Talon & Chantry 07 - North To The Rails (v5.0) (20 page)

A table, two benches, and four bunks were in the small room. Hank Talrim was sprawled on one of the bunks, chewing on a straw. Bud was at the end of the table, watching Sarah, who was playing solitaire.

The fourth person was a tall, slim man with an oddly twisted look to his face. He was sallow and unshaven, and his mustache was stained with tobacco. There was an expression about him of ingrown bitterness and distaste.

The door opened and all of them looked up. The man who entered first was huge, with broad shoulders and big hands; his once red hair was freely sprinkled with gray.

“Howdy.” He glanced once at Sarah, then at the sallow-faced man. “Hello, Harvey. You seen Sparrow?”

“Sparrow? Is he here?”

“Uh-huh. What you reckon that means?”

Harvey shrugged. Ruff always irritated him. It was the man’s size. They had worked together a dozen times over the years, but Harvey never failed to be angered by Ruff’s very presence. And now to make things worse, there were the two boys as well, huge men too.

“Maybe he’s here same as us. If Chantry’s boy is huntin’ us he surely ain’t goin’ to have to look far.”

“Stay away from him!” Sarah said curtly. “He’ll get his when we get the gold. Leave it at that, and stay out of sight.”

“I still say the best time is when they are transferring the gold from one car to the other,” Harvey said.

“And that’s why you’ve got nothing,” Sarah replied sharply. “They will be keyed up, ready for trouble. Chantry will have some men around, some we don’t expect to be there. Let them move the gold. We’ll take it when they’re off guard and think they can relax.”

“What d’you think?” Frank Ruff looked at Bud Talrim.

“I like her thinkin’. What she says, goes.”

Ruff sat down, and the two boys, Mort and Charlie, squatted on their heels. “I don’t like it, Sparrow bein’ here. He’s always been sore over that shootin’.”

“Forget him!” Harvey said. “He never amounted to nothin’.”

“Have you seen him lately?” Charlie Ruff spoke mildly. “He’s mighty high-toned now, got him a big ranch down Texas way, and another in New Mexico. He runs fifteen, twenty thousand head of cattle.”

“I don’t believe it,” Harvey said.

“Believe whatever you’re of a mind to,” Charlie said. “That’s a fact, what I said.”

“Some of those cattle Williams and Chantry were drivin’ were his,” Mort Ruff commented. “Sparrow’s in this somehow.”

“Maybe if we wait,” Frank Ruff said, “he’ll do our killin’ for us.”

For a few moments there was only the sound of the shuffling of the cards.

Then Sarah spoke. “Those cattle,” she said, “will bring nearly fifty thousand dollars.”

“I never seen that much money,” Hank Talrim said. “Somehow it don’t make no picture.”

Bud gave him a disgusted glance. “You can make a picture out of a dollar, can’t you? Well, anything you can buy with a dollar, you can buy fifty thousand times as much.”

“Whoo-ee!” Hank exclaimed. “I don’t know what I’d do with it all.”

Sarah’s face was still. Only her eyes seemed to move, and they missed nothing. Secretly she felt only contempt for these men, but they were useful to her. And she did not underrate them. The Talrims seemed willing to do what she said, but they would turn on her and kill her as quickly as a cat. The others, she was sure, would not kill a woman.

As she played she studied them, considering which one she would need the most. Once the money was in their possession, she must get rid of the Talrims. Harvey was as treacherous as the Talrims, and Frank Ruff was too suspicious. Charlie was the smartest of the lot, the best-natured, the only one around whom she felt safe, but at the same time she believed he would be less easy to fool.

Mort was the one. Somehow she would have to work on Mort…she had caught him stealing glances at her. And somehow she must trigger trouble between Harvey and the Talrims…after they had the gold.

Once Paul was gone, she had moved at once to use the Talrims. She had crossed their trail a few times, knew where they were likely to be, and she had approached them, demanding their help. She was still not sure why they had gone along, nor did she dare approach either one separately. Each one seemed aware of what the other was thinking, and she was intelligent enough to perceive that there was no separating them.

They had told her about Rugger. He was a cow thief, and worse. So she had waited for him one night on night guard around the herd. She kept out of sight until he appeared, led him off to one side, and suggested stealing the herd. The others had come in as a matter of course.

When the theft failed she saw at once that the death of French Williams was no longer important. They were too close to the railhead, and the thing to do was get the money after the herd had been sold. She intended to have that money and to go to England or France with it and live her years out in style.

She was sure that at least one and probably two of the men helping her would be killed. And a fight between Harvey and the Talrims would not be difficult to start…eliminating one or two.

She had no clear plan, but she had a driving desire and the ability to move quickly when the moment came. She was ready.

Chapter 21

T
OM CHANTRY SAT on the car steps, staring into the night. The gold—all of it—had been carried from one car to the other without trouble.

Earnshaw was pleased, and mildly triumphant. “See? I knew nothing would happen. We’re perfectly safe.”

Chantry glanced at him, then looked away. Doris had been silent, but presently she said, “Well, I was wrong, too. I was sure that girl would get them to try to steal the gold when it was being moved.”

“Maybe they’re not so bad as we think,” Earnshaw said mildly. “Tom, I’m afraid you frightened us all needlessly.”

“I don’t think so,” Chantry said stubbornly. “They’ve just made other plans.”

After that he had gone outside and sat down. Doris was going to bed, Earnshaw was shaving. Suddenly Bone McCarthy came out of the darkness, and a moment later, Mobile Callahan.

“What happened?” Bone wondered.

“They’re not around town,” Callahan said. “I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears open. None of them’s around, and none of them’s been seen. By morning, if they’re still here I’ll know where they are. I’ve got the kids looking for them.”

“Kids? Here?”

“Sure. There’s a couple dozen of them in camp. I got some of them together and promised I’d buy them some rock candy if they locate that crowd, and if they’re here those kids will find them.”

They talked for a while, discussing possibilities. Neither McCarthy nor Callahan believed that Sarah and the Talrims would give up. Finally Tom went inside and went to sleep on the sofa in the car’s drawing room, with the door locked and a chair under the knob, his pistol beside him.

F
OR THREE DAYS events moved without a hitch. Colonel Enright had the herd loaded and shipped. McCarthy and Chantry, riding wide over the country, located a small herd bound east for Dodge and arranged for purchase at the railhead. On the fourth day they found another herd after learning it was being held on a range north of the river for fattening.

Mobile remained in town. He gambled a little, talked a little, listened a lot. Twice he glimpsed Harvey on the street, and Sarah moved into the frame hotel and began making herself known around the area.

She was polite, reserved, well-behaved. To Mobile, who had learned much during his lifetime, it was obvious what she was doing. She was establishing a reputation for being a lady, a well-behaved lady interested in finding a brother who had disappeared somewhere in Colorado.

Under the circumstances she was free to talk to anyone, in search of information, and if she was seen in conversation with the Talrims she could simply explain that she had heard they had information about her brother.

Tom Chantry was puzzled. Over dinner in the private car with Earnshaw, Whitman, and Doris he confessed: “I’m worried. I know they haven’t given up.”

“Tom, you’re obsessed with this woman, whatever her name is, and with those men. If they had intended to do anything they would have done it when we moved the gold. We were vulnerable then.”

“Yes, I know. And the fact that we’re in a settlement wouldn’t stop the Talrims. I am sure they have some other plan.”

“I’ve seen the young lady about town,” Whitman said, “and certainly I’d never suspect her of wrongdoing. From what I hear, she is searching for news of her brother.”

“Her brother was killed by the Kiowas. She knows that, and knows when it happened.”

“Does that seem likely? What would she be doing here, then? A young woman like her would have no reason to spend her time in a place like this.”

“Unless she planned on picking up a good bit of gold.”

Whitman shook his head doubtfully and changed the subject. Tom could see that even Doris was becoming somewhat impatient with him, and he said no more, but he did a lot of thinking.

When they bought the two herds, amounting to fifteen hundred head, the amount of gold they had aboard the train would be seriously depleted. Did Sarah know of their plans, he wondered.

Mobile Callahan strolled up to him as he stood on the street. “Mr. Chantry,” he said “the kids got ’em spotted.”

“Where?”

“In a dugout down on the river. The whole crowd is there, and give ’em a few more days and they’ll probably be mean enough to kill off each other.”

“No sign of French?”

“Not a sign.”

“I haven’t seen Mr. Sparrow.”

Mobile Callahan made no reply for a moment, and then he said, “He’s around.” He added, “I don’t quite see what he’s up to. My job was to keep trouble off your back…why? What’s his interest in you?”

“I don’t know.” Suddenly Tom was not thinking of Sparrow. “Mobile, I’m going to see Sarah.”

“You’re
what?
” Mobile stared at him. And without waiting for a reply, he said, “Take a tip from me and stay away from her. That woman’s trouble.”

“Nevertheless—There she is now.”

She was looking every inch the lady, her skirts gathered daintily in one hand as she crossed the street. Men stepped aside for her and tipped their hats.

“Tom”—it was the first time Mobile had ever used his first name—“these folks would hang you to the highest tree if you so much as said a word against her. And don’t think she hasn’t planned it that way.”

They could hear her heels on the boardwalk, and then she stopped behind them. “Mr. Chantry? It
is
Mr. Chantry, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“I understand you sold your cattle, you and Mr. Williams?”

“I sold them. French Williams no longer has any share in them, Miss—?”

“Millier. Are you going back east now?”

“No.” Suddenly he realized there could be only one reason why she would want to stop and speak to him. She wanted information. Coolly, he gave it to her. “We’re buying more cattle. Prices have gone down somewhat, so we’re going to reinvest.”

For just an instant he saw the stunned apprehension in her eyes, an expression quickly gone. “Do you think that is wise? You seem to have done very well with the first cattle you bought, but why buy cattle when the price is down?”

“That’s the time to buy. Back east the market is good. The problem is getting cars right here. Buying cattle means holding them for some time. However, we are in a position to get the necessary cars.”

He shifted ground quickly. “I understand you are looking for your lost brother. He was killed by the Kiowas, as you know.”

Several people were within listening distance, and at least one man turned sharply around to hear better.

“I know nothing of the kind!” she replied, and walked away.

Mobile looked after her, and said softly, “What are you trying to do, Chantry? Start something?”

What
was
he trying to do? But he knew…he wanted to force them to move. He wanted it over with, ended once and for all. He was tired of watching, tired of waiting. Now they knew the gold they wanted would soon be gone, spent on cattle. If anything would bring matters to a head, this was it.

“I’d like to be listening in when she gets that word to them,” he told Callahan grimly.

He walked back to the private car. Enright had pulled out on the morning train and the track was clear. Thoughtfully, he considered the possibilities.

The cattle were being brought down for delivery. Whitman, owner of the car and Earnshaw’s very good friend on the railroad, had arranged for cars. Once delivery was made, gold would be paid to the cattlemen who brought in the herds, and Earnshaw and Doris would be free to return east…and so would he.

He glanced at his reflection in one of the panel mirrors in the car. He saw there a tall, bronzed young man with wide shoulders, narrow hips, and a quietly commanding way about him. Above all, there was no softness. The hard riding on the plains had taken off the extra flesh, hardened what remained, and toughened his nature. He was a different man now.

Why go back east? There was money to be made in the cattle business, there was land to be had, and several times lately he had heard men speaking of western Colorado. They had built a railroad out there, too, in that land of mountains and meadows, of running streams and forests.

Doris was standing behind him. “Tom, what are you thinking of?”

He turned around. “Doris, how would you like to live out here? Further west, in the mountains?”

“Is that what you want?”

“I don’t know. I think it is. This country has changed me. Maybe it has only brought me back to myself, back to what I should be. Yes, I do know. I want to stay.”

“All right,” she said, “we’ll stay.” She hesitated a moment. “Can I bring my things out from the East?”

“Whatever you like.”

Suddenly he heard steps on the platform behind him, and he turned swiftly, looking toward the frosted glass door. There was a light tap.

“Who is it?”

“Callahan. Can you open up?”

Gun in hand, he opened the door. Mobile was alone. “All right,” he said, “you did it. All hell’s breakin’ loose. Harvey was on the street tonight with Mort Ruff. Sarah Millier has been talking about buying cattle, maybe starting a brand of her own. I don’t know what that means, but you can be sure she’s got some bee in her bonnet.”