The Man From Eagle Creek
Chapter Twenty Five
The house was strong built and clean kept. The furnishings
looked hand made by a master woodworker. There were fine rugs
under the furniture in the main room and in the kitchen the floor
had been smoothed down with a wood plane making the finish smooth
and flat. The board floor had been scrubbed and mopped so many
times the wood was nearly faded out white.
Hilda Ehrlichmann was a fine cook and had prepared a feast for
their supper. They had pork loin, cooked cabbage, field peas,
mashed potatoes, boiled corn and fresh bread. Most of the food
had been cooked the night before and warmed up for the meal.
Tom and Cal ate until they were stuffed. The two young men had
made many meals of jerky and leftover biscuits and Jackrabbits
since they became friends. Food like this was a rare treat to
them and they made the most of it. Hilda, and her son and
daughter were proud to see them eat like this too.
As they ate, the family of German immigrants told of the land
they left to come to America. They told of the hardships and
oppression they and their families had endured until they and
others came here to make a new life in a new land.
They had been proud stewards of the land in the region of Germany
near the Russian border. Now they had homesteaded land in Kansas
and found this climate and soil to be close to what they worked
in the old country.
The soils here were suited for the hard red winter wheat being
grown in Europe. The corn made good crops and with a few rains
along during the growing season, they would have bountiful
harvests.
Rudolph Ehrlichmann had come to Kansas with his wife and two
small children to make a new life.
They had just gotten their homestead built and barns built, as
well as the land worked where they could make a living, when
Rudolph died with fever and chills after working in the cold and
wet weather, to repair the barn that was damaged by a storm.
After much pleading for the two young men to sleep in the house,
the Ehrlichmann family finally gave in and watched as the they
walked into the early darkness toward the barn.
"Tom, I need to be with a woman. After seeing Helga's shirt
pushed out and her big teats almost bustin' through that thin
shirt I feel like I'm about to bust out too," Cal admitted as Tom
laughed at his friend.
"Hell Tom it ain't funny, you said you done been with a woman,
felt her body and kissed her lips. I ain't even met one that
would have me yet, I don't reckon."
"It'll happen Cal, and when it does you'll just need to slow down
a bit and let it all happen, don't get in a rush and spoil
things."
"Well I'm ready for it to happen soon, or I'm gonna go get me
one of them whore's like was over in Dodge to take some of the
pressure off."
"Cal you want to be careful doing that, I heard tell of some boys
coming up with some awful sores in some private places after they
laid with them whores a day or so," Tom told him.
"When we get settled down in a town again for a few days, we'll
try to find you a woman that'll give you some of what you need to
take that edge off."
"It sure as hell won't be none too soon either, just thinking
about a woman gets my thoughts all bent out of shape. Seeing
Helga and her mom over there with them big teats stuck out in
front like a bulls horns don't help none either."
The next morning at daylight Hahn went to the barn to call Tom
and Cal for breakfast, but the two riders were already saddled
and gone.
They continued to ride east staying on the property line
separating the fenced pastures and the cultivated crops on the
farm land.
Before mid morning the two riders came to the town of Hill City
where they looked up the sheriff. Sheriff Grafton had gotten the
telegraph from Sheriff Wade down in Ellis County.
Sheriff Grafton swore the two riders in as his deputies in Graham
County and gave them each a hand written paper signed by him to
prove they had jurisdiction in his county.
After exchanging stories about the fence cutting, telling the
sheriff where it was, and the evidence at the scene Tom and Cal
had witnessed the day before, they thanked the sheriff and rode
on out of the small town.
Sheriff Grafton was in agreement with the two new range riders,
the farmers were being set up to look as if they were the trouble
makers.
Looking at the maps and trying to keep up with the section lines
and property lines proved to be more than they had counted on.
They knew they were coming to the east side of Graham County
where it joined Rooks County.
The county line was laid out in a near perfect line running north
and south at least fifty feet wide with the road in the center.
Looking at the maps once more to get their bearings, they rode
east along the trail that once again separated property.
On the south there was fenced property on the north there was
farmland. The grass seemed to be over grazed along the pastures
here and Tom looked through his scope at the countless head of
cattle that were continuously walking and searching for forage.
The problem with over grazing was more evident here, where the
spring rains had not been enough to spur re-growth.
Tom and Cal were on a trail that, according to their maps would
lead them to Stockton in Rooks County. The trail was well used
from the looks of the wagon tracks as well as horse and rider
tracks.
Here, as over in Graham County, there were fences adjoining
farmland. Riding east on the trail to Stockton they came to a
trail that cut back south from the main trail. Here there were
many tracks where some one had driven cattle west on the trail
then turned them south on the other trail.
The tracks were fresh as if made during the night or late in the
day before.
Tom told Cal he was gonna ride south a ways to see if he could
tell where the cattle were driven and why. Cal rode on east to
see where the cattle had came from and the two riders were going
meet back here later.
Tom rode at an easy lope on his big horse and soon saw where the
cattle had been driven through a gap in the fence. The fence was
now closed and there were no riders to be seen.
Tom rode back the other way to meet Cal. When he got to the place
where they had split up he didn't see Cal in any direction, so he
decided to ride east, the way Cal had ridden when they split.
About two miles up the trail Tom saw Cal sitting on his horse
facing out toward the corn field on the opposite side of the
fenced pastures.
As Tom rode up beside him, Cal pointed out to the edge of the
corn field where a dog lay dead. From the looks of the ground and
the corn stalks around in a circle, there had been a pretty good
tussle of some sort. There were what looked to be parts of a
shirt scattered all around and foot prints of small bare feet.
There were boot prints also and from what Cal and Tom could tell,
it looked as if someone had a pretty good scrap out here.
Where did the dead dog and the torn clothes come into the picture
they wondered. Tom stepped off his horse and walked a wide circle
from where the scuffle took place. He saw where two sets of bare
foot prints had left the area. Tom walked along the corn rows for
a ways following the foot prints, they were about a dozen rows
out from the trail and heading east.
Tom walked back out to his horse, swung to the saddle and took
his telescope out to scan the horizon above the tops of the
shoulder high rows of corn stalks. He didn't see any movement but
did see a scope of trees in the distance to the east. The line of
trees looked to be a small river or creek that ran from north to
south across the trail ahead of them.
The two riders walked their horses slowly now, looking for any
movement or any sign of more struggles in the edge of the
cornfield.
Tom saw his horses ears perk up and turn as if hearing a sound in
the distance. He looked at Cal and they both nodded to where the
cornrows ended near the line of trees. Ahead they saw where the
creek crossed the trail in a low water crossing. The trees lined
both sides of the creek and the water was flowing in ripples
across the sandy bottom. Tom heard a sound coming from their left
as they neared the low water crossing. He motioned to Cal for to
stop and dismount.
Cal looped the reins of his horse over Tom's saddle horn and Tom
patted his horse on the neck as they left them there and made
their way toward the trees. They heard the sound again and looked
at each other, it sounded like a muffled moan or a groan of pain.
They were nearing the source of the sounds now and kept low in
the corn stalks as they slipped closer and closer.
Cal tapped Tom on the arm and pointed to where four horses were
tied to the small limbs of a fallen tree. The tree trunk lay
parallel about three feet off the ground and looked as if it had
been uprooted in a storm. Whatever had made the sounds was near
the tree trunk, but hidden from Tom and Cal by the branches of
the tree top lying on the ground.
They eased more to the side in order to see what they were
walking into. There in front of them were three men, their pants
and boots off. When Tom and Cal moved just a bit more they saw a
young girl with her hands tied over the top of the tree trunk,
her legs spread very wide and ankles tied to small bushes. They
looked closer and saw the legs and feet of another girl on the
opposite side of the tree that looked to be tied in the same
manner. The girl nearest them had what looked to be part of her
clothes tied around her head covering her mouth.
One of the men had just backed away from the nearest girl, they
were talking turns raping her. Cal eased back around to where he
could see down the other side of the tree top that lay on the
ground. There he saw another man naked from the waist down
standing between the outspread legs of a younger girl as he held
her hips. The men were busy taking pleasure from the bodies of
the young girls. They never saw Tom as he eased up behind the one
standing farthest away from the tree. Tom slipped his knife from
its sheath and with his right hand slipped it around the mans
neck, pulling it tight enough to make him bleed. As he did this
he drew his Colt and thumbed the hammer back.
The click of the hammer being backed was unmistakable and the
other two men turned quickly. The one still behind the girl
looked over his shoulder. When he saw Tom standing there, he
whirled to grab a gun from a holster that was hanging on a limb
of the tree trunk.
"Back away from that girl, before I kill you," Tom said in a
growl.
The man was just pulling his gun from the holster when Tom shot
him in the back of his knee, sending him twisting and falling as
the front of his knee joint exploded when the .44 slug came out
through his knee cap. Cal had made it almost to the man raping
the girl on the other side when he heard Tom speak. He slipped
the barrel his Colt under the man's ear.
"Move back real slow and lay on the ground, or I'll kill you
where you stand," Cal told the man. Tom held the knife to the
man's neck, "Get on the ground next to your friend," Tom said to
the man that had been next in line to rape the girl. He pulled
the knife blade slowly across the other man's throat, slicing it
open, but not deep enough to kill him.
The man grabbed his throat with both hands and fell to his knees,
blood running through his fingers and down both arms
"Cal, you get your man?"
"Yep, the sick sumbitch don't look so big and bad now though."
"Get him around here with these three, then cut these girls
down."
Cal walked the man around the tree top and made him get on the
ground next to his friends. Tom handed his knife to Cal, and he
cut the ropes they had used to tie the girls hands together
across the low tree trunk. The girls fell to the ground under the
tree and crawled to each other, sobbing and crying as they
hugged each other. Tom and Cal took the ropes and tied the hands
of the three men behind their backs.
Tom whistled and his horse came running to him with Cal's horse
beside him, the reins still on the saddle horn. Tom opened his
bed roll and took his oilskin drovers coat and his rain slicker
out, handing them to Cal so the girls could cover themselves.
Tom stood over the four men on the ground.
"If any of you so much as wiggle your ass, I'll make another
shit hole next to the one you got," he growled.
Tom went to one of the cowboy's horses and took another rope. He
tied the end to one foot of the first man, then used a double
half-hitch on the man's other foot with about two feet of rope
between his feet. He used the same rope to loop half-hitches over
the three men that could walk, tying them together as a chain
gang. Tom took a ball of small rawhide lace from his saddle bag
and picked up his knife as he walked to the creeks edge. He
soaked the rawhide in the water and came back to where the men
were.
Cal was trying to find out what he could from the young girls.
They were still sobbing and crying out of control. Tom walked to
where the wounded man lay crying and as he bent double to hold
his leg just above the knee joint had been. He grabbed the man
and flipped his legs, making him roll over on his back. Tom
kicked his feet apart, making him scream as his right leg flopped
out to the side.
Tom made a small loop with the wet rawhide and slipped it over
the man's bloody balls, then pulled the loop tight, drawing his
nut sack as tight as a tobacco pouch. He stripped off about two
feet of the rawhide and cut it, leaving the loose end lying on
the man's leg. He took another length of rawhide and looped it
twice around the wounded knee and tied it tight, slowing the
blood draining from the wound.
"Cal lead one of the horses over here and let's get this sorry
piece of shit in the saddle."
Cal and Tom grabbed the man and jerked him upright as he screamed
in pain. They heaved him across the saddle with his right leg
flopping on the off side. Tom grabbed the end of rawhide lace and
wrapped it around the saddle horn then jerked the slack out,
making the man forget about his knee as he felt his balls pulled
toward the saddle horn.
The man scooted forward to get some relief and Tom jerked the
slack again and tied it tight. The man was sitting forward as far
as he could in the saddle, and still couldn't get the rawhide to
let up any.
"You just sit there real still like cow man, while we get your
big brave friends taken care of," Tom told him.
Cal just stood and stared at the way Tom had tied the man to the
saddle, he knew that as bad as the man's leg was hurting, when
the horse started walking, his balls were gonna hurt more.
Tom looked to where the two girls were still huddled together and
crying, their sobs were not as bad now and he walked over to
them.
"You girls walk up stream a ways and wash yourself up the best
you can and we'll get you home."
The young girls looked up at him and without a word got up and
walked around the fallen tree top and out to the creek. Tom and
Cal made the other three men stand up. He tied a rope to the
saddle of one of their horses. He tied this rope to the one that
had them shackled together.
"Where are you men from and who do you work for?" Tom asked.
None of the men spoke and Tom took a small limb from the ground
and whacked it across the last man's ass that stood in line tied
to the others. He jumped and glared at Tom but said nothing. Tom
walked to the first man in line and whacked the small limb across
his privates as hard as he could. The man doubled over and
screamed.
"We can go on like this until one of you talk, or I can get tired
and hit that horse across the rump and watch as the three of you
get dragged a ways by the feet."
Still none of the men spoke.
"Cal c'mere and put your Colt in this man's ear, if he so much as
flinches, kill'm," Tom said in a low voice.
Cal backed the hammer of his Colt and stuck the muzzle to the
man's ear hole.
Tom took the rawhide lace and went to the creek to wet it again.
He came back and made the first man spread his feet as wide apart
as the rope would allow. Tom knelt down in front of the man and
jerked his balls down hard and wrapped the rawhide around the top
of his ball sack tight. Then he cut the lace and tied it tight.
The man was screaming the whole time but was afraid to move with
the Colt in his ear. Tom walked to the second man and tied his
balls up like a drawstring sack also, then the third man got the
same treatment.
"Tom I ain't never seen a man get his balls tied up like that,
what's gonna happen when that rawhide dries?" Cal asked his
friend.
"I reckon they'll lose'em Cal, they'll just rot off in a few
days."
The three men all looked at Tom but still said nothing. When the
two young girls came back from the creek, they looked at the men
with disgust and anger. Tom and Cal walked the girls away from
the scene and tried to get the story from them. The girls were
still very emotional and could hardly tell of the way the men had
come upon them in the corn fields as they pulled the tall weeds
from the corn.
Though two years apart in age, the two sisters were both about
medium height. Their long hair down on their shoulders, bleached
nearly white from many days in the sun. They both had small teats
for their age and hardly any body hair. The girls told of hiding
when the men first rode by, then their dog ran out and started
barking at the horses. The men were laughing and chasing the dog
out in the tall corn when they saw the girls. They got other
ideas then of ways to have fun. The dog was shot when he bit the
first man that stepped to the ground. Then the others got off
their horses and told the girls to strip off their clothes.
When they refused the men ripped their clothes from them, the
girls broke free and ran through the corn naked with three of the
men chasing on foot and the fourth bringing up the horses. When
they ran to the end of the corn rows the men caught them and tied
them with their hands across the tree trunk and spread their feet
and tied them wide apart. That's when they started raping them,
laughing and slapping them as they had their way with the young
girls.
"What're your names and where do you live?" Cal asked.
"I am Elka and this is my younger sister Erika, we live across
the creek about a half a mile that way," she pointed.
"How old are you girls?" Tom asked.
"I am fifteen and Erika is thirteen."
"We'll take you home, then take these men to town and turn them
over to the sheriff," Tom told the sisters.
"Our Papa and brothers will kill these men for what they have
done to us," Elka said bitterly.
"I can't say that I'd blame them either, but we have to turn them
over to the law," Cal said.
"The law won't do anything, these men ride for the McDonnough
Ranch," Elka said as she looked again at the men.
"Who owns the McDonnough Ranch, do you know?" Cal asked.
"We don't know the owner, we have never been bothered by these
men before, but they all have MDR brands on their horses."
"When we get to Stockton we'll meet with the sheriff, then maybe
ride out to the McDonnough Ranch for a visit, first we'll get you
girls home so you can get something on besides those long coats.
You girls ride a horse don't you?"
"Yes Sir," they both answered.
"Then mount up on two of those horses over there and we'll get
this little cowboy show moving down the road," Tom said.
Tom and Cal gathered up the four mens guns and gun belts and hung
them over their saddle horns. Cal led the rider with the shot up
leg out first, followed by the three men on foot. The two young
girls and Tom were last to come out on the road east. Cal led the
procession through the low-water crossing and then lay the reins
back over the lead horse's neck. In a single line they all
started the slow moving journey to Stockton. Cal rode back to
where Tom and the two girls were.
"Tom how we gonna do this, you want me to keep on the trail and
you take the girls up to their house?"
"I reckon that's the best we can do Cal, we don't need these men
to be near the family of the girls. You won't make good time
anyway and I'll catch up to you shortly."
Tom followed the girls as they turned up a long dusty lane to
their homestead. He saw a woman standing on the porch watching as
they three riders came closer. When she recognized her daughters,
she ran out to meet them.
"Elka, Erika what has happened, why are you with this man. Where
are your clothes and why are you on these horses?"
The woman knew there were no good answers to any of her
questions. She was feeling sick to her stomach as she watched her
daughters dismount, the long coats revealing their naked bodies.
Elka and Erika both ran sobbing to their mother as Tom walked
around the horses and stood looking at them.
"Ma'am I'm Tom Cooper, my friend and I came upon four men raping
your daughters back there a ways. We have them tied up and are
walking them over to the sheriff in Stockton. I'll see to it
personally that the men pay for what they've done."
"Mister, I thank you for bringing my girls home and for catching
the men that did this. When my husband and sons find out about
this, I am sure they will come looking for the men."
"Yes Ma'am and I hope they'll come to me first, if they try to
take this in their own hands, they'll only make things worse. Try
to reason as best you can with them. You got my word that these
men will pay. Even as we speak they are paying."
The woman led the girls into the house and returned shortly with
Tom's two long coats. Tom turned his horse, caught the reins of
the other two horses and set off to catch up with Cal and the
four rapists. Cal heard Tom's big horse coming hard and turned
just as he rode up beside him.
"How'd it go back there Tom? I know that family must be messed up
bad over what happened."
"Well the men folk weren't home but the woman told me that they
would come looking for this bunch of scum as soon as they heard
about it."
"We need to be in Stockton then when they catch up to us, I don't
know that I could defend these men against the two girls family."
"I know Cal, and I hope the sheriff is agreeable to holdin' these
ya-hoo's for trial too."
They came over a small rise in the dusty narrow road and saw the
town up ahead in the distance. Tom and Cal rode to the front and
looked at the wounded rider. He was in a bad way with the loss of
blood and his balls were already black from being tied off tight.
His head was down and his hands still tied tight behind his back.
The other three men had finally gotten their slow shuffling steps
together and were moving in unison as they slowly walked behind
the horse they were tied to. All of them walked with their heads
down not looking ahead or talking, their hands still tied behind
them. The rawhide strips were cutting into their wrists as well
as choking off the blood to their balls. Tom and Cal rode into
the small town of Stockton, Kansas with their prisoners slowly
shuffling behind them, a few people were watching from the stores
as they made their way to the sheriffs office. The word spread
quickly about the men coming into town naked from the waist down,
tied like prison inmates and shuffling along in single file.
Someone ran in to get the sheriff when they saw the two men with
badges bringing the prisoners in. Sheriff William `Red' Neely
came out to see what all the commotion was about and looked the
six men over with eyes and mouth wide open. He had never seen
anything like this in all his time as a lawman.
Tom rode up in front of the sheriff and slid from the saddle.
"Sheriff, I'm Tom Cooper and this is Cal Randal. We were hired
by the cattlemen's association and deputized in Ellis County as
well as Graham County to try and help with some of the trouble
between the farmers and the cattlemen."
"Tom, I got the telegraph message from Sheriff Wade about you and
Cal, what in the world is all this here about?" He asked as he
nodded to the four men.
"Sheriff, Cal and I came up on these four men raping two young
girls a ways back on the trail. We took the girls home and
brought these sorry ya-hoo's here to lock them up. We got one
that is gonna need a doctor I reckon, he tried to pull a gun
while we had the drop on them."
Sheriff Neely turned to a deputy and told him to lead the horse
with wounded rider down to the Doc's office.
"Tom you and Cal get these sorry ass, naked sonsabitches off the
street and in the jail."
Cal slipped the rope off the saddle horn as Tom loosened the
half-hitches on the mens ankles. They led them into the jail and
put all of them in one cell together.
"Tom what in the hell is wrong with these men, they're walking
all humped over and bowlegged," Sheriff Neely asked him.
"Well Sheriff, I felt like they needed to start payin' for what
they had done and I tied rawhide around their balls and made them
walk all the way here."
Sheriff Neely looked from to Cal, then shook his head.
"You fellers are sure different from any deputies I ever had
before, that must be something from you bein part injun, right?"
"Well I reckon it may be, but it's still not all I wanted to do.
If I wasn't deputized to uphold the law, you would never have
seen them Sheriff," Tom told him.
"I can believe that, and I reckon we need to get you sworn in
too. I think I'm gonna be proud to have you two ridin' the county
for me, from what I've seen already."
Sheriff Red Neely swore Cal and Tom as deputies of Rooks County,
Kansas and handed them a paper verifying the fact.
Tom and Cal told the story about how they had seen a sign of a
scuffle and a dead dog in the edge of a cornfield then followed
the signs to the scene of the rape. They told of how the men had
tied the young girls to a tree and raped them. The sheriff became
madder and madder as they told of the events. Sheriff Red Neely
had two young girls of his own.
"Sheriff, we were told that these riders worked for the
McDonnough Ranch, are you familiar with that name?" Tom asked.
"Well, now that explains a lot right there, Will McDonnough has
the idea he owns most of the county.
"The governor has declared the homesteaders have legal rights
under state and federal law to settle on the land. I think we may
have a bit of trouble with him when he finds out his men are in
jail."
"I don't reckon I can see how any man could defend hired hands
that's done something like this to two innocent girls," Cal said.
The sheriff's deputy that took the wounded prisoner to the Doc's
office came back in and told the sheriff that the Doc wasn't sure
the man would make it, he'd lost a lot of blood.
"Doc said tell you too that the rawhide strips had cut into the
man's nut sack and he had to cut the swollen sack away to remove
the rawhide. He said the man was gonna lose his nuts no matter
what he did. When I was leavin' he was fixin to cut the man's leg
off at the knee, said the bullet tore it up to bad to save."
Tom and Cal looked up at the sheriff as he looked at the two of
them and smiled.
"I reckon we need to get the Doc to come look at these other
three then, after awhile when he gets through with that one."
"Sheriff where can we take our horses to get them stabled, we
need to put the other four up too," Tom said.
"Down at the black smith's shop, he has stables there, he'll take
good care of them for you.
"When you get back we'll get you two settled in for the night, I
reckon McDonnough and his crew will be in town early tomorrow to
see about his men."
"You figure they might try to take these men outta jail Sheriff?"
Cal asked.
"No he's not that big a fool, but he'll be here raising nine
kinds of hell and his riders will be madder'n a nest of hornets
too. You ever heard of Mac Willamacher?"
"Yep, we had a little run in with him a few days ago, seems he is
mighty bossy and a little bit big on himself," Tom said.
"Well he not only rides for the cattlemen, he rides for the
McDonnough brand too and I heard he was a cousin."
"We heard that too, I reckon that answers a lot of questions for
us, we wondered who was calling the shots here. Looks like Cal
and me will get the second chance to face off with Willamacher."
"Tom, he didn't come by the nickname of `Widowmaker' by chance,
he's killed a lot of men I hear tell. Folks here abouts steer
clear of him and his pals. He's a mean one and it's been said
that he'd just as soon shoot a man in the back as he would face
him."
"Sheriff Neely, the man has done threatened Tom over in Ellis
County on Mr. Gale Fortenberry's land, with two men backing him.
Tom told him to either shut up or draw down. The man turned and
rode off, but we both knew that he'd come up in front of us
again, I reckon it was meant to be," Cal said shaking his head.
Tom and Cal got their horses settled in as well as the McDonnough
horses and made arrangements to sleep in the stable. They walked
back to the sheriff's office just as three riders rode up the
dirt street in a cloud of dust and pulled up there too.
Tom knew this must be the father and brothers of the two young
girls. They were not cow men. These were farmers and they carried
no guns. Tom and Cal walked through the door as the heavy set man
was talking to the sheriff.
"Red, we came to take care of some business, if that's three of
the four men that raped and disgraced my girls, me `n my boys
will take them off yer hands."
"Wes you and yer boys just settle back a bit and think of what
yer saying, we ain't gonna do it this way, they'll pay for what's
been done you got my word on that," Sheriff Neely told them.
"Red you`n me have always got along good together, and I reckon
you know this won't be a easy thing for me`n my family to take. I
want to be the one to throw the ropes when these men hang."
"Wes, I want you`n yer boys to meet Tom Cooper and Cal Randal,
they're the ones that came upon this bunch out there with your
girls. I reckon we all owe them a bit of thanks for putting a
stop to it the way they did. I want you to know too that the one
down at Doc's now may not make it through the night."
Tom and Cal shook hands with all the men and took their thanks
for saving the girls from God knows what else.
Wes Crawford and his two boys were all heavy set with broad
shoulders and weather beaten faces. Their hands were as rough as
tree bark from working on the farm. Now their faces were drawn
down tight into frowns of hate and revenge against these men that
had ravaged the young girls of the family.
Wes Crawford turned to Cal and Tom and asked them to tell exactly
what they had come upon out there.
"We want to know what you saw."
Tom and Cal told the men just what they'd seen, they didn't cover
up or lie about the way the men had treated the girls. They both
told it the way it was. The three men stood there saying nothing
as they listened with tears in their eyes as they heard the story
of their young sisters and daughters being ravaged and raped by
these men.
"Red, I reckon we'll be headin on back to the farm, we'll be
keeping in touch. Let me know when and where they'll stand trial.
We're gonna stop in at the Doc's on our way outta town."
Wes Crawford turned to Tom and Cal, shook their hands once more
as did his boys, then walked out.
"That has to be as hard as a young'un getting killed, to go
through what that man and his family is goin through," Sheriff
Neely said.
"Sheriff, you got a circuit judge that comes through here or you
got a county judge that sits in?" Tom asked.
"We'll have to send word for the circuit judge and see what all
he's got up in front of him before we can get a trial date. I'll
try my best to get it as quick as we can."
Wesley Crawford and his boys stopped in at the Doc's office just
as they said. Wes Crawford told the Doc that the other three down
at the jail seemed to be in fair shape and it looked to him like
they didn't need much medical attention right away. The three
Crawford men looked at the man laying on the table in the back
room, he was passed out from loss of blood the Doc told them. His
balls were already black from being tied off like that Injun tied
them. He told Wes that it wasn't likely the man would have nuts
even if he did get over his leg wound.
As the Crawford men rode out of town they knew there had to be
some amount of satisfaction in the fact that the Injun had
already made the four men start to pay in a way that folks'd
remember for years to come here in these parts. Tom and Cal went
down to the barber shop and got a hot bath before finding some
cooked food. Their bellies full, bathed and wearing clean
clothes, the two friends slept well that night in the stable.
The next morning at daylight Tom and Cal met Red Neely at his
office then walked down to the boarding house to get some
breakfast. The three ate their fill of fried ham, eggs and
biscuits before they walked back over to the sheriff's office. As
they neared the office, six riders came thundering into town and
up to the hitching rail in front of the sheriff's office.
"Well, here's Will McDonnough, Mac Willamacher and four of the
MDR riders come to see what's happened to their world," Red Neely
said.
Will McDonnough was a tall skinny man with a pock marked face,
long hooked nose and brushy eyebrows, his lips were pale and
cracked they were so dry. He wore a big black hat pulled low over
his eyes. Tom also noticed a shiny Colt on his hip. Mac
Willamacher was feeling even bigger today than he was the first
time they met and bounded to the ground as the horses stopped
short at the hitchin rail.
He walked right up to Tom as spat tobacco juice on his moccasins
then yelled at him.
"You God Damned Injun I done told you once that you would mess
up if you crossed me."
That was far as he got in his tirade, Tom hit him low in the gut
with his right fist and then caught him with a hard left on his
jaw that spun him backwards into the dirt street where he lay
face down, blowing dust up as he coughed to get his lungs to
pumping air again.
Tom looked at the six men.
"If you came here to get killed just keep coming, you'll get
what you came for, that goes for every last one of you. If you
came here to see about the charges against your men then get off
them horses and come inside and settle yourselves down some
before I kill every damn one of you."
"You," Tom turned to Willamacher.
"Stay out here and get your mind at ease, you're gonna die if
you keep this up."
Willamacher had one arm across his stomach just under his rib
cage and the other hand holding his jaw to see if it was broken.
He never said a word, he just stared at Tom as he shook off the
hands of his friends that had helped him to his feet.
Will McDonnough told all his men to wait outside and he would
meet with the sheriff.
"Sheriff, I'd like for you to leave these two deputies outside as
well."
"You ain't got a damned thing to say about who goes in that
office McDonnough," Tom told him with a growl and walked in right
behind the man so close he bumped into him.
Sheriff Red Neely had walked in first and Cal stood leaning back
against the door frame blocking the doorway with his hand on his
Colt. The four MDR riders were red faced and mad, but they knew
better than to make a play now, they'd wait until they could get
the odds more in their favor.
The Doc had been over to the jail early this morning and had cut
through the swollen red flesh of the three mens scrotum's and
removed the rawhide. Their nut sacks were all black and puffy,
they were dead as far as the Doc was concerned and just a matter
of time until they fell off. The men were still doubled over on
their bunks and trying to get some relief.
"Red, you have no right to hold my men this way, I want to post
bail and get them medical help until their trial comes up," Will
McDonnough demanded.
"Will, the judge will have to decide if there'll even be bail,
these three were caught with that other piece of shit you call a
hired hand, raping the two young daughters of Wes Crawford. They
were caught in the act by these two deputies, who also just
happen to be range riders of the cattlemens association. Now you
and your men are welcome to bring these men food and you can go
check on your other man. I hear he's in worse shape then these
three, he went for his gun after he was told not to."
McDonnough had never been told no in his life. Now this half
breed and this tall skinny kid comes here to mess up what he had
worked hard for.
"Red seems like to me you got the word of these two, and one is
just a lousy God Damned Injun bastard that wears a badge, against
four of my men."
Tom stepped forward and slapped the man on one side of his face
then slapped him back the other way before he could even move.
"Mister I don't know you and you don't know me. If you want to
walk out of here you best shut your face and listen. If you want
to be carried out of here a piece at a time, just keep up with
your mouthin," Tom leaned in real close.
"Do you hear me plain? Or do you need me to explain it some
more?"
Will McDonnough backed up wide eyed, no man had ever talked to
him that way, let alone slapped his face. He knew he had to get
back and think this out. Without another word to the sheriff or
Tom he stormed out, right past Cal as he moved aside to let him
through the door. Outside he yelled at his men.
"Get your sorry asses in the saddle and let's ride, you sure was
a lot of God Damned help this morning."
"Tom, you're gonna have to kill two or three, if not all of them
before it's over, they won't let this lay down until they've come
back to waylay you," Sheriff Neely told him.
"Sheriff, that was the first time in my life I was mad enough to
slap a man. I wanted him to draw down on me right here, and I
don't like some one that makes me feel this way. If they come
back and want more, then they'll just have to die for a wrong
cause. After what these men did to those girls out there, and the
way this man comes ridin in here like he owns this whole country,
I just ain't got much use for them."
"Tom I ain't never seen you this mad and we been in some pretty
good scrapes since I met you," Cal told his friend.
"You're right Cal, and Sheriff I'm sorry that I let these men
make me lose my temper like that. I coulda killed them every last
one of them with no thought of it at all, for what they did to
those young girls."
"Like I said, they'll be back and they'll stack the deck the next
time, be ready."