Chapter 23

I woke just before sunrise and was eating cold sausage about an hour later when thirteen mounted men came off the lane from Krowgaut's place and headed for town. I was practically positive the lard ass dressed so fancy on the biggest horse in the lead was Krowgaut and no doubt he was headed to town to right the wrong done to his men the night before.

As soon as they were out of sight I sprinted across the road and ran all the way to the front door of the house. It opened when I tried the handle and I roamed around until I found the kitchen. There was a woman cooking and she was mighty surprised to see me.

"Where's Chatla?" I asked, but she just stared at me, so I drew my sword and asked again.

She came to her senses then and led me to a room with a lock outside the door. I kicked the door in and saw Chatla lying on a pallet, naked, and more than a little worse for the wear. At least she could see I was someone who wasn't normally there.

"Chatla, I'm Hero Jack, here to rescue you. Can you put on some clothes?" I asked her.

"Oh good. I'm so happy to see you, but I don't know if I'm even strong enough to travel," she said.

"Help her get some clothes on and then help her get to the kitchen, pronto," I told the woman I'd found in the kitchen.

I returned to the kitchen and as I got there I ran into another woman who was looking for the cook. She was impressed with my sword too when she got the full effect and she was more than happy to listen while I talked.

"Krowgaut has been holding a slave here. I'll be back with many men who hate slavers tomorrow. We will kill everyone still on this place, so you'd better warn all the ones who aren't slavers to be gone by then," I told her, and sent her on her way.

She didn't let any grass grow under her feet since she took off so fast she nearly left a streak behind her. I watched out the back door as she ran to the barn and started spreading the word.

Apparently I had convinced her and she was no doubt convincing in the tale she told. I saw eight men and one other woman leaving with her before I heard the cook helping Chatla back into the kitchen.

"We'll be leaving now, all three of us. What's you're name?" I asked the cook.

"Maime."

"Maime, pack us two baskets of food you can cook on an open fire, quickly."

She did it and I had her carry them while I carried Chatla over my shoulder like a sack of grain. She didn't complain. Twenty minutes later we were across the road and working our way back into the woods.

I took them back to where the horses were hobbled. I saddled Blacky, loaded the packhorse and sat Chatla in Blacky's saddle. I handed Maime up onto the spare horse and had her hold the two baskets of food as I took off walking, leading the horses, and looking for a proper campsite.

I found one near a small creek and stopped, letting everyone down. I made a pallet for Chatla and Maime to lie on and then hobbled the horses again. I gathered up some firewood, knowing it wouldn't show up in the daylight, and built a cooking fire.

"Maime, fix us a good lunch since I missed my breakfast. Cook plenty. I'm going back to the road to see what happens, but I'll be back in time to eat. You need to help Chatla take care of herself while I'm gone," I told her, and she nodded her head.

I crossed back over the road when I came to it, but I stayed in the woods as best I could while making my way up to try and see what happened. The place was obviously deserted now and a gate had been left open somewhere, since several cows and two pigs were out. Of course we'd left the front door of the house swinging wide.

Not ten minutes later Krowgaut and his men came back leading the mounts I had left rider-less last night. He started yelling for his hands as soon as he got near, but no one came. He was yelling and screaming after he noticed the front door was open and he dismounted and ran as fast as his fat little legs and big belly would let him to check out his house.

I thought he should be happy, since I could have easily burned the place to the ground while he was gone, but apparently Mister Krowgaut didn't see it that way. I guess he had checked for the Damsel first thing, because when he came back out he was screaming orders at everyone and fit to be tied.

He ranted and raved for about twenty minutes, but by that time he had figured out there was no one to listen except the men he'd taken with him. He had them get down from their mounts and he was soon directing them to catch the cattle and the two pigs and put them back where they belonged.

I was especially interested in watching the men chase and catch the pigs, or try to catch the pigs anyway. Everything was back ship shape within twenty minutes except for the pigs, but they took an hour to get control of and the only way they accomplished it then was to wear them out chasing them around. Of course the men were all completely worn out by then too, and they barely had the strength to put the pigs back in their pen.

Things had pretty much settled down by then and I turned back toward the road, crossed it, and made my way back to lunch with Maime and Chatla. Maime was surprised she got to eat with me, and I could tell it perked up her spirits.

"It's nice to be treated like a human again, even if I am captured. I can't even think of how mad he'll be when this is all over," she said.

"He won't be mad at all, Maime, he'll be dead, and so will all the men who are still with him," I said.

"Oh. What will become of the farm?"

"I don't know. I'll be taking what I want from there, but otherwise it will be left alone as far as I know. I won't be taking anything away from there I can't carry on horseback."

"If he's really dead, do you think my family can have the farm? All of us who worked there were kin."

"You can have it as far as I'm concerned. Some of the men will have to learn to protect the place though," I said.

"Oh, we have some younger men who know how, but they didn't want to work for Krowgaut. Maybe they'll come back if we have hold of the place," she said.

I didn't care if they did or they didn't. My concern was getting Chatla back to my ranch and then back to Crossroads. She looked better already and while we talked I learned she'd only been getting one meal a day. It was a little strange that she seemed to get along so well with Maime, but I was all for it.

I guess I could have gone ahead and taken off with Chatla, but it would be a long hard ride with twelve men potentially on our trail. I figured she'd do a lot better resting here for a couple of days and my time would be better spent getting rid of Krowgaut and killing, or at least disbanding, his gang of ruffians.

After we'd eaten and given it time to settle a little I saddled Blacky and led him back toward the road with me. I'd been watching for about twenty minutes when Krowgaut and his band of merry men came riding out again. This time Krowgaut was at the rear of the procession and they headed out away from town. Apparently he'd decided if he hadn't found me between here and town I must have gone the other way.

A sneaky little thought came to me then and it was so outrageous I had to try it. I didn't hold out much hope for success, but then again, I didn't have to worry about them catching me on their mounts if it fell through. Krowgaut was riding the only horse that even looked decent, and I doubted he'd be chasing me personally.

After they were on down the road a couple of hundred yards or so I swung up into Blacky's saddle and eased him out onto the road. They were all headed away from me and none of them seemed to be paying attention to the back trail - the men were probably too tired from the pig chasing to pay attention anyway. I started following, just barely gaining ground on them.

I shook out my loop as I went. I used the dally rope since it was longer, but I didn't build a community loop like dally ropers often used. I concentrated on staying exactly behind Krowgaut since he wasn't looking behind himself at all. I was surprised I was able to get up to within about a hundred feet before one of the other hands looked back and raised the alarm.

Krowgaut was as good as caught by that time though. His first mistake was stopping when the shout went out and his next was being too big and fat to dodge the loop when it came. I made a Houlihan throw and it settled right over his fat ass at once. I signaled Blacky to back up with my toes and I kept signaling. It made him practically run backwards, dragging lard ass off his mount and along the road.