Читать книгу Slaughter of Eagles - William W. Johnstone - Страница 6

The metal bit jangled against the horse’s teeth. The horse’s hooves clattered on the hard rock and the leather saddle creaked beneath the weight of its rider.

When Falcon MacCallister rode into town just before noon, he knew something had happened. It wasn’t due to some sort of psychic perception, though the clues were so subtle that there are many who would not have picked up on them.

Nobody was pitching horseshoes alongside Sikes’s Hardware Store.

No one was playing checkers in front of Boots and Saddles.

There were no clusters of women shoppers, standing on the corners, laughing and talking.

In fact there was a pall hanging over the town that was palpable. Wondering what was going on, Falcon stopped in front of the sheriff’s office, swung down from his horse, tied it off, and stepped inside. The sheriff and two of his deputies were looking at a map they had spread out on a table.

“Good morning, Amos,” Falcon said, greeting the newly elected sheriff, Amos Cody.

“Ah, Mr. MacCallister, am I glad to see you,” the young sheriff said.

“I keep telling you, Amos, to call me Falcon.”

“Yes, sir, I know you do, but it’s just that I grew up hearin’ about your pa’s exploits, then yours. Well, it just seems hard.”

“You are making me feel very old, Amos,” Falcon said. He glanced out the window and saw a little cluster of people engaged in an intense conversation. The somber expressions on their faces reinforced his feeling that something bad had happened.

“What’s going on, Sheriff?”

“You mean you haven’t heard?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“The bank was robbed this morning,” Amos said.

“And the Reverend Powell and his wife was murdered,” Deputy Bates added. Bates was a lot older than the young sheriff, and had been a deputy for many years.

“What?” Falcon said in surprise and anger. “Brother Charles and Sister Claudia have been killed?”

“Yes, they were in the bank when it was robbed.”

“But I don’t understand. Why were they killed?”

Sheriff Cody shook his head. “Who knows?”

“It was Luke and Clete Mueller,” Deputy Bates said. “From all I’ve heard about them two, they don’t really need no reason. Accordin’ to Clyde Barnes, the Powells were just standing there in the bank when the robbers came in. Next thing you know, Luke Mueller shot them. Then they got away, clean as a whistle.”

“The Mueller brothers, you say?”

“Yes. And three others,” Sheriff Cody said.

“Have you ever run across the Mueller brothers?” Bates asked.

“No.”

Bates smiled. “I didn’t reckon you had. ’Cause if you had, both them bastards would be dead by now.”

“Who were the other three?” Falcon asked.

Sheriff Cody shook his head. “We don’t know. Barnes recognized the Muellers, but he had never seen any of the others.”

“Are you going after them?”

“By now, they have more than likely left the county,” Sheriff Cody said. “Even if I found them, I would have to work with the sheriff of that county. But you hold a special deputy’s commission from the governor, which gives you authority all over the state. I was hoping you might take a personal interest in this. Reverend Powell was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, he was a close friend. He did the funeral for my mother and my father, and he baptized nearly every one of my nieces and nephews. I guess I’ve known the Reverend and Mrs. Powell for just about all my life. They were among the earliest settlers of the valley, and they were good people.”

“He had already retired when I came here,” Sheriff Cody said. “But I knew him, of course, and from what I knew of him, he was a good person. I heard that he could give one stem-winder of a sermon.”

“Yes, he could,” Falcon said. He remembered, as a young boy, sometimes getting very impatient with the length of the good parson’s sermons. Falcon was usually anxious to get to a fishing pond or some such place, and he would squirm until his mother or one of his older sisters would fix him with a steely glare.

“Did anyone see them leave? Do we know which way they were going?” Falcon asked.

“Yes, we had quite a few people who saw them ride out of town. The only thing we know for sure is they were headin’ east when they left here. Bates and I went out lookin’ for ’em, but didn’t see anything.

“I know you probably have other things to do, but I was hopin’ you’d take a look around for us, see what you could come up with.”

“Sheriff, they killed two people who were as close as family to me. I would go after those men whether you asked me to or not. Yes, I will find them.”

It did not escape Sheriff Cody’s attention that Falcon said I “will find” them, rather than I “will go after” them.

“Thanks,” Sheriff Cody said.

“I told you he would,” Bates said with a smile of smug satisfaction on his face.

“Good, good. So, what do we do next? What can I do to help you?”

“The teller was the only witness?” Falcon asked.

“Clyde Barnes was the only witness to the actual hold up, though several saw them riding out of town.”

“Let’s start with Barnes,” Falcon suggested.

For the next half hour, Falcon gathered as much information as he could about the robbers.

“Well, you know what the Muellers look like, don’t you?” Barnes said. “I guess just about ever’ one knows what they look like. They’re little short, dried up, evil looking men. As for the others, one of them has only one eye. That’s his left eye. There is nothing but a big old ugly mass of purple flesh where the right eye was. And another one had only three fingers on his left hand. Don’t know as I saw anything particular about the third man, I mean, he was pretty ordinary as men go.”

“What about their horses?” Falcon asked.

Barnes shook his head. “I didn’t see them. I’m sorry.”

“That’s all right,” Falcon said. “You’ve given me a good description of the men. It will be very helpful.”

At least half a dozen citizens who had seen the bank robbers ride out of town at breakneck speed reported two were riding roans, one was riding a black horse, one a white horse, and one was riding a paint. Falcon examined the ground where the horses had been tied up outside the bank and saw something that made him smile. One of the horses had a tie-bar shoe on his right forefoot.

Riding out to the east end of town, he looked around until he found that same tie-bar. He chuckled. They may as well have left behind a series of arrow shaped signs reading, WE WENT THIS WAY.

Somewhat farther into the trail, Falcon realized the Mueller brothers weren’t going to make it as easy as he first thought. They had been on the run for nearly all their adult life, so they knew how to confuse and disorient anyone who might be tracking them. They took great pains to cover their true trail, while leaving false trails for anyone to follow. To that end they rode through streams and over hard rock, trying every trick in the book to throw off anyone who might be following them. But Falcon hung on doggedly.

In trying to shake off anyone who might be following them, the Mueller brothers and their cohorts were actually helping Falcon. Since it was always the same five horses who broke the trail, he had a way of identifying each of them, not just the one with the tie-bar shoe. One of the horses had a slight turn-in of its right rear hoof. Two of the horses had noticeable nicks in their shoes, one on the left rear and the other on both rear shoes. Only one horse had no noticeable features and that, in itself, became a way of identifying it. In addition, all the horses had grazed together for the last few days, because their droppings were filled with the same kind of wild, mountain meadow grass.

“Whoever that feller is that’s a’ doggin’ us is still on our trail,” Terrell said.

Luke twisted around in his saddle. “Are you sure?”

“Hell yes, I’m sure. I just got me a glimpse of ’im on the other side of that far ridge.”

“That makes ’im a little more’n a mile back.”

“Ain’t they no way we can shake ’im?” Caldwell asked.

“You got ’ny ideas that we ain’t tried?” Luke replied. “We done ever’thing I can think of, an’ it ain’t even slowed ’im down none.”

“Whoever the hell he is, I swear, he could track a fish through water,” Poole said.

“I tell you what we ought to do,” Clete said.

“All right, brother, let me hear your idea.”

“We ought to just wait behind a couple rocks and shoot him, soon as he comes up on us.”

“If I thought for certain we would get ’im, I’d be all for it,” Luke said. “But we’re not likely to get a clean shot at ’im out here.”

The five men had stopped for a few minutes, not only to discuss the situation of the man on their trail, but also to give their horses a breather. All five were looking back, trying to get a glimpse of the man who was following them. When Luke turned back around, he chuckled.

“I got me an idea,” he said.

“What’s that?”

Luke pointed to a narrow draw in front of them. “If we can get through that draw, he’ll have to follow through.”

“So?”

“Look at them rocks up on the top there, on the right hand side. Do you see ’em?”

“I see ’em.”

“If we push the rocks down, it’ll block the draw and he can’t get through,” Luke said.

“Hell, why don’t we just wait until he gets into the draw, then push them rocks down on him?” Clete asked.

“Yeah, all right, we can try it,” Luke said. “Come on, let’s hurry through the draw.”

Fifteen minutes later, Falcon reached the spot where the five men had halted. He could tell by the tracks they had stopped there for a few minutes, and he could also tell they had left the spot at a gallop.

Why?

What would cause them, out there in the middle of nowhere, to suddenly break into a gallop?

Looking ahead, he saw the trail led to a very narrow draw. Slapping his legs against the side of his horse, he urged the animal on.

“Here he comes,” Luke said. “Get ready.

Clete and the others got in position behind the rocks and waited.

“Now!” Luke shouted. “Now!”

The word rolled down from the top of the rock wall, amplified by the narrow confines of the wall. The word itself got Falcon’s attention, and he jerked his horse to a stop. Then, he heard the scrape and clatter of rocks, followed by the thunder of a rockslide. Glancing up, it looked as if the entire wall was collapsing right on him.

“Ha!” Luke shouted. “We got him! There ain’t no way he got out of that!”

Clete, Terrell, Caldwell, and Poole stepped up alongside Luke to look down into the draw. They saw nothing but a large pile of rocks on the floor below.

“Who was it, do you reckon?” Poole asked.

Luke shook his head. “I don’t have no idée,” he said. “Prob’ly some deputy or somethin’. Whoever it was, it don’t make no never mind now, ’cause he’s deader than a doornail.”

“Ha!” Poole said. “And we’ve got away clean as a whistle.”

“Yeah, what say we divide up our money now, and each one of us go on our different way?” Caldwell said.

“Not yet,” Luke replied.

“What do you mean, not yet? Why not?”

“If they was one deputy comin’ after us, there’s just as likely to be another one. Or maybe two or three more. We’d be better off all stickin’ together ’til we’re sure.”

From the moment he heard the word Now, Falcon was on the alert. Jerking his horse around, he was at a full gallop by the time the rocks began falling, and well clear of the draw by the time the rocks started piling up on the floor below. Turning back toward the draw, he watched the dust rise as the rocks closed the passage.

Fortunately he had been there many times, and he knew another way around. Coming out on the other side no more than half an hour later, he picked up their tracks immediately. Thinking they were in the clear, they no longer made an effort to hide their trail. They were heading in a straight line for the little town of Black Hawk.

The sun went behind the clouds just before noon, and the clouds thickened and darkened.

“Purty soon it’s goin’ to commence to rainin’ here like pourin’ piss out of a boot. And we’re goin’ to be right in the middle of it,” Terrell said.

“What if it does rain? You ain’t made of sugar,” Clete said. “You ain’t goin’ to melt.”

Poole laughed. “You ain’t made of sugar,” he repeated. “I like that.”

“I ain’t goin’ to melt, that’s true,” Terrell said. “But it ain’t goin’ to be none too comfortable bein’ out here in it, neither.”

“Let the rain come,” Luke said. “The more rain the better.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, Terrell. If anybody else is on our trail, why this rain will wash out all the tracks,” Luke said.

Terrell was quiet for a moment, then he nodded. “Yeah,” he said. He laughed. “Yeah, that’s right, ain’t it? It would wash out all our tracks. Hell, I say, let the rain come.”

“Not yet,” Luke said.

“What do you mean, not yet? You just said the rain would wash out all our tracks, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did, and it will. But if it will just hold off for another half hour or so, we’ll be to Black Hawk.”

“Black Hawk? What’s Black Hawk?”

“It’s a town me and Clete have already scouted out. No railroad comes to it, there’s no telegraph wires, and even if they have heard of us, there ain’t likely no one there who has ever seen us. We’ll be safe inside, and the rain will wash away the tracks. We can hole up there for a while until they quit lookin’ for us.”

“And spend some of our money?” Terrell asked, hopefully.

“Yeah,” Luke replied with a grin. “We can spend a little of our money there.”

“I ain’t never been to Black Hawk,” Caldwell said. “What’s it like?”

“It’s got beer, whiskey, food, and women,” Poole said. “What else do you need to know about it?”

Terrell chuckled. “Don’t need to know nothin’ more about it a’tall, I don’t reckon.”

It took the better part of a quarter hour to reach the town after they first saw it, and they rode in slowly, sizing it up with wary eyes. It was a town with only one street. The unpainted wood of the few ramshackle buildings was turning gray and splitting. There was no railroad, but there was a stagecoach station with a schedule board announcing the arrival and departure of four stagecoaches per week. The first few drops of rain started to fall, and the few people out on the street ran to get inside before the rain started in earnest.

“There’s where we’re headed,” Luke said, pointing to a saloon. Painted in red, outlined in gold on the false front of the saloon were the words Lucky Nugget.

The five rode up to the front of the saloon, dismounted, and tied off their horses. Luke reached for the little cloth bag that was tied to his saddle horn.

“You takin’ the money in with you?” Terrell asked.

“You don’t think I’m goin’ to leave it out here, do you?”

“I reckon not. Just think it might be a little strange for you to be carryin’ all that money.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Luke said as they stepped onto the porch. Almost as if on cue, the clouds opened up and the rain fell in torrents.

“Ha!,” Clete Mueller said, a few minutes later. “I’ll just bet you that ol’ Egan Drumm is a’ wishin’ he was with us now, after all the money we just stoled. He got to thinkin’ he could do better goin’ out on his own, so he left. But now here we are. We got us all this money, and he ain’t got nothin’.”

“We don’t know that he ain’t got nothin’,” Luke said. “We don’t know nothin’ about him, not even where he’s at.”

“Yeah, but I’d be willin’ to bet he ain’t got nothin’,” Clete said.

“Speakin’ o’ goin’ out on our own, I think maybe we ought to divide up the money now, and go our own ways,” Ollie Terrell said, bringing up the subject again.

“We’ll divide the money when I say we divide it,” Luke Mueller said. “Anyway, what are you worried about? We got plenty of money to spend now, ain’t we? Order whatever you want, we can afford it.”

“Yeah,” Clete added with a cackle. “We can afford it.”

“What about women?” Terrell asked. “What if I’m a’ wantin’ me a woman?”

“Don’t you be worryin’ none about gettin’ yourself a woman,” Luke said. “They’s plenty of women around, and once we start spendin’ the money, the women will be comin’ out of the woodwork.”

Terrell laughed. “Women comin’ out of the woodwork. I like that. I ain’t never heard nothin’ like that before.”

“How bout we start spendin’ some of that money now?” Caldwell asked. “I’m hungry. And I got me a thirst worked up, too.”

“Barkeep!” Mueller called. “Bring us a couple bottles of whiskey, some glasses, and some food. Lots of food.”

“And some women!” Terrell added. “Let’s get some women over here.”

Three of the bar girls who had been wandering around the saloon, flitting from table to table like bees around flowers, answered the call and within a moment the five bank robbers and three women were having themselves a party.

Though Luke Mueller was the smallest of the men, he turned all his attention to the biggest of the women.

“Ain’t that there’n a little big for you, Luke?” Terrell teased, laughing out loud.

As quick as a thought, a pistol appeared in Luke’s hand, and he pointed it at Terrell, pulling back the hammer.

“You have somethin’ to say about what woman I pick?” Luke asked.

The laughter died on Terrell’s lips, his pupils dilated with fear, and he held his hand out as if by that action he could ward Luke off. “’Course, you know I didn’t mean nothin’ by that, Luke. I was just a’ funnin’ you is all.”

There was a long moment of high tension and absolute silence as everyone watched the tableau. Then, suddenly, a smile spread across Luke’s face, and he eased the hammer down and put the pistol back in his holster.

“I didn’t mean nothin’ neither. I was just funnin’ you, too,” he said.

The burst of laughter that followed was precipitated more by the release of tension, than humor.

“What’s your name?” Luke asked the big woman.

“Patsy,” the woman answered. A moment earlier she had been enjoying her flirtation with the little man, but now he frightened her.

“Tell me, Patsy, what will you charge for me and you to go upstairs?”

“A dollar for one hour,” Patsy said. “Three dollars for the rest of the day.”

“Here’s five dollars. I might want to stay longer than the rest of the day.”

Smiling, Patsy took the money and stuck it inside the top of her dress, between her very large breasts. “Oh, honey, we’re goin’ to have us a real good time,” she said. The money had changed her attitude about him.

Luke reached under the table and picked up a cloth bag.

“What’s that, darlin’, your laundry?” Patsy asked. “Honey, for five dollars I’ll give you a very good time, but I ain’t a’ goin’ to be doin’ no laundry.”

The other soiled doves laughed.

“You can leave your—uh—laundry here, if you want,” Clete said.

“That’s all right, I’ll take care of it,” Luke said. “This way, we’ll all know where it is, won’t we?”

“This way, darlin’,” Patsy said, leading Luke away from the table. The others in the saloon watched them go up the stairs.

“Looks like a mouse following an elephant,” someone said on the far side of the room. Having seen the lightning draw of the “mouse,” he made the observation quietly, and his friend’s resultant laughter was just as quiet.