Chapter 5

Once we were sure that the able-bodied raiders had all left, we went out to see what we could find. We had to kill one badly injured horse and we found only two of the raiders still alive. The raider with the broken arm and leg had survived, along with the leader of the group. The rest had bled to death.

We managed to lift the horse off the broken leg of the leader, but not unexpectedly, he was unconscious from the pain. We used blankets for stretchers and carried the two men into the bunk house. The leader's bleeding from where I had shot him was treated, but we left the rest until he woke up.

One of the women was assigned to keep an eye on him while we talked to the other man. His broken arm and leg were set and splinted and he was asked his name and who had hired him.

"I'm Joe White. I wuz hired by that galoot over in the other bed. I don't even know his name. He jus' paid me $10 to join his gang to shoot up this here ranch. I don't know why, but I shore needed the money, so I took the job. He didn't say we had to kill people, jus' scare the hell out of 'em. Shit! It's gonna cost me more to replace my horse than I got fer the job. Plus, I got hurt. What a fuckin' mess I got myself into!"

We didn't get anything more from him, so we let him rest while we waited for the other man to regain consciousness. Finally he did wake up and we asked him why he had attacked our ranch and who hired him.

"I ain't tellin' ya nothin'!" he growled through his pain.

"Oh, I think you will!" is said as I pushed on his broken leg. He screamed and passed out, again. I wouldn't push quite so hard, next time!

When he woke up, I said, "You know ya'll most likely get gangrene in that bullet wound in yer leg ifen we don't take care of it. Then, the best ya kin hope fer is to lose yer leg afore it kills ya. Now, do ya want treatment or not? Cuz, ifen ya do, ya're gonna have ta answer some questions, first. What'll it be?"

"OK, I'll answer yer questions, but I don't know a hell of a lot. I was hired by some dandy in Johnson to hoorah yer house and put a good scare into ya. We weren't ordered ta kill anybody, just scare ya."

"What's yer name?"

"Jack Hadley."

"What's this dandy's name?"

"I don't know that. He wouldn't tell me his name, but I kin describe him fer ya."

"OK, go ahead."

"He's 'bout 6-feet tall and kinda young. He has brown hair an' brown eyes. He wuz dressed real dandyfied when I seen 'im. He wears glasses an' has a gold watch chain across his front. He has a black suit, a grey hat, an' brown boots with a high polish. He gave me $400 to hire some men an' as my pay. I don't know nothin' else."

"Where'd ya meet him?"

"I was havin' a beer in the Oak Tree saloon when he came up ta me an' asked ifen I wanted an easy job. I said that I shore did an' he told me 'bout this."

"How'd he know to talk ta ya?"

"I don't know. I guess somebody told him 'bout me needin' a job."

"OK, Juanita is a real good doctor. She'll look after yer legs. It's gonna hurt, so don't give her a hard time, or it'll hurt even more! Juanita, see what ya kin do fer this man, ifen ya please."

I beckoned to Jane and we went outside. "Now that I've got a better description, I'm goin' back ta Johnson ta see ifen I kin find the galoot what is causin' all our trouble. I may be gone fer a few days, so don't fret 'bout me. Remember, I been takein' care of myself fer a few years, so I'll by all right."

"Oh, Bill, I will worry 'bout ya. Ya know I'm startin' ta feel mighty drawn ta ya. I don't know what I'd do ifen sumpthin' happened ta ya. Please be safe an' come back ta me in one piece an' no extra holes in yer body." She grinned at that.

"I've come to love ya, Jane. I don't want nothin' ta happen what will interfere with me seein' more of ya. I'm hopin' one day ya'll see clear ta marry me."

"Bill, is that a proposal? YES! YES! YES! I'll marry ya as soon as we kin arrange it!" With that, she grabbed me and kissed me like I have never been kissed before! Of course, I kissed her back! I didn't give a shit who might see us! We spent the rest of the day just talking about nothing and staring into each other's eyes. That was the best afternoon of my life!

The next day, I had breakfast before daylight and saddled up my horse for the trip to Johnson. It was pretty early when I left, so I wasn't expecting trouble, but I still was careful as I rode out. Man, was I lucky! I saw sunlight glint off a gun barrel in time to duck before the bullet buzzed over my head. I spurred my horse and raced for a nearby arroyo. I pulled my rifle as I rode and jumped down as soon as I got close enough to the arroyo.

I slid down the bank on my ass and came up running. I ran as fast a I could toward where I had seen the glint and the powder smoke. I stopped when the arroyo started to curve away from my attacker. The bank was pretty steep along here, but I did find a place where I could climb up enough to see over the edge of the arroyo. I was looking around when a bullet knocked my hat off and scratched the top of my head. Talk about a close call, I felt the hot bullet as it went by, but it didn't even cut my skin!

What the shit? That shot came from the wrong place! Was there more than one gunman? There had to be! I slid back down into the arroyo and picked up my hat. I admired the bullet hole, it had to be a .44-40 or .45. The hole was too big to be anything smaller caliber and too clean cut to be a ball. I had to watch myself or I was a goner!

I stuck my hat on and ran part way back in the arroyo to where there were some bushes growing at the edge and the bank was a little easier to climb. This time I took off my hat before I stuck my head up over the edge of the bank. I figured that my head would be a smaller target without the hat and harder to see behind the brush.

There were three of them! I felt like an army was chasing me. I lined my sights up on the nearest one and carefully squeezed the trigger. I hit him because I heard him scream in pain, but I didn't know if I killed him. At the moment I didn't care, I just wanted him out of the fight.

Thank God and the British for smokeless powder! The other two looked around in surprise, but ducked down before I could get another shot. They obviously didn't know where my shot had come from; black powder smoke would have given me away. Since they didn't know where I was, I figured my best bet was to stay in place; I might get another free shot.

Things kind of sat still for nearly 15 minutes, then one of my attackers got impatient and stirred around. I couldn't see him well enough to get off a shot, but I was certain of his location. Now, if I could fix the other one, I would be in pretty good shape.

Son of a bitch! There he was, standing in the arroyo and pointing his rifle at me! Just before he shot, I threw myself into the bottom of the arroyo, dropping my rifle as I fell. The other guy levered his rifle for another shot, but I was rolling on the ground too fast for him to get his aim. I managed to pull the pistol from my left handed position and get off a shot at him. I winged him hard enough to make him drop his rifle. Before he could do anything else, I put two bullets into his chest and gut.

Without pausing for thought, I grabbed up my rifle with my right hand and took off at a dead run for any other part of the arroyo. I found a place with brush at the edge of the bank, so I reloaded my pistol and rifle and climbed up the bank for another look. I was looking around for the other guy when I heard rapid hoof beats racing off in the distance. I got a glimpse of what I figured was my third assailant riding off before I could kill him, too.

Nevertheless, I didn't take any chances and waited 15 or more minutes before climbing out of the arroyo and looking where I had shot the first man. He was lying in a pool of blood with most of his head shot away. Well, I didn't have to worry about him anymore. I went through his pockets and found a little money, but nothing else of value. I picked up his weapons and went looking for the horses.

I found two horses hitched in some trees, mounted, and rode back to where I had shot the second man. I slid down the bank on my ass and went to look him over. He was about as dead as you can get and, other than a little money, had nothing of value in his pockets. I took his weapons and left him for the coyotes.

I now had two horses, two sets of tack, two rifles, two pistols with gunbelts, a derringer, and three knives. I decided that the best thing for me to do was to take these things home and consider my options before I did something rash.

I rode up to the ranch and had one of the hands take care of the horses and tack while I took the weapons into the house. Jane came running up and we kissed while I was using both hands to hold the guns out away from my sides. She demanded to know why I was home so early and where I had gotten the extra guns. I got a bucket from the kitchen and went onto the back porch to clean the weapons while I told Jane what had happened.