Slater Bros: Apache Summer Part 18

"Why, son, you don't know anything about this town at all, now, do you?"

"Let him go," Jamie repeated.

"He needs to be taught a lesson," one of the light-haired men said with a nasty snarl.

"Yeah. A fatal lesson."

In a flash, the man released the bartender. He drew his gun.

He was fast, but not fast enough. Before he could aim he had dropped the gun, howling in pain. His friends tried to draw.

Rapid shots sizzled from Jamie's Colts. The second man was on the floor, clutching his leg. The third grasped an arm. The fourth was on the floor.

He might have been dead. Jamie didn't know or care.

He looked at Edward Clancy.

"Thanks for the drink, friend," he said quietly.

Then he left the bar, walking over his fallen enemies.

Chapter Seven.

By nightfall the wagon had been unloaded except for the printing press, which would be taken into town in the morning. Tess had even managed to fill the hip bath in the kitchen with steaming water and soak for a long time, was.h.i.+ng away the dust and dirt from the trail. She kept reminding herself that von Heusen was coming back, but she felt strangely calm, despite the fact that Jamie had deserted them.

Von Heusen wasn't going to come right up to the house and murder her. He hadn't the guts for that. She dressed in a soft summer-green cotton and set about making dinner with Jane and Dolly to help her. She was accustomed to Jane, but it was really nice to have Dolly with her. Dolly kept up a steady stream of conversation, mostly about her husband, Will, and their days in the military. Her stories were spicy and fun, and Tess enjoyed them thoroughly.

They cooked a huge wild turkey on a spit and summer squash and green beans and apple turnovers. When the table was set and everything was ready, Tess went out to find Jon.

He was leaning against a pillar, a band tied around his dark hair and forehead, a repeating carbine held casually in his hand. He looked over the landscape. "Dinner's on, Jon."

He glanced her way, smiling.

"Thanks, Tess, but I think I'll wait out here a while longer, keep an eye on things."

"It's turkey and all kinds of good things. I'd like to repay you for the trip."

I'll eat soon," he promised. She nodded and left him. Halfway inside the house she paused, wondering if he was looking for yon Heusen or Jamie.

She hoped Jamie was eating stale, weevil-fiddled bread somewhere.

She'had a feeling, though, that he was not.

She walked into the house and to the dining-room table. Hank had come in, and he was smiling.

"The boys are out at the bunkhouse and they're pleased as peaches that you're home, Miss. Tess. Well, them that's left. We've still got Roddy Morris, Sandy Harrison and Bill McDowell. They won't be going anywhere."

"Wonderful!" Tess told him.

"Bring the boys in for dinner, will you, Hank?"

"They're already fixing. their suppers in the bunkhouse, Tess. We'll have a big Sunday dinner for them all, that's what we'll do."

"Fine. That sounds good, Hank. Now, let's all sit." Dolly offered to say grace. She thanked G.o.d for His bounty, for their being alive and being together, then she asked G.o.d to take a good look at their enemies and see if He couldn't do something to put bad men in their proper place.

"Amen," she finished.

"Amen," they all chorused.

Tess was about to take her first bite of dinner when she heard the sounds of horses' hooves. She set down her fork.

How many of them had come with yon Heusen? It sounded like five, r! o more.

"Excuse me," she said primly, setting her napkin carefully on the table and rising casually. It didn't matter. Dolly, Hank and Jane all catapulted to their feet, and they attached themselves to her like shadows as she walked to the door. She could hear voices before she reached it. Jon's first.

"That's close enough, fellows. Close enough."

"It's an Injun!" "I said close enough."

Someone must have moved. A barrage of shots went off, followed by a startled silence.

Then yon Heusen started to talk.

"Hold it, boys, hold your fire! I've just come to talk to Hank and Jane about removing themselves from the prop" There no need for them to gemove themselves from the property," Jori said.

"This is private property, and the owner seems to want them here. One step nearer, boy," he warned someone, "and there'll be a hole in your chest where your heart used to be."

"Who in the blazes are you!" von Heusen thundered, losing his control.

"A friend."

"A friend! Well, listen here, you red-faced monkey. The Smarts are dead.

They were attacked by Comanche or " Apache?" Jon interrupted. She could hear something cold and dangerous in his voice.

"Tell me, which Apache?

Which Apache do you think did it? Or don't you know? I'll tell you, I'm d.a.m.ned sure it wasn't any Apache. Apache, any Apache, make war, or they go raiding. They make war to 'take death from their enemies." They raid to fill their bellies. I haven't met an Apache yet who would leave dead cattle scattered with the corpses of men."

"Who the h.e.l.l knows or cares what Apache!" von Heusen thundered.

"It doesn't matter. Maybe it was Comanche" -- "Running River denies it."

"There are more tribes of Comanche!" "Yes, there are," Jon said softly.

"But the Comanche know what doin too.

it to man.

"Of course, the whites have been scalping for a long time now. I read somewhere that they started scalping way back in the east in the sixteen hundreds. But still. White men in a hurry do a sloppy job. Neither a Comanche nor an Apache would do a sloppy job. No matter what his hurry."

"Takes an Inj un to know I" someone muttered.

"Maybe we ought to string him up. Who knows? Maybe he's some renegade in charge of the party that did it himself!" von Heusen said.

"Let's hang him!"

"Let's see you try!" Jon said very softly. "Hold it! Hold it!" von Heusen said.

"Now listen, Joe Smart and his family are dead. And this property is'

going to go up for public auction. Now I have" -- Tess had taken his statement as her cue. She threw open the door and stepped onto the porch behind Jon.

"Correction, von Heusen. I am not dead."

Even in the dusky light that sifted down from the moon and the stars, Tess could see the startled look that flashed briefly across yon Heusen's features.

He was a lean man, tall, spare. His features were almost cadaverous, his cheekbones sucked in, his chin very long and pointed. His eyes were coal black, and they seemed to burn from his skull. He sat atop his horse well, though. Jon had his repeating rifle aimed right at his heart, and von Heusen still sat casually, his hands draped over the pommel.

Around him were four of his men. He had about twenty hired guns on his place. Only four of them were with him.

Tess didn't like it. He usually paid his visits with an escort of at least eight to ten.

It made her wonder where the rest of his men might be. Von Heusen found his voice at last.

"Why, Miss. Smart.

I am delighted to see you alive and well."

" Like h.e.l.l you are, von Heusen.

"That's uncalled for, ma'am."

"Be d.a.m.ned, you carpetbagging riffraff, but it is."

"Someone ought to wash your mouth out with a little soap, lady. I just came by" -- "You just came by to rob Joe of everything he ever had, now that you've murdered him!"

"You watch your accusation there, Miss. Stuart."

"It's the truth. You know it, and I know it. And somehow, I'm going to prove it!"

Von Heusen was smiling.

"I don't think so, little lady. No, I don't think so. You want to know what I do think?" He leaned toward her. It was just a fraction of an inch and he was still far away, but the gesture made her tremble inside.

"I think that this ranch was meant to be mine, Miss. Stuart. Now I've offered you good money for it. Real good money.

And you still don't want to sell. Miss. Stuart, I want you out of town."

"I'm not leaving."

"I wouldn't be so adamant, little lady. You may find that you leave in one way or another."

"You threatening her, von Heusen?" Jori asked. "She seems to think that I'm guilty of something," von Heusen said.

"The whole d.a.m.ned town can tell you that I was in the saloon playing cards the day the Indians attacked the Stuart train. The whole d.a.m.ned town can tell you that. But still, if the lady is so worried and so certain, well then, maybe she ought to plan on riding out of town. What do you think?"

"I think that you should give reasonable thought to the idea of riding out of town yourself, yon Heusen," Jon warned quietly.

Von Heusen started to laugh.

"On the word of a half- breed Indian?"

He started to Urge his mount closer to the porch. Jori fired a shot that must have sizzled a hairbreadth from the man's cheek. Von Heusen went as pale as the clouds. boss"-- one of Von Heusen lifted a hand.

"Calm down now, boys. Just because Miss. Stuart's resorting to violence is no reason that we should. We'll be riding off now. But you remember what I said, Miss. Stuart. I'd hate to see you leaving town other than all dressed up right pretty and in a comfortable stagecoach!" He smiled at her.

"It is good to see you alive and well. Such a pretty, pretty woman. And all that blond hair. Blond hair alone is worth a pretty penny in certain places, did you know that?"

He stared at Tess. As he did so, she suddenly realized that she could smell smoke.

Suddenly she knew where the rest of yon Heusen's men were. The smoke was coming from the direction of the card age house. The printing press was in the wagon still, and the wagon was next to the buckboard and the chaise in the carriage house.

And so far, it had been a dry summer. If the carriage house went up in flames, the blaze could quickly spread to the house, to the barn, even to the stables. Von Heusen was smiling.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" she hissed at him. Jon hadn't moved; he didn't dare.

If he moved the rifle a hair yon Heusen just might decide to take advantage and shoot them all down. They stood there, locked in the moment, yon Heusen staring at Tess with a smile, Tess staring at him, hating him so fiercely that she should have been able to have willed him dead. It was lost now.

All lost. The house, Joe's house. The press.

It didn't even seem to bother yon Heusen that he would slaughter all the horses.

Then suddenly, in the midst of yon Heusen's triumph and her own despair, a commotion sounded from the direction of the carriage house. There was still smoke issuing from it--no sign of fire yet.

But men suddenly spilled out of it. Four of them, their hands held high above their heads. They nearly tripped as they walked, for someone had apparently ordered them to lower their breeches, and their pants were tight around their ankles.

Three of them wore long johns; the fourth must have been buck naked.

Tess only caught a glimpse of his bare legs, as he managed to stay behind the other three.

"Tarnation!" yon Heusen swore.