Savage 13 by E. Jefferson Clay

Author:E. Jefferson Clay [Clay, E. Jefferson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action hero, Colt .45, Elmore Leonard, gunslingers, Louis L'Amour, piccadilly publishing, Pulp fiction writing, The Wild West, Western `frontier Fiction, Western series
Publisher: Piccadilly
Published: 2022-07-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six – The Horse-Thievin’ Kind

FIVE HARD-BITTEN ranch hands leaned against the bunkhouse wall, puffing on cigarettes in the deepening cold and keeping watch.

Out along the perimeter of the T Eight headquarters yard, several rugged-up figures with rifles tucked under their arms were visible against the glow of lanterns installed only the previous day following the kidnapping.

T Eight was on full alert even though it might be seen as a classic case of closing the stable door after the horse had bolted.

They were tough men on the big spread—Tate Bonnadeen had seen to that. Throughout his long reign as the county’s premier cattleman, he’d feuded with rival ranchers, fought the big rustling gangs of the Fifties and Sixties, and had maintained a long armed conflict against the Comanches whom he’d originally driven from that part of their ancestral hunting grounds now known as T Eight.

Only the best men had survived that testing environment and tonight those same wranglers, punchers and long riders were maybe at their lowest ebb ever even while carrying out their duties with customary efficiency.

Too many blows had struck T Eight in recent times for morale to be anything other than at rock bottom.

It began with the shooting of High West Rail’s surveyor scout, for which crime Tate had been charged although later exonerated at Black Mesa with Savage’s well-needed help.

T Eight was still celebrating news of Tate’s discharge when Savage rode into this very yard with the cattle king’s body slung across his saddle, victims of the Fettermans at Waco Flats.

The subsequent rush of events following Tate’s death afforded the spread little time to recover. With the railroad starting to invade Torcido Canyon and the Comanches spilling blood when Bonnadeen’s will bequeathed the outfit to Letha, Chet and Smoky were left solidly out in the cold.

That was one high point in what was termed a very low week. For the T Eight working man had always regarded Letha Bonnadeen highly while continuing to be puzzled and frequently offended by the strange and secretive ways of the late cattle baron’s half-brothers from the south.

Then came the bombshell of Letha’s abduction by Quana. It was a crime committed with such skill and stealth that not a man on T Eight was aware of anything untoward taking place that night. Although admittedly many of the crew were in town on their monthly paynight blowout.

The frantic search and the grim realization soon came flooding back that the raiding party had made it safely back to the Wastes. Along with the killing of the railroad’s advance guard at Paiute Arroyo, the double body blow came to a climax with the revelation of the ransom note and today’s announcement by the Bonnadeen brothers that the ranch would go on the auction block to meet Quana’s demands for Letha’s safe release.

T Eight was doomed and the Comanches would be dancing their victory dances at the Far River stronghold tonight.

Old hands had never expected to see this black day come. Yet things were so bad it was hard to imagine they could get worse.

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