climbed this here mountain to figure out what was goin’ on. That’s when that man attacked us. He kept askin’ us about a gunslinger, but I didn’t know what he was talkin’ about. We didn't know what to tell him, so he said he'd take us to some person named Lane who would make us talk." A half-truth was always better than an outright lie.
“Lane... Lane Sadlann, I suppose,” He said to himself. “There we go - finally!”
"What? I don’t get it." Hugg tried to speculate.
"No, nothing that concerns you. I have to thank you, though. You saved me from having to retrieve the body of that outlaw over there. Now I don’t have to, ‘cause I've already gotten what I needed. Your faces don’t seem to be on any wanted flyer, at least not from what I can recall. Anyhow, I still don't fully trust you, so you’ll have to come with me to my company’s camp. If you are who you say you are, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Where did you leave your horses?”
“We don’t have no horses, Sir. How great it would be to have one. We could cross this desert in a few hours.”
“I suspected as much. Damn! It would take us too long to get to the others at Cactus Cross.” The man was cautiously aware that they could be in cahoots with the band of outlaws he was hunting. Therefore, in order to avoid any unpleasant surprises, he would have preferred to take them with him. Everything appeared to be pointing to the contrary, but in outlaw country one could never be too careful. On the other hand, he intended to get back to his company’s camp as soon as possible to get the necessary reinforcements. If he was any bit the bounty hunter he once was he would have taken them out at even the slightest suspicion just to get them out of his way. However, he was a man of the law now, so he had to put aside the more cynical part of himself.
"Ok son, tie your father to that tree," he ordered, throwing him a rope. When he saw the young man hesitate, he added, "Don't worry. It's just a precaution. I have to do something first, then I'll come back and untie you. Look, I'll give you my blanket to keep the chill off."
Regrettably, Weasel did as he was told.
"Now, I have to tie you up too. I suggest that you don’t do anything stupid or try to take off.”
“I’m not takin’ off! I’m not leavin’ my Paw,” he whined, emulating the insufferable voice of Denner, the only other kid in Little Pit.
The lawman put his gun back into his holster and took him by the arm to tie him up. Without warning, Weasel planted a booted heel on his foot and tried to escape, but to no avail. The man's grip was firm. The only thing he got out of it was a curse, but it bought his father the one distracted moment he needed bash the man’s head in with a rock. The boy was skilled at knot-tying, and the false knot was his specialty.
“Did you kill him?”
“He look alive to you?” The ill-fated man’s eye was dangling from its socket.
"You could’ve just knocked him out. After all, he did just save our hides.”
“Well, since you’re so grateful to him, it’ll be you who’ll go warn his buddies since he won’t be able to. In these parts not many folks know who I am, but that don’t mean there’s nobody can identify me.” If the Rangers could take out the outlaws, it would eliminate the threat.
1 This side of the law.
Damn it, his old man could have gone a little easier on him!
Before sending him off to approach the Rangers, poor Finn’s father had practically beaten him to a pulp in order to make his appearance more effective and believable. He probably didn’t intend to go so hard on him, but just as appetite increases the more one eats, so the oaf grew a liking to pummeling the boy.
The general idea wasn’t bad at all. While many Rangers were corrupt and opportunistic, it was still hard to find one who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to run to the aid of a poor, helpless boy who had been beaten senseless by outlaws. In the end, they were still just jackasses with a hero complex. Weasel struggled with the idea that adults could be so ignorant. He wasn’t necessarily surprised by the naivety as much as he was surprised by the fact that they had survived for so many years in spite of it.
He arrived, winded and wheezing at Cactus Cross camp, but it was no act; he really was in bad shape. He fell forward and raised a hand, pleading for help, then unceremoniously face-planted into the dirt.
There were eight men. Right away one of them lifted him up and poured some water in his mouth to revive him.
“Hey, kiddo, what happened to you?” The man was massive and ungracious, but it was easy to see that he was trying to be gentle with him. Bingo! Here was the first aspiring hero.
He slowly opened his eyes and pretended to not be able to focus properly on his surroundings, then gave a couple of coughs and began to babble unintelligibly.
“Come on, kid! Take another sip and talk slowly. Do you, or do you not, want us to help you?”
“They’re gonna kill everybody! Maw! Paw!” He said, rolling his eyes to the back of his head.
“Who’s gonna kill everybody? Where?”
“They lit the barn on fire! Gunslingers, on horseback. They shot to kill! They lined us all up in front of Joe’s old saloon. I cried and they beat me!” He had to pretend to be recovering from the shock by slowly coming to his senses and giving sensible information.
"Damn, son! Speak up, now! You’re safe here, we’re the Law. Can you at least tell us where you came from?"
"From Little Pit, Sir!" He pulled himself together and breathed from his nose. "I was on the ground in terrible pain. Sean tried to shoot those bad guys from his attic and I went and hid in the saloon’s crawlspace. Then I crawled out the other side and ran off into the desert."
“Much better! Now try to give me some more information about them, boy. It’s important! Any detail you can give us will help. For starters, did you hear them say any names?”
“There was a guy they called Lane. He was the meanest; he beat up lots of people. He’s the one who did this to me.”
“Lane, you say? Very good, boy!” In return for his story, he got a tender pat on the head that made his stomach turn. “Hey! You guys hear? I think the kid may have found “the Butcher” Sadlann. Seems like Cardigan was right all along. Let’s go!”
"Well why didn’t Cardigan come and tell us, then?" Objected a blond man who had been dozing near the campfire using a saddle as a pillow. He didn’t seem to want to inconvenience himself too much by getting up.
"They could’ve taken him out. Or worse, they might’ve taken him prisoner to interrogate him. Admit it, you’re flunking out because Sadlann gives you the willies!" He antagonized the blond man.
“Hey, watch your mouth! I’d break your face if I didn’t have to get up to do it. I fully intend to get another couple hours of sleep. Besides, geezer, yesterday we busted our asses to follow the trail and now you expect me to saddle up again before dawn. Loyalty is all fine and good, but for the beans the government gives us, I ain’t in no hurry.”
“Pull yourself together, Rick. Get your ass up! We ain’t got time to waste!” He insisted.
“Who
