The Killing Ground (Benedict and Brazos 33) by E. Jefferson Clay

Author:E. Jefferson Clay [Clay, E. Jefferson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action hero, American Frontier, Colt, Colt.45, ebook, fiction, Gunfighters, Piccadilly cowboys, Pulup fiction writing pulp, the Old West, Western
Publisher: Piccadilly
Published: 2022-05-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight – Thompson’s Play

THAT DAY THERE was a strong wind which came burning from the desert and spread northwards across the territories. It came laden with fine sand and made tempers short along the border.

Out on the ranges where the ranch crews were working from dawn to dark preparing for November first it was prudent to work with a bandanna over the lower part of your face and to eat with care. Tempers ran high and on the Jubilee Ranch, a cook fired two shots at a bandy-legged wrangler after an uncomplimentary remark was passed about his stew.

In Capital City, Governor Sam Nelson sat with his back to the window and signed papers, held audiences, conferred with his advisers and worked as usual until the emissary arrived from the East with news that an official delegation from Washington would be arriving in Capital City to be present on November first to witness at first hand the implementation of the November Bill. That was when the governor of Midwest Territory began to lose interest in work for the day. For he well knew that the Washington dignitaries would examine the results of his Amnesty Bill as well, and he also knew that his score would fail to impress while the ‘big fish’ remained at large.

In Kate’s Saloon, Duke Benedict spent the better part of that windy day in comfort, cigar in hand, whisky glass at his elbow and one of his admirers leaning on his shoulder and watching how skillfully he played his cards. To the casual observer, Benedict presented the complete picture of a man at ease. But appearances could be deceptive for his mind was busily engaged.

Today, his card-playing cronies included Special Marshal Charlie Hackett, late of Bolie, and the editor of the Capital City Clarion who was allegedly an authority on Ben Thompson, together with a storekeeper and a bartender who had both ridden with Thompson before the war. So far, Duke Benedict had not mentioned the meeting between Aretha Carrington and Ben Thompson to anybody. He wanted to try and discover how they had got together and what, if any, bearing it had on Nelson’s ceaseless efforts to bring Thompson into the amnesty fold.

At the sprawling ranch house on the low rise two miles south of Capital City, Aretha Carrington got about in hardly anything at all and drank more red wine than was good for her. She hated days when she couldn’t ride and the ceaseless yammering of the hot wind drove her crazy. She found confinement chafing enough at normal times, and today was worse as she waited for her Ben to take the first step towards the highest position in the land.

Had Duke Benedict or her own husband known what was in Aretha Carrington’s thoughts that day, their first reaction would have been disbelief. Desperadoes didn’t become governors. But had she wished, Aretha might have explained that Ben Thompson was one of the West’s real heroes in the eyes of many—Congressional Medal of Honor winner in the war, vanquisher of the Apache tyrant Many Kills, handsome prince of the gun.

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