Ransom
Chapter 9
Kitty didn't sleep much even though she was exhausted from the harrowing experiences of the day before. As soon as she heard movement in the house where she was a guest, she got up and wrapped herself in the robe that Tess Simmonds had laid out for her.
She found the rancher's wife in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the family and the ranch hands.
"Help yourself to coffee, Kitty." The woman indicated the pot on the stove and some cups on a shelf to her left.
"Where's Frank?"
"He went out to help saddle the horses so the men can leave as soon as they have eaten."
"I need to go with them," Kitty replied, looking through the window to the barn across from the house. "They'll never find the place without me,"
"I think he figured on that, he talked about hitching up a wagon and team." She turned back to the stove and filled a plate with biscuits and side meat, which she handed to Kitty to put on the table where places were already set.
"Just help yourself, Frank has already taken food out to the men, I need to go hurry the children up or they'll be late for school. I left some clothes on the chair there," she indicated, "maybe something will fit well enough, though I think they may be a little big for you."
Kitty thanked the woman and set about taking some food. She wasn't really hungry, because of worrying about Matt, but she managed a biscuit with a little gravy.
It didn't take her long to change and in under an hour she joined Mr. Simmonds and two of his hired hands who were on horseback and a third who was driving the wagon in which she was riding. She directed them as best she could till she found the place from where she had recognized the road to the Simmonds Ranch the night before. From there she told them to head south. It would still be a three or four hour ride.
xXx
About 5 miles ahead of them another group of men were riding in the same direction, not exactly sure where they were going but making good time anyway.
Chester kept an eye on Doc, he knew that in spite of the physicians bravado, riding horseback was tiring for him.
"Sam, let's pull over there," he pointed to a crop of small trees, "maybe there's a place we can water the horses and take a short break."
They had been riding for almost three hours at a good pace and it would give him time to look around and see where they were.
The others took the horses down to the waters edge while Chester stood scanning the horizon. There behind them, coming along almost the same path as they had taken, was a rising dust cloud."
"Sam come here," he called pointing. "Looks like someone is following us."
Sam stood looking off in the direction Chester had indicated. The cloud was getting closer, he could make out three, maybe four riders.
"Chester," he said, squinting his eyes to try to get a clearer image, "I think there are three riders and a wagon – and I believe there is a woman in the wagon."
The jailer strained his eyes to see, the group was moving closer. "You know what Sam, I think that is Miss Kitty heading this way."
The two men stood looking for a moment. The group drew closer until they were both certain.
"Doc," Chester called, "I think Miss Kitty is coming."
The Physician looked up from where his horse was drinking, and stared at the incoming riders. "By Golly, you're right." He began waving, beckoning the group to join them.
Kitty had thrown her arms around Doc and almost cried with relief on his shoulder as he helped her down from the wagon.
She told him how she had been kidnapped from Dodge and taken to the place they were all headed. She explained how Matt had given himself up to the outlaws in order to gain her freedom and how she had managed to catch the buckskin and ride to the Simmonds place.
The jailer looked around at the posse he had now – many more than he started with and he thought, with a little trepidation, that he was still supposed to be leading the group. Success or failure was in his hands. While he would willingly do anything to help Mr. Dillon, he was not comfortable with the role of leadership. He noticed now that everyone was looking to him and knew he had no choice. Sometimes, he told himself, a man had to just step up and do what was necessary.
"C'mon, let's get moving. Mr. Dillon is depending on us," he tried to use a confident tone of voice.
To set an example he took the reins of his horse in his left hand and mounted up, noticing with some surprise, that everyone followed him. He led the group off in the direction Kitty had indicated, hoping he would know what to do when they arrived at their destination.
Kitty was sure they were going in the right direction and told Chester that the place where they were headed was probably about another hour – maybe two up ahead. The posse moved at a faster pace now with Chester in the lead and Doc driving the wagon. Kitty felt more confident because her good friend was sitting beside her and somehow his calm presence had chased the unfounded doubts from her mind.
xXx
Matt patiently worked away at the bonds securing his wrists. It wasn't easy to manipulate the small knife with his big hands, especially now that the blade had become dull from cutting through the wood frame of the bed, and now the rope. He could still feel a little blood oozing down his back from the wound in his chest – but he didn't think it was too bad because he didn't feel dizzy or have any trouble breathing. He looked around the room as he worked and could see his own gun and gun belt lying on a small shelf next to the front door. If he could cut himself loose, the gun was what he would go for.
Mort had been talking about the hardships of his youth for a while now, but Ben said nothing, he just kept watching out the window. Matt figured that if Kitty had made it to Dodge, help would be on the way soon and he needed to resolve the situation before they arrived so that no one got hurt.
He experimented pulling on the rope that bound his wrists and it gave slightly under pressure. Maybe a good tug and he would be free. He needed to get Mort to come closer. Ben was still holding a gun, but he had hesitated to fire before, maybe he would do so again.
"Mort," he called, dragging the man's thoughts back from wherever they had been. "You know, a lot of people have a tough childhood – and often a tough life, out here on the prairie, but it doesn't give them the right to kill and take whatever they want."
Mort got up from his seat and came closer.
"How come you got the right to kill someone, just because you got that star on your chest?"
"I don't like killing, but sometimes it's my job. Your brother killed the passenger on that stage, it was my duty to take him in to answer for that."
Mort was coming closer, a fire burning in his eyes.
"You had no right to kill him." The outlaw raised his hand to strike. Matt could see it coming and braced himself to give a sudden pull on the remaining threads of the rope that were still intact. He felt them give and sprung up from the chair to grab Mort. Holding the man in front of him like a shield, he made his way towards the shelf where his own Colt was lying.
"Just take it easy Ben and drop the gun," he said quietly but firmly to the other man. He managed to reach his gun, but at the same instant Mort thrust an elbow into his ribs where the bullet wound was.
Matt's vision dissolved into a red mist of pain and the man he was holding broke away. He found himself on the floor but had managed to grab the gun and by sheer force of will remained conscious and alert to what was going on around him.
There was a loud report from inside the room as Mort fired, but Dillon managed to roll to one side and the bullet went harmlessly into the wood floor. He managed to free his gun from its holster and was about to fire back when there was a loud crash and the front door swung open. There stood Chester. A proud smile crossed the Marshal's face at the welcome sight and for a moment he relaxed back onto the floor.
The jailer pointed his rifle at the two men, "You drop your weapons and get over against that wall." They looked at teach other and backed away. "Now just git your hands up and stand very still."
He spared a glance for his boss who was still on the floor.
"You all right Mr. Dillon? Looks like you been hit."
"Yes Chester I'm fine but I was beginning to wonder when you'd get here." He managed to stagger to his feet and sat back in the chair, one arm across his ribs.
"Hey Sam," Chester called over his shoulder, "tell Doc to get in here, then come and give me a hand with these no-goods," he indicated Mort and Ben who stood with their hands in the air, not quite understanding what had just happened.
"What do you want me to do with them, Mr. Dillon?" Chest was all too eager to have his boss back in charge of the situation
"Tie 'em up for now. We'll be taking them back to Dodge to stand trial."
Somehow Kitty and Doc were here now, and several other men were standing in the doorway. Matt recognized Frank Simmonds and a couple of men from Dodge.
"Looks like you brought a whole army with you, Chester."
Kitty had come up to him, and was easing his shirt up so Doc could see the bullet wound. It had creased the outside of his chest and stopped a little below his left shoulder blade.
He smiled up at her. "Guess you found my horse," he whispered.
"Yes, he's at Frank's place, I'll explain later." She spoke softly not wanting to say much more with all these people around. She let her hand gently brush his face as she reached behind him to hold his shirt out of Doc's way.
"It doesn't look bad Matt, the bullet's still in there but it's not deep." Doc was studying the wound. "If I can get a little more light in here, I think I'll be able to remove it without hurting you too much.
"Well that's a comfort to hear," Matt mumbled half under his breath. He knew that whatever Doc did, it always hurt and he wanted to tell him so, but at the same time when it came to digging bullets out, there was no one he would trust more than his good friend.
Doc pulled on his left ear as if thinking,
"You know, Marshal, this is the second time I've had to patch you up in less than a month, you might as well just go on and sign your next pay check over to me when it comes in."
Frank Simmonds was talking with Chester. The rancher had decided that although it was well into the afternoon, he and his men could make it back to the ranch by nightfall.
"It looks like you have enough help Chester and I think if me and my men start back now we'll make it home before it gets too dark to travel. Tell the Marshal I'll send one of my men into town with his horse in a couple of days. You can keep the wagon till then."
"Thanks for your help, Frank, and thanks for taking care of Miss Kitty. We'll be fine now."
xXx
Somehow Doc had got things set up to his liking. He had found two lamps – not that either of them gave much light, but together it was enough that he could manage. He had got one of the men Chester had brought from Dodge to stoke up the fire and Kitty was boiling water to sterilize his instruments. He moved the table from its place near the stove to the middle of the room then took two enamel bowls from his medical bag and set them at one end of it. He pointed to one of the bowls telling Kitty to put the cleaned instruments in there. Having adjusted everything to his liking he looked around and saw the pillows on the bed in the other room. An idea occurred to him and he went and retrieved one and placed it on the table.
"Here Matt, I want you to lean over the table like this." He gave a rough demonstration of folding his arms onto the pillow and laying his head down on them. Dillon was still sitting in the chair with his right arm around his chest and Doc had to help him turn around. "It'll feel better once I get that slug out of there," he encouraged, noting the Marshal's difficulty moving.
When he finally got his patient positioned as he wanted, he adjusted the two lamps to give him light exactly where he needed it and pulled the bowl with his instruments closer so it was within easy reach.
"Kitty I need you to come over here and hold his shirt out of the way."
She did as he asked, hoping that this wasn't going to be too bad.
Doc checked to make sure he had everything he might need to hand, and then selected an instrument.
Kitty briefly turned her head away. She could feel Dillon tense under the fingers she had laid on his shoulder and heard him groan as Doc manipulated the forceps. Fortunately, true to his word, it didn't take more than a minute before the physician had the bullet removed and lying in one of the bowls.
"Hold still now Matt," he instructed his friend, "I think I need to put a couple of sutures in here just to keep it from bleeding on the way back to Dodge."
His fingers were fast and accurate from years of experience and it was only a short time before he had the wound cleaned and bandaged to his satisfaction.
"Now if you can just bring yourself to rest up for a while, that should do fine till we get back home."
Dillon was standing up and carefully tucking his tattered shirttail back in place. He winced a little as he bent to one side but otherwise seemed unharmed.
He took a long look at his two prisoners. In a way he felt sorry for them, maybe this had been the only way they could think of to make a living. Some men just had to take what they thought was the easy way out and, sadly this time, it had cost an innocent man his life. Admittedly neither of these men had pulled the trigger, but they could still look forward to a long prison sentence although it worried him that he had no definite proof that they had been involved in the stage holdup. He certainly could not identify them from the distance he had been from the scene. Of course they had planned to kill him, and had kidnapped Kitty – those two crimes alone should add up to something. Still it could be a difficult day in court.
They would all have to spend the night here and start back home in the morning. There was very little in the way of food in the old building – but Kitty volunteered to cook anything the men could catch.
Matt had looked at the bed and decided it could be fixed up enough for Kitty to sleep there tonight. The prisoners could sleep outside with himself, Chester and Sam taking turns at keeping watch. Of course Chester and the other men told him they could manage just fine without his help.
They left early the following morning. Doc had insisted that Matt ride in the wagon, although really there wasn't much choice because the buckskin was still at the Simmonds place.
It took almost 7 hours before the grey wooden buildings of Dodge loomed on the horizon and another half hour before they turned onto Front Street. Sam and Chester took the two prisoners down to the jail and Matt escorted Kitty back to the Long Branch. Several of the regular patrons were in the saloon when they arrived. Most were aware that Kitty had been missing for a day or so, but only a few people in town knew the whole story, and Matt wanted to keep it that way for now in case it gave anyone else ideas. As for him, he was out of town so often that his own absence was barely noticed.
TBC
