The Old Ranger

Other Characters by this Player

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1. 

   Captives

   Monday at 03:55 PM

   Meanwhile, while the stage coach followed the winding road, unknown to those on it they were being watched. Up on the crest of a wooded ridgeline, a party of mounted men had a grandstand view of down below and they had spotted the stage clattering along.
    
   There were almost a dozen of them, an Arapaho war party. They were fresh from a successful ambush of another white mans' wagon. They had struck hard and fast, kiling it's occupants, two wasi'chu*   wearing the blue coats. It brought them a pair of scalps but more importantly two more rifles and revolvers. One of the warriors had decided to keep a blue coat and was now wearing that ignoring the blood on it.
    
   Teestou (Strikes on Top) was the warrior who had organized this war party, a warrior of some renown in his village, he had strongly disagreed with the elders' decision not to join some of the other Arapahos who now fought alongside Sitting Bull and the Sioux. Even the great victory of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and others over the wasi'chu Yellow Hair at the Little Big Horn had not convinced the elders. So Teestou decided to go to war without their blessings and convinced the other members of the warband, a mix of men in their prime and a few older boys, to accompany him.
    
   Teestou was a bitter man, his sqaw and his two children had been killed by the wasi'chu last hunting season and he had burned for vengeance ever since. Now he would make them pay and bring glory to his name and all who rode with him.
    
   
   @Bongo
   
2. 

   Captives

   Monday at 03:33 PM

   This was not a trip Byron had really wanted to make. They were leaving Kalispell for good and really that was the only home he knew. He had friends in school, he had had to leave behind his dog and his father's horse. Well, Ma had sold the horse and the dog got given away to another farmer. Still, he'd never see either of them again. His mother said he needed to see this as a big adventure and she promised he would learn to like their new home. When they made one.
    
   But sitting up with the lady driver and the big bearded man was a whole lot more fun than being down in the passenger cabin. Oh he had been curious about the pretty young woman passenger but his mother said it was best not to talk with strangers unless spoken to.  He wasn't stupid, he could tell his mother seemed just a bit nervous about that lady. No matter, girls were kinda boring.
    
   "So....you ever been held up by robbers?" he now asked, just like what happened in those penny westerns.
    
   
    
   Ross chuckled, "Well, not sure about Addy here but I was robbed once. Not on a stage though but in a back alley in Helena. I mighta had a few too many drinks though cuz I didn't even remember their faces."
    
   
    
   "Oh yeah? How many of em?" the boy was fascinated.
    
   "About thirty I think," Ross replied in a straight face, not sure just gullible the kid might be.
    
   Byron gave him a look, "Now you're fibbin'."
    
   "Yeah, son, supposin' I am. But hey, you want a true story of adventure, Addy here 'll tell ya one. She once killed a huge bear that had the whole territory scared. And she just did it with her knife. Tell the boy, Addy," Ross was grinning.
    
   @Bongo
    
    
   
3. 

   Big Flat & Beyond

   Sunday at 10:25 PM

   Toole slowed his horse so as not to run him out, he had a ways to go, and in all actuality, there was no real rush. Not that he would be at the bar in the saloon for more that one drink, if that. Case trusted him, and that meant more to him than a little whiskey. No, he would be there to seek out information to take back.
    
   Of course Toole had no idea the bank had been robbed the night before, actually hours before and he would just miss Walt Shannon and company by a matter of hours, making their escape. And he would not know that there was a posse on their trail, or what they thought might be their trail. After all, right or wrong Sheriff Roy Middleton had to make an effort, and they really had no actual 'this is it' trail to follow. Soft sand left no discernible trail to follow, so it was a guess on his part, and he had no idea how accurate that guess was.
    
   However, as in all lucky guesses, there is always an element of error.
    
   Toole pulled up seeing the rising dust ahead of him. It meant that a group of riders was moving fast in his direction, could it be a posse out of Big Flat? If so, how in Hades had they stumbled on their trail? They were pushing hard, too hard to be cowboys, and he'd seen no sign of a herd behind him. He jerked the reins hard around, and put spurs to his mount who responded by leaping forward, which was now the way back to Case and the boys.
    
   His rough estimate of the size of the party was eight to ten me, in actuality it was half a dozen men, men invested in the town of Proctor, and men whose money had been taken in the dead of night and they wanted to get it back one way or another. Most were unaware that there had been a payroll for a mining company in that safe, as well as their savings and receipts from their businesses. They would see the rider moving away in a hurry and immediately would assume he was one of the robbers.
   
   
4. 

   Big Flat & Beyond

   January 7

   Walt Shannon squatted by the fire just a couple of miles from where Case Steelgrave was  camped. They had seen smoke and skirted the area, not knowing who or what might be found at that fire. They would noon, take stock of what they had taken, and then move on, if there was a posse, they would see the other smoke, and that would take them off of their trail, even though they didn't leave much of one. Indian Charlie saw to that.
    
   There was over four thousand dollars that had been stuffed in the saddle bags, currently dumped on a blanket where it had been counted and re-stacked. Now, after that there was a good seven or eight hundred dollars in 'stray' cash along with a couple bags of coins. Those would be split up between them shortly. The lions share of the money taken, less fifteen percent, came out to thirty-four hundred dollars for Case.
    
   "So, what are ya gonna do with their cut? Put it in another box and leave it somewhares?" Wally asked.
    
   "No. You seen that smoke? Well I'd say that's probably them. we could just ride on over there an' hand it to 'em, but maybe that posse, if there is one, they'd see their smoke and then we risk being nabbed. So I think we get our bearings for the next job and maybe shadow 'em a ways. That is, unless they like laying around out here." Shannon explained.
    
   He was not for taking chances, their luck was holding and there was no sense jinxing it by being stupid. "So next on the list is cross country to Rollins. Take a couple days ain't but ten miles, maybe twelve, but hard country. No posse'll be followin' us that way. And Rollins has itself a nice little bank."
    
   
5. 

   Captives

   January 5

   "Yeah, never raised me any kids myself. I think I told ya, I was married once when I was a young man but she up and died on me. Got some fever and went quick like. I reckoned it was an omen I was never meant to be hitched," Ross explained.
    
   Addy asked about his current situation, in that jokey way of hers. Ross liked that she didn't seem to take things too seriously. He liked easy going folk.
    
   "Not much, the usual. I been working on fixin' my leaky roof on my place. Figure I better do it now before winter sets in."
    
   
    
   The stage soon cleared Kalispell and headed on down the winding road that would eventually lead to Helena. It was scenic territory  what with mountains and plenty of woods. The dirt road sufficed during good weather but could be a might tricky in the rain or early snows. Midwinter the passes were usually completely closed down by huge snowfalls made worse by drifts.
    
    
   
6. 

   Big Flat & Beyond

   January 5

   Daylight found Sheriff Roy Middleton standing in the doorway of the Proctor Bank, the back door where he had just untied Deputy Dawes Richardson who was trying to explained what had happened.
    
   "I started my rounds like always. As I passed the bank I could see the back door was open. Now lookin' at it, well, Freddy McCorkle, you know the teller, well, he's left the back door open afore, so I figgered he'd done it again, so I proceeded to walk around back, there was a man kneelin' at the safe, and that's when the lights went out. Next I knew I was bound, gagged, an' they wuz gone with the safe's contents."
    
   Just then bank manger, owner Dwyer Elllis came in through the front door and surveyed what could be seen, two lawmen and an open back door. "Damn it!" he shouted, both lawmen looking at him. "What the hell are we paying you for, Middleton? My bank robbed! There was a payoll in there, as well as other valuables and important papers, and I assume they are all gone?"
    
   Dwyer Ellis sat on the town board, as they called it, and was almost as unliked as the current mayor Eethan Clark who would be there the moment he heard the news. That would not be long as Edna Whipple had paused at the door eaves dropping, then hurried off. The whole town would know in a matter of minutes.
    
   "What do ya want from us. Dawes here volunteered for the job til we fill it, and a mans gotta sleep sometime. You think there was any warning? Any hint someone was gonna hit this bank last night? Who ever heard of robbing a bank at night? In the gawddamned middle of the night? They blew the safe without so much as a peep that anyone heard!"
    
   Dawes looked from one to the other wondering what was really going to happen.
    
   "Why aren't you after them?" Ellis demanded to know, as if there should already be a mounted posse in pursuit of the desperadoes, obviously there was more than one of them.
    
   "Well, Ellis," The man hated to be called by his last name without a Mister in front of it, "It'd take a good hour 'er better to mount a posse, and by then God knows where they could be. But if you want my badge, you can damn sure have it." He paused, "They're long gone, maybe a couple trackers could pick up a trail, but a trail of how many, and in which direction. If they went to the dry wash? Hell, soft sand, just like what edges the wash for miles both directions? Fat damn chance we find anything!"
    
   Then no one spoke, because what Sheriff Middleton said was true.
   
7. 

   Big Flat & Beyond

   December 31, 2021

   Temporary Deputy Dawes Richardson cussed Freddy McCorkle up one side and own the other. This wasn't the first time McCorkle had left a door open, not that there had ever been anything to worry about in Proctor. A town where everybody knew everybody, and every stranger was viewed with suspicion. A quiet, no nonsense town, Sheriff Roy Middleton kept it that way.
    
   Richardson came around the corner of the building and stepped inside, seeing the man kneeling at the safe he opened his mouth to speak as he hand went for his gun when the lights went out.
    
   Indian Charley was prepared when the man stepped in the door, he never had a chance to say a word before the barrel of Charlie's Smith and Wesson Russian met the man's skull. He dropped like a sack of potatoes! Without a word he took up the piggin' string he carried for just this sort of emergency. He bound Richardson's hands, took his gun, laid it on the counter, then drug the man outside away from what came next.
    
   Charley hauled in the mattress, holding it until Wally was ready. The 'cracker' nodded, Charlie moved the mattress into position, Walt moved to the door and stepped out. Wally looked up, smiled, touched his cheroot to the fuse made sure it was going good and backed out, then Charlie set the ma tress in place and followed him outside.
    
   The muffled explosions could barely be heard, and that was good. The room was filled with smoke that escaped from under the mattress, and from the fire that had started on it. Charlie drug it outside as Walt rushed in with the saddlebags and he and Wally emptied the safe.
    
   They paused at the horses just long enough to listen, no one yelled, no windows slid up, no doors slammed, they were clear! They quickly mounted and walked their horses about  ten yards before touching spurs to their animals, causing them to leap to a full gallop racing for the dry wash, which would carry them north before they left it for the soft sand, and then into the trees. No shouts, no shots, no posse.
   
8. 

   Big Flat & Beyond

   December 28, 2021

   Proctor Montana was fast asleep, a slight breeze stirring the dusty streets. There was a light in the Sheriff's office, the night deputy would likely be sound asleep  at his desk, a good place for him. It hardly ever failed that the night man, deputy or not, ever made rounds much after ten o'clock, there was hardly ever anyone up past that hour on a week night. The saloon was dark, as expected.
    
   While Case Steelgrave and any number of his men were a bit deranged, evil and sadistic, Walt Shannon, Injun Charlie and Wally Oldham were all about the challenge of taking a bank at night, and no one knowing until the morning. They didn't want to have to kill anyone, nor were they especially afraid of dying themselves. It was their ability to get in, empty the safe, and get out unseen.
    
   They had been in luck at the mercantile, the back door was unlocked, the mattresses were staked next to the door as if they had just been delivered. Oldham was working on the back door of the bank while Walt and Charlies went after the mattress, when the two arrived Wally was already at work on the safe. If their information was correct, and it generally was, a payroll sat inside the iron box.
    
   They would have to make do with a powder charge as they had run short of the acid Wally Oldham preferred to use. But they were adaptable to whatever situation they faced. A little noise, muffled by the mattress and they would be in.
    
   Wally was just about ready to light it off when there was a rattling of the front door. Both Charlie and Walt were deep in the shadows, Wally kneeling by the safe when they heard an expletive, the moonlight though the back door was seen and whoever was outside was cussing somebody named Freddy and tromping toward the side of the building, on his way to the back where the door hung precariously from its hinges. Charlie had his pistol out, and was easing toward the door, Wally froze in place. They had been through this before.
   
9. 

   Big Flat & Beyond

   December 6, 2021

   Ralston Pettigrew stood looking across the counter at the two men who said they had been advised by the bar keep that their boss, Case Steelgrave, had a parcel waiting, but that he was pushing the herd north. They wanted to pick it up.
    
   Well, the name was well known throughout Montana, both the father and the son, as well as the brothers and one sister so it was without caution that he placed a crate of some sort, wrapped in butcher paper with Cases name scrawled on the front. with it an envelope.
    
   Toole took up the weighty package, obviously a box, carefully wrapped, tied with  a cord, the envelope tucked under the cord. They thanked the man, who was equally as glad to have anything Steelgrave off of his hands. Toole and Guthrie mounted up and headed back out of town, have enjoyed a couple of drinks, picking up the package for Case, and finding out none were wanted in connection with Big Flat.
    
   They rode for the camp without delay.
    
   ----------------------------
    
   'Case, in the box is your share of the first proceeds. Seventy percent. I took five percent to re-supply.
   Total haul from Garnet $1978.00, less thirty percent, $1684.00. We'll be in contact before Trout Creek.'
    
   "I'll be damned!" Case said as he broke in the top of the crate. "Look it that!" A mixture of gold coin and paper money which was quickly counted and totaled as promised. The packaging had been meticulous, the coin wrapped tight so as not to make any noise. Most of the paper was of low denomination, but it would spend just the same, and they had done no work for these proceeds. "So lemme see, reckon we each get one hundred forty dollars, for doin' nothin'!" 
    
   That made everybody happy!
    
    
    
   
10. 

    Big Flat & Beyond

    November 29, 2021

    Case and the gang sat, or stood, wondering what the hell had just happened. They had them, out numbered out gunned, yet three men had them flat footed. They had taken the list of banks and fled, while the Steelgrave gang did nothing. None of them had ever seen the like and certainly were not about to discuss their seeming ineptitude in the situation. It was embarrassing.
     
    So, they drank and ate before the mounted up, each with his own thoughts, mostly about what would happen when next they crossed paths, each promising it would not be pleasant for the three bank robbers.
     
    The ride to Proctor Montana was slow and easy, little conversation even in camp. But they stayed together, no one left the gang as there were other plans, banks had just been one part of the things they were going to be involved with, meaning they would be robbing them themselves. Far riskier, but necessary. Men didn't work for free.
     
    Case sent Toole and Guthrie in to town to see what was up in Proctor, always the safe way to do things, in the event any of them turned up wanted in connection with Big Flat. A stop in the saloon provided all the information that they needed, with the right questions asked about mining, range condition, were any outfits hiring, the coast was clear. But one thing happened they were not prepared for, the bar keep asked if they "knew" a Case Steelgrave, as there was a package for him at the express office.
     
    Two things were possible, it was a set up, or it was on the level. There was just one way for them to find out.