Read Online Bloody Trail by Ford Fargo - Free Book Online Page A

friend. Instead of doing the sensible
thing, leaving town fast, Pete shot Perdue dead in his own bedroom.
Later, when Bill attempted to arrest him, Pete pulled his gun. Bill
hesitated, not wanting to shoot his best friend. That moment of
indecision nearly cost him his life when Pete put a bullet in his
chest. Bill’s two return shots tore through Pete’s belly. The
gut-shot cowboy lingered for three agonizing days before he died.
After Pete’s funeral, Bill turned in his badge, took off his guns,
and left Blanco without looking back.
    “ So here we are again Cholla,
chasin’ outlaws,” Bill murmured to his horse. “Reckon I don’t need
to ask how you feel about that.”
    Cholla merely twitched his ears and increased
his pace. True to his mustang ancestry, the big paint loved to run,
and enjoyed nothing more than the thrill of the chase.
    ****
    Little more than three miles outside of town,
Satterlee ordered the posse to a halt. Lying on a creek bank were
the bullet-riddled bodies of two young boys, each no more than nine
years old. One still clutched a fishing pole.
    “ Those bastards!” Satterlee
exclaimed. “That’s Jody and Jesse Haskins. Just a coupla kids. No
reason for Danby to do that.”
    “ You reckon we’d better check the
Haskins’ place?” Spence Pennycuff asked. “Tracks’re headin’ that
way.”
    “ Yeah. Can’t take the time to care
for these boys properly. One of you toss a blanket over ‘em, then
let’s keep movin’,’ Satterlee ordered.
    “ Sheriff, I don’t reckon we’ll
find much left at Haskins’ house,” Derrick said. He indicated a
thin wisp of smoke, barely visible against the hazy sky.
    “ Even more reason to swing by
there,” Satterlee answered. “Won’t take but a minute or two. Let’s
go.”
    “ Hold on, Sheriff. Someone’s
comin’. Appears to be Mack Haskins,” Charley said, when a rider on
a hard driven horse topped a small rise. He held a rifle, which he
waved over his head. He pulled his horse to a halt once he reached
the posse. A deep bullet crease, still oozing blood, marred his
forehead.
    “ Sheriff,” he called. “I was just
headed into town. Bunch of riders hit my place, shot me and left me
for dead, then burned the house down and ran off my stock, except
Rowdy here. Mary’s missing. Those men must’ve taken her. Got to
locate my boys, make sure they’re safe, then go after my
wife.”
    “ Slow down, Mack,” Satterlee
advised. “Same bunch invaded town, looted the place and robbed the
bank. We’re on their trail. Far as your boys, I’m
sorry.”
    “ What do you mean,
Sheriff?”
    “ There’s no easy way to break
this. Your boys are dead, Mack. Shot by those men. They’re right
behind us, on the creek bank.”
    “ Lord, no!”
    Haskins buried his head in his hands,
sobbing.
    “ Jimmy, you stay here with Mack,”
Satterlee ordered. “Help him get his boys home, then catch up with
us if you can.”
    “ We’ll catch up with you all
right,” Haskins said. “Rowdy is fresh.” He glanced at the young
Cherokee cowboy. “Let’s go,” he barked, “I’m gonna lay my boys out
in the house and kiss ‘em, and then I’m ridin’ with you to get my
Mary back!”
    ****
    Danby’s gang had ridden west out of Wolf Creek
for two miles, then turned due south, heading for Indian Territory.
After pursuing them for three hours, Satterlee called for a
twenty-minute rest break.
    “ What’re we stoppin’ for,
Sheriff?” Red Myers demanded. “You can be sure Danby
ain’t.”
    “ Won’t do us any good to ride
these horses into the ground,” Satterlee explained. “Danby’s mounts
can’t be in much better shape. Mack says they didn’t get more’n two
fresh horses from him, so they’ll have to rest their horses,
too.”
    “ Unless they stole more further
down the line,” Spike Sweeney pointed out.
    “ In which case, it won’t matter
anyway,” Bill said. “If they get fresh horses, they’ll make the
Nations long before we catch up