2:10 P.M., River Bend Saloon…
Like a grand tsunami, the news of what was happening at Mrs. Whitby’s school spread to every nook and cranny of River Bend. And that included the “.ive. Be.. Salloon,” where Hardy Nippo and his delegation of sad sacks were enjoying their favorite pastime, having arrived about 12:30. The “.ive. Be..” wasn’t doing a brisk business, but Hardy’s breed of humanity generally didn’t have a very active, productive, or demanding lifestyle, so they tended to congregate at their preferred watering holes a little sooner—and more frequently—than those who lived a little higher up on the food chain. And the liquid refreshment enjoyed by Hardy and his companions had a way of making them more stupid than they already were. At least, it had that effect on Hardy, who had what miniscule amount of brains existed among his contingent. That’s why he was the “leader” of the gang.
“What do think o’ Tolliver takin’ over Mrs. Whitby’s school, Hardy?” Duke asked, reaching for the half-empty bottle before him. He was there, along with Digger, Sampson, and Rhino. A few other men were scattered around the room, two or three of them with their heads down on their tables, snoring away blissfully. “Do you really think he’ll kill them two Kelly women?”
“I hope not,” Rhino spoke up, before Hardy could answer. “That Kelly Atkins is an awful sweet lady and what Trent done to that other Kelly wasn’t very nice. Ain’t that what you think, too, Hardy?”
The rest of the men at Hardy’s table would think whatever he thought. His liquor-sloshed mental gears were in motion, pondering how he might make a few dollars out of the mess at Mrs. Whitby’s; he had to find some cash for the next bottle. “Aw, he ain’t gonna hurt them women, he’s just holdin’ out for some money.”
“Are you sure, Hardy?” Sampson said. “He was almighty fierce at Kelly Atkins fer shootin’ his brother and he was a-gonna kill her.”
“Yeah, but that was in the dark here in the Hot Spot. You think he’s gonna shoot her with the whole town watchin’ him?”
That sounded reasonable enough to the other men.
Hardy continued. “Well, I’ll tell you what, boys, I don’t know about you, but I’m thinkin’ about goin’ over there and helpin’ Trent and his boys out some.” And maybe Trent would give him a few bucks.
“How are you plannin’ on helpin’ him, Hardy?” Digger asked. “I don’t ‘magine he needs no help.”
“Sure, he does,” Hardy replied. “He needs somebody to carry messages back and forth ‘tween him and the marshal. I can do that real good.”
“He might be a little upset at you, Hardy, because we didn’t do that bank job in I-dee-ho.”
"Naw, he won’t, not when I tell him the army was guardin’ that shipment with a hundred men. He’d understand that.”
“How do you know the army had a hunnerd men guardin’ that gold, Hardy?” Duke asked. “We never got near the place.”
Hardy made a sound of impatience and disgust. “Tolliver don’t know that, you ape-brained idiot. We’ll help him out here and he’ll give us some money.”
Even Hardy’s friends weren’t that dumb, but Sampson responded, “Ok, Hardy. You go over there and help him and we’ll wait for you here. I don’t reckon he needs all of us to haul messages to the marshal, do you?”
“No, I reckon he don’t,” Hardy responded.
“You’ll share the money with us, won’t you? That’s what we’ll always do.”
“Of course I will,” Hardy said, with righteous indignation. “Friends is friends.” Truth be told, he didn’t want the others to go. When Trent gave him some money, Hardy would keep the bulk of it for himself and then lie to others about how much he had. It’s what he usually did, and they had never caught on.
He stood up and burped. “I’ll be back, prolly after dark. You fellers hold down the fort.”
“Awful cold and wet out there, Hardy. And watch out fer that marshal. He’s a mean ‘un, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Actually, the rain had stopped, but the day was still very overcast and windy. Hardy didn’t especially want to get out in it, but he’d go a long way to get a few dollars for booze.
This time, though, he went too far.
2:45 P. M., outside Mrs. Whitby’s school…
Kelly Atkins and Turley Edwards came riding up together to the building next to the schoolhouse. Ben had turned that building, an old barbershop, into sort of a command center. He found a place to build a fire so coffee had been brewed. There were only three usable chairs in the room, and those had been given to three mothers of children inside the school. About 20 people were milling about, mostly parents, but there were also a few men that Arthur Prince had rounded up to help in whatever plan of operation was concocted.
“We could rush ‘em, Marshal,” Bright Henderson said. “Come at ‘em from all sides.”
“I thought about that, Bright,” Ben replied, “but surely Tolliver is watching the front door, has at least one man at the back door, and another at the back of the building. We’d be seen immediately. Some of us would get killed and he’d probably start killing children.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Henderson replied, a little piqued that his plan had been rejected. “Anybody else come up with another idea?”
Nobody had.
When Kelly came into the room, a few of the mothers gave her a rather resentful look, as if the whole thing were her fault. Kelly paid them no mind, her thoughts understandably centered on more important matters.
Ben came over to her. “I’m sorry, Kelly. We’ll do everything we can…”
“I know you will, Ben. But I don’t know what you can do. We can’t let him kill those children. Do you really think he will?”
The River Bend marshal didn’t want to answer that question, so he simply responded, “We can’t let him kill you and Kelly Kramer, either. You wouldn’t know where she is, by any chance, would you? We haven’t been able to locate her. We were hoping she was with you.”
Kelly replied, “No, she wasn’t at the ranch. She lives at Mrs. Bowden’s. That’s all I know. I guess you checked there.”
“Yes. You don’t know any of her friends, do you?”
Kelly slowly shook her head. “Not really. She and I have had lunch together a couple of times, but she’s never mentioned any real close friends.”
Ben looked away, thoughtful. “Mrs. Bowden said she went out to spend last night with a friend and wouldn’t be back until this evening. She probably doesn’t even know about this whole thing.”
“That’s only bad for the children’s sake, not hers.”
Ben looked back at Kelly. “You don’t have to stay here, if you don’t want to. I can’t turn you and Kelly Kramer over to Tolliver, knowing what he has in mind. You go ahead and leave. Some of the men and I are going to have a powwow in just a few minutes; we were just waiting for Turley to get back. We’ll formulate some plan of action then.”
“Ben,” Kelly replied, “I’m not leaving. In fact…” She paused.
The marshal’s face got hard. “Kelly, that ‘in fact’ sounds like something I’m not going to like.”
Kelly continued as if Ben hadn’t spoken. “How many children is he holding?”
“Five and the teacher.”
Kelly paused again, and then said, “Do you think Tolliver will exchange a couple of the children for me? Right now?”
Ben stared at Kelly for a few seconds, then sighed and looked away. “I don’t know, he might.”
“Ask him. Tell him I’m here and that I’ll go to him now, if he’ll give you three of the children.”
“Kelly—“
“Ben, just do it.” Kelly smiled wanly. “Before I change my mind.”
The room had gone deathly quiet during this conversation between Ben and Kelly. The marshal looked around and everybody’s eyes were on him. It was his decision, and they trusted him to make the right one. What would you do, Rob?....
Ben knew that the chances were extremely high that somebody—decent—was going to get killed in all of this. Maybe more than one somebody. At the moment, the choice lay between the two Kellys and the children in the schoolhouse. Both of the young ladies had most of their lives ahead of them; it would be tragic beyond description for them to lose those lives, so early, to a wretch like Trent Tolliver. Ben could think of only one thing marginally worse.
The death of five children.
So, he nodded. “Ok, Kelly. I hate it, and I promise you that we’ll do everything we can to get you out of there alive.” The decision was made, and it was one Ben would not go back on and would have to live with. Everybody in the room was still staring at him, glad it was he who had to make the choice, not them.
But Mayor Dodd spoke up, as he felt he should do. “Ben, are you sure? Miss Atkins, this is not necessary.”
Kelly looked around at the five mothers who were in the shop. She could see the anxiety and hope in their eyes. She smiled. “Mayor Dodd, thank you, but it has to be done. I have confidence in you, Ben, and the other men here.” She then spoke to the marshal, and gave him another feeble smile. “I guess now is as good a time as any.”
Marge English spoke up. “Kelly.”
Kelly looked at her.
Marge struggled for words. “Thank you. I’m…so sorry.”
Kelly managed another smile. “It will be ok, Marge. The men will come up with something, I know they will.”
Ben wished she wouldn’t say things like that…
“Tolliver!” Ben called out, from the front gate.
“Yeah. What do you want, Marshal? Are those two women here yet? Don’t bother me if they aren’t.”
“Kelly Atkins is here,” Ben replied. “She says she’ll come right now, if you’ll give us three of the children in exchange.”
Trent grunted and laughed. “Why should I do that when she has to be here by 6 P. M. anyway?”
But Trent Tolliver wasn’t the only outlaw in that schoolroom. His brother was standing close by. “Do it, Trent,” Terrell said.
His older brother looked at him and scowled. “Why?”
“Because I think it would be a good idea. We don’t need all of these children. Ask Hank and Ed what they think.”
The two Tolliver brothers stared at each other. As noted earlier in the story, Terrell, the second oldest, wasn’t always intimidated by his older brother, and he wasn’t in this case.
Hank spoke up while the two brothers were still eyeballing each other. “Mr. Trent, I…I sorta agree with Terrell. I don’t like havin’ them children in here. I mean, one or two of ‘em is ok, but…if they get hurt. That don’t look good at all.”
Trent glared at him a minute, then looked over at Ed Monger. “Ed?”
Monger nodded. “Won’t hurt anything. Three hostages are as good as six. And you’ll have a fourth hostage, actually. Kelly Atkins.”
Trent scowled again, but nodded. “All right, I’ll go along with it.” He lifted his voice. “Marshal. You start Kelly Atkins heading this way. When she’s almost here, I’ll send out three of the kids.”
Kelly looked at Ben. “Can you trust him, Ben?”
“Not on your life.” Then, realizing what he had said, he apologized. “I’m sorry, Kelly, that was a terribly inappropriate thing to say.” Then he shouted to the schoolhouse. “Tolliver! I’m coming with her. We stop halfway. You turn three children loose. When they are behind us and safe, I’ll send Miss Atkins the rest of the way.”
There was a pause from the schoolhouse. “All right, Marshal. We’ll play it your way. But if you and that woman turn and run, I’ll send a fourth kid out with a bullet in his head.”
“We’ll keep our word, Tolliver.”
Ben looked at Kelly. “Do you have a weapon?”
“No.”
“Do you want one?”
“What happens if he finds it?”
Ben sighed. “Ok, let’s go.” To the schoolhouse, “Tolliver! We’re coming.”
And, as a sharp wind blew and rustled the trees of the old oak tree in the yard, Marshal Ben Baker of River Bend pushed open the gate to Mrs. Whitby’s school, seething inside, feeling helpless, and once again wishing his best buddy were there…
Kelly walked through the gate first thinking, I guess…if I can’t have Rob…I can at least save the lives of these children…Rob would be proud of me for doing that…A tear came to her eyes…Oh, if I could just see him one more time…tell him that I love him…I’d even kiss that ugly horse of his…Then, her thoughts turned to someone else. Good-bye, dad. I’m sorry. I wish you were here. It will hurt you so badly after what happened to mom…
Kelly and Ben walked side-by-side, and slowly, towards the front door of the school…
“They’re coming,” Terrell said.
Trent nodded, and pointed at three of the children. “You, you, and you. Get ready to go.” Carrie English was one of the three.
The three children, all between the ages of 5 and 7, looked at Mrs. Whitby for confirmation. The plucky teacher smiled at them and nodded. “Go ahead, children. Your fathers and mothers are waiting for you. The other children will be out soon.”
The three youths stood up. Mrs. Whitby walked with them towards the door. “You’re staying here, woman,” Trent Tolliver said to that.
“I know that, Mr. Tolliver. But I want to make sure these children are safe.”
“Yeah,” is all Trent said, and he looked back down the short foyer and outside. Terrell had opened the door so Ben and Kelly could be seen as they got closer to the building.
About halfway from gate to building, Ben and Kelly stopped. “All right, Tolliver, let the children go.”
“I’ve got rifles trained on both of you, Marshal. Once false move and you’re both dead and so is one of the children in here.”
“Send out the children,” is all Ben replied.
So, in a couple of seconds, three children walked out of the schoolhouse and down the stairs. They each took a few steps, then started running towards the gate, squealing and crying. Ben and Kelly watched them, not moving. When Ben saw the children in the arms of their weeping mothers, he turned to Kelly.
“He won’t kill you now, Kelly.” At least I hope not… “He’s got to have you for a hostage to help him get out of town. Hopefully, we’ll think of something before then.”
“Thanks, Ben. Please tell my father that I love him.”
Ben turned his head, a mixture of agony and anger. “All right.”
“Come on, woman!” Tolliver shouted. “Or that marshal gets a bullet between the eyes.”
Taking a deep breath, Kelly Atkins walked the last few feet to the schoolhouse. Ben watched her go up the steps and into the building. She disappeared into the darkness and the door closed behind her…
2:55 P. M., in the trees north of Mrs. Whitby’s school…
Hardy Nippo had been around River Bend long enough to know all the back alleys and pine holes that he could slither around and through. After approaching the school building from the main street and seeing Marshal Ben Baker and many other people in the vicinity, he decided to go around the back way. It required him to fight through some rather dense brush, but he came to the edge of the clearing just to the right of the privy, a few yards behind the abandoned barber shop where Ben and the others were stationed. Hardy saw Ricky Sata walking back and forth along the back wall of the school building, and he also noticed the open back door.
Hardy thought he recognized the man behind the building, but he didn’t know his name, so he figured he’d wait till the fellow turned his back and then make a dash for the back door. He also looked to his right…and paused…
Hardy heard, then saw, the discussion and events that led to Kelly Atkins entering the schoolhouse. He pondered for a minute what he ought to do. It appeared that Trent Tolliver might not need his help at all in communicating with Marshal Ben Baker. All the shouting back and forth seemed to have worked quite well. But, Hardy Nippo needed some money, and, you know, a feller can get hoarse shouting back and forth across a distance. And it’s especially not good in cold, damp weather. A man might catch a cold, or worse. When it came to a few bucks, it didn’t take Hardy too long to convince himself to do something pretty stupid…
3:05 P. M., in the schoolroom…
“So, you’re the woman who killed my brother,” Trent Tolliver said when Kelly walked into the schoolroom proper.
Kelly didn’t answer immediately. She looked around the room. Her first thoughts were to see if she could detect something that might help her and the other hostages escape. Trent was standing in front of her, in the aisle leading to the front of the room. A man was standing a little ways to her left; he looked a little like Trent, so she assumed he was the other brother. Another man stood in the open doorway at the back left, and a fourth outlaw was near the storeroom door. The children and teacher, who were all staring at her, were sitting against the wall, in the middle, to her right. Kelly had gone to school in this building and, indeed, Mrs. Whitby had been her teacher.
Ignoring Trent Tolliver for the moment, she said, “Hello, Mrs. Whitby. Are you and the children all right?”
“Yes, Kelly dear, thank you. That brute hasn’t harmed any of us yet. I’m sorry for all that is happening. I should have been better prepared for something like this.”
“There’s no way you could have known this was going to happen,” Kelly replied. Then, she looked at Trent Tolliver. “To answer your question—or statement—yes, I killed your brother. Unlike you, I don’ t like killing anybody, but when it was a choice between him, a murderer, and a good man like Ben Baker…well, there really wasn’t much choice to make, was there.”
Trent sneered. “The only problem is, woman, the choice you made is going to cost you your life. Nobody kills a Tolliver and lives. And that other woman saw me so she, too, has to die.”
“What difference does it make now? So she saw you. Everybody in town knows you’re here and what you intend to do. Killing Kelly Kramer isn’t going to save you.”
“Well, I don’t like any loose ends—“
“No, you just like killing people,” Kelly said, with some acid in her voice. “You know what? I’m glad I killed your brother because, if he was anything like you, then he needed killing.” She looked at Terrell. “Are you a Tolliver, too?”
Terrell just nodded.
“And you go along with this? Murder just for murder’s sake?”
“You killed my brother—“
“And killing me and Kelly Kramer is going to bring him back? Did killing Rob Conners, who was 10 times the man any of you ever thought about being, bring back the worthless Tolliver he killed?”
Trent had an angry expression on his faced, cursed Kelly, and then raised his hand to slap her, but Terrell stopped him. “Don’t do it, Trent. Let her have her say. Her mouth isn’t going to save her.”
Trent turned to Terrell. “You’re getting awfully bold, little brother. Maybe it’s time I put you in your place…” And he threw a right that connected on Terrell’s jaw and sent him reeling.
Because of the disturbance, Kelly thought about making a dash for the door, but quickly squelched the idea. She wouldn’t get far, and Tolliver would still have the children. So she stayed where she was and pondered a way to use this split in the outlaws’ ranks to her advantage.
Terrell hadn’t been knocked down by the punch, and he stood a few feet away, rubbing his jaw. Hank Frobisher and Ed Monger had moved a little way into the room, but kept their distance.
“You’re the boss, Trent,” Terrell said, placatingly, “but that doesn’t mean you have all the brains or that the rest of us are going to let you get away with just anything you want to do. You’ve got one of the women you want. Leave it at that until we get out of town.”
Trent stared daggers at him and said, “You and I aren’t finished yet, little brother—“
Kelly opened her mouth once too often. “Why don’t you shoot him?” she said to Trent. “Then, you’ll have a killed a Tolliver, too. That means you’d have to kill yourself and the world would be free of all of you.”
Terrell wasn’t close enough to protect Kelly now. Trent backhanded her, hard. She cried out, and staggered back a step. Then, Trent walked over to her, grabbed her by the arms, and shoved her into the corner. Kelly hit the wall, stunned, and slumped down to the floor.
This time Terrell didn’t say anything. He glanced at Hank Frobisher, who had a bit of a pained expression on his face. Another glance at Ed Monger told him nothing. Monger rarely showed any emotion whatever.
“Now, you just stay hunkered in that corner, little lady, until I call for you. When that Kramer woman gets here, we’ll all leave town and have a party. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
Kelly lifted her knees, hugged her legs, and lowered her forehead to rest on her knees. Her jaw was throbbing, but her mind was clear. And working.
What can I do?...what can I do?...what can I do?...there must be something…
She’d play possum while she tried to figure something out.
3:15 P. M., outside, then inside, the schoolhouse…
Hardy Nippo was waiting for Ricky Sata to turn and walk the other direction. Sata had stopped, near the northeast corner of the building, and was smoking a cigarette. Hardy decided, for some reason, that he’s be better off if that man didn’t see him, so he waited. Finally, Sata finished his cigarette, turned his back on Hardy, and headed the other way.
In a crouch, Hardy made the 25 yard dash to the back door. He sounded almost like a herd of cattle, but because the wind was blowing and rustling the trees, Sata didn’t hear him. And because everybody inside the building was watching the action between Trent Tolliver, his brother, and Kelly Atkins, nobody from that direction saw him, either. Ben Baker had gone back into the abandoned barber shop, so his approach to the schoolhouse went totally unnoticed.
Hardy ran up the steps and veritably burst into the classroom. Kelly had just slumped down and curled up, but she looked up when she heard Hardy come in.
“Mr. Tolliver! Mr. Tolliver!” Hardy cried. “I heard you was back in town and I come over to see if I could help some.”
Trent Tolliver stared at Hardy Nippo in unbelief. Then, he looked at Ed Monger. “What did you let him in for?”
Monger didn’t really have an answer. He hadn’t been watching the door.
Trent turned back to Hardy. “What are you doing here? I sent you to Idaho to rob a bank. Where’s the money?”
Hardy squirmed a little. “Well, I’m sorry, Mr. Tolliver, but that gold…it was bein’ guarded awful close. There musta been at least 200 soldiers around it.”
Tolliver made a sound of disgust. “You didn’t get anywhere near that gold…”
He shook his head. “And so you show up here…What do you think you’re going to do? Do you honestly think I could use an incompetent idiot like you? The only thing you know is how to get to the bottom of a bottle. I wouldn’t let you lick my horse’s stall.”
Hardy was more than uneasy now. “Well, now, Mr. Tolliver, I know I’m not a big outlaw like you, but I still can help you out, maybe.”
“How? What can you do besides get in the way?”
“Well, I can carry messages back and forth from you the marshal. I know you need to talk to him occasionally—“
Trent was getting steamed and Terrell knew the signs. His brother was about to explode. Trent walked over to Hardy Nippo and shouted at him, “If I did need you to tell the marshal something, you’d probably get it wrong.” He turned away in disgust. Then, he swung back to Hardy. “You know, you louse, there is one message you can carry to Baker for me.”
Hardy brightened. “What’s that, Mr. Tolliver? Anything you want.”
“Ok, here’s the message…” And Trent Tolliver pulled his gun and shot Hardy Nippo between the eyes. Hardy’s eyes rolled up in their sockets and he fell to floor, dead. “You can tell him that I’m dead serious about what I’m doing in here…”
Kelly jumped when she saw Trent shoot Hardy, and the two remaining children cried out and hugged their teacher, who held onto them tightly. Kelly was appalled at what she had seen. He was harmless, just a worthless old drunk… She started to say something, but the look in Trent’s eyes told her that she better not…
...and that same look convinced Terrell that he would be wiser to keep his mouth shut, too. He had been wondering, for several months, about the mental condition of his brother, and he saw insanity in Trent’s eyes now.
Trent looked at him. “I guess you disapprove of what I just did.”
“Well, I don’t think it was necessary,” Terrell said, “but it’s done.”
“Yeah, it is,” Trent replied with an evil grin. “Ed, you and Hank throw the body out the front door. Let the marshal see it.”
The marshal—and the other people next door—had heard the shot, of course, and feared the worst. They had been in a discussion as to what courses of action might be available to them. When he heard the gunfire, Ben immediately jumped up and ran outside.
“Tolliver! What’s the shooting about? You better not have killed Kelly or one of those hostages.”
“Naw, naw, naw, Marshal, don’t get your dander up. We had an unexpected—and unwanted—guest. And now he’s stinking up the place. Here. You can have his body. I’ll let you come get him.”
The body of Hardy Nippo came flying out the front door and landed a few feet in front of the steps. Ben grimaced. “Why did you shoot him? It doesn’t look like he’s even armed.”
“I shot him, Marshal, to let you know that I’ll shoot somebody else, if I have to. Has that Kramer woman arrived yet?”
“No.”
“You’ve got two and half hours, Marshal. Then more bodies start flying out the door.”
Ben sighed. I don’t even know where she is…