Reuben Cole Westerns Collection - The Complete Series

Excerpt from Reuben Cole Westerns Collection

They brought them in, four men, bound, heads bowed as they traipsed through the fort gates. Apaches. None turned and reacted to the many derisory comments and sneers from the civilians lining up to watch them. Some of the cavalrymen who formed the prisoner detail laughed. Cole threw a sharp glance at the officer in charge. “Shut your men up, Lieutenant!”

The young man turned away, shame-faced, and barked orders at his men. Disgruntled, the soldiers gradually fell into silence, but their scathing looks continued.

Riding alongside Cole, the young trooper who had gone out into the plains to track down the motley looking Indians, leaned closer. “Mr Cole, I’m not sure we should antagonise any of my fellow-soldiers. If we hint at any sympathy for these here savages, then I’m likely to come up against some bad feelings in the bunkhouse later on.”

“Sympathy?” Cole’s eyes grew dark. “These boys were ripped from their homes and forced marched across a hundred miles of scrub to a reservation that bears no resemblance to anything they have known. I don’t blame ‘em for breaking out. But shooting the guards, that was wrong.”

“And that’s why they’ll hang.”

“I believe so if it can be proved.”

“Which it will be, surely.”

“Unless hatred and suspicion get in the way. We have to be certain because if we ain’t then there could be trouble. There are still roaming bands of Kiowa and Comanche out there and I hate to think what they might do if we act too hastily. Besides,” Cole turned in his saddle and peered at the three Apaches shuffling bare-footed across the ground, “we didn’t catch ‘em all. There’s at least two more out there.”

“Including their leader perhaps?”

Grunting, Cole studied the young soldier. “You did well out there, son. I’m impressed. What did you say your name was?”

“Vance,” and he gave an involuntary salute. “I haven’t long been in uniform, Mr Cole. Still learning on the job, as it were.”

“Well, you sure learned a lot these last few days, that’s for sure. Next time we’re called out to track down anyone, I’ll be asking for you.”

Red-faced, Vance quickly looked away, but couldn’t suppress a grin. “My, that is praise indeed. Thank you, Mr Cole.”

“You sound educated, son. I wonder why an educated young man would want to seek out a life in the U.S. Cavalry, especially out here in this godforsaken land.”

“Lots of reasons.”

“Well, I won’t press you none, but I’m grateful that you did, whatever the reasons.” He smiled before pulling his horse away, gesturing to the other troopers flanking the captured Apaches. “Move ‘em over to the jail boys and make sure they is bound up tight.”

“They’re not going anywheres,” said a rough-looking corporal, laughing.

“Even so, you don’t take any chances with boys like this.”

As the Indians shuffled by, the lead warrior stopped and looked up towards Cole. “You are the one they call He Who Comes. To be captured by you is an honour.” He turned his attention to the other soldiers. “But I tell you this. We shall not submit, and we will bring suffering down upon you.” He looked again at Cole. “Even you, He Who Comes.”

Remaining tight-lipped, Cole watched as the scrawny looking Apache were pushed and shoved towards the tiny blockhouse prison.

“What did he mean by that?” asked Vance, rubbing his chin, a deathly pallor falling over his face.

“I don’t know but go tell that Lieutenant to double the guards tonight, Vance. Just to be on the safe side.”

Saluting, Vance eased himself from his saddle, stretched out his back, and crossed the parade ground towards the slowly dispersing crowd of onlookers. After listening to what Vance had to say, the Lieutenant shot a vicious glance towards Cole, who nodded once before turning away, his unease growing.

That evening, she made stew and dumplings, piling up Sterling Roose’s plate until it was almost overflowing. Cole, sitting opposite his good friend, laughed. “You reckon you can get all that down you, Sterling?”

“I reckon so,” said the wiry looking Roose as he attacked the stew with gusto.

“My,” said Julia, “seems to me you haven’t eaten for some time, Sterling. You need feeding up.”

Chuckling between mouthfuls, Roose reached for the nearby plate of bread rolls and tore one in half. “I guess you could say so,” he said then dunked the bread into the gravy and slurped it down.

“Sterling’s been helping out old Sheriff Perdew down in Paradise,” said Cole, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Really?” Julia asked and sat back, dabbing at the corner of her mouth with a serviette. “Don’t he feed you too well?”

“Usual potatoes and gravy.”

“For every meal?”

Roose nodded without looking up. “Every meal.”

“Sterling has his heart set on being a law-officer,” put in Cole, most of his attention on the piece of meat he was sawing through.

“You’re not happy in the Army, Sterling?”

“Some,” said Roose. “But it ain’t what it used to be.”

“Is that right,” drawled Cole.

“You know it ain’t.”

His face came up and for a moment the two friends stared at one another.

“What are you talking about?” Julia, noticing the charged atmosphere looked from one to the other. “Cole? What does he mean?”

Roose got in first. “The southern plains are all but tamed now. Within a year, maybe two at the most, even the Comanche will be in a reservation, but there are rumours of unrest in the north.”

“What sort of unrest?”

“Sioux and Cheyenne,” said Cole, victorious at last over the meat. He popped a large chunk into his mouth and chewed it down with some effort. “The great tribes of the Plains. They’ve just about had enough.”

“But what has that to do with us down here?”

“Not a lot.” Cole’s face came up and caught Roose’s cold stare. “Maybe.”

Shifting uneasily in her chair, Julia’s voice broke a little as she said, “You’re scaring me.”

“No, no,” said Roose quickly, reaching out to pat her forearm. “No need to be scared. It might just … spread, that’s all, so we have to be ready.”

“Not that it’s gonna happen,” said Cole, his eyes settling on the way Roose’s fingers gripped Julia’s arm.

For the rest of the meal they ate in silence, the only sounds ones of cutlery against crockery, satisfied moans and smacking of lips. When finished, Julia gathered up the empty plates and took them into the tiny kitchen before returning with a stone jug. She poured out frothy beer into chipped cups before sitting down and gazing at the two men as they drank.

“So, tell me,” she said. “Those Apaches you brought in? They will hang?”

“Almost certainly,” said Roose, wiping his mouth and sitting back in his hard-backed chair. Behind him the open fire crackled and spat, the stacked logs giving off an intense, yet comforting heat. “I reckon it’s what they call ‘an open-and-shut case’ due to the survivors who will give testimony.”

“I’m surprised such savages will be given a fair hearing.”

“That’s the law,” put in Cole. He took a deep breath. “At least around here.”

“That’s down to you,” said Roose, his voice flat. He gazed into his beer.

“Not only me,” said Cole, shifting uncomfortably in his own chair.

Frowning, Julia looked from one to the other. “What does he mean, Reuben? Down to you? Down to you in what way?”

“He won’t say so himself,” put in Roose quickly, “but dear old Reuben here wrote to President Grant begging him to give his reassurance that Indians would be allowed due process.”

“You wrote to the President?” Julia sat back, amazed.

Cole shrugged, “It was nothing,” he said in a quiet, embarrassed voice.

“And what did the President say? Did he answer?”

“Not to me directly, but the fort received a communication, suggesting they proceed with caution. Trouble is brewing up north and the Government is anxious it doesn’t spread.”

“It will,” said Roose, draining his cup, “no matter how we deal with incursions and the like down here.”

“Incursions? Sterling, this is their land. They’ve lived here for thousands of years. We just charged right in and took what we wanted.”

“Not me,” said Roose, his jawline reddening. “I never posted no claim for gold or anything else for that matter.”

“I didn’t mean you personally, Sterling! You know that wasn’t my meaning.”