Black Conley Read online

  "So, this cave where you found the fool's gold, how big is it?"

  "Big enough that a lot of men and horses could hole up there and be right comfortable. There's a stream in the back that has some of the best water you'll ever taste and it faces east so that those northerly and westerly winds don't hit it. When we were working it, we stripped down to shirtsleeves since it was too warm to work with our coats on. Of course, once you stepped outside, you knew it was winter."

  "What do you say you and me take a ride up there this morning? I'd like to do a little exploring, and maybe even find a rustler or two hiding out there."

  "I don't like the idea of you going on a manhunt, Roy,” Annie said, without ever turning away from the stove. “It could be downright dangerous and I don't intend to loose you just yet. Isn't there someone else who could go with you, Black?"

  "Not without tipping my hand. I could send a wire to Denver, but by the time someone could get up here, anyone hold up in that cave could be long gone. I promise that I won't let anything happen to Roy. If I did, I'd have Ed to contend with and I don't plan on tangling with him."

  One by one, Belle and the girls joined the discussion until at last Annie served breakfast and Belle deemed that talk of rustlers and caves wasn't proper breakfast conversation.

  Kate and Janna said that they were planning to check on the cattle, while Cara and Lacy took care of the horses, leaving Black free to do any exploring he wanted to do.

  "I want to go with you,” Belle declared.

  "Ain't no fittin’ place for a lady,” Roy argued.

  "Then I guess I ain't a lady,” Belle replied. “It's my cattle that are being rustled, and my responsibility to see that at least one of the men responsible is brought to justice. It would give me great pleasure to see one of Clayte's men hang for what he's been doing to me."

  "Don't go jumping to conclusions,” Black warned. “Even though we have our suspicions, we don't have any concrete proof of who's responsible. We certainly can't ask the other ranchers for help. They saw Clayte's steers mixed in the bunch those rustlers were running across your land, but that doesn't mean jack shit. As far as anyone other than those of us on this ranch knows, I'm just a gunslinger who is trying to get out of the business. It wouldn't do for anyone to guess that I'm really a U.S. Marshal. That's information that I don't want out until I'm ready to arrest the men responsible for these raids."

  "Then can I go?"

  "It won't be an easy ride, and there could be gunplay,” Black countered.

  "I'm as good with a gun as Roy is. I should be; he taught me how to shoot and told me to practice until I was comfortable with it. I can handle a six-shooter as well as I can a rifle."

  "We might as well let her come along,” Roy finally said. “If we don't, she'll follow us. This little gal has more spunk than most, and I gave up saying no to her years ago."

  Even though Black didn't like the idea of Belle coming with them, he decided it was better than having her follow them and riding alone. There was always safety in numbers; at least that's what his ma always said. He'd been a loner for so long, he'd forgotten what it was like to have someone watching his back.

  "I don't think this is any job for you,” Annie continued to argue as Black pulled on his coat and went out to saddle the horses.

  "Do you think Annie will convince Belle to stay behind today?” Black asked, once he and Roy were outside.

  "It would be easier to convince a bull not to go after a cow when she's in heat. Belle will win out, but Annie will have her say and that's enough to satisfy her."

  Black nodded. He didn't known any of these people well, but he'd been around them long enough that he knew Belle usually got her way. He chuckled at the thought that he'd broken her down so quickly. Her desire not to grace a man's bed had been foolish. He knew it the minute he kissed her. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. It would have been only a matter of time before it happened. It was a good thing he was able to convince her sooner rather than later. The thought of bedding the other girls had been tempting, but not practical, since Belle was the one he wanted.

  * * * *

  "At least dress warmly,” Annie finally conceded. “With daylight, that north wind could pick up. It was fairly mild when Roy and I came over this morning, but you know how the weather can turn when you least expect it."

  "I know,” Belle agreed. “I've got on my long johns as well as my britches and shirt. Along with my coat and gloves, I should be warm enough."

  When she stepped out onto the porch, she sat Black and Roy leading her horse toward the house. At least they hadn't listened to Annie's protests about her going.

  She had expected the temperature to be mild considering the snow last night, but instead it was crisp and cold enough for her to see her breath. She was glad she had dressed for the cold weather.

  In a way, she wished that Roy wasn't going with them. If they didn't find anything, it would have been the perfect opportunity to make love to Black in one of the caves and pretend that they were Indians seeking shelter from the cold.

  As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it. Lovemaking was best enjoyed in the warmth and privacy of the bedroom, although she had liked it when he took her on the east pasture.

  "Are you ready to ride?” Black asked as she came down the steps to join them.

  "I am, and I have some sandwiches that Annie packed for us in case we're still out at noon."

  Roy laughed heartily. “That old woman worries far too much, but I guess that's why I love her."

  After packing the sandwiches in their saddlebags, they rode out in silence. As they did, Belle thought about the tracks they were leaving in the fresh snow. It was almost a shame to disturb the pristine whiteness, but she knew soon it would be crisscrossed with the tracks of other animals seeking food or going from one den to another.

  They rode for almost an hour before coming to the caves that dotted the bluffs. No tracks led to any of them making Belle believe this had become a wild goose chase.

  "That first cave is the one where we found the bear,” Roy said, pointing to the dark opening in the earth. “The second one is just an opening, not large enough for a man to even stand upright. It's the one on our far left that is the best possibility."

  Roy pointed to the cave, and Belle looked in that direction as well. To her surprise, smoke came from the opening. There had to be someone in there to have a fire going.

  They left their horses a ways away from the opening and each grabbed rifles before going the rest of the way on foot.

  Black was the first to enter the cave, his rifle in his right hand and his six-shooter in his left. Roy following, leaving Belle to trail behind.

  "Who are you?” she heard Black ask.

  She couldn't make out the words the man was speaking, and stepped closer inside in order to see what was evident to her companions. Once she did, she saw a man lying on the floor of the cave in front of a dying fire.

  Black knelt next to the man. “I asked who are you?"

  "My name's Martin Newman,” he replied, his voice weak from the loss of blood. “I'm dying, but I need to have you let my wife know what happened to me. I—” The man's words were cut off by a fit of coughing. When he regained his composure, he held out a piece of paper to Black.

  "Who hired you?” Black asked, not looking at the paper.

  "Never got his name. He was a big man with sandy brown hair and a heavy mustache. He said he'd give us fifty dollars right then and there to take cattle from one end of his boss's ranch to the other. He said that when we came back and told him the job was done, he'd give us another fifty dollars. The only catch was that when we were finished, he said we'd have to leave the area. That made it a hundred dollars and that's a lot of money split four ways.” Again the man began to cough. The few words he'd spoken seemed to have exhausted him.

  Roy built up the fire, while Black and Belle assessed the man's injury. The bullet had done a lot of damage and wi
th the amount of blood the man lost, they knew he could never make it to town. As it was, it looked like he was living on borrowed time. The area around the bullet's entry point was red and pussy.

  Following Roy's instructions, Belle went to the back of the cave to get some water. Even though the man tried to take a sip of it, the effort seemed to be too much. For the first time in her life, she watched another human being die. His breathing became more and more ragged as time went on until at last, he stopped breathing altogether.

  Belle wept at the man's passing, but Black and Roy were already preparing his body to be put on the back of the horse they'd found hobbled at the back of the cave.

  "The description that man gave certainly didn't match either Clayte or Joe,” Black commented once the man was securely tied to the back of his horse.

  "No,” Roy said, “but it fits Clayte's foreman, Rance Landers. At least we've got a little more to go on now than we did before."

  "It's too bad he died,” Belle lamented. “He could have implicated Rance once he got to town. Now it's just our word against his."

  "I doubt that Joe would have believed him,” Black commented. “He's in this as deep as Clayte and he would have found a way to shut Newman up before he said much. It wouldn't be the first time a prisoner mysteriously died in his cell when he was about to name the people he was working for. It's best if we keep this information to ourselves for a while. Sooner or later either Clayte or Joe will tip their hand, and we'll be able to put them away where they belong."

  Belle tended to agree with Black. When the two men pulled the sandwiches from their saddlebags and began to eat, she knew she couldn't stomach food right now. She'd just watched a man die, and she didn't particularly like what she saw. Instead of eating, she explored the cave. Just as Roy had said, there was enough room for several men and horses and the walls were decorated with pictures of animals. She took a moment to study the pictures, and decided that they were nothing that had been drawn recently. Hundreds of years ago, other men had found this cave and had taken shelter here. It was entirely possible that they had drawn the pictures to pass the time during the cold winter months, when hunting was much harder than it had been during the spring, summer and fall.

  * * * *

  "Whatcha got there?” Joe asked, coming out of his office to meet them.

  "Black and me decided to go up to the caves to see if we could find that rustler that got away,” Roy replied, dismounting his horse to stand face to face with Joe.

  "Looks like you found him all right,” Joe said, picking the man's head up by the hair. “Don't suppose you got a name for him. I don't like burying men without proper names like I had to for those last three you brought into town."

  "He was dead when we got there,” Black said. “We did find this piece of paper alongside him. The way it reads it's the name of his wife."

  He held out the paper to Joe so that he could read it aloud. “My name is Martin Newman, and I'm dying. Please let my wife know. Her name is Patricia and she lives in Omaha."

  Joe started to crumple the paper, but Black stopped him. “If you won't honor a man's dying wish, I will. I won't let that woman go on wondering what happened to her husband."

  "Don't see why,” Joe said, spitting a stream of tobacco juice into the street. “He wasn't anything more than a lowdown rustler. He certainly came a long way to do his business."

  Black held his tongue. From the things he'd found in Newman's saddlebags, it was evident that he hadn't come to Montana with the intention of stealing cattle. He'd come to look for gold and when he hadn't found it, took the easy money offered him to rustle cattle.

  "Just the same, I'll take that paper and get a wire off to his widow.” Black snatched the crumpled sheet from Joe's hand and smoothed it out, stuffing it into his shirt pocket. He and Roy remounted their horses and nodded to Belle. It was time to get back to the ranch and figure out exactly what was going on and who was involved.

  * * * *

  Belle was glad to be back at the house. The morning and early afternoon had been trying to say the least. Not only had she seen Martin Newman die, but she had been sickened by the way Joe acted. At one time she had considered him an honorable man. After the way he'd treated her when her cattle were disappearing and how he acted today, she had no respect for him whatsoever. It was a wonder that his wife could stand to be anywhere near him.

  In the parlor, a fire burned in the grate and the girls were relaxing, wearing dresses rather than the britches they wore when they were working.

  "Did you find anything?” Kate asked.

  Belle sat down on one of the chairs closest to the fire and related what had happened in the cave as well as in town. As she did, tears ran down her cheeks. She couldn't understand why she was crying or why she had cried at the cave. She didn't know Martin Newman, probably would have never met him if he hadn't survived the gun battle with Black, Roy and the other ranchers, and yet his passing saddened her.

  "So, what did he say about the man who hired him?” Lacy questioned.

  "He gave a description. It could have easily been Rance, but Black doesn't want that to be public knowledge. He figures that sooner or later Clayte will try to rustle cattle again, and he doesn't want to scare him off. From the way Joe acted when we were in town, I have no doubt that he's in this as deeply as Clayte."

  A knock at the door interrupted what she was saying to the girls. Reluctantly, Belle left the warmth of the parlor to see who could be calling.

  To her surprise, Clayte stood on the porch. “I was just in town and heard about you finding the last of the rustlers. What in the hell were you doing going to that cave? Doesn't that drifter you hired have any more sense than to drag you out on a cold day like today, to say nothing about putting you in danger?"

  Before Belle could answer, Black came up behind Clayte on the porch. “I can tell you ain't never tried to reason with Miss Barton, Mr. Adamson. I've found it's a bit like trying to talk a rattler out of bitin’ you when you try to talk her into being sensible. She just didn't see eye to eye with Roy and me. Seems she's got this fool idea that since it's her cattle being rustled, she should be in on trackin’ down the rustlers. At least she wasn't with us the night that the lead was flyin’ in all directions. Come to think about it, you weren't there either, ‘course before that night you weren't the one losing cattle to those rustlers. Why do you think that is?"

  Clayte began to fidget. “My cattle are guarded much better than those of my neighbors. It's entirely possible that the rustlers saw my men riding nighthawk and decided to leave my cattle along. That night, my men were in town socializing so to say. I had a talk with them and it won't be happening again."

  Black nodded. “Sounds reasonable. Now just what did you come here to say?"

  "I was concerned for Belle's safety. Anything could have happened to her going up to that cave with you and Roy."

  "Ah, that's right. That first day we met, you told me that you and Miss Barton were getting hitched. It seems right funny that she couldn't remember such an agreement when I asked her about it."

  "Well, ah, well..."

  "Don't stammer, Clayte,” Belle said. “I never told you any such a thing as that I was going to marry you. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that I ordered you off the Double Bar B when you first mentioned it. I have no intentions of marrying you now or ever. If you didn't hear me when I told you the first time, I'll tell you again. You aren't welcome here."

  "You'll change your mind, Belle. Mark my words; you'll change your mind. One of these days, you'll learn that you can't run this place with a rundown old man and a passel of whores. The way I hear it this Texican of yours is planning to move on as soon as spring comes and the real work starts. He's just as lazy as any other Mex I've ever run across. He's using you, Belle. All he wants is three meals a day, a soft bed and a bunch of whores to warm it at night."

  Before Belle could comment, another rider came into the dooryard. “I've come out here to
arrest you for murder, Black.” Joe mounted the steps to the porch.

  "Murder!” Belle exclaimed. “Why?"

  "It's about that man you three paraded into town this afternoon. You had to have shot him from behind. He's the Crystal Creek Kid. Ain't no one faster than him. There's no way you could have killed him in a fair fight."

  Black turned on Joe. “You're as crazy as a hoot. Did you even examine the body? When we brought in the bodies of the other three men, we told you that we'd winged one of them. Roy and I got to thinking on it and decided he couldn't have gotten too far with his wounds. So we went up to the caves to see if he'd gone there to hold up until he was ready to ride."

  "And you made certain he wouldn't talk."

  "We made certain of nothing. He was dead when we got there. Wouldn't have even known his name if he hadn't had that piece of paper in his hand with the name of his wife on it. As for him being the Crystal Creek Kid, I rather doubt it. I heard tell he's spending time in the Colorado State Penitentiary."

  "But what about him being back shot?” Joe continued.

  "The boy ain't lyin', Joe,” Roy said as he and Annie joined the group. “I was in that shootout. In the dark, it's hard to tell if you're shooting someone from in front or behind. It could have been any of us who shot him. I ain't no doctor, but I can tell you that the wound that man had was from the front and didn't go out the back. It wasn't so much the bullet as it was the infection that killed him. Ain't never seen anything so infected in my life. It was enough to make me sick to my stomach. Now if my word ain't good enough for you, maybe we'd all better take a ride into town and see the undertaker. The body won't do no lyin'. ‘Course, we could talk to them other ranchers who were with us the night of the raid. I'm sure they'd all agree about what happened."