Chapter 7

I entered Rio Blanco with no particular expectations. My Spanish is not all that great, but I think that I can make myself understood, most of the time. I went into the nearest cantina and looked around. Damn! I was elated! There was Scarface sitting at a table drinking a beer. I stopped off at the bar and ordered my own beer, picked it up, and sat down at the table with Scarface. I did make a point to sit with my back toward a wall; I had learned something from my deputy marshal friends.

Scarface was not at all happy to see me, but I refused to let him scare me off. I was seething with anger inside, but I tried not to show it outside. I said, "Howdy, I'm kinda 'sprised ta see another Anglo down here. What brings ya around?" I was working hard to have a Texas accent, and I think I did pretty well.

"None of yer damned business! Now, git away from me!" I had not expected him to react with such anger. He had to be worried about something, but I had no idea what it could be.

"Well, ifen that's the way ya feel 'bout it, I'll jus' move on." I got up and moved to another table, but not so far that I couldn't hear anything said at his table. I sat there, nursing my beer, for nearly 45 minutes before something interesting happened. I was about ready to give up in disgust and force the issue with this galoot when another man came in and sat down at his table. His face was on another of those pictures!

Scarface said, "Shit, Ed, how come it took ya so long ta git here?"

Ed answered, "Hell, ya know how fuckin' cautious Sam is. He wouldn't let me come in 'til he was sure there weren't no police watchin' the place. Let's go, Bill."

Bill (Scarface) said, "Man, I thought ya'd never say that. I'm ready ta go. Lead the way."

The two men got up from the table and walked purposefully toward the street. They went out, and I was close behind them, but not so close that they could tell that I was following them. I stood in the shadow of the doorway as they mounted and rode toward the eastern end of town. Once they were about a block away, I mounted my horse and cautiously followed them. I anticipated trouble, but I had no idea what it could be.

I watched them as they met up with another man, who was also one of those pictured in my drawings. Now, I was even more elated! They rode up to what looked like an express office, from what I could tell from my limited Spanish, and dismounted. They went in and stayed for about five to ten minutes. Suddenly, I heard gunfire, and the three came running out, two with their guns drawn and Sam carrying a strong box. He hurriedly tied the strongbox to his saddle, and the three rode out of town. Nobody came running out of the express office, so I assumed that they had killed whomever they had found inside.

They rode out of town as if the devil was on their tails, so I had to push my equestrian abilities to the limit to keep them in sight. They quickly left the road, so I was inconvenienced a bit when it came to following them. I was no tracker at that time, but I managed to follow them because I knew what to look for and there were no other confusing tracks. They rode about a mile away from the road and stopped to try to open the strong box.

These were not the most intelligent bandits, since they failed to post a guard. There was a padlock on the hasp holding the lid closed. At least they were prepared for the lock, since they had brought files. The first one began work while the other two watched. They were intent on getting the strong box open, so they were not prepared when I walked up behind them.

I came up to about 15 feet from them without them even noticing me. I drew my pistol, and they heard me cock it. All three jumped to their feet and reached for their guns. I was so close that I could not possibly miss as I put a bullet into the first man's right elbow. He screamed and distracted the other two, so I had them covered with a cocked gun; they froze in place, afraid to move.

I said, "All right, gentlemen, one at a time, drop your gunbelts on the ground. Use your left hand. We'll start with you, Sam. I know it hurts, and I don't care. Now do it, or I'll put a bullet in your other elbow. Ah ... That's better. OK, now you, Ed ... Good, now you Bill ... All three of you, walk toward that tree."

I had them walk toward the tree and lie down, face down, and tied their hands and feet. I then asked how they had got involved with the rape and murder of my friends. They claimed to be hired guns, nothing else. I asked the name of the man who had hired them—I already knew from my conversation with Sally, but I wanted to hear it from them. There was no problem getting the name of John Applewild from them; however, they only had a vague idea where I could find him. They insisted that he was still in Austin as far as they knew. They did give me some leads on where to look, so I decided to take it easy on punishing them. I'd turn them over to the Mexicans and let them handle the problem. I could be sure that they would hang, but their wait until that event would be no picnic in a Mexican jail.

I got all three in their saddles and tied their feet under the horses belly. I wouldn't let them use the stirrups and I left their hands tied behind them, so they were going to have a real problem staying in the saddle. I fastened the strong box to my saddle and led the horses back to town; we went at a trot to make sure that there would be the maximum number of pinched balls.

I hitched their horses to the rail in front of the express office and dropped the strong box on the sidewalk in front of the building. I then fired five shots into the air with Ed's gun and rode away before I could be roped into the fiasco.

I hurried back to Austin and started my search for Applewild. I tried the saloons he was known to frequent, but I didn't have any luck for nearly two weeks. Finally, I was thrilled as I spotted him and trailed him out of the saloon. I walked along behind him, not close enough to attract attention, until we reached a fairly deserted part of town. I slipped up behind him and hit him in the back of the head with a sock filled with sand.

Applewild collapsed, unconscious, and I dragged him into an alley. I bound and gagged him and left him to fetch my horse. He was still unconscious when I got back, so I had to manhandle him up and tie him behind my saddle. I rode slowly so that I wouldn't bounce him off and headed out of town. I didn't want him to suffocate accidentally, so I pulled off his gag when we got out of town. I already had my place picked out—a deserted spot of flat ground about five miles away.

When we reached the site of my vengeance, I cut the ties and let Applewild fall to the ground. I could not care less whether or not he was hurt by the fall, I just didn't want him dead. He was conscious, so he did groan when he hit the ground. He had kept begging me to tell him why I had attacked him, but I shut him up with the threat of knocking him out again if he didn't quit talking.

Once he was on the ground, I dismounted, and, struggling to suppress my fury lest it ruin my plan, I told him that I was a friend of Jake and Sally, and I was about to extract revenge for the way he had treated them. He could tell that he was about to die unless he could convince me to do otherwise, so he first launched into a series of ridiculous threats. When I laughed at them, he begged me to let him go in exchange for money, but I told him that I had all of the money I needed. Finally, he started to cry and beg for mercy, but I ignored his pleas. I let this run on for about 30 minutes, but I became bored and went on to the next stage of my plan.

His hands were tied behind his back and his ankles were tied together, so he was virtually helpless. I cut his belt and ripped his fly so that I could pull his pants down to his ankles. I didn't want to strip him so that he would take longer to die, but I did need to get to his crotch. I tied one end of my rope around his scrotum and cock and tied the other end to my saddle horn. That's when he realized what I planned to do to him, and he started screaming. I laughed and started my horse off at a slow walk, pulling him along the ground by his cock and balls. He fainted from the pain by the time I had gone about a hundred yards, so I stopped and poured water from my canteen on his face to wake him up. As I did that, it dawned on me that I was wasting perfectly good water, and I had a better idea, so I drank as much water as I could hold.