The Marshal of Two Forks (Bailey Clan Westerns Book 4)

Book summary

In The Marshal of Two Forks, law and order hang by a thread as Tally Stevens, outmatched in a deadly Arizona town, calls on his friends for backup. When Mark Bailey steps in as marshal, he faces ruthless outlaws and an escalating battle for control. With cowboys rallying to his side, Mark fights to protect Two Forks in a gripping Western standoff.

Excerpt from The Marshal of Two Forks (Bailey Clan Westerns Book 4)

The Double S Ranch

Brian Bailey raced his horse after the running bull that was trying to make it to a deep, shrub-filled ravine. He had his lariat in hand and was waiting to get close enough to dab the loop over the longhorn. This was a tough and wily bull, one of the original herd that they had brought to the Animas from Texas to start their ranch. At their last tally, they had found that they were missing many head of cattle, and at first they had suspected rustlers. But Brian had done some scouting around and had found that a small herd of cows and heifers had taken shelter in a deep ravine that was filled with shrubs, trees, and boulders, making it difficult to drive them out. He had also found the bull that had led them there and had promptly named it Bronco Bull. Bronco Bull had thwarted their efforts to drive the herd out of the ravine, by hiding in the trees and then suddenly charging the cowboys who came near. After two cowboys had been hurt and a horse gored by the bull, they had dropped the notion of driving the herd out of the ravine. Brian told Mark, “We got to get Bronco Bull first when he’s out of the ravine, and then it will be easy to drive out the rest. But we got to get him first!”

They told the ranch hands to keep an eye out for Bronco Bull; if anyone spotted the bull, he was to call for the others to help cut the bull off from the ravine first before throwing a loop on him. That fateful day, Brian was riding alone, just scouting the area, when he spotted Bronco Bull trying to push some cows towards the ravine. It was less than two miles to the ravine, and Brian decided that there was no time to call on Mark or the other ranch hands, so he started for the bull by himself. The wily bull spotted his horse when he was still half a mile away and immediately turned around and headed for the ravine. Brian slowly increased his speed to close the gap without alarming the bull, but Bronco Bull had other ideas and began to run at top speed for the ravine, with Brian giving chase. Brian realized that the bull would have to swerve to reach the ravine, and turning his horse slightly, he started riding at a tangent to the bull. He was starting to cut the bull off from the ravine when Bronco Bull suddenly swerved and charged straight for him. Nothing much would have happened if Brian had been riding his favorite cutting horse, because the horse would have easily avoided the bull’s charge, and then Brian would have dabbed a loop on him. But on this day, he was riding a freshly broken mustang to get the kinks out of the horse.

When Bronco Bull charged, the mustang was just a tad slow in getting out of the way, and the bull hit the horse a glancing blow with his massive horn, throwing horse and rider to the ground. The horn tore open the horse from shoulder to belly, and the horse was dying as it fell. Unfortunately for Brian, he was off balance and couldn’t jump off the horse fast enough, and the horse landed on his leg. He was struggling to free his leg when Bronco Bull spun around and came snorting and charging straight at him. Brian sighed and tried to get his rifle from the sheath, but it was held down by the horse’s weight. The sight of a maddened bull charging straight at you with those long, pointed horns would have panicked many a man, but not Brian. He drew his pistol and first shot the dying horse in the head, putting it out of its misery. Then he calmly rested his elbow on the dead horse and took careful aim before squeezing the trigger. His aim was true, and the bullet entered the bull’s brain through the eye. Even then it was touch and go for Brian, as the momentum of the dead bull’s charge kept it moving forward until it collapsed just a foot away from Brian’s dead mount.

Brian was still struggling to free his leg when his brother Mark and Joe Lamprey came riding up to him. They swung down from their saddles, and together, using their lariats, they managed to shift the dead horse and free Brian’s leg. While Mark was checking Brian’s leg, Joe surveyed the scene and remarked, “This is as close as it can get. Another three feet and that there bull would have landed right on top of you.” Brian said feelingly, “Don’t I know it! For a moment there, I thought that I was a goner for sure. That there is Bronco Bull, and although it pained me to kill him, there was no other way. This mustang was just a tad slow in getting out of his way, and one of the horns gored it. I had to get my leg out of the way of the horn, and I reckon I was off balance when the horse dropped, so I couldn’t jump clear in time.” Mark had checked out his brother’s leg, and now he said, “Nothing broken as far as I can tell, but you are going to be laid up for at least a month.”

Joe was bent over the dead bull and suddenly he stood up and exclaimed, “A true son of the hills of Tennessee! He shot it through the eye, for crying out loud!” He turned to Mark and said, “Not between the eyes, mind you, but through the eye.” Mark shook his head and said, “Not even with a rifle, but with a pistol; and with his leg trapped under the horse just to make it more interesting.” He turned to his brother and asked him, “You trying to prove something, Brian?” His brother shrugged and said, “Didn’t have much choice; anywhere else and the bullet might have glanced off a bone. Besides, I couldn’t free my rifle from the sheath.” Joe looked at Mark and said laconically, “Never thought he’d be such a show-off.” Brian and Mark laughed, and then Brian winced as he tried to move his leg. Mark told him, “Stay still while we make a travois for you.” He rode away and came back after a while with two long poles. He and Joe used the horse blankets to fashion a travois with the two poles, and then they carefully placed Brian on it. They then attached the travois to Mark’s saddle using their lariats and started for the ranch.

They rode slowly and carefully, taking care to avoid small rocks and rough ground to avoid jolting Brian as much as possible. Brian never made a sound, but at each bump in the trail, he gritted his teeth against the pain that shot through his leg. They rode into the ranch yard and Brian’s wife Sue came running out. Mark told her, “He’ll be okay, just busted up his leg a mite. You go get a bed ready while we carry him in.” He looked around and called out to a ranch hand, “Bill! That door you were making for the new bunkhouse, bring it here pronto!” They carefully shifted Brian onto the door to keep his leg straight and then carried him into the house and laid him on his bed. Sue cut away the pant to expose the leg, and she gasped at what she saw. The leg was already swollen from just above the knee right down to the ankle. It was mottled with red and blue angry patches and was bleeding in some places where the skin had split. Joe told Sue, “You just clean it up as much as you can. I’ll be back with some Indian medicine.”

By the time Sue had cleaned up the leg, Joe was back with a bunch of leaves and some bark. He told Sue, “Put some of this here bark in boiling water and let it boil for some time. Then cool it a mite and let him drink some of the water; it will help with the pain and the swelling. While you do that, I’ll make a poultice out of these leaves and we’ll smear it all over his leg, and then wrap it up; it seems to always help wounds to heal. You got to clean the leg and change the poultice every day.” Sue had water already boiling, and she dumped the bark in the water. She had cut up a bedsheet into long strips, and she said, “These will do to wrap the entire leg. I’ll apply the poultice to his leg while you go and bring in our guest from the bunkhouse.”

Brian grunted and asked her, “We have a guest?” It was Mark who told him, “Says his name’s Clayton Moss and that Tally Stevens sent him to find us. That’s as far as he got when we heard the shot, and I told Bill to keep him in the bunkhouse until I returned. Joe had also heard the shot, and we met up on the way. You want to wait and talk to him later?” Brian shook his head and said, “Let’s hear what he has to say; might as well get it over with while the shock keeps the pain away.” Joe came back with a short, broad-shouldered, tough-looking man who had miner written all over him. The man slowly shook his head as he looked at Brian’s leg and said, “Looks like Tally’s luck is running out.”

Brian tried to shift his position and grunted with pain. He looked at Clayton and said, “Last we seen of Tally, he was determined to make Heaven his last stop.” Clayton smiled and said, “I met up with him there, but the mines in Purgatory began to play out and Tally got restless. Me and four other miners went with him when he left the town. We were newcomers, and there wasn’t much for us there anyway. We travelled to Arizona’s Sonoran desert because Tally remembered a place there where he had stopped one time, some years ago. He told us that he was sure there was gold and silver there, but that before he had a chance to prospect, he was chased away by Indians.”

Sue had started to apply the poultice, and Mark was cooling the brew from the bark. She told Clayton, “You’re welcome to have lunch with the boys, but right now we need to see to Brian’s leg. You can come back after you’ve eaten and tell us the rest of the story.” Brian started to protest, but Sue told him firmly, “You stay still until I finish applying this poultice and get the leg wrapped up; time enough to talk after that.” She told Joe, “You see that our guest gets fed, and you tell cookie that I want a lot of strong beef broth and some fresh bread for our patient.” Joe said, “Yes, Ma’am! We’ll be back in an hour. I would say that Mark could talk to our guest, but you know your husband.” Sue sighed and shook her head, “Don’t I know him! You come back in an hour, and he can hear the rest of it; and then he’s going to sleep. No visitors for at least a day!”