Sagebrush

  Frustrated, Jose yelled at his men, “Lock them in that room until we can look in that wagon and check his saddlebags! I need time to think this out!”

  Juanita was standing beside the table where the man had put Sage’s knife. Sage caught Juanita’s eye and indicated that he wanted her to look behind her. When she looked, she saw his knife and realized what he wanted. With her back to the table, she picked up the knife and concealed it in the folds of her dress. Then she went with Sage as they were escorted into the adjoining room.

  As soon as the guard left, Juanita gave the knife to Sage who instantly hid it on top of one of the rafters out of sight to anyone who might be looking for it but within his reach when the time came for him to use it. Then he turned to Juanita and took her in his arms.

  Tears of relief ran down her cheeks. She clung to him and cried, “Oh, thank God you’re here. I didn’t expect you for another month or more. What are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to play for time until Joe can get here with his vaqueros. My drivers went to get him. He’ll be here in about three hours. We’ve got to stall your uncle until then. Joe will let me know when he gets here. Then I’ll use this knife to get my guns back. If I had my guns, we could hold out in this room until Joe’s men can get here.”

  “Is the money in the wagon?” Juanita asked.

  “The money is in the wagon, all right, but they won’t find it. It’s stored in the false bottom, remember?”

  “Yes, I do remember.”

  “Only Carlos and the two carpenters who built it know that the wagon has a false bottom. Even the drivers don’t know where the money is.”

  “Carlos is wounded, and his youngest son has been killed,” Juanita explained. “That’s how they took me captive. They were threatening to kill more of our people if I didn’t turn the ranch over to my uncle. He knows that the people of Santa Fe wouldn’t let him just take the ranch, but if he could show them that he had bought it, they wouldn’t try to stop him. He wanted me to sign the ranch over to him as though he had bought it, and I wouldn’t do that. If he killed me, he couldn’t get my signature. He doesn’t know that you now own half of the ranch. He’s willing to take the money you got for the bullion and go back to Mexico, but if he doesn’t get the money, he’s going to be furious and no telling what he might do.”

  “We gave him money, and gave him a chance to go to Mexico and start a new life. Now he has come back wanting more. I don’t think we should give him anything. He won’t stop with wounding Carlos and killing his son. He won’t quit until you are dead. We’re going to stall him until Joe gets here with his men, then we’ll have a chance to get this situation under control again. You look tired. Why don’t you lie down and get some rest? You’re going to need all your strength. I’ll watch over you until Joe gets here. We have a fight on our hands.

  “I’ll put my hat on this windowsill where Joe will see it, and he’ll know where we are. I’m hoping he’ll let us know when he gets here, and then we can give him a helping hand.”

  * * *

  When the mule drivers saw Sage being taken with a gun at his back, they went into action. One of the Mexicans went with the Irish men to tell Joe what had happened. The other Mexican went to get to Carlos.

  Joe quickly figured out that Alvarez had returned and was trying to take over the ranch. Alvarez was a dangerous man and had to be stopped. Joe noticed that the three drivers were armed with two revolvers each, and he asked if Sage had trained them to use the guns. They answered yes and were quite competent with them. That gave them four sets of revolvers and they each had a rifle. That made a formidable fighting force. Joe armed ten more of his vaqueros with rifles. That gave him fourteen fighting men against what he figured would be an opposing force of approximately twenty men. Joe was counting on the element of surprise, and that would have to be enough. He knew that the other driver had gone to Carlos, and his vaqueros would help in overcoming these villains.

  When the driver got to Carlos’s home, he found that Carlos had been wounded and one of his sons had been killed. The others were eager to help in any way they could. Carlos’s oldest son, Ramon, took the lead, armed as many of the vaqueros as he could, and led them to the hacienda. They got there just as Joe and his men were arriving.

  Joe had no idea where Sage and Juanita were, and the light was fading fast. He walked around the house, staying out of gun range, looking for some indication of where Sage and Juanita were being held. When he saw Sage’s hat in the window, he knew that was a signal from Sage. He waited for darkness to give him cover, then carefully worked his way to the window and gave a low night-bird call.

  Sage came to the window and called out in a quiet voice, “We’re all right. I’m unarmed, but I think I can get my guns. If I can, I’ll hold them off until you can get Alvarez out of the house.”

  “We’ll be attacking before daylight,” Joe said. “Just hang on. Don’t try to come out. We’ll shoot anybody who tries to escape. Keep that bedroom door locked and barred.”

  When Joe got back to his men, he found Ramon and his vaqueros waiting for instructions.

  Joe told them, “Stand guard over every exit and don’t let anyone escape.”

  “I hope Alvarez tries to escape,” Ramon said. “I have a score to settle with him. He killed my brother and wounded my father. There’s no way he’s going to leave that house alive if I have anything to say about it. He has been a source of misery for me and my family for more than seven years. He had his chance to live, and he threw it away when he came back here. Now he’s going to pay the price.”

  Sage called out to the guard in the other room and asked him to open the door to let Juanita go to the bathroom. When the guard came to unlock the door, Sage noticed that the guard was wearing his guns. He grabbed him from behind, dragged him into the room, and knocked him unconscious. He then retrieved his guns and put them on. Now he was armed and ready for whatever might happen. Sage called out through the window.

  “Joe,” he said, “I’ve got my guns. I can hold out however long it might take.”

  Joe yelled to Alvarez’s men. “The house is surrounded! Give up and come out with your hands over your heads. You will then be allowed to return to Mexico City unharmed. But if you don’t give up, you will be shot!”

  Joe’s intention was to cause the men to rise up against Alvarez. Alvarez saw what Joe was trying to do, and decided to go after Sage and Juanita, to use as hostages to force Joe to release him and his men.

  “Men!” Alvarez barked. “Get those two out of that room!”

  The men hesitated knowing Sage had two revolvers and plenty of ammunition.

  Alvarez yelled, “Pick up that table and smash the door!”

  When Sage heard all of this going on in the adjoining room, he went to the window and called out to Joe’s men outside, “Someone, come to this window . . . . I need to talk to you.”

  “Yeah, what do you want?” someone answered.

  “I want to get Juanita out of here. This is going to get downright sticky in here in about a minute. I’m sending her out this window, and I don’t want you to shoot her as she comes out. I want you to take her somewhere out of gunshot range.”

  “Send her out,” Joe called out. “In fact, why don’t you both come on out while we keep them busy?”

  “The window is too small for me. It will also be difficult for Juanita to crawl through, but I’ll help from here.”

  Alvarez’s men were about to get through the door, so Sage had to direct his attention to defending the room. He fired a couple of shots through the shattered door. That stopped them long enough for Juanita to escape, but it didn’t leave Sage enough time to try to get his much larger frame through the small window. Sage placed his back against the wall of the room. The door was located where the men in the other room couldn’t see him with his back to the wall. They knew that for them to come through that door was an invitation to be shot, and no one wanted to be killed.

  Even
though the door was shattered, they were in a standoff. Sage knew it was only a matter of time before Alvarez forced his men to risk their lives to get into the room.

  Sage called, “Joe, knock a hole in the outside of this end wall while I hold them off!”

  Two of Alvarez’s men stuck their heads through the door. Sage fired through the door, and they fell in the doorway. While the other attackers were getting out of range, Sage grabbed the weapons from the bodies of the two he had shot, and he left them lying in the doorway as a reminder to the rest of the men of the price they would pay for trying to come through that door.

  Joe’s men were trying to knock a hole in the end wall. It was about two feet thick and difficult to break through. At the same time, Sage could hear Alvarez’s men in the other room trying to knock a hole through the inside wall between the two rooms. It was a race to see who would get through first.

  Alvarez knew he had to have a hostage if he were going to have a chance to get out of the house alive. He was becoming desperate. Someone stuck his hand through the door to fire at Sage. Sage used his ax to knock the gun out of his hand. The attacker screamed; he wouldn’t be using that hand for a while. Sage was slowly but surely cutting the attacking party down to size. Each time he eliminated one, he made the others a little more reluctant to try. Alvarez was urging his men to intensify the attack. Sage could see the wall beginning to break. When they got the hole through the wall, they would have two openings through which to mount an attack, and it would be difficult to hold out very long. Joe’s men were cutting away at the outside wall, but it was much thicker, and it was going to take more time.

  Sage stood between the smashed door and the hole in the wall. He fired a couple of shots through the small hole and heard someone yell. He had scored a hit. He had to slow them down until Joe’s men could break through.

  “Sage,” Joe called out, “I can see the door between the two rooms by looking through this window, and whoever tries to come through that door is going to get one hell of a surprise.”

  Now, Sage had only the opening in the wall to defend. He heard a shot fired through the window and then heard a moan in the other room. He knew, with the skill of the gunfighter firing the shots, there was one less attacker trying to knock a hole in the wall.

  Alvarez’s men were beginning to see that they were not going to win this race, and they were becoming more afraid of Joe’s men than they were of Alvarez. It was only a matter of time until they turned on Alvarez. That’s what Joe wanted.

  Alvarez realized that he was losing and decided to make a break for it. He ran through the front door intent on escaping. He made it to a horse, mounted, and quickly rode away. It all happened so fast that he caught Joe’s men by surprise. Ramon saw what was happening and was instantly on a horse in hot pursuit. Alvarez disappeared into the night with Ramon right behind him. Ramon was determined to settle the score with Alvarez.

  With Alvarez gone, the attackers called out, “We’re ready to give up. We’re coming out empty-handed. Don’t shoot!”

  “All right, men,” Joe yelled, “take their guns and tie them up. We’ll turn them over to the authorities in Santa Fe.”

  Sage came out right behind Alvarez’s men making sure none of them had concealed weapons. When he got outside, he called out, “Joe, I’m going after Alvarez. I want to make sure he doesn’t get away, and I also want to make sure Ramon doesn’t get hurt by that madman.”

  “I’m going with you,” Joe shouted. “I want to make sure we don’t have any more trouble with that scoundrel. I still owe him one for shooting at Bonnie.”

  Sage and Joe rode into the night, following Alvarez and Ramon. After a short ride, they found where Alvarez’s horse had stumbled, and he had been thrown. Ramon’s horse was standing nearby unattended. They knew Ramon had gone after Alvarez on foot and was stalking him like a hunter after a vicious animal. Ramon had grown up under the thumb of this cruel man, and he wanted to settle their differences in his own way. Neither Joe nor Sage wanted to interfere. This was something personal to Ramon; however, they realized that Ramon was outmatched. Alvarez had trained to fight in whatever manner it took to win—dirty and sneaky tactics were his specialties.

  Sage and Joe dismounted, tied the reins of their horses to some bushes, and moved cautiously into the brush looking for Ramon and Alvarez. Sage was once again in his element. Hunting a vicious animal in the night was not new to him. He was sure Alvarez would be waiting for Ramon to show himself. Sage moved through the boulders, silent as a shadow. He made no sound and moved no branches. His senses told him he was getting close. He saw Alvarez about twenty paces away, hiding in wait, behind a boulder. Sage saw Ramon moving forward about fifty paces from Alvarez. Alvarez was aware that Ramon was approaching and was just waiting until he could get a good shot.

  Sage knew that he must make Ramon aware that Alvarez was waiting in ambush. Ramon would be killed if he kept going in the direction he was now going. Sage threw a rock into the brush near Alvarez. The rock startled Alvarez, and he fired in Ramon’s direction, but because he was startled and fired in haste, he missed. Now Ramon knew where Alvarez was waiting, and that gave him an even chance.

  Each was now stalking the other. Sage watched and waited to see how it would play out. Soon they clashed hand-to-hand. Alvarez was larger and stronger, but Ramon was quicker and armed with anger. The fight lasted only seconds. Ramon stepped back. He had a knife cut on his arm, but Alvarez would never cause anyone trouble again. Sage moved away into the night, not allowing Ramon to know that he had witnessed the struggle. Sage saw Joe hiding behind him. Joe, too, had seen the fight. Neither man spoke, but each knew what the other was thinking. They went to their horses and rode back in silence. Now that the fight was over, Sage wanted to see Juanita.

  She was the first to see them coming, and she ran to make sure Sage was all right. He told her that he was unharmed and stepped down from his horse to take her in his arms. She was outwardly calm, but he could feel her trembling. He realized what an ordeal she had been through and how much she meant to him.

  “Did you find Ramon and my uncle?” Juanita asked.

  “No,” Sage lied. “Your uncle had disappeared into the night.” That was the truth. It was not the complete truth, but Sage felt it was all Juanita needed to know for now.

  Joe heard what Sage said, and nodded his head. “Yeah, he’s gone for sure this time.”

  “Do you think he’ll ever come back?” she asked.

  “No, he’ll leave us alone from now on.” Sage replied.

  Joe said, “I’ll go with the vaqueros and turn Alvarez’s men over to the Mexican army. They’ll know what to do with them. I just want to wash my hands of this whole mess.”

  “Thanks, Joe,” Sage said gratefully, shaking his hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and I’ll tell you about our times on the trail. I want to know how things are going at the ranch. I want to see Bonnie and her folks. We have a lot of catching up to do, but I’ll spend the night here. Juanita and I have a lot of catching up to do, also, and it can’t wait until tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” Joe replied. “I’ll see you at our place. Anytime tomorrow will be just fine. I can see that you have more important things to do right now.”

  Joe and his men tied the prisoners securely, loaded them into an empty wagon and hauled them to Santa Fe. Joe sent one of his men back to his place to let Bonnie and her folks know that everything was all right, and he would be home in a few hours.

  While Joe and Sage were talking to Juanita, Ramon rode up. Sage went to him and explained, “We told Juanita that her uncle had gotten away in the night. That’s what happened, isn’t it?”

  “Si, Señor, he got away permanently this time. I don’t think we’ll hear from him again.” Ramon now realized that Sage knew what had happened, and why Alvarez fired that wild shot at him in the dark. A very understanding man had probably saved his life tonight.

  Ramon was thinking, This is the kind of man that should be
running this ranch. We’re lucky to have him as our manager.

  “Ramon,” Sage said, “thank you for your help. Take your men home and get some sleep. I’ll be at your place tomorrow to see how Carlos is doing. I’m sorry about your brother.”

  “Thank you, Señor, hasta mañana.”

  Sage turned to Juanita and said, “Now, maybe there’s some time for us. Do you think the ladies could fix us something to eat? I’m hungry.”

  “They’ll be pleased to fix us something,” Juanita replied. “I’ll have to call them. They’ve been hiding in the homes of some of their friends while all this trouble was going on. I’m hungry, too, and I sure want to hear about your journey.”

  “I need a bath and a change of clothes. I’ve got to take care of my horse, and I want to check on the wagon to make sure Alvarez’s men didn’t damage the things I brought back from St. Louis.”

  Juanita replied, “I’ll have the women get your room and bath ready. There’s so much I want to show you and tell you, about what we’ve been doing while you were gone.”

  “I want to hear all about it. We’ll talk while we have dinner, and tomorrow morning you can show me around the ranch.”

  When Sage returned from taking care of his horse, both his room and bath were ready, and the ladies were cooking. Juanita was in her quarters getting dressed for dinner.

  After his bath, Sage went to the big room to wait for Juanita. The room was still a mess from the struggle they just had with Alvarez. The staff would clean it tomorrow.

  When Juanita came into the room, she was beautiful. No one could tell by looking at her that she had gone through two days of being held hostage. She had to be exhausted, but it didn’t show. She was regal as always.

  Hand in hand they went into the dining room. The ladies had prepared a wonderful meal in a short time. Sage and Juanita sat down to a candlelit table with fine food and wine. He told her the story of his journey and about trading the silver for gold coins. He then told her that he had set his mind at ease with the problem he had gone back to deal with, and now he was ready to get on with his life.

  Juanita’s face beamed. This was the part of the story she was most interested in. Sage wanted to ask her to marry him, but he felt the timing was wrong. He thought it would be better to wait for a happy time, when they were both rested and feeling good.