“Whether he’s the Ysabel Kid or not don’t make too much difference,” Hogue stated. “If he bust by Spatz’s bunch, he’s good with a gun.”
“But he is not
“I ain’t heard no plan yet,” Hogue growled, watching the riders halt at the hitching rail where their own mounts had been standing while they went into the main building for a meal. “The boss ain’t going to like it one lil bit if we get back with that redheaded calico-cat still living.”
From the expression on Ruiz’s face, he was for once in complete agreement with his companion. They both knew that their efforts in Mulrooney had not been entirely crowned with success. Especially when they considered how much money their employer must have spent in obtaining the specialized services of The Outfit.
The partial failure was Hogue’s and Ruiz’s fault, for The Outfit had done their part. It had been understood from the start that, with the delicate nature of the political situation at the State capitol, The Outfit could not arrange for Martha Jane Canary’s death in Topeka. Instead it had been fixed so that she should be sent to meet an honest lawyer, unconnected with the organization, in Mulrooney and placed in a hotel where the two men could find her.
Except for one slight snag, everything had gone according to plan. Not being sure what the girl looked like, and wishing to avoid mistakes, Smith had been sent by his superior to watch the railroad depot. For some reason, he had failed to see her leave the train. So they had not been aware of the nature of their intended victim. Waiting until after midnight, Smith had escorted Hogue and Ruiz to the Railroad House Hotel. They had discovered which room she occupied by reading the register on the unattended desk.
Hogue’s mistrust of Mexicans had caused them to disagree on the best way to handle the situation. So they had decided that Ruiz should try to gain access via the door, using a trick he had learned as a boy, while Hogue attempted to enter through the bedroom window. Once inside, they were to kill the girl and carry off every document that might prove her identity. After producing a ladder for Hogue and pointing out the window of Room Fourteen, Smith had left them to do their work.
The attempt had turned into a miserable fiasco. However, Smith’s superior had suggested a way by which they might still be able to carry out the orders. They could stop her reaching Counselor Talbot’s office later that morning. To avoid mistakes, Smith had arranged for the hotel’s desk clerk to direct the girl by a specific route to the lawyer’s office. The man had remained opposite the hotel and the clerk had signaled when the correct female left.
Although the Texan’s intervention had prevented them from doing more than steal the girl’s documents, The Outfit’s senior representative had insisted that the two men left Mulrooney without delay. He had promised that he would telegraph warning of any pursuit to Spatz’s way station. Knowing the penalty for disobeying The Outfit, Hogue and Ruiz had not argued. They felt that they had carried out their orders adequately, if not entirely. If Talbot followed Lawyer Endicott’s instructions, he would only tell the girl about the Rafter C when satisfied that she had the right to know about it. Somehow she had convinced the Mulrooney lawyer that she was Martha Jane Canary, and followed them accompanied by a man. Most likely he was the same fast-moving Texan who had saved her life.
It had been Hogue’s suggestion that they hire Spatz’s men to prevent the following pair from continuing the journey. Although harboring suspicions about the identity of the Texan, Ruiz had not argued the point. Now that the attempt had failed, the Mexican felt it was time that he take control of the situation.
“We’ll stop them,” Ruiz stated. “Not here and now, but on the trail.”
“You mean lay for ’em and down ’em as they ride by?”
“That would be chancy, they might escape. I think it is better that we wait until tonight. Then we’ll take them while they sleep.”
“Great!” Hogue sniffed, returning his rifle to its boot. “How do we find ’em when they’ve bedded down?”
The girl and her companion had disappeared into the way station’s main building, so the two men turned their horses.
“That will take some thought,” Ruiz admitted as they set the animals moving. “But it should not be beyond the ability of intelligent men like us. Let us figure that they will not be less than ninety minutes, or more than two- and-a-half hours behind us when they leave Silvers’. Then, toward sundown, we will look for places where riders about that far behind would make camp. After that, we find a high place close at hand and watch for them to come.”
“Like we done last night?” Hogue said coldly.
“No. We will be in position before night falls, so that we can see for sure where they camp. Riding relay, they will both be very tired. So we let them get soundly asleep and move in silently as ghosts. The man we must kill straight away, but it won’t sorrow me if we take the girl alive.”
“You’re a mean, horny devil, Oton,” Hogue grinned. “Only, what she did to your wedding-tackle in Mulrooney, I didn’t reckon you’d want her that way.”
Cold, savage evil played across the Mexican’s face and he reached involuntarily toward the place where Calamity’s knee had landed. Hard riding had done nothing to lessen the ache he felt.
“She will pay for that!” the Mexican promised.
Grinning at his companion, Hogue urged the bay gelding to a faster pace. Ruiz made the
For about a mile, no location struck them as being suitable. Then Ruiz reined in his
“They won’t get much farther and will most likely camp somewhere down there.”
Following the direction indicated by his companion, Hogue nodded. At that point the stage-trail dipped into a valley. Crossing a stream in the middle, the wheel-ruts of the coaches turned upstream along the opposite bank. Although the other side of the valley had a covering of woods, its bottom was fairly open. The area would have considerable appeal for travelers who could not reach the way station on the South Loup by nightfall. It had good water and grazing for the horses, shelter and some protection against the elements.
“Could be,” Hogue grudgingly conceded. “There’s plenty of places where we can keep watch on the other side.”
“If we go right on to where the valley curves,” Ruiz remarked as they rode down the slope, “we will be able to see them no matter where they camp. Their fire will guide us back.”
“If they light one,” Hogue grunted, refusing to admit, even to himself, that the Mexican made right good sense. “They didn’t last night.”
“We didn’t see it last night,” Ruiz corrected patiently.
Keeping to the stage-trail so as to avoid leaving tracks that might attract unwanted curiosity, they reached the stream. After allowing the horses to drink, they pushed on along the valley. About a quarter of a mile after leaving the ford, Ruiz nodded to a hollow in the near-side slope. Fringed with bushes, its base offered a good-sized area of free ground.
“It’d be a good place to bed down,” Hogue agreed. “Happen they come this far, I’d bet this’s where they’ll pick.”
Continuing for almost another half a mile, they left the trail instead of following it around the curve. Riding up the incline through the trees, they reached the top and dismounted. After taking care of their horses, and making certain that the animals would not be seen from the bottom of the valley, the two men moved to a position from which they could watch the trail. They could not chance lighting a fire to cook food or brew coffee, a fact that increased the burly white man’s hatred of their pursuers. Hogue consoled himself with the thought that they would be able to make use of the other two’s property later that night.
About two hours after the two men had settled down on either side of a big old cottonwood tree’s trunk, with the sun sinking in the west, they saw the girl and Texan appear on the other side. Leading their reserve horses, they rode down the stage-trail. A savage grin twisted Ruiz’s lips at the sight. Clearly the pair suspected nothing, they were acting too casual and incautious for that.
With the horses watered, they crossed the stream. Riding toward the curve, they were looking about them. On drawing level with the mouth of the opening, the girl pointed to it and spoke to her companion. Apparently they
