inside the bank and Sean and Tom Abernathy to wait across the street, which, conveniently, was a saloon.

The lawmen took their positions and the long wait began. By the fourth day, they were beginning to wonder if they had picked the right spot. But no robberies anywhere else made them stick to their original plan. By the fifth day, a Saturday, Ezra was getting cabin fever and having a very hard time sitting quietly in the bank. Finally, though, this was the day they were waiting for.

Three men, wearing dusters and masks, pushed their way into the bank just before closing time and one shouted, "THIS IS A HOLDUP! PUT YER HANDS IN THE AIR AFORE WE START SHOOTIN'!" Fortunately, there were no customers in the bank at the time, possibly what the robbers had been waiting for. Ezra jerked his shotgun around and fired almost point blank into the chest of the shouting robber. The marshal shot the second one, also in the chest, with his carbine. They both then fired at the third man just as he fired his own shotgun. His shot missed, but the lawmen didn't!

The gunfire alerted Sean and Tom across the street. They rushed onto the sidewalk in front of the saloon and spied four men in dusters and masks standing near the door to the bank. Sean yelled, "RANGERS! DROP YER GUNS! Y'ALL ARE UNDER ARREST FER BANK ROBBERY!" This command caused three of the men at the bank to drop behind watering troughs and one to duck between some horses hitched at the rail. All four of the men began firing at the two lawmen across the street.

Sean and Tom returned the fire from behind watering troughs. The boom of Sean's shotgun was encouraging the robbers to stay down and Tom's carbine was adding to the noise. The four robbers only had pistols, so they were somewhat outgunned.

The noise outside caused Jim, inside the bank, to run to open the door. Ezra shouted at him to stop, but it was too late! Jim opened the door, but was seen by one of the bandits who snapped off a shot at him. The bullet caught Jim in the face, but only passed through one cheek and out the other, knocking out a couple of teeth on the way through. It was a very painful, though not fatal, wound. Jim's life was probably saved by the way blood spurted from his mouth and the way he fell. Ezra dragged him back into the bank out of the line of fire, but didn't have time for any first aid.