Slocum and the Long Ride (4 page)

A mustached man with a shotgun in hand greeted Slocum. “Howdy, mister.”

Slocum looked over the situation and nodded. “Good morning. Are there any of the mine operation people here?”

“Did they attack the mine?” a big man of authority came forward and asked.

“Burned it to the ground. We were up there about two hours ago. Mrs. Brown was with me, so I could do little. I was concerned about her safety and we hurried down here.”

With a grim look on his face, he shook his head. “None of them made it in here that I know about. I better get a posse together and go up there. They've raided several ranches we know about. I sent word to the fort to send some soldiers down here, but my man might not have gotten through.”

“My name's Slocum. After I find a place for her to stay, I'll ride back with you.”

“Thanks. I can use you. Not many men came in with their families, which is not good, but they had stock and their houses to try to protect. I can't believe they surprised Chuck Moore at the mine and wiped him out.”

Slocum dismounted. “They damn sure did a smashing job of it. Every building was burned to the ground. Only a few minutes ago I shot one and she stopped the other one not two miles back up the road. So they are out there.”

The man looked sad about the news concerning the mine and about their having been attacked so close. “I'll start gathering a posse.”

“Are there any hotel rooms left?” Slocum asked.

“Yes, most of these ranch people here will camp out by their things.”

Slocum agreed and thanked him, then turned to Sandy. “I'll get a room in the hotel for you, then put your horse in the livery. The marshal wants to go to the mine.”

“I understand,” she said.

After registering her for the room, they went to the livery and put up her horse and the packhorse. Slocum also secured a stall for his gray later. He gave Sandy ten dollars for expenses and kissed her on the cheek.

“Slocum, you be very careful today.”

He agreed and said, “I should be back by dark.”

“You be careful. That is what is important.”

He winked at her. “Yes, ma'am.”

Leading the gray up the street, he met another rancher, named Ward, and learned that the marshal's name was Gosbee—Harry Gosbee. Ward was an older man with silver hair and a mild way.

“I guess he asked you to be in the posse?” Ward said.

“Yes. We got here a few minutes ago. We were at the burned-out site about two hours ago. The mine structures were burned down, and several bodies were strewn about—I had Mrs. Brown with me and couldn't risk stopping that close to dawn. And we were attacked by two Apaches not two miles from here.”

“Well, my lands.” Ward made a hard face. “You were sure lucky and so was she. Be a shame if they killed everyone up there.”

Slocum agreed.

In a short time, the posse of twelve men rode for the Applegate Mine, led by Marshal Gosbee. It took them an hour and a half at a hard trot to reach the disaster scene, with no sighting of any Apaches. The two dead ones had been gathered by the others. The sight of the mine sickened Slocum. People he had known were dead. The posse covered the corpses under blankets the marshal had brought along.

Several men found picks and shovels in the mine to begin digging graves. Not one soul was found alive. Ten dead men, including the mine superintendent John Harness, whose body was found partially burned where he'd died gun in hand, defending the operation.

Slocum knew him well. A hardworking, tough individual who had managed the operation successfully for a number of years. In the remains of the office they found the great safe open; papers inside had been burned, but there was no gold in it.

“Damn Apaches never stole gold before,” Gosbee said to Slocum.

“They may have found it would buy rifles from unscrupulous dealers in Mexico and even up here.”

Gosbee frowned at him. “That makes sense. But who taught them that?”

“They can see people buying things, from whiskey to groceries, with gold dust and not much of it.”

“Two and two, it makes sense. I can't hardly believe it, but I guess they ain't that dumb not to find out.”

“What's wrong?” Ward asked, joining them in the ashes of the office.

“We think they took the free gold he kept in his safe.”

“Ain't that something?” Ward shook his head. “They ain't the durn fools you think they are.”

Gosbee agreed with a nod. “Now where will they spend it?”

“That's a thousand-dollar question.” Slocum chuckled over his own words. Who would sell them arms? No telling, but probably some Mexican bandits south of the border. For the moment, he was anxious to get back to Mrs. Brown.

“Where in the hell is the army at?” Gosbee looked around and shook his head in disgust. “We've got thousands of troops stationed down here, and these damn scoundrels run around them and then get away.”

The list of dead men's names completed, they began lowering bodies into the fresh graves. It had been hard work in the dry earth to dig the graves deep enough. The men had even used some blasting sticks to help them loosen the caliche soil. At last the ten corpses had been laid to rest, and with their hats taken off, the men of the posse listened to some kind words that were said for the departed souls. Amen.

They saddled up and rode back. On the road a troop of buffalo soldiers on horseback met them. A white officer led them and halted the column.

“You're too damn late,” Gosbee shouted at the officer. “They killed everyone at the Applegate Mine last night. They killed everyone and stole the superintendent's free gold out of the safe before they burned the place down.”

“What did they need gold for?” the lieutenant asked.

“To buy more damn guns.” Grosbee jerked his horse around. “You need to find these killers and round them up.”

“Any signs over there at the mine?”

“I doubt it.”

“What 'bout the dead?”

“Buried.”

“What will happen to the mine now?”

“I guess Harness's family will decide.”

The posse rode on, and the army followed them into town. It was late afternoon. Slocum had had little to eat all day, so once he had the gray in the stables, he gathered Mrs. Brown and they went to a local café for supper.

“Tough day?” she asked, seated across from him.

“A very tough one. I liked the man who managed the mine. He was a good person.”

“What will the army do about it?”

“Ride around and look for the wind.”

She smiled at him. “They can't chase them down?”

“No. You need a fox to catch a fox. They don't have enough Apache scouts working for them. These other tribes they use for scouts are not much help in tracking down an Apache.”

“Do they know that?”

“Yes, but it is hard to get the tribesmen to work against their brothers.”

“What will we do?”

“I need to go meet with this man who asked me to come help him. Then I can take you back—maybe you can get started teaching next week.”

“What will the army do about the renegades?”

“Keep chasing them.”

“Oh, that is good news.”

He agreed.

The waiter brought them their suppers of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans, plus sourdough bread and butter. He sipped his hot coffee and nodded to her. “The meal looks very good for such an isolated place.”

“Very good,” she said after tasting the potatoes and gravy.

“You spoke about the Apaches learning gold could buy things.”

“Yes. They took the free gold Harness kept in the safe. Might be quite a lot of gold if we knew the amount they had on hand. Of course the books were burned and all of them were killed. So only the Apaches know how much was there.”

“This rancher that called for your help lives near here?”

“Yes, west of here about ten miles. I'll go see what his problem is in the morning and then be back here tomorrow afternoon.”

“Can we go back to the room after this?” she asked hesitantly.

He smiled. “Sure.”

“Good,” she said, sounding relieved.

Back at her room, they took a quick trip to the bed. Then he sat up on his butt with his back to the headboard. She lay with her head resting in his lap, basking in the last sundown's red glare coming in the hotel room window. Idly, he coiled her hair on his fingers and wondered how other people he knew in this country had survived the widespread attacks.

“What comes next?”

“You stay here a day or so. I am going to go and check on Dan. I'll be back or be certain the marshal gets you back home safely.”

“That sounds bad.”

“Hey, I live on the knife's edge all the time. I damn sure plan to be back. You sit tight. This is as safe as any place I know for you to be, save the fort.”

She reached up and pulled his face down. “Could we stop the clock? And you and I stay here forever?”

“About dark I am going to saddle up and go see him. I'll be back. You are safer here than anywhere I know save the fort—and that's a long ride over there. Those Apaches won't strike this town. There are too many guns here. You need some money?”

“No, you left me plenty.”

“Well all right.”

“I hate for you to go. They may kill you.”

“It happens.”

“Oh, all right, get yourself killed and what will I do?”

“Darling, with a body like yours, all you have to do is cross the room.”

She scowled at him. “You don't know. You aren't a woman whose husband left her for a wench. If I am so attractive, why did he mess with her?”

“Darling, if I knew that answer I could write a book on it and get rich. Trust me, you are beautiful and make a hot lover—his preferences I don't know anything about. Some guys run around on their wives 'cause they're insecure and that makes them feel big. But he was plain stupid.”

She rose up on her knees, threw her arms around his neck, and smothered him with kisses. Aw, hell, then they had to have sex again.

•   •   •

Dan Delight should be at his ranch when Slocum got there before daylight. His gray mare out of the livery, he left in twilight, headed west down the creek. His one hand on his cleaned Colt butt and the other on the reins, he cranked his head around a lot, thinking the thick brush and willow might hold a bloodthirsty Apache.

He came out in some open, starlit grassy lands and swung south. The land was all grass, with a few century plant stalks here and there. Some old Apache buck had said that his people lived where the century plant grew and flowered once in fifty years, and then died.

They dug up the roots of them and the squaws made beer. The buck had had some, but he preferred the real white man's beer. The Apaches' corn beer wasn't much better. But a pint of good whiskey could buy an Apache's wife for one night. Whew, they loved that.

By dawn Slocum was approaching the ranch, and before the sun rose over the Huachuca Mountains to the east, he could see some lights at the house. That was Dan's place.

He kicked the mare out in a long lope and headed there. No sign of any Apaches. He felt relieved, and closer he let out a shout. “White man coming. Don't shoot.”

The rifle-bearing cowboy was laughing when he reached him. “What the hell are you doing out here?”

He stepped off the mare and shook his hand. “My name's Slocum. What's yours?”

“Garby, Garby Hanks, glad to meet'cha Slocum.”

“Where's the boss man?”

“Coming. Hell, man, you came at a tough time.” Slocum's shorter friend Dan came bailing out of the lighted door of the ranch house. “Good to see you got here in one piece. These Apaches have gone tonto bronco, ain't they?”

Dan meant
crazy wild
.
A term that Slocum had heard all his life in the border country, for someone who went on a shooting drunk spree. He agreed and Dan showed him inside. “Get some breakfast. Goldie, your buddy's here.”

Goldie looked up. A tall blond woman with braids piled on her head, large boobs, and a thick waist in a dress and apron. She still was a looker. At one time she had commanded high prices for turning tricks with a john. But she'd left that all behind to cook for Dan's outfit and raise hell with him and his cowboys.

“Gawdamn, Slocum.” She tackled him. Then she hugged him tight enough to squeeze the air out of him and French-kissed him. Everyone close by whopped, and someone hollered. “She's got her one to ride now, boys.”

Not embarrassed a bit, she told them, “By God, boys, you can't beat this guy in bed. If you were as good as him, you wouldn't have to punch cows another day. My heavens how long has it been since we were together?” she asked Slocum.

“A couple of years anyway.”

“Yeah, me and Shorty and you were down there in Sonora together.”

She was the only person alive who could call Dan that and live. He winked at her. One thing Slocum observed, she still wore good-smelling perfume, and no doubt could still break the ropes under the mattress when she got wound up.

“Them crazy red devils've lost their minds, haven't they?” she asked. “Must be eating them mushrooms that make them hallucinate, huh?”

“They are bad. Burned the Applegate Mine buildings and killed ten men over there. I rescued a schoolmarm over near Apache Pass. We made it to Patagonia. And we even had a scrap with two of them before we got there. I left her in town. Lots of ranch families are staying there.”

“Aw, you rescued her, my ass. You won't ever change. But I bet she appreciated that.”

“Feed this man,” Dan said. “The rest of your business with him can wait till dark. He must be starved.”

“I will. I will. I'm just excited to see him. Don't he look good?”

“Depends what you want him for. I want him to help me stop these bloody Mexican raiders. You've got other purposes for him.”