Chapter 10

The deputy, Josh Wilkins, explained what he knew of the situation. "There is a range war, of sorts, goin' on, an' I'm a target. I have a small ranch what's not gittin' by. I took the deputy job to make enough money soz I wouldn't lose my ranch. Don't much git done out there cuz I kin only work it on my days off. I knows I could make a go of it ifen I could jus' git a stake to improve my herd. But, with the range war goin' on, the bank won't have nothin' ta do with me.

"The big deal is that there are two streams what have my little ranch as their source, and the two ranchers on each side of me both want my ranch soz they kin control the water. The two ranchers have taken a dislike to each other, soz whoever kin git control of my ranch would cut off the water ta his enemy's ranch.

"Both of the rivals have offered me more money than the ranch is worth jus' ta git control of the water. The thing is, I don't want ta sell. There's a girl what I plans ta marry, an' she loves that ranch as much as I does. I ain't no hog, an' I'm willin' ta let both sides have all the water they need, but I wish they would leave me alone. Trouble is, I'm afeared they won't do that, an' I'm afeared that the situation is gittin' worse. Tonight ain't the first time I've been shot at, but tonight's the first time it's gotten this elaborate."

This story sounded to Jack to be close enough to what happened to him that he began to seethe with anger. "Bill, I am really an' truly pissed by Josh's story. Maybe me an' ya should go out an' plug them two ranchers soz this nonsense would stop."

"Come on, Jack. I kin see why ya would be upset by Josh's problem, but let's not go off half cocked. We winged the assassin, soz we should be able ta find him real easy. When we do, we kin learn who hired him. Then we kin put pressure on that feller ta back off. Ifen he backs off, maybe the other one will, too."

Josh said, "Y'all would do that fer me? There ain't no way I could pay ya fer yer effort, soz I couldn't ask y'all ta take the risk."

"Hell, Josh, Bill an' I hate bullies, soz we would enjoy takin' another bully down a notch. Let us see what we kin do. Maybe we kin he'p, an' maybe we can't. But, at least, we wants ta try."

"Well, y'all must know that I'm much obliged that y'all would take an interest in my problems. Let's have a cup of coffee, an' I will tell ya all I know 'bout both men."

They sat drinking coffee and talking about Josh's ranch well into the night. Finally, along about 10:00 o'clock, all three realized how late it had gotten, so Bill and Jack headed for their hotel room while Josh left on his rounds of the town.

The next morning, Bill and Jack stopped by the train station to cancel their tickets to Amarillo, but the agent said there was no time limit on the tickets, and they could use them any time they were ready to make the trip. They thanked him for the information, and Bill stuffed the tickets back into his pocket.

They figured that the easiest way to find the wounded man was to visit the two ranches and see if the man was around one of them. With that in mind, they rode out to the Lazy J to start their search.

It was not uncommon for riders to show up at any time at a ranch, either looking for work or just passing through, heading somewhere else looking for work. Thus, they were welcomed at the Lazy J just as any other wanderers would be. They, intentionally, showed up just before lunch, so they were invited to stay for the meal (any other treatment would have been a shock). They accepted the offer and spent a few minutes talking to the foreman about employment prospects in the area. They left with thanks for the hospitality when the foreman said that he knew of nothing.

They went back toward town, as a trip to the Circle M timed to arrive at supper would be awkward, since they might be invited to sleep in the bunkhouse that night. A refusal of that hospitality would have blown their cover, since Jack could hardly undress in front of all those men without giving away his secret. Therefore, they planned to visit the Circle M the next day.

As it turned out, the ride back to town took them over the edge of Circle M range, and that's were they found a badly wounded man lying on the ground. There was no horse around, and they only spotted him because of some circling buzzards. They stopped to render what aid they could, and saw that the man had two bullet wounds. Both were close together, and both were in his side.

The man obviously did not have long to live, so there was not much they could do for him. Close examination of the wounds made it obvious that he had been shot within the last 24 hours. The man claimed that he did not know why he had been shot, nor did he know where his horse had wandered to. Jack looked down into a shallow draw and spotted the horse at a little stream about 60 yards away. Jack went to reclaim the horse while Bill stayed behind to question the man.

Jack found that there was some blood on the saddle, but the amount was not consistent with the man's story, so he knew something was wrong. The man was dead by the time Jack returned with the horse, but Bill had determined that the man worked for the Circle M. This was the perfect excuse to visit that ranch, so they tied the man across his saddle and, leading his horse, rode to the Circle M ranch house.

When they arrived, there was some consternation over the dead man, but not as much as Bill and Jack would have expected. They also noticed that one of the men who came running up to help with the body was one of the "drunks" from the night before.

This was all of the proof they needed to conclude that the attack on Josh Wilkins had been ordered from the Circle M. Now the question was: who had ordered the attack, the owner, John Miller, or the foreman, Hank Bufford? It was quite possible that Miller knew nothing of the attack, and it had been ordered by Bufford to curry favor with his boss.

Once the business of the dead man had been settled, Bill and Jack spent some time talking to the foreman about things in general in the area. They asked the kind of questions that transients would ask, including the prospect of jobs. Bufford did say that he was not ready to hire anyone at the moment, but he might be needing some gun hands in the near future and asked about their feelings on that kind of job. Both said that they might be interested, depending on how much money the job paid. When Bufford asked how he could find them in case he wanted to offer them a job, they said to leave word in one of the saloons in town; they would check with the bartenders every day for the next couple of days.

Bill and Jack spent some more time talking to Bufford, trying to get to know him, before they left for town. On their way back, they agreed that Bufford seemed to them to be a slick character whom they would not trust as far as they could throw a prize bull. When they got back to town, they ate supper and started making the rounds of the saloons.

They wanted to talk to Josh, but they didn't want to do it at the jail where their association with him would be obvious and word of it might get back to the two ranches. Instead, they wanted to catch him when he was making his rounds and talk to him in some unobtrusive place.

They were quietly sipping a beer when Josh walked in. He came over and leaned on the bar next to Bill. Bill quietly said, "Meet us in the next alley in 15 minutes." Bill and Jack left the bar to walk to the corner. They turned the corner and walked to the rear of the buildings. They followed that alley back toward the saloon, which they passed and walked to the crosswise alley which they entered. They found the darkest place to wait for Josh.

On schedule, Josh showed up, and Bill and Jack gave him a thorough rundown on what they had learned and on their suspicions about Hank Bufford, the foreman. Josh said, "That explains a lot. I've been friends with John Miller, the owner of the Circle M, ever since I wuz a kid. He's the one who's offered me the most money fer my spread, and he has never pressured me ta sell. On the other hand, I've always thought Bufford wuz a bastard. I wouldn't doubt fer one minute that he wuz the one tryin' ta murder me. The real question is, what kin we do 'bout it?"