Blood of the Mountain Man (26 page)

“It’s all over, Cosgrove, Biggers,” Smoke yelled from below the office building. “You have no more men. Give it up.”

“Hell with you!” Major Cosgrove yelled. “Come and get us.”

“Don’t be fools! Look below you. There are two or three dozen rifles pointed at you right now. We can shoot that office building to bits. Give it up.”

Cosgrove and Biggers chanced a look below them. Jensen sure wasn’t lying.

“I hate Smoke Jensen,” Major Cosgrove said. “I despise that man more than anything on the face of this earth. How the hell was I to know that Jenny was the blood kin of the last mountain man?” Then, out of sheer desperation, hate, fury, and frustration, he lifted his rifle and began firing at the men assembled far below the office building.

No one knows exactly what happened after that. And no one ever really will. The most popular theory is that Cosgrove had cases of dynamite stored in the building and the returning rifle fire touched it off. But still others say they saw a hideous flash of blue lightning strike the building.

Whatever the reason, one second the office building was there, and in the next instant it was gone, debris flying in all directions and raining down to the ground below.

But not one trace of Major Cosgrove or Jack Biggers was ever found. And neither was any of the gold. Some say there was a rear exit to the building, a natural cave that was sealed by the massive explosion. Some say they escaped.

All anybody knew for sure was that when Whisperin’ Langely, Dusty Higgens, Jim Pell, Lonesome Ted Lightfoot, and Russ Bailey were finally rescued from the landing, they had to change underwear. The explosion must have given them quite a fright.

Sheriff Club Bowers and his deputies rode into town just in time to witness the explosion. U.S. Marshals had ridden into Red Light only seconds before the huge wall of flame blew out of the cliff.

Reverend Lester Laymon said it was the heavy hand of God that done it.

Violet said her husband was an idiot . . . as usual.

When all was said and done, all the legal papers served and filed and settled, the citizens of Red Light were the new owners of the mine and Jenny Jensen owned the entire valley of lush graze and flowing creeks and gushing springs . . . and the gold up in the towering mountains. That was never mined. All records of where the huge vein was located had gone up in the explosion and only Smoke Jensen knew the exact location, and he wasn’t talking.

The gold is still there. Untouched.

Jenny’s range stretched for miles, north to south. It’s still in the family, and still producing some of the finest beef on the market.

Red Light was soon dropped and the town’s name was changed. Kit Silver married Clementine Feathers and settled down. Club Bowers was honestly elected sheriff of the county and was sheriff until his death, well into the next century. Wolf Parcell vanished back into the mountains. But he kept a close eye on Jenny, until she got married a few years later. Van Horn remained foreman of the ranch until his death, years after the big fight in Red Light, Montana. Wolves still visit the grave of Barrie on the lonesome ridge above the little spring. All the hands stayed on and a hundred years later, the crosses in the cemetery on the ranch bear the names of Pasco, Clarence Bad Dog, Jim Hammon, Cooper, Ford, Ladd, and all the others who fought for and with Jenny Jensen and her Uncle Smoke.

Smoke and Sally stayed around long enough to see that Jenny would be all right, and then they mounted up for the long ride back to the Sugarloaf in Colorado.

Smoke would be back to check on Jenny from time to time. But that’s another story . . . about the last mountain man.