I stood there, watching till Kelly was out of sight. My guts were in turmoil and I was ready to hop on Ol’ Paint, right then, and go after her. But I knew Ben was right. It was well after 6 o’clock now and getting darker by the minute. We might be able to trail them for fifteen minutes; after that we’d be doing it by candlelight. Can’t track very well that way. I looked up at the grey, lowering sky. If it rains and washes out their tracks…I couldn’t let myself think about that. There wasn’t anything I could do about it anyway.
Allie came over to me. “We’ll find her, Rob. And we’ll find her before Tuesday.”
I gave her the best smile I could under the circumstances. “I guess that means you’re going with me. What are you going to tell your boss?”
“I’m going to tell him that if he had let me go after the Tollivers before, like I begged him to several times, then none of this would have happened. I don’t think he’ll have much to say in rejoinder. I do want to send a telegram to HQ, though. I think they need to know where I am.”
“Yeah. The office is just around the corner there, I believe.” I pointed. “You can roust the telegraph officer, tell him who you are. I’m sure he’ll help out.” Then, curious, I asked her, “Why did you want to go with Turley and get a horse for Kelly? Seems like a minor mission. Were you afraid he’d get lost or pick out a bad horse?”
She smiled, shook her head, and crooked her finger at me in the classic “follow me” signal. We walked over to some tracks made by Kelly’s horse. Allie knelt down and struck a match; it was hard to see anything otherwise.
“See that notch in that shoe?”
I nodded, slowly understanding.
She stood up and I did as well. “I’ll be able to follow that horse everywhere,” she said.
Allie Summer never ceased to amaze me. She had gone with Turley for the express purpose of marking that horseshoe to make it easier to track. I never would have thought of that. “That’s brilliant, Allie.” I gave her a wan smile. “But you could have followed him anyway.”
She shrugged. “Might as well make it as easy as possible.”
“Can you track that horse even if it rains?”
She frowned at that question. “I don’t think I can outsmart God. Let’s hope He isn’t mad at us for something.” Then, she looked at me. “But I’m really not too concerned about it. Rob, Trent Tolliver wants us to follow him because he wants to kill you and me, too. And it will be easier to do that out in the wilderness than it will be in civilization. If it does rain and wash out their tracks, I’m betting he’ll find another way to leave us a trail.” And, yes, that made sense, too.
“Do you think he’ll ambush us?”
She thought on that a moment. “He might, but…that’s not the way I read him. I think he wants to see the fear in our eyes before he kills us. Did you get a look at his eyes at any point?”
“I didn’t really pay that much attention,” I replied.
“The man is insane. And that makes him reckless. Which can be good…or bad, depending on what he does, of course. But I have a feeling he’ll want to confront us before he kills us.” She shrugged again. “That’s just a feeling, though. I can’t say for sure. Who knows what a nut will do?”
Ben came over. “We’ll leave at sunup. Some of these men have already agreed to go, and I’ll see if I can round up a few others. We’ll meet at the stables. Is that ok?”
I nodded, distraught. I didn’t know how I’d ever get any sleep that night—in fact, I knew I wouldn’t—but this was the best way. “I’ll be in the hotel if you need me,” I said, and started walking towards Ol’ Paint. I didn’t even want to eat.
“Rob.” It was Allie.
I looked at her.
“We’ll find her,” she told me again.
I held her gaze for a few seconds. “I know we will, Allie. I just don’t want to find her dead.”
Allie watched Rob walk away, feeling angst for him. She had no doubt she could—would—find the Tollivers. She was an expert tracker. I’ll find them even if it rains…She had that kind of arrogant confidence in herself.
But she was wrong about one thing…
Trent Tolliver and the five men with him—and Kelly Atkins—arrived at their camp south of River Bend about 30 minutes later. He didn’t waste any time.
“Get saddled up, boys,” he said to the men who had stayed. “We’re going to put some miles behind us tonight.” He looked around. “Where’s Gus?”
“He, uh, decided to go his own way, Trent,” Sammy Martin told him. “He thought maybe he could…do better that way.” Sammy cast a glance at Terrell, who wasn’t the least bit surprised that Gus was gone.
Hank spoke up first. “That’s too bad. I liked Gus. He was a good mate. Could always depend on ‘im.”
Trent was angry, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. “Well, that’s his choice. One less mouth to feed. The rest of you—let’s go. They’re going to be after us come daybreak and I don’t want them crawling up our back.” Trent looked at Kelly. “Can you cook?”
“Why should I do anything for you?”
“Because, woman, I can make your life miserable or comfortable. I guarantee you that there are a whole lot of men in this gang who couldn’t care less if you can cook or not. They have other things in mind for you. You do what I say and I’ll keep them away from you. If you give me any trouble…” He left it hanging.
Kelly figured they’d probably have their way with her at some point anyway, but she’d play along until she could find a way to escape. Or until Rob catches up with us…he will, I know he will…Kelly was trying to lift her spirits, but her confidence level was low. She was going to try to help herself, just in case.
“Ok,” she replied. “I’ll cook for you. But I’m going to remind you that you promised to keep these goons away from me.”
“Where’s the other woman?” Seth McIntosh asked Trent. “You said you were going to bring two back with you.”
“Well, we only got one, but we got the important one. We found out that Conners and that Ranger woman are still alive, and they’ll be after us. I think Conners is sweet on this woman, so he won’t give up until he’s dead.”
“He’s still alive?” Seth replied. “I thought you got him.”
“I thought we did, too. I don’t know what happened. That Ranger, either. She fell off a 600 foot cliff. How she survived that I have no idea.” He looked at Kelly. “Do you know anything about either one of them?”
Kelly shook her head. “I was as surprised to see Rob as you were. I thought he was dead, too.”
“Well, he will be soon. Are you boys ready?”
The five men who had remained at camp had been getting their gear together and saddling their horses during the above conversation. “Just about,” Sammy Martin said. “How far we gonna go tonight, boss?”
“Until I say stop.”
“Maybe the rain will wash out our tracks,” Duck Soupe said. “That way they will never find us.” Kelly was very concerned about that.
Trent looked up at the sky. It was still overcast, cold, and windy, but there hadn’t been any more rain. Night had almost completely fallen now. “Yep, if it does, that will just make their job harder, won’t it.”
“What’s your plan, Trent?” Terrell asked him.
“We’ll head for the Hole-in-the-Wall. It will take us a couple of weeks, at least, to get there. We’ll stay there for a while, and then we’ll come back here.”
That puzzled his brother. “I thought you wanted to go to Arizona.”
“Eventually. We still owe Rob Conners and Allie Summer, remember. We’ll sneak back up here in a few months, kill them, and then head on south.”
Terrell thought that was a good plan. He wanted to see Rob Conners and Allie Summer dead almost as badly as his brother did.
“What’re we gonna do with this woman, Trent?” Lem Unser spoke up for the first time. He’d been talking to Snarky Allen as they were preparing to depart.
“She dies Tuesday at noon. Or thereabouts,” he said, with a too-suggestive smile on his face.
“Rob will find us before then,” Kelly said, hopefully and fearfully.
“Then he’ll die before then.” Trent replied. “And if the Ranger is with him, she’ll die, too. I kinda hope they do find us. It will save us a trip later on.” Then, speaking to all his gang, he said, “Let’s ride, men.”
And ride they did, Kelly Atkins’ heart sinking farther and farther as the group progressed farther and farther away from River Bend. Please hurry, Rob…please…
The other Kelly, completely and totally unaware of anything that had transpired, arrived back at Mrs. Bowden’s boarding house about 8 P. M. Since all the news that was fit to repeat had been reported throughout River Bend, Kelly’s landlady dutifully informed her tenant of the recent happenings.
“And Trent Tolliver and his men rode out of town, taking Kelly Atkins with them,” she concluded. “You’re a lucky girl, Kelly Kramer. If you’d been here, they would have taken you, too.”
Kelly Kramer listened to this, astonished, aghast, and, frankly, terrified. “Oh, no. Poor Kelly…” She stared at nothing for a moment, just letting this dreadful information sink in.
“Have you had supper, child?” Mrs. Bowden asked her. “I can heat up some leftover stew for you.”
“No, no, I ate,” Kelly said, her mind, going in other directions. “I’ve got to talk to the marshal.” And she ran out of the house.
Kelly ran all the way to Ben’s office. The few people who were out looked at her, but nobody tried to stop her or talk with her. As she thought about it on the way, Kelly wasn’t really sure why she was going to see Ben. What can I do? She felt she owed it to Kelly Atkins, though, and her heart was in her throat, worried sick about her new friend.
She burst into Ben’s office, breathless. He was there alone, checking rifles and ammunition stock. The marshal, as people in River Bend were still wont to do, did a double-take, his hopes momentarily rising, thinking he was seeing Kelly Atkins. But then he recognized that it wasn’t.
“Hi, Kelly,” he said, his face betraying no emotion. “Did you just get back into town?”
Kelly nodded, still trying to catch her breath. She took a moment to do so, then said, “Oh, Marshal, it’s so horrible. Mrs. Bowden told me. Poor Kelly. I feel responsible somehow. I should be with her.”
“No, you shouldn’t, either,” Ben said. “We don’t need both of you out there. And it certainly isn’t your fault. It’s Trent Tolliver’s, and we’ll see that he pays for it.”
“Are you going after them? I mean, I’m sure you are, but when?”
“We’re leaving at sunrise in the morning. Several men—people—including Rob Conners and Allie Summer, are going. We’ll catch up with them before long.” Kelly blinked in surprise. “Rob Conners? I thought he was dead.”
“No, he’s very much alive, thank the Lord,” Ben said, checking the load in a rifle and then returning it to the gun case behind his desk. Then he looked back at Kelly. “There’s really nothing you can do, Kelly. I know the whole thing disturbs you, but believe me, the whole town is incensed and angry over this. Kelly Atkins has a pretty good reputation in River Bend, to put it mildly. Everybody in town would go with us, if they could. It’s just a matter of time before we locate Kelly.” And it better be before Tuesday at noon… “You go on home, get some rest, go back to work tomorrow. We’ll have this wrapped up soon.”
Ben’s words were encouraging, of course, but Kelly had lived long enough to realize that they were just that—words. She started to say something, then stopped, and finally just said, “Thank you, Marshal. Please bring her back safely.”
Ben finally smiled at her. “We’ll do the best we can, Kelly.”
She nodded and left the building, now walking slowly back to the boarding house, her head down, deep in thought. Oh, if there was just something I could do…Poor Kelly…poor, poor Kelly…
Kelly Kramer was a woman, of course, and under no illusions as to what a bunch of outlaw ruffians like the Tolliver gang would do to her friend…
Friday morning couldn’t come quickly enough for me. Unfortunately, that Thursday night was one of the longest of my life. I finally fell into a fitful sleep and was awoken by Allie banging on my door.
“Come on, Conners, are you going to sleep your life away?” she shouted, probably waking up everybody in the hotel.
“All right, all right,” I said in return. “Let me get my boots on.” I was a little aggravated at myself for not being awake, but I figured it was a good thing that I did get some sleep.
“I’ll meet you at the stables,” Allie said.
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
I looked out the window as I cleaned up a little bit and got ready to go. It was still dark, but it looked like the clouds might be breaking up a little bit. I could see some stars, and that was good news. Hopefully, it hadn’t rained last night and washed away the sign Tolliver and his men had left. As I soon found out, there hadn’t been any rain so they were going to be easy to track—at least for awhile. I had no doubt they’d get off the main road and into the mountains as quickly as feasible. I knew Allie was an expert tracker. What she didn’t know was that I was, too. Between the two of us, we ought to be able to keep to the trail fairly easily and move with at a good pace.
When I arrived at the stables, Allie, Ben, and a few other men were already there. The Ranger had saddled Ol’ Paint for me.
“Looks like we may get a break with the weather,” Ben said to me.
“Yeah, that will help.” I was glad the big Negro was going to be with us. I recalled that he was a pretty good tracker himself. Or at least was able to stay invisible as he was following someone.
He introduced me to the rest of the men who were going; two more showed up as we were finalizing our preparations. There would be six men, plus Ben, Allie, and me. Turley Edwards, the deputy, wouldn’t be able to go. Somebody had to stay back and police the town. James Derrick and another man would relieve him on occasion.
What perhaps interested me the most was the 10 extra horses I saw bridled. I gave Ben a puzzled look.
“Allie’s idea,” he said, and looked at her.
“It’s a little bit of a pain, having the extra horses, but we’ll be able to move twice as fast,” she explained. “I imagine Tolliver has a good 15-20 mile lead on us now. He probably doesn’t have extra horses. If we only have one horse apiece, we probably won’t move any faster than him. This way, we’ll gain at least a few miles on his each day. Plus, we can pack more stuff this way.”
“Sands and Hunter there”—Ben pointed at two men—“will handle the horses while we’re traveling. We’ll switch every couple of hours or so.”
I looked at Allie. “You do this with the Rangers.”
She nodded. “Not all the time, but occasionally. Especially if we are in a hurry.”
I thought it was an excellent idea and said so. Obviously, as far as I was concerned, we couldn’t get to Kelly soon enough.
Ben gave the final instructions before we left, mainly for the sake of the posse, which Allie and I did not really consider ourselves members of. “All right, men, we are going after some of the most dangerous outlaws in the territory. I don’t want to lose any of you, so be as careful as you can. The most important thing is to get Kelly back; that’s priority one. If we can bring a few of those goons back with us, all the better. But Kelly is number one. Allie will do the tracking. Stay together and keep your eyes open. Are there any questions?”
Heyward Badges, a local rancher and good friend of the Atkins’, asked, “Ben, if’n we get some shots at them critters, do we shoot to kill or just to wound?”
“Shoot to kill.” That was Allie.
Ben was perhaps a little more…judicial?...in his reponse. “Capture them alive, if possible, but not at the risk of your own lives, ok? Anything else?”
Nobody spoke. I was dancing from one foot to the other, ready to get on the road.
Ben looked at me. I nodded. “All right, then,” the marshal said, “let’s do it.”
The nine of us mounted and turned our horses south. Interestingly, even at that time of the morning, there were several people lining the street to see us off.
“Bring her back alive,” somebody said to us. I smiled. Probably doesn’t care if we come back or not, just as long as Kelly is safe…I was being facetious, of course. I intended to do exactly what that person asked us to do.
But it wasn’t going to be easy. I was under no illusions about that.
However, I planned to find Kelly…and return to River Bend…