Chapter 3

"What the hell are ya talkin' 'bout? Git that God damned gun outta my back afore I gits real mad!"

"My pistol is on full cock and my finger is on the trigger. If you make a sudden move, I might slip and blow a big fucking hole in your back. Now, do you want me to do that?"

"Shit, no! Don't do that. OK, I'll come with ya, but ease off on that gun muzzle. It hurts the way ya're pressin' it inta my back."

"Not yet, I won't. Put your hands behind your back and cross your wrists." Ed Jones did that, and Ethel looped a pigging string around his left wrist and wrapped it around his right wrist. She drew it tight and tied it so that Ed's hands were immobilized.

"Hey, back off some. Ya've cut off the circulation ta my hands, an' it hurts, dammit."

"We'll worry about that in a few minutes. Right now, I want you to walk ahead of me toward that grove of trees over there."

"Hell, that's a quarter-mile away. I ain't never walked that far since I got my first hoss."

"Well, you just walk in that direction, anyway, unless you want that bullet I promised you."

That must have been the convincer that Ed needed, because he started walking, though without much enthusiasm. Ed dragged his feet so much that it took about 20 minutes to reach the small grove of trees. Ethel was really pissed at Ed by now, so she was none too gentle when she ran a loop of rope around his neck and tied it to a high limb so that he was forced to stand up straight. She holstered her gun and used her bowie knife to cut up Ed's shirt to make a gag. They were back among the trees, so she thought that she could leave Ed where he was for a short time while she ate lunch and fetched her horse.

She came back about 45 minutes later and found Ed where she had left him. Ethel untied him from the tree, and he sank to the ground. She had left the gag in, so he couldn't complain. Ethel had brought a longer length of rope and dropped a loop at one end over Ed's head and tightened it enough that it would not slip off over his head, not matter how much he twisted and turned. She held the other end as she climbed into her saddle. Ethel fastened her end of the rope to her saddle horn and said, "OK, Ed, you have a choice. I'm going to start my horse walking away from town. Your choice is to get up and run along beside my horse or to be dragged along behind by your neck. The choice is strictly up to you.

Ed labored to his feet, a difficult task when you don't have your hands free to help you. Ethel nodded and started walking her horse about four to five miles per hour. Under other circumstances, the scene might have been funny as Ed struggled to keep up. After about a mile of this, Ed fell and was dragged by his neck for a few feet before Ethel could bring her horse to a halt. Ethel said, "OK, this is your only rest. The next time you fall, I'm just going to drag you. We're headed for a grove of trees I see about a mile away. I expect you to stay on your feet until we get there. If you fall, I'll just drag you. When we get there, I'll tell you what this is all about."

They managed to get to the trees without Ed falling, so they worked their way in until they could not be seen by the casual passerby. Ethel untied the rope from her saddle horn and threw the end over a sturdy limb about 14 feet off the ground. The loose end hanging down was just barely long enough to be retied to the saddle horn.

When that was done, she dismounted and removed Ed's gag. "Ed, I said that when we got here, I would tell you what this was all about, so here it is. Not quite six months ago, you, Charley Wilson, and four friends murdered my husband and raped me repeatedly, then left me to die. Well, you can see that I didn't die. Tell me, do you remember me?"

Ed thought for a minute and said, "Yeah, Bitch, I remember that. Ya wuz right nice ta fuck, and I'll do it again as soon as I git loose from these ropes. But, I'll kill ya afore I leave ya, this time."

"I thought that you would feel that way, so I don't plan to let you escape from me. In fact, I'm going to kill you before I leave here. But, before I go, I've got some questions for you to answer."

"I'll never tell ya anythin', ya bitch!"

"Oh, I think you will. Let me show you why." With that, she had her horse take two steps forward. This lifted Ed Jones off the ground by his neck. Ethel had deliberately used a simple knot to make the loop, since she did not want to break his neck prematurely. She let him hang there for about 20 seconds, not enough to kill him, but enough to make a strong impression.

At the end of that time, she backed the horse up enough for Ed's feet to touch the ground. He had a bad rope burn on his neck. He was struggling to get enough air into his lungs and also not to fall. For the first time, Ethel could see some fear in Ed's eyes.

"Now, I want you to tell me where I can find your friends from that day. Most particularly, I want Charley Wilson. Well, what do you say?"

"I ain't never gonna tell ya nothin', ya bitch!"

"We'll see. You know that it's really not that important whether or not you tell me. I will find them just as I found you. If you talk, It will just make it easier. So, talk!"

Ed Jones spat at her, but was too far away to reach her. Ethel nodded her head and sent her horse forward a couple of steps. As before, Ed was pulled from the ground and left hanging by his neck so that he was in considerable pain and not able to breathe. Ethel held him like that for about 40 seconds before she backed her horse up. This time, he could not stand up, so she loosened the rope by having the horse move until Ed could lie on the ground.

He struggled to breathe, and Ethel let him rest for a full five minutes before she asked him any questions. He still refused to talk, so she pulled him up again. She let Ed hang until his face started to turn blue before she returned him to the ground. This time, he began to curse her as soon as he could talk. She let him rave for a few minutes, then she put enough pressure on the rope to shut him up.

He still refused to talk, so she raised him into the air one more time. This time, he hung for about 90 seconds, and Ethel was afraid that he might die, so she let him down again. This time, when she lowered him and he struggled to breathe, he seemed like he was not going to resume breathing well enough to survive.

When Ed was able to talk to her again, Ethel said, "Ed, you are tougher than I ever thought you could be, but I think that you are also dumber. Now, this is your last chance. Tell me what I want to know, and I will shoot you. Refuse to tell me and I will hang you. Which will it be?"

"I ain't never gonna tell ya a God damned thing, ya bitch, so ya might as well go ahead and hang me."

Nodding her head, Ethel urged her horse forward and raised Ed Jones from the ground for the last time. She held him in place for 10 minutes until he stopped kicking. At this point, to be sure he was not faking, she put a bullet into his gut just below his belly button. That was the kind of wound that would take up to two weeks to kill a man, but it was sure death, so Ethel knew that she had taken revenge for her and Archy on the first of the murderers.

At this time, Ethel started to cry, not in pity for Ed Jones nor in sorrow for what she had just done, but in sorrow for what he and his friends had done to Archy and to her by killing Archy. She had gone beyond the rape and had emotionally recovered from it. She just wanted the intellectual satisfaction of killing six heartless predators.

She cried for about 15 minutes before she wiped her eyes and set about cleaning up the mess. Actually, there was not much for her to do. She just recovered her ropes, pissed on Ed's face, and rode away to resume her hunt.

Ethel returned to Mayberry to look some more for traces of Charley Wilson and the others. She looked up the whore who had helped her find Ed Jones and gave her a half-eagle for her help. The woman was now falling all over herself trying to be of even more help. "I've been askin' aroun' an' I heard that Bill Apwell was in Wilsonville, but I ain't real sure if there's anythin' to that sayin'. Wilsonville is over 20 miles east of here, an' I don't know ifen ya're interested in chasin' what may be a wild goose that far."