Chapter 5

Jed started getting complaints from some of the business men that they were being threatened. Some hard-cases had come around and warned them that their businesses would be harmed, even burned out, if they didn't pay for "protection?" They refused, saying that Jed and Jimmy were all the protection they needed. The hard-cases went out, but left dire threats behind.

Then the acts of vandalism started. Mostly, it was broken display windows, but, sometimes, it was a door kicked in. In one case, a store room was entered, and a bucket of water was poured into a barrel of crackers. Jed and Jimmy started watching out for the vandals, but never caught anybody.

Then, things turned serious. One night a fire started in Hans Glueck's gun shop. This was no petty vandalism. Hans had enough powder in his store room to blow most of the town off the map. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished before it got to the powder, but a lot of powder was ruined by the water that was thrown on it to keep it from exploding. Just that morning, Hans had reported a fire threat to Jed.

The next day, Jed made a point of visiting every businessman in Sadlers Gulch to tell him to report immediately any threats against his business. He reiterated his fears that the situation would get out of hand if they didn't nip it in the bud. Nothing happened on this front for the next three days, then Sam Hudson reported a fire threat against his store that morning.

Jed and Jimmy set up a watch over Hudson's store for that night, but nothing happened. They posted themselves again the next night, and this time their watchfulness paid off. Two men were seen sneaking up to the back door of Hudson's store; this was the entrance to the storeroom.

Jimmy was on duty at the back of the store and couldn't restrain himself when he saw the two men trying to break into his father's store. He was quite close to the men when he let go with both barrels of his shotgun. Both men were killed in the blast of buckshot, so there was no one left to question about the plot. Jimmy apologized for shooting to kill, but not for shooting. Jed conceded that he really didn't blame the boy, but he had cut off all chance of finding out who was behind the protection plot.

Now that JJ was old enough to travel for short distances, Mary wanted to take him for a visit to the Rocking KK ranch to visit Grandpa. In truth, she was getting cabin fever. She'd had enough of town and wanted a chance to get back to her old home for a change of scenery. Jed reluctantly agreed, so he rented a buckboard for the short journey.

Jed was prepared to escort mother and child to the ranch, but Mary insisted that she was quite capable of making the short trip on her own. After all, it was only a 2-hour trip by good road, and she had her pistol and shotgun along in case they met another cougar. Finally, he reluctantly agreed to let her make the trip without him, but he had a lot of reservations as he watched them leave that morning.

Jed's day went pretty much as it usually did, but, just before supper, a rider from the Rocking KK found him talking to Sam Hudson at the store about the protection racket. "Marshal, ya gotta come quick! Yer wife's missin' an' Mr. Kelley wants ta talk ta ya at the ranch!"

Jed ran to the livery stable and rented a horse. The two men rode as fast as the horses could travel to the ranch and the meeting with Kevin Kelley. When they arrived, Kevin met them with stupefying news: Mary had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom.

Kevin explained that he had sent some riders to see why Mary had not arrived before dinner, as she had planned. It was 2:00 PM, and there was no sign of Mary or JJ. About half way between Saddlers Gulch and the Rocking KK, they had found the buckboard. Mary was gone, but nothing else was missing. JJ was raising hell, crying and yelling; otherwise they might never have noticed him. Mary had put him in a basket covered with a cloth and pushed under the seat to protect him from the sun. Apparently, the kidnappers hadn't seen him, either.

The riders found a note on the buckboard's seat saying the Mary had been kidnapped for a $2,000 ransom. The note said that they knew that Jed didn't have that kind of money, but her father did. They had 4 days to raise the money, and they would be contacted on Friday about how to pay the ransom.

Jed was as upset as Kevin about Mary's kidnapping, but as relieved as Kevin that the kidnappers had missed JJ. Jed wanted to begin scouring the countryside immediately for sign of Mary and her captors. He sent a ranch hand into town to tell his deputy, Jimmy Hudson, that the town was now in his hands, and Jed wouldn't be back until Mary was freed and the kidnappers were caught.

Jed took two men with him to the site of the kidnapping. One was one of the riders who had found the buckboard, and the other was an expert tracker. It took only a few minutes of scouting for the tracker to find the trail of the kidnappers as they left the road with Mary riding double on one of the horses.

They followed the trail for over a mile, but lost it on a patch of hardpan. It was getting dark, and the tracker said that he could not follow the trail until the next morning. Jed was upset by this development, but not surprised. They rode back to the ranch with Jed cursing the kidnappers all the way.

The next morning, Jed and his same two helpers grabbed a quick breakfast and a make-do lunch and rode for the place where they had lost the trail the night before. Meanwhile, Kevin Kelley took two escorts and rode into Saddlers Gulch to visit the bank. He planned to borrow the ransom money and return to the ranch house before dark.

Jed and the other two men reached the hardpan early in the morning, and the expert tracker spent the rest of the day trying to find the kidnappers' trail. All to no avail, they would just have to wait to hear from the kidnappers before they could do anything else. At least, Keven returned to the ranch house with the ransom money.

Jed was a bear to live with, and so was Kevin, but nobody begrudged them their ill humor. Finally, Friday arrived. About noon, a rider rode in with the instructions on paying the ransom. Jed wanted to shoot him right then, but the rider warned that if he failed to return to the hideout in good shape before supper time, Mary would be killed.

Kevin had a brainstorm and sent a rider to a hill near the hardpan to watch out for the returning kidnapper. The man was supplied with a spyglass and instructions not to try to follow the kidnapper, but to simply note which way he went, so that he could be followed later. While this was going on, Jed talked to the kidnapper, delaying him as much as possible and trying to glean any information he could. Jed didn't get much information, but he did delay the kidnapper long enough to let their watcher get a good jump on the man. This effort turned out to be a total waste of time. The kidnapper never showed up at the hardpan, so they weren't able to follow him anywhere.

Kevin read the ransom note out loud, "Marshal Jed Thompson must deliver the money. He must be alone. He must put the money in a feed sack and deliver it to the dead cottonwood tree at Grimsley's water hole at exactly noon on Saturday. We will kill Mary Thompson if you don't follow these instructions exactly. Mary Thompson will be released after we get the money."

Jed barked, "Those bastards! If they hurt Mary, I'll make them wish they were already in hell!"

Kevin said, "Calm down, an' let's decide how we're goin' to handle this."

Jed says, "The note says that I have ta deliver the money. I'll do that, first. Ifen there ain't nobody there, I'll leave the money an' ride away. I'll hide out an' watch with the spyglass. When somebody shows up fer the money, I'll follow 'im ta where they got Mary. Soon's they release her, I'm goin' in shootin'!"

"What if they have somebody waitin' fer ya at the tree? What'll ya do then?"

"I'll give 'im the money. When he takes it, I'll shoot 'im in the shoulder or hip and make 'im tell me where they've got Mary."

"What if they shoot ya when ya ride up?"

"I hadn't thought of that! SHIT! What am I gonna do, Kevin?"

"The first thin' is that ya're gonna calm down. Now, I propose that ya, I, an' a bunch of the boys ride over ta Grimsley's water hole, tomorrow. When we gits near the place, we'll find someplace ta hide. Ya kin ride in with the money an' leave it by the tree. Then, ya ride back to us. When the kidnappers pick up the money, our tracker will follow 'im an' lead us ta where they're hidin'. We'll figure out what ta do when we find 'em.

"Ifen there's a kidnapper waitin' at the tree, ya give 'im the money. The rest of the plan is the same.

"Ifen they try ta shoot ya at the tree, ya gotta fall ofen yer hoss like ya're dead. Don't try ta shoot anybody, just lie there. We'll come ridin' in an' take care of the kidnappers. Ya got any better idees?"

"Shit! Naw, Kevin, ya got a smart plan, better than anythin' I could come up with right now. We'll do it yer way."

The next morning, Jed, Kevin, and 12 cowboys rode out to deliver the ransom money. Jed bounced between elation that he was finally getting Mary back and depression at what might have happened to her while she was a captive. Keven was feeling much the same way, but he also felt that he had better make Jed get control of his feelings before he screwed up the whole plan.