The sky was just tingeing with streaks of gray. Dawn was only minutes away. Faint rays of light were just beginning to edge over the eastern horizon, miles to the rear of where Sheriff Harvey Trask, Peso Martin, and a dozen of Simon Price’s gun hands crouched behind scattered boulders along the ridge, looking down on the trail below.
Off beyond the trail, stood the landmark known as Three Rocks. This was a formation of rock that stretched fifty feet into the air and had a base of about a hundred feet. It was a strange formation and how it appeared as a single solitary structure was a mystery. In reality it was only one huge piece of granite but it had three separate spires rounded at the top and gave the illusion of three separate rocks.
There was scrub brush surrounding the base of the formation and a horse has been picketed there; reins affixed to an outcropped branch.
The horse had been placed there as instructed. Saddle bags had been tied down behind the cantle of the saddle. The bags were fat with the twenty thousand that Frankie the Kid had asked for..
The night before, Simon Price had returned to town and had taken the money from the bank’s funds. This would make the bank short a total of forty thousand dollars if he couldn’t claim that the Wildcat gang had gotten away with twenty. That shortage, he made up for with the army payroll money that he would claim stolen from the stage, later that day. He had readied an empty strong box to be loaded on the stage and made sure that the lock would not be strong enough to withstand the accident that was to befall the stage. If it was ever found, it would be assumed that outlaws; hopefully the Wildcats, would be blamed for it. Everything was going to work out fine. The bank examiner would be satisfied, and hopefully he, Price, would retrieve the ransom money and wind up twenty thousand ahead. Yes. Simon Price was a smart man.
Minutes drifted by as the posse patiently waited. The sky was growing lighter to several shades of grey and finally light streaks of red began to appear.
Sheriff Trask pulled back from the boulder he had been pressing against and gazed at the horizon behind him. Shards of sunlight were stretching skyward and a slice of golden globe was beginning to crown skyward
“Just about dawn,” Trask said to Peso who was crouched on the other side of the rock to his left. “Get ready.”
“I’ve been ready,” Peso answered testily. “And so have my men. They’re still smarting from that dusting, the Carlins gave them last night.”
“I hope they do better today, than that.”
“Of course they will,” Peso retorted with irritation. “These are punks we’re dealing with. Before this day is over they’ll all be dead and we’ll have Price’s precious money back.”
“You’re forgetting Jeremy Carlin’s with them. He might not be so easy.”
“Jeremy Carlin is just a boy,” Peso said. “He’ll be easy to take care of too.”
“What about Kitty and Cyclone?”
“What about them? They don’t know where he is and they don’t know what’s going down here today.”
“Yes, but what happens when Jeremy turns up dead? They’re going to come after us all for revenge.”
“Let them,” Peso said. “Then we can kill them all and get them out of our hair for good.”
“I hope so,” Trask said grimly. “I sure hope so. And, I sure wish I knew where they were now.”
From the top of a high butte almost a quarter of a mile away, Kitty Carlin, The Cyclone Kid, Arapahoe Brown, and Chief Henry Two Owls crouched behind the cover of low scrub brush. From this vantage point and with the aid of binoculars, they could see the waiting posse in the rocks and the staked pony near Three Rocks. It was obvious that the posse was waiting for the ransom transaction to take place with hopes of being led to Jeremy, Frankie the Kid and his companions. Kitty knew that Price had probably given orders that the posse was to try to get his money back and to kill her brother and the others for good measure.
After their skirmish the night before, the Wildcats had found a safe haven of retreat and had stopped so Kitty could explain what had happened in Simon Price’s house and what she had learned.
They still had no idea where Jeremy would be hiding out, but they knew that he would be on hand when the ransom was accomplished at dawn, so they rode up into the hills and found a vantage point on this butte. They settled down, rested and waited for dawn. Rap had complained that they never got to town to get his horse, but no one had paid attention to his grumblings.
It was still dark, now in the early morning, but the sky was becoming lighter when they saw the posse arrive earlier and find hiding places in the rocks above the trail. One of the posse men had led a horse out to the rock formation, tethered it and then rode off to join the others in their hidden perches.
Minutes passed by and the morning sun soon was half crested against the eastern horizon. Rays of golden light crept into the valley and soon Three Rocks and the waiting horse were captured in their glow.
Trask, Martin and the others hunkered low in their hiding places; everyone keeping to silence save for the faint sound of their breathing .A minute or two passed by and then as if a clock striking the hour on time, a moving figure appeared on the trail beneath the butte far down the valley. At such a far distance, the posse could only see the rider as a small speck. Kitty and her companions were close enough to recognize the rider on a sorrel horse.
Matt Starr jogged along the rough trail as if totally unaware that his presence was noticed by anyone. He knew however, that he was probably being watched. He was sure the sheriff and a posse were somewhere in the vicinity waiting for someone to come for the ransom money. He was sure there was a plan afoot to prevent the loss of the money and to apprehend or kill the offenders.
Matt and Andrew Wharton had been taken to the young outlaws’ camp the night before and held until morning. Frankie the Kid had found a reason for making use of his captives. The plan had been that one of the young outlaws would have the task of riding into the valley to retrieve the horse and ransom money. There was a chance that whichever one of them had that job, he might be putting his life in danger. Chances were, that the area was probably staked out with lawmen, who might be waiting in ambush. At the very least there might be an attempt to capture the rider and hold him as exchange for Sarah Price.
Having captives helped to solve this problem. They would send Matt Starr in to retrieve the horse and money. The posse wouldn’t be prone to shoot him nor would he be any good as a hostage for exchange.
Frankie had relieved Matt of his pistols; leaving his gun belt on him to draw attention to the empty holsters. In addition, they had pulled Matt’s hat from his head and let it fall behind his back suspended by the chin strap stretched tight around his neck. Once Matt was close enough to anyone watching, his identity should be clearly ascertained. His empty holsters would indicate that he was probably a prisoner and being utilized.
“That’s Matt Starr,” Kitty gasped when she saw him. “What’s he doing here? And why are his holsters empty?”
“Things don’t look good Kitty,” Cyclone said. “That just ain’t natural for that law puppy.”
“He’ll be riding right up to where that posse is waiting,” Kitty said “You think he’s in on the ransom deal?”
“Naw. Not Matt Starr,” Cyclone scoffed. “He’s too straight arrow.”
“Maybe he’s being forced into it,” Kitty said.
“I don’t think so, girl. He’d never let Jeremy hoodwink him. He knows the kid is too nice to hurt anybody.”
“But those other boys aren’t nice,” Kitty said.
“You’re right, there,” Cyclone said. “Them babies all need a good paddlin’.”
“What’ll we do?” Kitty asked.
“We just sit tight and watch a while. Let’s see what happens and what Matt’s gonna do about things. One thing for sure, he’s gonna know what he’s doing.”
“That’s Matt Starr,” Harvey Trask exclaimed, still keeping his voice to a whisper. The rider had just c
ome close enough in view to be identified. “What’s he messing into this for? I thought he had to be getting that gambler fella out of town today.”
Trask continued to ramble on. “He’s gonna make a mess out of everything coming into the middle of this, just when those boys are about come for the ransom.”
“You think he’s working with them?” Peso asked.
“No. Of course not, you nit wit,” Trask answered. “That’s the trouble with guys like you. Just because you can’t be trusted, you think no else can be trusted either. Matt Starr is too honest for his own good.”
Peso tried to dismiss the insult and said. “Then what’s he doing here?”
“Maybe he just thinks he’s coming to help us.”
“How would he know we were here?” Peso asked.
“How should I know? He probably just figured we’d be here and decided to come out to help.”
“Maybe, I oughtta just help him out of his saddle,” Peso said, lifting his rifle, bracing the barrel against the side of the rock and readying to take aim.
“Put that away, you fool,” Trask ordered. “Let’s just wait and see what he’s up to.”
Peso lowered the rifle and sighed. “Your call. You’re the one accountable to Price.”
Trask chewed on that for a moment. “Naw. Simon wouldn’t want us to do Starr in. At least, not this openly.” Then he smiled, “Could be he might get killed by those young punks, though. Yes. Simon would like that.”
“I want him,” Martin said.
“You can have him. Just make sure it looks good.”
“You can bet on that.” Peso was pleased, momentarily, but then he saw Matt Starr angling his horse toward the picketed horse. Then he said, “Hey. What‘s he doing now? Looks like he‘s going for the ransom money, himself. Maybe he is in with those kids.”
“I don‘t think so,” Trask said. “Look. No guns in his holsters. Somehow those punks got to him and are forcing him to pick up the ransom money for them.”
Across the trail, Matt Starr rode up to the tethered horse. Without looking right or left and giving no indication that he thought he was being watched and not bothering to dismount and untie the horse from the scrub branch, he merely leaned out of the saddle, grasped the waiting horse‘s reins and yanked them free from the bush.
With reins in hand, he quickly wheeled his sorrel, pulling the other horse behind him and took off at a gallop, returning to where he came from.
“Now if that doesn‘t beat all,” Trask cursed. “He’ll be out of sight before we can get down to the trail.” He jumped up from his hiding spot behind the boulder and started toward the picketed horses they had left hidden in the brush behind them. “C’mon, men!” he shouted. “Mount up! We’ve got to get after him.”
The other men jumped up from their hiding places and headed for the horses also.
“No shooting until I say so!” Trask ordered as the men mounted up. ”We’ve got to play this easy, so just follow my lead.” He headed off down the slope toward the trail. The others followed; bunched up. Peso thought to himself, “Sure. We’ll follow your lead and you’ll lead us straight to hell, unless I miss my guess.”
“Beats me what he’s up to,” Cyclone said as they watched Matt Starr returning with the ransom money horse. He was already fast approaching the butte.
“”I don’t know, either,” Kitty said. “But, look! The posse’s coming after him.”
“And he’ll lead them right to Jeremy and the others,” Rap added.
“Not if we can help it,” Kitty said. “Come on! Let’s go! We got to get down there and head the posse off.”
They mounted up and started down the back of the butte by way of the deer trail they had followed when they first arrived. It would take a while to reach level ground below and a little longer to circle around the butte to the trail.
For sure, Matt would have passed the butte before they reached the trail below. Whether the posse would have beat them there, was anybody’s guess.
By the time they finally emerged from behind the butte and rode out onto the trail, they knew for sure they were too late. The posse was already ahead of them. Dust kicked up by horses hooves still lingered in the air. The tracks of the many horses were clear in the dusty trail. Other than that, there was no sign of the posse. But they couldn’t be that far ahead, The only thing the Wildcats could do now, was to ride after them and attack from behind.
Chapter Twenty Five