Gunslinger Page 9

  Mr. Scarface brought things to a head with a feigned indignation at a perceived slight by Jorgensen. "You are a blight on this town, Senor. You overcharge for your goods so that a poor working man like myself cannot afford to shop for food here."

  He backed up two steps from the counter and invited Jorgensen to back his words up with lead. "You are a weasel of a man, cheating one and all. You should take your ugly face away from here so that you would not cheat the decent citizens of this fair town."

  "I will do no such thing," the indignant Jorgenson replied. "Why I've always been fair to all my customers. I even grant credit to the widows and orphans in town. And I never…" Jorgenson didn't get the chance to finish.

  The Mexican interrupted him. "You mangy cur. Leave town or draw."

  His partner pulled his gun from its holster as this scene unfolded, but held it hidden by his side. Clint situated himself where he found a clear view the men. He did the mental calculation and knew something was rotten in Denmark. He drew his guns without a sound and crept forward in response. Jorgensen was not a gunfighter and never carried a gun.

  The shopkeeper's pacifism angered the Vaquero more, and he tired from waiting. As the Mexican began his draw, Clint swung into action.

  The bandit brought his gun up. Blam! Clint's gun exploded.

  Clint shot the old revolver out of the man's hand, ruining the Vaquero's fingers at the same time. Clint stepped forward and pushed the barrel of his other gun into the side of the accomplice.

  "It'll be a lot healthier for you if you relax and stand down. You should drop your gun now, too."

  The other man froze and dropped his revolver as Clint had ordered.

  Smiley Roberts came running into the store right on cue. He had brought several deputized men to help.

  "Looks like you've been busy again, young fella. I see you captured Scarface and Will Smith. They want these guys for their dastardly deeds in seven states and Mexico. They get seldom worse than these two."

  The Deputies dragged both would be robbers off while Smiley listened to the account of what happened as told by Jorgensen and Clint.

  Sheriff Roberts told Clint that he'd check the wanted posters back at the office, but Scarface was one outlaw he recognized.

  Clint said, "I'm glad that I could be of help. I'll come by later to hit you up for the reward slip and the guns."

  There were two sweat covered horses tied to the rail outside the store.

  "Them two galoots done rode in on them two horses," Mr. Miller from the feed store testified.

  "Tommy," Clint called, "Take these two down to Mr. Akin at the stable. Here's the two bits I promised for your trouble."

  Clint paid the boy the promised two bits and gave him another as a tip for immediately taking them down to the stables. The boy was pleased.

  Clint purchased a few items from his list, including more ammunition for the Colt. He had to order in shells for the 45-110 Sharps. Most people around there didn't use that caliber. Closest to it was the 45-70 Government cartridge used in the smaller Sharps Carbine and the Army's Gatling gun which no one never, ever mistook for a rifle.

  His next task was to find the office of Chester A. Oonk, Attorney at Law. Clint decided that he needed a good barrister with the assets they had discovered. Smiley had recommended the man, stating that he was honest as the day was long… in the middle of summer. That was a high recommendation in this day.

  Clint stated his purpose after being introduced to Lawyer Oonk by the man's assistant.

  "I need you to prepare an irrevocable trust for me. Please note in it that all my assets, now owned or gained at some future date, are to be part of that trust. List myself and my wife, Jane, named as executors of that trust. Is that something you can do?"

  "It would be my pleasure to assist you, Mr. Robertson." Attorney Oonk replied. "I see that you are privy to legal precedent. I perceive that you want to shelter your property and give your wife control of that property if something untoward happens to you. You've come up with the perfect solution since women do not have a legal standing on owning property here in Kansas but may be executors of trusts according to federal law."

  Clint smiled at the attorney's response. In reality, Clint did not understand about current law. His parents possessed a similar trust for their estate in uptime. ‘Lucky me,’ he thought to himself.

  Clint also ordered a will and power of attorney documents that would make Janie able to control or own any property they might now have or gain later. Who knows what the future held for them? It would also allow her to function in his name if he became incapacitated and unable to act on his own behalf.

  "It should take about a week for us to get all the paperwork complete and ready for signatures." Chet informed Clint that they should meet again to sign papers one week from today, and then get it recorded over at Smithville, the county seat six miles east of here. Satisfied, Clint shook hands with his lawyer, and was just about to leave when he turned back with a question.

  "Where would I go to determine the validity of a Spanish Land Grant document?" he asked the lawyer.

  "Easy, go to the Registrar of Deeds at the County courthouse. They have used him in that position for the last fifty years and he can tell you more about deeds than anyone in the state. He spent thirty years in the state land office in Topeka. If he doesn't know, no one will." Chester replied. "Six miles due east of here. His office is next to the County courthouse."

  The task took Clint a little longer than he'd planned. He unlocked the door to the suite and stepped inside around three in the afternoon. He floundered on the floor, covered in a blanket, the next minute. Blows rained down on his body. He assumed that the assailant was probably female by the weight placed on his back. He gathered his legs and arms together at his center of mass and pushed off with an upward thrust. The weight and blanket went flying. Laughter filled his ears.

  He swung around and captured his bride in a bear hug. She tickled him. He wasn't ticklish, unfortunately, but it was a good attempt. Janie was very ticklish! Clint got her down on the rug and tickled her to the point of exhaustion.

  "Quit!" she gasped. "I surrender, Husband. Please. I'm about to pee..."

  Clint let her up. She threw her arms around the neck of her beloved and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Their tongues battled for supremacy. It was a draw. Clint's hand drew up her back, caressing the supple strength of her muscles. They renewed their kissing for a while and naturally tapered off.

  "I missed you," she admitted, flirting with him. "Where did you go?"

  "Well, that's complicated. Let's get off this hard floor, sit on the sofa, and I'll tell you everything. It's sort of like a surprise wedding present, anyway."

  The couple made themselves comfortable. Clint sat in the corner of the sofa and Janie sat up against him, her back resting against his chest. His arms encircled her torso, a hand resting on her belly while she reached back with one arm and stroked her hand through his hair.

  "I think it's a given that we will be here for a long time, soo..." Clint began, "I've taken steps to secure our lives and those of our future children."

  A little shiver of pleasure pulsed through Janie as his words. He had just gotten Janie's full attention. She smiled to herself and snuggled in a little more. Her free hand wandered over his leg, softly stroking it.

  Clint continued, “For that reason, I paid a visit to the County Registrar of Deeds. I spent several hours there as he showed me what was available. It was an interesting couple of hours. I found what I was looking for after an exhausting search. I had to take another ride to examine what we were discussing.”

  “I returned to the deed office when I finished with that and checked his records once more. I wanted to make sure that everything was in order and secured first, so I took part of the money we'd earned and paid the Registrar what I owed. He gave me this once everything got signed and dated.”

  Clint handed a folio similar to the Land Grant folio to her. Ja
nie took it with trembling hands. She was certain of the contents, but not exactly relative to the how much and the where. She opened it with extreme care and, yes, it was another deed. It was old, older than the town itself. It was another Spanish Land Grant. The King had given it to a minor official this time. The area was small by comparison to the other they held, but Clint considered this a prime piece of real estate. It included all the land west of the town, almost to the township line.

  "The most recent property owner had fallen on hard times through mismanagement of his assets and the County had foreclosed on the land for taxes. Mr. Wilson, the previous owner, had become a drunk." Clint related. "He committed suicide by getting eaten by the indigenous animal population."

  "The property deed had languished in the bowels of the County offices until I unearthed it. Counties allow the Registrar to sell the deed for any amount at his discretion. Now the Registrar of Deeds, Mr. Bob Bowen, cheated by Banker Barnes before, had been in town on County business when we made Barnes look like a fool. He seemed obliged to do me a favor."

  Grinning like Alice's Cheshire Cat, Clint continued. "We are now the owners of the K-Bar Ranch, 18 square miles at six hundred forty acres to the square. Eleven thousand, five hundred, and twenty acres.”

  A huge grin had remained on Clint’s face as the Registrar had computed the value to be ten cents an acre."

  "I took our bankroll with me in case I found what we needed. I figured that I'd buy the property as a wedding present for you."

  Janie squealed and spun around to throw her arms around his neck and held her body against his. Several minutes passed as their lips pressed together and their tongues intertwined.

  "There's more," he said, interrupting that pleasurable moment.

  "There's more?" she echoed. "Please continue, kind Sir."

  "The kicker on the deal is that it includes the woods where we first appeared, AND there is a house on the land not three miles down the road from the spot where we made our turn south toward the town that first day."

  "Show me," Janie excitedly demanded. She jumped up, heading for the door. Then she pulled up short, looked down and immediately searched for her riding clothes.

  Clint just grinned. He was certain she'd want to go see, so he had stopped by the stable to retrieve a second horse.

  It was all of about five minutes when she reappeared in full Indian squaw garb. Her gunbelt sat strapped to her hip, and she was carrying the Winchester in its fringed leather scabbard. Clint already had his weapons, so he opened the door and stepped aside so that he wouldn't get knocked over as Janie rushed through. Closing the door behind him, he locked it and tucked the key in his vest.

  The pair happily rode out of town back toward the north, in the opposite direction from their original trek. Their goal was past the little glade where they arrived.

  "You ain't leaving, is you?" young Billy Madison asked as he played with his stick and ball. His mother, Dolly, was sitting on the porch working with her stitchery. She looked up, saw the pair, and called out after them.

  "Be careful if you're going that way. There be wild critters in them thar woods. It'll be all right after you gets through the other side, but old Wilson got hisself kilt there."

  "Thank you kindly for the warning, Mrs. Madison," Janie called back. "We'll be careful, and we have our guns just in case."

  Janie patted her sidearm as she spoke. Dolly nodded. "We'll stop by on our way back just to ease your mind about it. You might have noticed my husband is a darn good shot ... when he needs to be." She rubbed her belly out of Clint’s sight.

  The two women laughed at Clint's expense, although he couldn't fathom why they were laughing. It might be that they were just being neighborly. This is a good thing since they were actual neighbors now!

  Janie and Clint pushed their horses into a canter after they passed the Madison spread. It was the last parcel before their newly purchased land. Clint looked over at Janie as they rode. The motion of the horse was causing an interesting effect on Janie's body. Clint turned his attention back to the task at hand. What he was thinking would come later. They had entered the woods and were just passing the marked path to the campsite that brought them back here.

  They continued on for several hundred more yards when a tremendous roar brought them up short. The horses danced around, and Clint's frantic stallion reared up. He held on to the saddle horn as tight as possible and stayed on the frightened horse.

  A bear stood in the center of the road fifty yards ahead. He was huge. A dead cat, its tawny brown coat torn with claw marks, and bright red blood pouring from the vicious bite wound in its neck lay at his feet. It was obvious to the two that the puma had clawed that bear up and its bleeding was less severe. The cat lay unmoving in the road.

  "We will need to kill it" Clint shouted drawing his Winchester from the scabbard. Janie nodded as she pulled her rifle in reply.

  "Shoot for center mass. That skull is too thick to penetrate with our guns. It would be different if we had the Sharps."

  Both riders started shooting. A rain of slugs pelted the brute as it turned to charge the pair. Losing blood from its earlier fight had slowed the beast somewhat. He advanced snarling, taking slugs with every step. They both emptied their weapons and still he came. When their rifles only clicked, they drew their handguns and continued firing.

  The huge beast was slowing as hot lead continued to penetrate his hide. Janie's guns were empty, and she turned her horse to run. Clint's sidearm emptied and he then pulled the Colt .45 from his shoulder holster.

  Five more shots rang out. The bear finally faltered and fell. Still fighting the pain and blood loss, it slowly got up. The stallion shied away, and Clint lost his balance. He was on foot in the next instant, facing the enraged and wounded bruin. Having a wounded bear in your face while on foot is not a place that anyone would want to be.

  "CLINT!" Janie cried out, her voice choked with fear.

  Clint regained his stability as Janie caught his horse when it sought to flee. The injured beast in the road tried to rise, only to fall again. The side ejector on the Colt did its job as Clint slammed new shells into the revolver’s chambers. Loaded with six more shots, he held his ground.

  He leveled the full revolver and squeezed its trigger once more. One at a time, the six deadly slugs flew into the mortally wounded creature. Six more messengers of death took their toll. The bear collapsed on the spot.

  Clint turned towards Janie. She had reloaded her Winchester and she tossed the deadly rifle to him when he motioned to her. He caught it with one hand and swiveled on his heels. Clint advanced on the king of the forest even as Janie shouted words of caution with tears streaming down her cheeks. He held the Winchester tight against his shoulder, Clint was ready for the bear. He moved in. Janie's heart was beating a mile a minute as her husband stepped forward with a slow, steady pace.

  Fifteen paces was all that separated Clint and the bear when the mighty bruin gave a final push to its feet. It tried to stand on its hind legs, but it wavered in place, unable to force up the energy to move. Clint looked him in the eyes. An anguished growl emanated from the beast with a mortal wound. The brave bear had fought well against his territory’s invaders, but the animal known as man had won the war.

  "You were a valiant opponent," Clint called out. "You fought well, but it's time to finish this now. I salute you, brave warrior."

  Clint pulled the trigger. The bullet sped towards its target and smashed through the left eye and entered the brain of the massive beast. It swayed in place for a moment longer. The body caught up with the brain at last, and it keeled over, never to move under its own volition again.

  Janie jumped down from her mount and ran to Clint, throwing her arm around him. She was crying, more out of relief than anything else. He enjoyed her and patted her back trying to comfort her. The tears slowed, but she beat on his chest with her fists.

  "Don't you EVER do that again! That thing might have KILLED you! What an
idiot! Why did I marry you in the first place?" Her rant was in full swing now. "What would I do if you had gotten hurt? You bastard!"

  On and on she went until her diatribe wound down.

  "Are you through?" he asked with a small smile on his face.

  A little contrite, she answered in a little girl voice, "Yes."

  "I love you."

  "I know, I love you too.

  "Now, let's get that carcass out of the way and go on. I want none of the meat, so can we leave it?"

  Janie answered "Yes, I detest bear meat anyway. Now I have another reason to hate it."