He was no tracker and he made no attempt at it now. He rode straight for the cabin that Holstrum had on his claim, where the man named Moorhouse was the caretaker.
There was a small cabin, a stable, and a corral. In the corral were several horses, none of them showing signs of having been recently ridden. As he pulled up in the yard the cabin door opened and a big man came out. And he was very big.
He came out of the door slipping a suspender over his shoulder. “You lookin’ for somethin’?”
Shanaghy touched the badge on his chest. “I have to search the place.” The big man came into the middle of the yard. “You’ll play hell. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll git!”
“Sorry, I have to search the place, Mr. Moorhouse.”
“Know my name, huh?”
“Of course. The law knows such things.”
“Then you should damn well know that tin badge ain’t worth nothin’ outside of town. And not very much in it.”
Shanaghy smiled. “I’d hate to have to put you in jail for obstructing the law.”
Moorhouse laughed harshly. “You arrest me?”
“That’s right.” Shanaghy was smiling. “But I’ll have a look at the stable first.”
“Mister,” Moorhouse said, “I given you a chance. You git out of here now or they won’t be enough left of you to pick up with a sponge.” Shanaghy smiled. “You know, Mr. Moorhouse, I like you. Now I’m going to search the premises, and if you obstruct me I’m going to throw you in jail. We haven’t any courthouse and we haven’t any city hall and we haven’t any jail, but I can shackle you hand and foot, and I’ll do it. Maybe next week I’d come out to see how you’re getting along, but I might forget.”
Moorhouse started toward him. Shanaghy kicked his feet out of the stirrups and dropped to the ground. He moved so quickly, Moorhouse was surprised. The big man stopped abruptly, half turned and Tom Shanaghy hit him. The punch was a good one and Shanaghy could hit, but Moorhouse didn’t even stagger. He swung a wicked roundhouse blow that Shanaghy went under, smashing both hands to the ribs.
Moorhouse grabbed him by the shirt and vest and swung him around, throwing him to the ground a half dozen feet away. Tom lit on hands and knees and drove at Moorhouse with a driving tackle that brought the big man crashing down. Shanaghy was up first. “Get up, Mr. Moorhouse. They tell me you’re a tough man. You can let me search the place or continue with this nonsense and take a beating.”
“Nobody ever beat me,” Moorhouse said, and he started at Shanaghy. Tom feinted and smashed a right to the ribs. He stepped around, feinted again and started to the right. Moorhouse rushed, swinging with both fists. He caught Tom with a roundhouse left that knocked him staggering, and followed it up with a clubbing right that drove him to his knees. Tom came up fast, hooking to the body again, and Moorhouse grabbed him in his huge hands, throwing him over his knee. “Now I break your back,” he said calmly.
Shanaghy turned, twisted and tried to break free, but the big hands drove him back. Excruciating pain shot through Tom’s back. He jerked a hand free and smashed a right to the big man’s face. He seemed impervious to blows, as Tom hammered him again and again, and then he hunched himself higher and began to press Shanaghy down harder and harder.
Shanaghy threw his legs high, trying to break free, then higher. He managed to lock one leg under Moorhouse’s chin and against his throat. He smashed his knee toward the man’s Adam’s apple. Although he did not reach it, the big man let go with one hand to tear the leg from his throat. Shanaghy gave a terrific iunge and broke free.
He staggered to his feet and Moorhouse came up, diving at him. Shanaghy clubbed him behind the head, driving him to the earth. Moorhouse came up again, caught him with a wild swing, and Shanaghy stepped inside, ripping wicked uppercuts to the bigger man’s unprotected body. Moorhouse staggered and went back, and Tom threw a high overhand right to the chin.
It caught Moorhouse squarely and he went to his knees. Tom Shanaghy backed off a step. “Get up,” he said. “You wanted to fight. Now let’s get started.”
Moorhouse looked at his bruised knuckles. “There has been enough fighting for today,” he said sourly.
“Then I shall search the house.”
“Search and be damned. There is nothing there.” Moorhouse turned and stared at him from bloody, battered features. “They have beaten you,” he said. “You are whipped.”
He smiled, revealing a broken tooth and bloody lips. “And now they will kill you. I heard them say it. If it is the last thing they do, they will kill you.”
NINETEEN
A quick survey of the house revealed nothing beyond the fact that a woman had been living there. A few odds and ends remained, a broken comb for her hair, some strands of ash-blonde hair, and a faint lingering perfume, almost intangible.
Moorhouse was sitting on the steps, his head in his hands, when Shanaghy emerged. He looked up, a bloody handkerchief in his hands. “You hit hard,” he said grudgingly.
“You asked for it.”
“That I did. Never figgered anybody could do it.”
“No need to feel ashamed. I’ve done some bare-knuckle fighting.”
“Figgered it. Why I quit. There’s no use bucking a stacked deck.”
Shanaghy sat down beside him. “These folks friends of yours?” “Not by a damn sight. That woman … She’s too high an’ mighty. Ordered me around like I was a slave. Only one she’d talk to was him.” “Holstrum?”
“Aye. Seems like she’d set her cap for him-only I don’t think she liked him, either. They was up to something, all of them together.” “They stole a gold shipment that was to pay off cowhands in town. Most of it belonged to Greenwood.”
The big man was silent, dabbing at his broken mouth. “Well, I done killed a man or two but I’m no thief. I’d no part in it.”
“Didn’t think you had. How many of them are there?”
“There’s him … Holstrum, I mean, and there’s that young woman who lived here. Then there was George Alcott, Pin Brodie, an’ there was two others whose names I never did get. They didn’t come here but once or twice.” “They are all together now?”
“They are.”
“Any idea where they are headed?”
“You think they’d talk to me? Scarce give me the time of day. Was I you I’d guess they was going east. Two or three of them are easterners, and her who was running the shebang, she wanted to go east.”
“The woman who lived here? She was running the show?” “Not her. The other woman. I never seen her. She come here a couple of times but at night. Seems like she met them out on the grass somewheres. Now and again I heard talk. Led me to thinkin’ she was the bull o’ the woods … the boss, I mean. She was somewheres over west, I reckon. She come and went from that direction, and from a thing or two she said I figgered she had her a place over yonder.”
Shanaghy took his time thinking about it. They were on horseback now, and they were headed south, but he had a hunch that Moorhouse’s comment was probably the right one, and that they were headed east.
Holstrum had been looking for a “lady,” an eastern woman who had what he considered class. Now he had her, and he would have money and he would be heading east. At least, that was the way he had it planned. “You liked Holstrum?”
Moorhouse shrugged. “He paid me on time. He never complained none. He just wanted folks kept off and away, especially after that woman come. He didn’t want anybody around … Not that anybody ever did come.” “I think they mean to kill him.”
“What?” Moorhouse passed a hand over his brow. “Well, I feared for it. It was plain to see he figgered he was in charge, but he wasn’t. Not a’tall. It was that woman, and after her it was George. Holstrum, he give orders an’ ever’body was almighty respectful of him, but behind his back they made their own plans. I heared ‘em.”
The whole gang was riding now and they had a good start. Shanaghy had taken time looking for wagon tracks, and he had lost time in his fight with Moorhouse, but from the information he might save time. Never one to arrive at decisions too quickly, he thought the situation over carefully. “Mr. Moorhouse? What’s off to the south?”
“Ain’t nothing. Not for miles ‘n miles. Nothing but prairie grass an’ antelope. ‘Casional buffalo. That’s why I figgered east. West there’s nothing, either, ‘cept maybe that other woman’s place, an’ it don’t seem likely she’d take ‘em there, her bein’ so careful not to be seen, and all.” East, then. Shanaghy thought of it carefully. Holstrum was known in Kansas City, at least to a few people. If Shanaghy rode after them, he would have to almost kill his horse in catching up, and they might have fresh horses waiting, which would leave him stranded on the prairie and out of action. He got up. “Sit tight, Mr. Moorhouse. I’ll be calling on you.”