falcon and wolf 6 cliffie bonus

 

 

Chapter 6

 

Kalina and Wolf both shot to wakefulness and sat up.

Ida was at the window shooting loophole, gasping.

“Someone has just jumped the Frisian horse, and his horse caught on the spikes. Oh, Kalina, what do I do?”

“Legs or belly?”

“Belly,” said Ida. “Oh it’s tearing out its insides!”

“Shoot it,” said Kalina.

Ida nodded, drew in her breath, and took careful aim.

The figure that had been thrown from the horse pre-empted her mercy shot, emptying his six-shooter into the horse’s eye.

“Stupid beast!” yelled Willy.

“He’s the one Luke was chasing for the bounty,” said Ida.

“Get behind the door; he’s worth more alive than dead,” said Kalina. “He has no more ammunition.”

Ida did so, as the door crashed open.

“Hah! I thought you might be purty,” said Willy, ogling Kalina.

“Your weapon’s all shot out, you’re harmless,” said Kalina.

Willy drew a knife, and advanced, undoing his fly. He was giggling.

He was much surprised to be hit on the back of the head by the butt of Ida’s Winchester.

He stumbled, and fell to his knees, and he snarled.

“That will cost you both,” he said.

There was a sharp retort and he cried out in pain as Wolf shot him in the knee.

“Twenty thousand dollars alive, six thousand dead,” he grunted.

“That’s fourteen thousand reasons to keep him alive,” said Kalina, cheerfully.

She and Ida tied Willy up, and gagged him to shut his foul mouth up, whilst Wolf watched him with his revolver.

“You think this start early?” he asked.

“He came alone,” said Kalina. “What do you know about him?”

“Him crazy, like mad dog,” said Wolf.

“I wager he’s working alone then,” said Kalina.

“What if his father comes looking for him?” asked Ida.

“What if he does? He’s neutralised. We stick with the plan,” said Kalina.

Ida nodded.

“Luke knows what he’s doing,” she said.

“Luke good man,” agreed Wolf.

“My turn on watch,” said Kalina. “And I want him more tied up for that. A rope from his wrists  over one of the roof beams, so he can’t get his hands to the front, or roll over and over to reach me.” 

This was swiftly accomplished.

 

 

oOoOo

 

Luke awakened to the sound of Big Bill Weston’s bellow, and jumped, almost hitting his head on the underside of the floor.

“Hank! Willy! Tom! Judd! You boys git in here right now!”

He sounded irritable. Luke suppressed a snigger; the girls had presumably seen him off.

“What is it, Dad?” asked Hank. “I was getting a team ready to drive through their garden.”

“It’ll take more work than I thought,” said Weston. “Those blamed silly girls have only put in the border posts on the slant, it’ll make it harder to jump them, and there’s barbed wire, we’ll have to take down part of the fence to get the cattle in. Them dadburn sodbusters have hung the whole place with barbed wire, you’d better run into town and get Chad to give you some wire cutters. They ain’t got a clue.”

“You don’t think they did it deliberate to stop people jumping it, do you?” asked Hank.

“Don’t be a durned fool, where’d a couple of wimmin work out such an idea?” demanded Weston. “And no damn sodbuster likely to think o’ such a thing, they ain’t like ranchers, not two ideas to rub together between the ears.” He moved slightly. “Where’ve you two been?” he demanded.

“Restin’ up to be fresh for tonight,” said Judd. “I wanna enjoy it proper-like.”

“Me too,” said Tom.

“Where’s your brother?”

“Which one?” asked Judd.

“Idiot! Willy, o’course.”

“Ain’t seen him since you sent him out at breakfast,” said Judd.

“Nor me,” said Tom.  “What did them wimmin say? I guess they ain’t leavin? We gets to have fun?”

“They shot at me,” said Weston, with a snarl. “Spiled my hat, an’ broke my gun.”

“Paw, you’ve been bleedin’,” said Judd.

“I know I’ve been bleedin’,” said Weston. “Fortunately, they ain’t good enough shots, an’ got an ear both times an’ me hat the other two times.”

Luke shook his head in amazement that the man held such a low opinion of women that he assumed it was poor shooting, not consummate skill which had led to such derisory wounds. Well, he would find out.

Or maybe he’d be dead before he realised. Luke did not much care.

Weston was stomping around, shouting for Willy, as Hank set off into town to the store, run by his brother, Chad.

Luke sighed; he was not going to get back to sleep easily with this amount of noise. He took a long drink and ate some sausage.

He hoped Willy was not absent because he had gone to hassle the girls; but no, they were capable of taking care of a man like that. Especially with Wolf around to help.

Weston took himself off to look for Willy, chivvying Tom and Judd out to help him.

“We’ll rest up after the noon meal,” he growled.

Luke made a decision, as all the brothers and their father were out of the house, and waited as they sent other hands to look for the errant Willy, to slide out from under the veranda, across to the barn, and vault over the fence into the paddock, planted with apple trees for shade, and with a spring.  From here, he could get directly to the wide grassland where the cattle roamed, and slither through the long grass like a snake. Keeping to folds in the land, he made his way round to the road, where any man might travel.

He stood off the road for a buggy, but recognised the craggy features of Marshal Sam Douglas.  Luke stepped out, hands in full view.

“Were you off to see me, sir?” he asked.

“I was,” said Douglas. “Hank Weston came into town, and Chad Weston closed up shop and went off with him.”

“I must have missed his returning,” said Luke. “We’re done up like Fort Knox; you’ll want to leave your horses with mine, under the protection of Blackwind. There’s only one way in, though; I seeded the rest with caltrops.  And a lot of the land has surprises.”

“Do I want to know?”

“Well, in my book, what a man does with dynamite on his own land is his own business,” said Luke. “And any thief who sets off any detonators has only himself to blame.”

“How does that work?”

“Easy enough; a board with a nail through and buried below it a stick of dynamite with a .45 cartridge inserted in it. Stand on the board, the nail hits the firing nipple, and bang.”

“Deadly force.”

“How many settlers have died here?”

“Too darn many, and not enough evidence on the Westons,” growled Douglas. “Jed Barton filled me in on it.”

“Well, then, nobody can blame a poor sodbuster for protecting his land,” said Luke.

“I’m ready to blink at it, anyway,” said Douglas. “I did get you that damned Gatling gun, after all.”

“And we may not need it, but I’d rather be prepared,” said Luke. “Turn here, and we’ll stow the buggy and take on the horses.”

Luke acquainted the marshal with how to line up blazes on the trees to find the safe path through the caltrops.

“You are a ruthless young man,” said Douglas.

“I grew up during the war, and we sheltered runaway slaves,” said Luke.  “I can also do a Rebel yell, and so can my sister, so don’t worry if we let it loose on the Westons.”

“I’d worry more if I didn’t think you were having the time of your life,” said Douglas. “Why have we stopped?”

“To give a signal that we’re friends,” said Luke, whistling loudly ‘Hey, Falcons.’

Wolf came out of the door, and turned the wheel of an upturned buckboard, which acted to lift one end of the gate’s Frisian horse log. Luke ducked through, followed by Douglas. Wolf lowered it again.

“This is Sam Douglas, Wolf; he’s here to see what happens tonight,” said Luke.

“He can take Wily Willy with him when it’s all over,” said Wolf. “The girls took him, but he was obstreperous, so I put a bullet in one knee. He’ll live, though. Worth keeping him alive.”

“Hell, yes,” said Luke. “Four-way split?”

“I thought so,” said Wolf. “Your planning; we were there to catch him.”

“Well, we might as well eat if we’re all awake,” said Luke, as Ida sat up in bed to see what was going on. “You’re giving Willy water?”

“He spat at us the first time,” said Kalina. “He can wait until we’ve eaten.”

Luke cooked pancakes and bacon, and as the bread from the railhead was a little dry, he buttered it well, cut slices of cheese to fill sandwiches, and fried them until the bread was golden, and the cheese oozed out.

“Mama would tell you off for leaving out vegetables,” said Kalina.

“We need working food, not living food,” said Luke. “I’ll set up a stew with the vegetables we got in, and that’ll have to do. We’ve onions, carrot, turnip, and turnip greens, with some canned beef, that’ll do just fine, and some oatmeal to thicken it.”

“I’m almost hungry again, thinking about it,” said Ida, happily. “I’m glad you were able to get away early, so we are all here together.”

“Me too,” said Luke. “I’m going to sleep now, though.”

“I’ll keep a watch if the rest of you want to sleep,” said Douglas. “I’m not really here, after all.”

“I’ll just give Willy a drink,” said Kalina. She took off the gag, ignoring his foul imprecations, and nipped his nose to pour a dipper of water down, and then put the gag back.

“He can’t accuse anyone of trying to kill him for lack of water,” said Ida. “You and me can sleep in the bottom of the bed, our feet the other way.”

Kalina nodded. It seemed the best arrangement.

 

oOoOo

 

Luke dished out stew for everyone.

“We should be able to eat before anything starts,” he said. “You girls are to stay in the house, and if, by chance, they manage to set fire to it, go down the cellar. Remember the barn has booby traps in it.”

“Hopefully, if we need to escape, it will be after they’ve all gone off,” said Ida.

“The trick is, don’t stand on anything that isn’t clear dirt floor,” said Luke. “Be careful.”

“I will. We had enough trouble escaping Nathaniel; I’m not about to blow myself up. And your mother would have our tripes if we blew up Kalina,” said Ida.

Luke grinned.

“And we’d better not forget it,” he said. “Here, apples for afters; I filched them from Weston’s orchard.”

“They’ll taste better for being illicit,” said Ida, setting her teeth firmly into the fruit’s flesh.

“I don’t know if I should eat scrumped fruit,” said Douglas. “Aw, hell, you corrupted me. But I’m fining you a nickel.”

Luke tossed him a coin, and wandered out back to eat his apple and watch what he suspected would be the start of the show.

The notices round the back read ‘Trespassers will be met with lethal force.’ It warned plainly enough, and in beautiful lettering Luke had been proud of.

There was movement in the dark, and Luke was glad he had permitted his eyes to start to adjust beforehand. He slithered onto the bed of the wagon the girls had brought, and took the safety off the Gatling gun.

A second round was at his fingertips for when the magazine of thirty rounds was empty. But in the meantime, he watched, and waited for the careless-looking section of barbed wire to be cut. It would permit any trespassers to trespass, and one of them was bound to step on the board if he climbed over the low wall the previous settlers had established.

“I wish we had Willy with us,” he heard a voice say. “Where’d he go?”

“Paw thinks he paid a visit to them wild girls an’ they got off a lucky shot, Chad,” said Judd’s voice.

“Well, we’ll soon see,” said Chad, efficiently snipping away at the barbed wire.

There was mooing in the background. The herd come to trample the garden would not like a noise or flashes.  And Luke sat, patiently, waiting.

 He tied his bandana round his eyes, and let himself experience it all by sound alone.

Wolf slid up beside him.

“Cover your eyes,” said Luke almost silently.

Wolf grunted, and Luke could hear him busying himself with cloth. Wolf took Luke’s suggestions seriously.                                                   

It was just in time. Someone got impatient enough to jump over the wall to help pull at the barbed wire, and the world was cracked with a thunderous detonation and a flash of light Luke could see through his bandana. The ground rocked, and then there was the thin keen of someone screaming in agony and fear. Luke pulled off his bandana.

“Chad! Chad! Where are yuh? What happened?” said Judd’s scared voice.  Chad continued screaming.  “Hey! You lot! Come here and help Chad, and then we’ll kill all them bastard sodbusters!” yelled Judd.

“Stay off our lands and live. Step over that wall and die,” called Luke. “If you aren’t all po’ white trash, you should read the notice, trespassers will be met with deadly force. Or are you a bunch of illiterates?”

“Our Mommy was married to Paw, you don’t have no right to say otherwise!” shrilled Judd.

“I said illiterate, not illegitimate, you ignorant moron,” sneered Luke. “I’ll let two of you come and take out your brother’s body, but any more and you’re dead.”

He heard Judd’s voice, muttering.

“He can’t see no more’n we can, once you’re all over, we can rush him.”

The screaming had stopped with a final whimper, so Luke heard Judd with clarity.

“I can hear fine well, though. I said, two,” said Luke. He touched Wolf on the arm, and watched the wall, whilst Wolf watched Judd, and the hand that went with him to Chad. Judd and another came over, cautiously, and another behind him; the others were feverishly removing stone to make a gap in the wall. Judd felt his way to Chad’s now mercifully silent body.

“Oh, Gawd above, he’s been blowed right in half!” squealed Judd. “I’m gonna seal your house up an’ burn your bitches where they are!” he yelled.

“You’ll burn Willy, too,” said Luke. “The girls took him and hogtied him when he came by earlier.”

“Get him!” squealed Judd.

He was the first to fall as Luke turned the handle of the Gatling gun and it chattered as it spat its deadly rain of metal, ripping into the bodies of the dozen or so burly cowpokes who were following Judd to charge Luke’s position. . Luke gave the rebel yell, a cross between an Indian war-whoop and a panther’s scream, and any of the cow pokes left, hesitating, fled in terror, such was the power of that almost-forgotten war cry.

 

 

oOoOo

 

Tom, leading four other men to poison the spring in the cottonwood stand, also ignored the signs threatening deadly force to trespassers, and jumped the relatively low fences there. His horse stumbled on the caltrops set inside the first fence.  Tom leaped down with an oath, as did his fellows, as their horses shied and bucked.

“What in tarnation?” yelped Tom, as he found a caltrop the hard way. “Durn sodbusters! I’ll kill ‘em!” He paused. “Dusty! Take the nags out – cut that damn fence, and lead ‘em out! Bastards, attackin’ our animals, I’m gonna enjoy watchin’ his horses die screamin’ o pizen!”

Neither Tom nor his men seemed to feel any irony in that statement. And the line of caltrops was thin, so Tom pressed on, with his three remaining stalwarts, planning to steal any really good horses, if there were any, and not expecting settlers to have any but broken down jades.

There was a harsh chattering sound in the distance, and then the spine-tingling rebel yell, known by reputation if nothing else.

Tom hesitated.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “C’mon.”

They started running as the land was clear, which meant that they encountered the second fence at the treeline, an ankle-height and throat-height strand of barbed wire.

One of the men encountered a barb at the wrong point, and gurgled in panic as his jugular encountered the vicious spike of barb used in cattle country. He was dead before he could give any further warning. One of the others took a nasty wound, and fell back, unable to curse for the damage to his voice box; the third was lucky to have had his hand up to hold his hat, and received only a nasty gash to his forearm. Tom, shorter, and also running bent forward, felt something sweep his hat off, as he tripped on the ankle-high strand, and measured his length painfully.

The angry neigh, and the awareness of a darker shadow in the night was the last thing he heard as Blackwind’s flying hooves descended from above.

Blackwind did not like people interfering with him, or those who belonged to him. He gave a challenging neigh, and reared.

The man evacuating the other horses ran to the sound, and paused half in terror, half in admiration at the stallion.

He saw the boss’s son on the ground under the magnificent beast, and went for his six-shooter.