Tuesday, April 1, 2014

HOWL AT THE MOON — Chapter 3 A POSSE IS FORMED

Bobcat Brian settled with his wife and three kids on a small ranch and vineyard a half a day's ride southeast of Little Creek. They came to town weekly for Sunday Worship, to lay in supplies from one of the local mercantiles and to generally catch up on the goings on. With so much happening so fast in this little town, Bobcat founded the "Little Creek Dispatch" in order to chronicle the fast paced growth of Little Creek and the general good nature of its inhabitants. As with any small town paper, its publishing was not that regular.

Bobcat and Coyote Mann met one fall years earlier when they camped next to each other while hunting south of Coyote Valley. They enjoyed each other's company and remained good friends ever since. When Bobcat made it into town he would always take time to check in with Coyote Mann to see how things were going. If Coyote Mann was not in his blacksmith shop, Bobcat would walk on into the Coyote Den Mine looking for him. Most people stayed away from the mine on account of the gruff response Coyote Mann always gave when asked about his diggings.

One week Bobcat came into town on a Tuesday to fetch some flour and coffee from the General Store. After placing his order he had a few hours to kill so he swung by the Sheriff's office to say hi to Sheriff Bad Eye but he wasn't there, neither was Deputy El Vaquero. Bobcat checked his pocket watch to make sure it wasn't supper time yet. Finding it a little odd that the sheriff and the deputy were both gone in the middle of the day he headed over to see what Coyote Mann was up to. Coyote Mann wasn't in his shop either so Bobcat headed to the Mine next. The Mine was open so Bobcat walked on in. It had been quite some time since he had been inside the Mine and he was surprised at how deep it had gotten. He heard voices up ahead and could tell there was a lantern burning around the corner so he kept going. When Bobcat came around the large timber at a corner in the tunnel he ran into the back of Coyote Mann who dropped a cloth bag. When the bag hit the ground the side split open and gold dust spilled from it. The light of the lantern hit the gold and caused it to sparkle brilliantly. There was no mistaking what it was. Shocked to see the gold, Bobcat stood beside Coyote Mann speechless. "What's the matter wit you? Ain't ya seen gold before? And what the hell ya doing sneaking up behind me like that?" Coyote Mann barked as he recovered from the surprise of being run into.

Bobcat had to stop himself from instinctively drawing his sixgun down on the old trapper. Any other time on the frontier the use of such a tone would force him to use his guns to regain the proper respect but he could tell that Coyote Mann was nervous 'bout the Dust from the look on his face. "I ain't seen that much all in one place! I thought this old hole was worthless like most of the others." Bobcat said apologetically.

"You thought wrong, I guess." Coyote man snapped back.

Sheriff Bad Eye and Deputy El Vaquero appeared out of the shadows deeper in the mine. Trying to take it all in Bobcat questioned the three men in the mine, "Are y'all having a town meet'n in here?"
The Sheriff, El Vaquero and Coyote Mann all knew and trusted Bobcat but no one knew what to say next as the first sign of gold fever became apparent. Bad Eye and El Vaquero were relieved when Coyote Mann broke the silence.

"Let me explain Bobcat. I started this hole cause I was kind'a bored. I wasn't expecting to strike it big, but I guess I did. I wasn't more than 20 feet inta the hillside when I found color." he tried to explain through a dry mouth. "I been mining like the devil every night since. I just kept following the vein of gold and before I knew it I had enough to make me a bit nervous about get'n robbed. You know how this town has changed since the gold was first found down in the creek. Anyhow, RW Sloan's been let'n me cache my roadstake in the bank safe and I got quite a pile of it in there now. The vein seems to have run out now, but I got all this gold. I told the Sheriff 'bout it and he has arranged for the San Francisco Mint to take it. The problem is get'n it up there."

"Wow," Bobcat exclaimed as he continued to stare at the spilled gold dust, "what is your plan for get'n it all the way to San Francisco? There's a whole lotta trail twixt here and there, and gold is pretty damned heavy."

"I've been working with the Mint for the last few months trying to figure this out." the Sheriff offered. "They didn't take me seriously until I rode up there last month with a small sack of the find. I tell ya what, that sure got their attention. They contacted the US army and are sending General U.S. Grant and some of his troops to escort the gold all the way to San Francisco."

"U. S. Grant is coming here, ta Little Creek?" Bobcat sounded surprised. Unknown to these men Bobcat was a member of the Dammit Gang and the previous year he had answered the call of the Chip and rode down to Arizona Territory. Together with the rest of the Gang he helped run the Dooley Gang back to Texas. U.S. Grant was commanding the Arizona Rough Riders during that campaign and was in the Valley of the Sun at the same time as Bobcat Brian but Bobcat never had the chance to meet the famous soldier.

"Yes he is. He wants to see what all the fuss is about and see that the gold is delivered safely." replied the Sheriff.

"When's he coming?" asked Bobcat

"He arrives in Monterey, Thursday morning by rail. El Vaquero and I are riding out tomorrow morning to rendezvous with him and bring him to town."

With that, El Vaquero broke in, "I got a ranch about a day's ride south of here. Grant and his men are going to be pretty weary after all the distance they've come from Camp Founders Ranch in New Mexico. I figure we can make it to the ranch by Thursday night. We can muster a camp there and give the men a good meal and good night's rest. If we get back on the trail Friday morning we will be in Little Creek some time Friday night or worst case at first light Saturday morning. The problem is, who is going to protect the town with both me and the Sheriff gone?"

"Aw hell, I sure wish y'all had told me earlier about the bind you was in. I could have sent a wire to my cousin. I could have thrown down the chip and collected a hand full of DAMMITs to protect the town." Bobcat was still trying to collect his thoughts and put it all together.

"I don't want you to think I didn't trust ya, Bobcat, I just didn't want to tell anyone I didn't hafta. I ain't never had so much before so I never had so much to lose." Coyote Mann offered after thinking on his actions.

"Don't worried about it Coyote Mann, I ain't mad at ya, I'm just trying to figure out what we need to do next. How much gold is there?"

"Remember that safe I built fer RW Sloan? It's full!"

"It's FULL?" Bobcat exclaimed as he put a hand on each side of his face in disbelief.

"It's full and I got a small pile of it stored in the back of the mine." Coyote Mann continued, "I was showing Bad Eye and El Vaquero how much is in here when you found us."

Bobcat removed his hat and sat on piece of timber on the ground next to the earthen wall of the mine shaft. "Here's what we're going to do." Bobcat started, "We need to form a posse, but we need to do it quietly so's no one gets an idea of what's going on. I will send a wire to my cousin, Jack Rojas. He might be able to come down with some of the Hog Mountain Riders."

"Didn't you tell me you used to ride with them?" questioned Coyote Mann.

"I still do when they need me." Bobcat decided to clear the air. "You see, we all wear the DAMMIT Gang chip. Once you shoot with the DAMMITs after the sun has gone down and you swear to help whenever a DAMMIT throws down the chip, you are a DAMMIT. Jack and I shot with the DAMMITs for the first time over in Crumville clearing out Robbers Roost a few years back. I tell you what, I saw fire and smoke come outta guns like you never seen. Last year we lit up the night sky with our shoot'n irons with them DAMMITs again at Winter Range down in the Valley of the Sun and shot a tribute to our fallen leader, Lay Low Curly, God rest his soul." With that Bobcat bowed his head and tipped his Stetson briefly.

"Now I'll throw the chip down and send the wire to try and get some help. My only concern is that time is short. Jack Rojas and whomever he can find might not be able to get here before Friday night, maybe even Saturday morning. I'll also send a wire up to Shaniko Jack. I'm bettin he can muster a small posse of Sunnyvale Regulators to ride down." Bobcat was feeling better now that his mind was wrapping itself around the problem at hand, "Coyote Mann, you can trust Filthy Phil, can't ya? Let's bring him in. Who else do we trust?"

"Yeah, you're right Bobcat, we can trust Filthy Phil. Springfield Slim is another good man, I'd trust him with my life. I'm sure he will posse up for us. I can send word to my son, Yoke, it will take him a day or two to get here but he will come." Coyote Mann started to feel a little better now realizing he was not in this alone.

"El Vaquero, you and Bad Eye get ready for your ride, me and Coyote Mann will figure up a posse to stand guard in your absence." Bobcat then turned his attention towards the Sheriff. "Bad Eye, you can deputize us in the morning before you ride out. I promise you, we'll have enough guns with shooters behind them to run anyone outta this town who even thinks about goin near the bank or the mine. We'll drive them out with HELL's fire and smoke if nothing else.

"Alright Coyote Mann, I need to ride home and let Texas Gunshow know what's happening." Bobcat was now feeling the urge to get a move on. "At the very least I'll bring my boy back with me, Texas Twister. He wears the DAMMIT chip also. I think I can swing by Crap Shoot's place and get him to join us, and Kayos Kid also. I'll even try and get word to Draw Dead Dan but I am not sure if he is down here or up in the mountains."

"There's one more thing you need to know Bobcat," Bad Eye started with a concerned look on his face. "The folks at the Mint think word of the shipment has leaked out. One of the guards tied one on pretty good a couple of weeks ago and he was shoot'n his mouth off in the saloon about the General coming to bring a shipment of gold from some little valley to the south. They don't really know what sort of details were given but any are bad."

"Yeah, I'd say that's real bad!" Bobcat grew a bit concerned.

"There's more," Bad Eye continued. "Frisco Bob shot up a saloon on the Barbary coast along with two other fellows last Friday night. They've been seen headed south."

"All the more reason to contact Shaniko Jack, maybe he and the Regulators can cut them off on their way down if they haven't already passed through." Bobcat concluded.

From the mine Bobcat went straight to the telegraph office to get the right people coming. "I need to send a telegraph, NOW DAMMIT!" he said as he slammed his hand down on the counter with the DAMMIT chip in it.

Z-Shooter was the telegraph operator that day. She had never actually seen a DAMMIT chip before but she had heard of them. "Is that what I think it is?" she questioned.

"You're DAMM straight it is. You know about the chip?" Bobcat demanded.

"I've seen wires come through make'n mention of that chip. I-I wasn't sure they really existed?" the nervousness in Z-Shooter's voice was obvious.

"Well they do, and that's one. Now let's send a wire to Jim Town."

"JACK ROJAS STOP"

"JIM TOWN STOP"

"I'M THROW'N DOWN THE CHIP STOP"

"NEED HELP, BRING GUNS STOP"

"SEND HOGMOUNTAIN RIDERS STOP"

"LITTLE CREEK, COYOTE VALLEY STOP"

"BOBCAT BRIAN - DAMMIT STOP"

"I need to send one more wire, this one is going to Shaniko Jack in South San Francisco." Bobcat directed.

"SHANIKO JACK STOP"

"SOUTH CITY STOP"

"FRISCO BOB IS HEADING TO COYOTE VALLEY STOP"

"HE MEANS TO DO HARM STOP"

"HE'S TRAVELING WITH 2 HIRED GUNS STOP"

"STOP THEM IF YOU CAN STOP"

"ALSO, ASSEMBLING A POSSE IN LITTLE CREEK STOP"

"SEND GUNS TO HELP PROTECT LITTLE CREEK STOP"

"BOBCAT BRIAN STOP"

To be continued. . .

No comments:

Post a Comment