Chapter 8

Jack and Bill had ridden through a couple of towns without finding any business a bounty hunter would be interested in. But the situation changed when they came to the town of Waterville. Waterville was a town of moderate size, about 400 residents, if you count the dogs. They had entered the first of the town's four saloons and had just purchased their first beer of the day. Suddenly, a man came rushing into the place with important news.

"Banker Thomas has been kidnapped, an' his wife is offerin' a $500 reward fer his safe return! She'll also pay $500, each, fer the two kidnappers, dead or alive! He wuz kidnapped from his office at the bank 'bout an hour ago. They wuz last seen headed north toward Big Swamp."

The messenger was nearly trampled in the rush of men heading for their horses to dash off to the north to try to find the kidnappers. The poor spreader of the news picked himself up off the floor and left for the next saloon.

Jack and Bill had finished their beers in a hurry, but had not dashed out with the rest of the saloon's customers. Bill asked the bartender where to find the bank. With those directions in mind, they rode to the bank to look around. They found Mrs. Thomas in Mr. Thomas' office, sitting at his desk.

Bill led the way to the desk and said, "Howdy, Ma'am? I'm Bill Akers an' this here is my partner Jack Hightower. We're bounty hunters, an' we aim ta go after the kidnappers of yer husband. But, we want some information, first. Wuz there any witnesses what kin give us a description of the kidnappers? Also, we'd like a description of yer husband, soz we don't shoot the wrong man."

Mrs. Thomas greeted the two bounty hunters graciously and provided a description of her husband. The description could be boiled down to a completely bald head and a weight of 350 pounds. He was so heavy that he usually traveled by carriage, since no horse could carry him very far. She reported that his carriage was missing, so she presumed that the kidnappers had used that to transport her husband.

A teller had witnessed the kidnapping. He had been trussed up and was lying on the floor where he could get a good look at the kidnappers. The two kidnappers were dressed in the kind of clothes that the local Chickasaw Indians usually wore, though the teller was sure that they were actually White men in disguise.

There was no way that the two kidnappers were going to manhandle such a large man as the banker; they had walked him out of the bank at gunpoint, through the rear door. As usual, the banker had left his carriage tied to a hitching post at the back door, so that was undoubtedly what the kidnappers had used for their captive. In any case, the carriage was now gone, and so was the mounting stool the banker used when he climbed into his carriage.

By the way, the kidnappers had also taken with them a bundle of $100 and $500 value private assay gold bars totaling $20,000. This money had recently arrived as a deposit by a land speculator who wanted to acquire as much Indian land as he could manage. The speculator was offering a $1,000 reward for the return of the gold.

Shit! The combined rewards were $2,500, almost enough to retire on. Bill and Jack meant to claim that reward!

Jack said to Bill, "It looks ta me like there ain't no point in dashing off, who knows where, ta chase a vanishin' dust cloud. Let's start out back an' follow them carriage tracks. Ya know that they're gonna carry that there near 70 pounds of gold in the carriage, too."

They brought their horses around to the back of the bank and mounted up to begin trailing the carriage. It's tracks were distinctive enough that it should be easy to follow. The width of the carriage tread was about half that of the usual wagon wheel, though the distance between the wheels was pretty much the same, so the narrow tread should stand out, even on a well-traveled road.

Now, this was something interesting. The two kidnappers were riding their horses, one to each side of the carriage, apparently with the banker doing the driving. This was surprising because Bill and Jack expected one of the kidnappers to be driving the carriage, with his horse tied on behind. Well, this was not unreasonable, just unexpected. The carriage was carrying close to its capacity in weight, so that may have been why the kidnapper was not also in the carriage.

Anyway, the bounty hunters followed the carriage away from Waterville, but it did not follow the road running north. Instead, the carriage stayed on the main road headed east, and at no time did it appear to be running north. How did that false rumor get started? They followed the carriage for about 11 miles and knew that they had to be getting close. For some reason, the kidnappers did not appear to be in any sort of hurry.

Suddenly, from around a bend in the road to bypass a clump of trees, they heard two quick gunshots. Jack and Bill put their horses into a run to get to the site of the shots. There they found two men lying on the ground, shot in the back, and a very portly man sitting in a carriage, holding a still-smoking gun. When they got closer, the man returned the gun to a shoulder holster. Both bounty hunters noticed that he did not take the time to reload.

When they inquired, the man introduced himself as Henry Thomas, the banker from Waterville. There was an exchange of introductions, then Jack and Bill heaved the two corpses onto their horses and tied them on. The horses were hitched to the back of the carriage and they returned to Waterville.

Since her husband had already done all of the work when Jack and Bill showed up, Mrs. Thomas refused to pay any of the reward, though she did give them $1 each for helping to bring in the two kidnappers. Somewhat disgusted, the couple checked into the local hotel, since it was, by now, late in the day.

They ate supper and spent a few hours making the rounds of the saloons, but Bill could tell that Jack's mind was off somewhere else, apparently mulling over a problem.

Later, when they were back at their hotel and lying in bed, Bill asked, "Honey, I could tell something has been botherin' ya ever since we got back ta town. What is it?"

"I ain't shore, Darlin'. I can't he'p wonderin' why the kidnappers let the banker keep his gun. They must never of searched 'im, cuz they would of shore as hell found that gun ifen they did. On top of that, why did they let him git behind 'em soz he could shoot 'em in the back. It jus' don't make sense."

"Yeah, ya're right. It sounds like the banker wuz in on the scheme. Hmmm ... I got an idee." Bill explained his idea and Annie had a couple of minor modifications. They were both so pleased by the prospects that they had two rounds of sex that night, instead of the usual one.

The next morning, Bill and Jack showed up at the bank and asked to speak to Mr. Thomas. He kept them waiting about 10 minutes before having them ushered into his office. "Well, what kin I do fer y'all. I want ya ta know that I appreciate yer he'p yesterday."

Bill spoke for the two of them. "Well, Mr. Thomas, ya may not be so friendly or happy ta see us this mornin after I tell ya why we're here. We think that ya cooked up that kidnappin' an' robbery scheme yerself."

"Why, that's ridiculous! Why would ya think that?"

"We've got several reasons. One, why did the kidnappers let ya keep yer gun? It jus' don't make sense that they wouldn't of searched ya. An' it jus' don't make sense that they wouldn't of found that there gun ifen they did search ya.

"Two, why did the kidnappers let ya git behind 'em soz ya could shoot 'em in the back? We can't imagine anybody bein' so stupid as ta let that happen.

"Three, why did that feller tell everybody that ya had been seen headed north, when ya actually went east? Somebody had ta want ya ta be chased in the wrong direction."

"Ya, galoot, ya can't make those accusations without proof! Any decent lawyer would tear ya ta shreds."

"That's pro'bly true ifen we wuz ta go ta court. But what would happen ta yer reputation an' ta the bank ifen we wuz ta ask these questions around town?"

"Ya can't do that! Ya'd ruin any chance I'd have of operatin' a bank in this territory."

"Well, is it true? Did ya plan this whole thin'?"