Absaroka Ambush

7

Harvey and Jeff had heard the gunshots and then the howling of a lobo wolf. They had looked at each other and smiled. They’d been with Smoke a long time, and they’d both heard him talk to the wolves and the pumas many times. They snuggled back into their hiding place. The raiders didn’t know it, but they were in trouble.

Sally lay back on the ground sheet and smiled as she snuggled into her blanket. Her man was alive and on the prowl. The Circle 45 men had grabbed onto something they couldn’t turn loose of. And they were about to find that out…in blood. Their own.

Smoke returned to his hidden camp and ate the beans, sopping out the juice with the bread. He wished he had another cup of coffee, but a man can’t ask for everything.

Jud Howes was riding hard for the ranch. Clint had to be informed of this new development. With Jensen alive, that really put a fly in the ointment. Jud had heard about that crazy German fellow who’d chased Smoke all over the country—with a passel of hired gunslingers helping him—hunting Jensen like you would an animal. Smoke had turned the whole thing around and the hunters became the hunted in the deadliest game they’d ever found themselves in. Jensen won.

“Damn!” Jud said. “I wish that fool Baylis had stayed down in Wyoming and kept his mouth shut.”

Denver eased his bruised body and smiled when he heard the wolf howling and the gunshots. He had him a hunch that Smoke Jensen was alive and well and on the prod. He just hoped that Miss Sally and those other two women were all right.

Smoke rolled up in his blankets and went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

Just as gray was tinting the skies, Smoke took his rifle and eased down toward the valley floor. He’d picked out a good location the past afternoon and planned on really getting this war under way.

His anger and grief and sadness were buried deep within the man, the coals banked, kept hot and smoldering. Today was the day he was going to show Clint Black and his renegade hands that wars are not that easily won.

He just wished he knew whether Sally was alive or dead.

Harvey held the limb back with his good arm, but if that rider didn’t come on, he was going to have to turn loose; his arm was trembling from the strain.

The Circle 45 hand looked around, was satisfied that this area was clean, and rode on. Harvey released the thick limb and the green, springy wood impacted with the raider’s face. Harvey cringed as the sound of bones and teeth breaking came to him. The thick limb had caught the Circle 45 hand smack in the mouth, knocking him out of the saddle, knocking him unconscious, and smashing his face.

Harvey grabbed the reins and calmed the spooked horse. He limped over to the unconscious raider and ripped off his gunbelt, slinging it around his waist. He took the Winchester from the boot and removed the saddlebags and canteen. He turned around and almost messed his longhandles when he saw a man standing a few yards away. The Colt leaped into his hand and he almost killed a friend.

“Whoa, Harvey!” Tim said in a hoarse whisper. “For God’s sake, man, don’t shoot.”

“Jesus, Tim. I’m sorry, boy.” He holstered the Colt.

The men grinned and shook hands. “You alone?” Tim asked.

“Got Jeff with me. He’s got a slug in his leg. But I don’t think it’s broke. Come on, help me tie this no-count in the saddle.”

They took the raider’s blanket and ground sheet, tied him, belly across the saddle, and slapped the horse on the rump. The animal went bumping out of the timber and loping across the meadow.

“As many tracks as there is out yonder,” Tim said, “they’ll have a time tryin’ to track that horse back to us. You got a good hole to hide in?”

“You bet. Come on.”

Jeanne pulled back into a thicket as the search intensified. Once the searchers came so close, she could have reached out and touched the leg of a horse. She was still badly frightened, but that fright had been tempered by anger and a strong resolve to survive. She knew nothing of guns, but if she could get her hands on a weapon, she would by God learn. What had happened, and what was happening to her and the others, was an outrage that she was not going to tolerate. She knew from listening to the raiders talk that her sister and Sally were alive. She knew that Smoke Jensen was alive and fighting back. She knew that some other cowboys had not been found. So that meant they had a chance of surviving this terrible act of…of what? She didn’t know why Clint Black had done this. Could think of no logical reason.

She fought back tears.

Smoke sighted the rider in and the Winchester roared. It was a righteous hit, the slug knocking the Circle 45 hand from the saddle. The man did not move. Smoke bellied down and waited. It was not a long wait.

Three Circle 45 riders came pounding to the scene, which told Smoke they didn’t have a whole lot of sense. Smoke emptied two of those saddles before the third one could lay on his horse’s neck and get the hell gone from that place.

Smoke ran down the slope, ripped gunbelts from the three and gathered up the reins and ran back up the slope into the timber. He quickly roped the horses together, mounted up, and changed locations, moving about a mile before he once more left the saddle and got into position behind some rock, an earthen embankment behind him.

“Mr. Smoke?” The boy’s voice came from behind him.

Smoke turned his head and looked up into the pale face of Bobby, peering over the lip of the embankment.

Smoke grinned at the boy. “You’re pretty good, Bobby. Not many men could have Injuned up on me.”

“I didn’t, sir,” the lad admitted. “I was layin’ up here watchin’. I got Louie, Dan, Sonny, and Guy hid out in a blowdown about five hundred yards from here.”

“Good! Good! Take those guns I’ve got looped on the saddle horns and those canteens and food and bedrolls. Get back in there and stay put. Don’t use those guns unless the night riders are right up on you and there is no way out. I know where you are, now, and I’ll be back. We’ll get out of this, Bobby. I promise you.”

“Yes, sir, Mister Smoke. I’m gone.”

“Get the men out of there,” Clint told his foremen. “We’re losing too many hands to that damn Jensen. He’s turned into a savage. Get them all out and plug up the passes. Hell, we can keep them in there forever.”

Jud wasn’t too sure about that, but he wasn’t running this show. He pulled out his pistol and fired the prearranged signal. From his hidden position, Smoke watched the hands stop, listen to the shots, then turn and ride toward the north end of the long valley.

“Your boss doesn’t have much taste for the battle,” he said aloud, then stood up. “Dirty, low-down, cowardly, ambushing son of a bitch!” he added.

Jeanne rose up to her knees just as the unshaven lout spotted her and opened his mouth to yell. She threw the butcher knife with all her strength, with no hope of doing any damage to the rider.

The knife turned slowly in the air and an astonished Jeanne watched as the blade buried itself in the rider’s shoulder. He dropped his six-gun and yelled, the scream startling the horse. The animal took off like a lightning bolt, the rider holding on. Jeanne ran to the gun, picked it up, and cocked it. Holding it with both hands, she pointed it and pulled the trigger.

The slug just nicked the horse on the butt and he pitched his rider; the Circle 45 hand landed on his head, breaking his neck. Jeanne ran to the man; fighting back waves of nausea at the sight of the corpse, she jerked off the man’s gun belt and ran back into the timber.

“Missy!” The call turned her around, bringing up the pistol.

Jeanne started weeping tears of joy at the sight of Denver, hobbling painfully toward her. “Oh, my God!” she cried.

“Hush, now, Missy,” Denver soothed her. “We’re all right. We made it. Them hands done been called back to the barn, so to speak. Smoke’s been raisin’ hob and hell with ’em. I think I know where he is. Come on.”

“Let’s go, boys,” Smoke called from the saddle. “Let’s see who is left alive. Ride single file, behind me and keep your eyes open.”

Jeff, Harvey, and Tim hailed them from the timber and Smoke swung down and got Jeff into the saddle. They moved on toward the ambush site.

Sally had heard the signaling shots and watched as the riders gathered on the floor of the valley and pulled out. She walked back to Toni. “They’re all leaving, Toni. Come on. Let’s get back to the ambush site.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s where Smoke will expect to find me. Come on, Toni. We made it.”

Smoke and Sally held on to each other for a long moment. Then they pulled back and smiled for a second. Sally sobered her smile.

“This is all that survived?” she asked, cutting her eyes.

“Yeah. We lost thirteen, all told.”

“The boys?”

“Willie, Jake, and Rabbit. They dragged Rabbit.”

Denver cussed, low and long. For all his grousing, he liked the boys, and had let Rabbit swipe a cookie every now and then when Rabbit thought he wasn’t looking.

Smoke said, “The cattle trampled Eton. I recognized him by a boot. The herd got Willie. He was wearing overalls. Duke had been shot a dozen times, in the back.”

Jeff and Harvey loaded their pistols up full and closed the loading gate. Tim continued pushing cartridges into his Winchester.

“Shorty made a stand of it, and he probably got lead in a few of them. Davy took a slug through the head. Johnson made a fight of it. Nate and Little Ben fought them to the end.”

“I found Jake’s body,” Sally said somberly. “They shot him in the belly. He died hard.”

“I found one of the men,” Jeanne said. “I changed into his clothing. I’m sorry. I didn’t know his name. Only his face.”

“He’d be honored to have you wearin’ his duds, ma’am,” Tim said.

“We found several cases of food, boss,” Denver said. “I reckon them raiders didn’t do a good job of searchin’. And I dragged the big coffee pot out and we’ll have some coffee directly.”

“Good. You boys scrounge around and see what pots and pans you can come up with. Tim, ride over to that little bunch of cattle over there”—he pointed—“and cut one out and butcher it. We’ll have steaks, if nothing else. Sally, take a look at my shoulder and then we’ll cut the slug out of Jeff’s leg.”

“Why?” Jeanne asked him, while Sally was cleaning out and redressing the splinter wound, and washing out the bullet groove in his scalp. She had never seen so many muscles on a man. The man’s upper torso was huge. “Why did they attack us. Why?”

“To kill you, get the cattle, and then take possession of your ranch. By the time your Eastern attorneys got wind of your deaths, and that might take months, and found their way out here, everything would be settled. False bill of sale, the whole bit.”

“The man is mad!” Toni said.

“No. He’s not crazy. He’s just ruthless and greedy. Clint probably thinks he’s got us trapped in here. But there are ways out he doesn’t know of.” Smoke smiled. “A cowboy will explore as long as he can do it sitting in leather,” he said to the twins. “But walking for long distances is not something he’s real fond of doing. They’ll have the north and south ends guarded. They’ll be guarding the trail that you ladies used coming in. And they’ll have that notch over there on the other side guarded.” He pointed across the valley. “But there are other ways in and out. We just have to find them.”

“And you are confident that you will be able to do that?” Jeanne asked.

Smoke’s smile was brief and savage. “I’m confident that I will find a way out this valley. I’m confident that I will get us out. And I am confident that I will kill the dirty son who ambushed us.”

“Coffee’s ready,” Denver called.

“I found our saddles!” Guy called from the edge of the timber. “Them raiders wasn’t gonna burn no good leather. They was gonna keep them for personal use. Includin’ all our saddlebags.”

“One more mistake Clint made,” Smoke muttered.

“You damn fool!” Clint’s brother raged at the man. “Don’t you realize what you’ve done?”

Clint lazily lifted a hand and waved it off.

“No, Clint,” the sheriff corrected. “You can’t wave this off. The times and the ways may have changed somewhat in the West, but the treatment of women has not. You even had four of your rowdies ride out when you told them of this ambush. Oh, I don’t think they’ll talk about it. They were loyal to the brand. But you’ve put something into motion that’s like an avalanche. It can’t be stopped; it’s got to come crashing down and run its course.”

“You worry too much,” Clint said, pouring a fresh cup of coffee. Harris waved off the offer of coffee.

“Smoke Jensen! My God, man! Of all the herds to strike at, you picked one belonging to Smoke Jensen.”

Clint looked at his brother. “You know him, Harris?”

“Not personal. But I saw him in action one time down in Colorado. The man is awesome. He’s fearless. There ain’t a nerve in his body. You can’t beat him with guns. You can’t beat him with fists…”

“I have never seen the man I couldn’t stomp into the ground,” Clint replied coldly.

“Don’t try Smoke Jensen,” his brother warned. Harris shook his head. “I thought we agreed the lawlessness was to end?”

“You goin’ soft on me, brother?” Clint asked the question quietly.

“You know better. But times are changing and you’re not changing with them. I say that in ten years we’ll be a state. And with that comes a state police force and better law enforcement.” He rose from his chair and paced the room. “I don’t know how we can cover this up, Clint.”

“We kill the rest of them in the valley,” the rancher said. “It’s simple.”

Harris turned from the window to stare at his brother. “Women and boys, Clint? No. This ends now. You…”

Clint flew into a rage. He jumped from his chair and stalked across the large room to face his brother. “Goddamn you! Don’t you be givin’ no orders to me. I put you in office, I…”

“The people elected me, Clint,” Harris corrected. “Yeah, yeah, you hung this badge on me years back. But then we held elections, and the people voted on who they wanted to be their sheriff. And they chose me. It’s taken me ten years to weed the deputies loyal to you out of my department. But I did it. And now, you, by God, are going to listen to me. I’ll cover for you just this one time. Then it’s over. I’ll not cover for you again.”

Brothers stood toe to toe and eyeball to eyeball for a very long moment. Finally Clint grunted and winked. He walked back to his desk and sat down. “All right, Harris. Lay it out.”

“I’m taking a posse out to the valley. This afternoon. All your rowdy hands had better be gone from the passes. Where were the bodies dumped?”

“I don’t know what they done with them,” Clint lied.

“I’ll listen to the survivors’ stories. I’ll probably hear that the brand on the night riders’ horses was Circle 45, since you gave me a report stating that a number of horses were stolen from you the other night. I’ll apologize to the survivors. Smoke Jensen won’t buy it. And he might come lookin’ for you. I don’t know. But if he calls you out, I won’t interfere. The war is over, Clint. The lawlessness is over. I won’t stand for it. I never liked your high-handed and roughriding ways. You’re not the Almighty, no matter what you think. I’ve got a tarnish on my name just from being your brother. I’m going to clear my name, as best I can. Seeing you behind bars won’t bring back the dead out there in that valley. Those…boys that came along for a summer’s adventure. I don’t see how you sleep at night. I can’t undo what you and your men have done. But I can, by God, see that it never happens again. And I mean it, Clint. I mean it. I don’t want to have to lock you up. But I will. After this day, I’ve told the last lie for you. You and me, we’re flesh and blood, Clint. But you took a wrong road. You and me, Clint, we took separate trails. And Clint? Don’t ever think you’re better with a gun than I am. I’ll shoot your ears off if you ever drag iron against me.”

Harris Black plopped his hat on his head and stalked out of the office. He slammed the door behind him.

Clint Black sat behind his desk, his mouth hanging open. He was very nearly in shock.