Massacre at Powder River

Chapter Twenty-seven

Jennie was in the kitchen with Clara and the cook, supervising a very special welcome-home dinner for Winnie: his favorite roast beef with Yorkshire pudding. Winnie was sitting on the front porch with Frewen and Matt. Matt had been invited for the welcome-home dinner.

“I don’t know what happened to Tudor Monarch,” Matt said. “I didn’t see him when we left.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about him,” Frewen said. “Horses are pretty smart. He hasn’t turned up here, but I expect he has gone back to Thistledown. I’m surprised though, that William hasn’t said anything about it.”

“Uncle, that reminds me,” Winnie said. “I overheard a strange thing while I was being held captive.”

“What is that?”

“One of the outlaws, Mr. Poindexter, made a strange comment. He said, ‘You’ve heard Teasdale talking haven’t you? Always so prim and proper.’ And he said it in a way that led me to believe that it wasn’t just something that had overheard, but something that occurred in an actual conversation with Sir William. And then, after he said that, Mr. Logan struck him in the face. When Mr. Poindexter asked him why he hit him, Mr. Logan said, ‘Because you’ve got a big mouth, Poindexter.’

“Later, Mr. Logan asked me if I had overheard them, and though I had, I pretended as I had not because it seemed important to him that I not have heard. I found that very strange.”

“Winnie, what are you suggesting?” Frewen asked. “Are you suggesting that Sir William was in league with Sam Logan? That is impossible. He is my closest friend. He is a fellow Englishman.”

“So was Guy Fawkes,” Matt said.

“You know of Guy Fawkes?” Frewen said. “I am impressed. But it isn’t the same thing.”

“I think it is,” Matt said. “I wasn’t going to say anything yet, but since Winnie brought it up, I’ll mention it now. When Greer, Bragg, and Poole arrived to meet me, they were talking about the five thousand dollar reward that was put out on me.”

“Yes, well it has been no secret that there was a reward posted for you,” Frewen said. “Everyone knows about that.”

“Yes, and everyone, including me, assumed that the reward had been posted by Sam Logan. But that isn’t true. It was posted by William Teasdale.”

“Oh, my God,” Frewen said. Putting his elbow on his knee, he bent his head forward and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I should have seen this,” he said. “William and his repeated offers to buy me out—at much less than the ranch is worth—is all part of the pattern, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. And I’m glad you understand,” Matt said. “I was afraid I might not be able to convince you.”

“No, I’m convinced,” Frewen said, shaking his head. “And what Winnie said makes sense now, as well. Logan would not have wanted him to overhear something that would implicate William.”

“What are you going to do now, Uncle Moreton?” Winnie asked.

“I must confront him,” Frewen said. “He must not be allowed to think that he can get away with it.”

“There is no need for you to do that,” Matt said.

“I don’t agree. He must be confronted,” Frewen said.

“Oh, I’m not saying he doesn’t need to be confronted. I’m just saying you don’t need to do it. I’m going to.”

Frewen held up his hand. “That isn’t necessary, Matt. You stopped the Yellow Kerchief gang, you stopped the rustling. You have fully lived up to your bargain, and earned every cent I paid you.”

“This one is for me,” Matt said. “William Teasdale put a five thousand dollar reward out for me. I take something like that very personal, so I will be calling on him, personally.”

At the side of the house, but back behind the porch where he couldn’t be seen, Myron Morrison stood in the shadows, listening to the conversation. When he had heard all he needed to hear, he went to the stable, saddled his horse, and started to ride away.

“Hey, Mr. Morrison, where you going?” Ian called out to him. “If you’re going into town, wait a minute and me ’n Johnny will ride in with you.”

“I’m not going to town,” Morrison said. “I’ve got something to take care of.”

Johnny came out of the bunkhouse then, still wiping away the residue of shaving cream. “Where’s Morrison goin’?” he asked.

“I don’t know, he just said that he had somethin’ to take care of.”

“Ah, he ain’t no fun anyway,” Johnny said. “Ain’t it good that Jensen found the boy and brought him back safe?”

“Yeah, but that ain’t all he did. He took out the whole Yellow Kerchief gang, all by hisself.”

“Damn, you remember when me ’n you tried to stand him up when he was first comin’ in?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah,” Ian answered. “I’m sure glad we didn’t try nothin’.”

“We woulda been dumb to try.”

“Dumb and dead,” Ian said. “But if you recall, Johnny, you had a notion there, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Johnny admitted sheepishly. “I had a notion.”

Once he reached Thistledown, Morrison rode through the gate unchallenged. Then, dismounting, he walked up to the front door and pulled the bell cord. Teasdale himself answered the door.

“You took quite a risk, coming here like this, didn’t you?” Teasdale asked. “I thought we were going to keep our meetings secret.”

“I suppose I did, but it is a risk that needs to be taken,” Morrison said. “We need to talk. I suppose you know that Sam Logan is dead.”

“No, I didn’t know that,” Teasdale responded with a gasp of surprise.

“And he isn’t the only one who is dead. Jensen wiped out Logan’s entire gang. Every one of them.”

“I’ll be damned,” Teasdale said. “Who is this man? Is there no way to stop him?”

“You had better hope there is,” Morrison said.

“Why, what do you mean?”

“He knows about you.”

“He knows what about me?”

“He knows everything about you. He knows that you were the one backing Logan. He also knows that you are the one who put the reward out on him.”

“Bloody hell,” Teasdale said. “How does he know that?”

“He overheard some of Logan’s men talking. Now he’s coming for you,” Morrison said.

“What?” This time Teasdale’s gasp was a ragged expression of terror. “What do you mean? Coming where? When?”

“Today.”

“I’ve got to get out of here,” Teasdale said.

“No, you don’t. That won’t do you a bit of good. He would just come after you.”

“My God, my God, what can I do, what can I do?” Teasdale asked, now verging on the edge of raw panic.

“How many cowboys do you have working for you?”

“Twenty-two,” Williams said.

“How many of them do you trust? I mean absolutely trust?”

“I—I don’t know. I’d have to find out from Reed.”

“I’d say no more than ten,” Reed said when the same question was put to him.

“Do you know which ten?” Morrison asked.

“Yes, of course.”

“Send the others away,” Morrison said. “The rest of us will establish a defensive position, and when Jensen shows up, we will take care of him once and for all.”

“What about Frewen?” Teasdale asked.

“Without Jensen, Frewen is weak. My guess is, once Jensen is dead, and he knows he is dead, he will be anxious to sell out.”

“Good.”

“Just don’t forget the arrangement we have,” Morrison said. “One quarter of his ranch comes to me.”

“I made the deal and I’m sticking with it,” Teasdale said. “One quarter to you, and one quarter to Reed.”

“You got ’ny ideas about how to set up this defensive position you were talkin’ about?” Reed asked.

“I was a major during the war,” Teasdale said. “I have set many defensive positions.”

“Yeah, well, I was in the war too,” Reed said.

“There’s a difference,” Morrison said.

“What’s the difference?”

“My side won.”

Before Matt left the bunkhouse, he loaded his rifle, then his pistol, plus three extra cylinders. With seven rounds in his rifle and a total of twenty-four accessible rounds for his pistol, he was ready to take on whatever Teasdale might have ready for him.

As he was tightening the cinch on Spirit, Frewen came out of the house to talk to him.

“Are you sure you want to do this alone?” Frewen asked. “I could ask Mr. Morrison to get some men together to go with you.”

“They would just get in the way,” Matt said. “And I don’t want to get any more of your men killed. You’ve lost enough.”

“That’s the truth,” Frewen said. “Besides which, I don’t know where Mr. Morrison is. Some of the boys tell me he rode into town, which I think is quite strange. It is not like him to just disappear, especially at a time as critical as this.”

“Matt?” Jennie called, coming out onto the front porch. “Matt, where are you going?”

“I need to take care of some business,” Matt said.

“Dangerous business?”

Matt swung into the saddle, then looked down at Frewen. Frewen reached up his hand, and Matt took it.

“I would say God go with you,” Frewen said. “But I expect this is going to be more of the devil’s work than God’s.”

“I expect so,” Matt replied. He touched the brim of his hat and gave a slight head nod to Jennie, then he rode off.

“Oh,” Jennie said as Matt rode out through the gate. “I’m afraid he might be killed.”

“There will be some killing done,” Frewen said. “Of that, I’ve no doubt. But I have a feeling that Mr. Jensen will come through this just fine.”