The Floating Outfit 42 Read online

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  “Buffalo are coming!”

  This was the message that the Comanche medicine man spread through the tribes of the Plains Indians. And when they arrived it would be a sign for every brave, no matter what his nation, to rise and drive the hated white eyes from the land.

  Dusty Fog, Mark Counter, Waco and the Ysabel Kid had been sent to persuade the Kweharehnuh to join the other Comanche bands on the reservation. But if the medicine man’s prediction came true, then not only would their mission fail, but blood—both red and white—would be shed throughout the west …

  THE FLOATING OUTFIT 42: BUFFALO ARE COMING!

  By J. T. Edson

  First published by Corgi Books in 1984

  Copyright © 1984, 2019 by J. T. Edson

  First Digital Edition: December 2019

  Names, characters and incidents in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  This is a Piccadilly Publishing Book

  Series Editor: Ben Bridges

  Text © Piccadilly Publishing

  Published by Arrangement with the Author’s Agent.

  For Vince Vann and ‘Patela’, of the King's Arms at Scalford.

  Isn’t it amazing how many of J. T.’s friends run pubs! J. C.

  Publisher’s Note:

  As with other books in this series, the author uses characters’ native dialect to bring that person to life. Whether they speak French, Irish, American English or English itself, he uses vernacular language to impart this.

  Therefore when Scottish characters use words such as “richt” instead of “right”; “laird” for “lord”; “oopstairs” for “upstairs”; “haim” for “home”; “ain” for “own”; “gude sores” for “good sirs” and “wha” for “who” plus many other phrases, please bear in mind that these are not spelling/OCR mistakes.

  Chapter One – Can It Be Done?

  ‘Well, Captain Hart,’ Walter Johnson said, holding his normally carrying voice at a much lower pitch than usual as he had throughout the preceding conversation in order to emphasize he considered it of a most confidential nature. Always expressive, his florid and apparently jovial features implied great interest as he continued, ‘Everybody we’ve spoken to say you’re the best trail boss there is. So may I ask you what you think of our idea?’

  ‘For starters,’ answered the man to whom the question was directed, his accent that of a well educated Texan and having a timbre of one capable of exerting authority. ‘I wouldn’t want to come right on out and claim to be the best trail boss.’

  Regardless of the military honorific and protestation, even if failing to recognize him, anybody with a knowledge of the railroad and trail end towns in Kansas could have deduced the speaker was actively involved with the major industry of the Lone Star State. A person with greater perception would also conclude he was something more than just a hired hand.

  In his early thirties, six foot tall, Martin Jethro ‘Stone’ Hart was clean shaven and had dark hair which was freshly barbered. Although he was no longer in the Army, he had been trained at West Point and had served with distinction, gaining the rank of captain, in Hood’s Texas Brigade during the War Between the States. There was still much of the professional soldier’s posture about his slender, yet clearly whipcord tough frame. It suggested how his otherwise handsome tanned face had become disfigured by the livid white scar running the length of his right cheek. All his clean and good quality attire—from the low crowned, wide brimmed brown hat dangling by its barbiquejo chinstrap on the back of his chair, to the sharp toed, high heeled boots on his feet—was evidence of his connection with the cattle business; which had brought solvency back to Texas after the financial disruption caused by having seceded from the Union to become one of the Confederate States. 1 Around his waist, a well designed gunbelt carried an ivory handled Colt Civilian Model Peacemaker revolver in an open topped holster clearly intended to permit its rapid withdrawal.

  ‘I admire your modesty, my good sir!’ Johnson asserted, his voice indicating he had been born and raised in Vermont, or some neighboring part of New England. ‘Nevertheless, that is the account of you we have had from everybody we questioned and, as I’ve told my associates, our project requires the best trail boss available. So, sir, we would like your opinion. Can it be done?’

  Studying the big, bulky, well dressed spokesman for the trio of obviously wealthy Easterners who had asked him to join them at a table in the Fair Lady Saloon, Stone Hart felt uneasy. Yet he was unable to decide exactly why this should be. A Yankee saber had marked him so badly that his fiancé had broken off their engagement on seeing the changed state of his face and he had lost his home to carpetbaggers in the Reconstruction period following the War. However, neither event had given him an unreasoning hatred of Northerners. It was just that he had formed a vague dislike for the aura of bonhomie and eagerness to please him that exuded from Johnson. In a superior way, the attitude of the white haired, distinguished looking, fifty or so years old New Englander reminded him of a medicine show operator who employed a charming personality to peddle potions of dubious value to an unsuspecting population.

  Being fair minded, Stone was willing to concede that he found Johnson preferable to the other two occupants of their table.

  In their mid-twenties, although Kevin Roddy was fair and Francis Morrell dark, physically they were much alike. Tall, thin, having hair longer than was considered acceptable by cowhands, their sallow and hollow cheeked faces bore surly expressions as if disapproving of the company in which they found themselves. Despite being expensive, there was a slovenliness about their clothing which was voluntary rather than due to circumstances beyond their control. Neither had done more than given a brief acknowledgement on being introduced by Johnson, but the Texan had deduced they were the kind of well-to-do liberal-intellectuals to whom all Southrons were anathema, and this had caused their close to stand-offish behavior. On the other hand, they were also likely to be a party to the project—which he had to admit he found intriguing—described to him by their older companion.

  ‘Nobody’s ever tried anything like it,’ Stone said quietly.

  ‘We know that,’ Roddy claimed, his voice having the accent characteristic of an upper class Bostonian. His manner implied he felt the conversation was getting nowhere, nor would get anywhere.

  ‘It’s because nobody has done anything like it that we’ve come to you, sir,’ Johnson declared, after having directed a glare from which all bonhomie was removed at his fair haired companion. ‘With the vast knowledge we’ve been assured you have acquired since forming your Wedge trail crew, we consider you’re the man most likely to be able to tell us whether it would be possible.’

  ‘I’ve come to know more than a little about trail drives, I’ll admit,’ Stone drawled. Unlike other Texans who brought longhorn cattle for sale in the railroad towns, he and his Wedge outfit were under contract to groups of ranchers who did not have sufficient stock individually to consider making the hazardous journey worthwhile. ‘But that’s always been with cat—!’

  ‘What is it, sir?’ Johnson inquired, as the explanation came to an abrupt end.

  ‘This’s a piece of luck,’ the trail boss commented, more to himself than the white haired Easterner.

  Turning his gaze in the direction Stone was looking, Johnson was puzzled. He found nothing about the fou
r young men at present coming in a rough diamond-shaped formation through the main entrance to suggest why the comment had been made. One was an exceptionally fine figure and a second could be said to be striking in appearance, but they seemed little different from any of the other Texas’ cowhands to be seen around Mulrooney.

  By virtue of his height being a good six foot three inches, having a tremendous spread to his shoulders, and a torso which trimmed to a slender waist set on long and powerful legs, the man at the right towered over his companions. Curly golden blond hair showed from beneath a white J.B. Stetson hat, molded in the style of Texas. His tanned features were almost classically handsome. All his clothing was made of the finest material and clearly tailored for him. Such an excellent fit could never have come straight from the shelves of a store. The brown buscadero gunbelt he wore was carved with a basket-weave pattern, but the low hanging ivory handled Colt Cavalry Peacemakers were in fast draw holsters and had clearly seen considerable use. Despite weighing over two hundred pounds, he gave no suggestion of being slow, clumsy, or awkward. Rather he moved with a springiness that indicated a potential for very rapid motion when needed.

  Lean and wiry, particularly in comparison with the golden blond, the man on the left was about three inches shorter. Less costly, every item of it being black, his attire too was of the style practically de rigueur for a cowhand from Texas, except that his sharp toed boots had low heels. His hair was so glossy black it seemed almost blue in some lights. Indian dark, unless one looked carefully at his eyes—a curious red hazel color and giving a hint of a vastly different character—his features were babyishly handsome and seemed innocent. Regardless of this, at the right side of his gunbelt a walnut handled Colt Dragoon Model of 1848 revolver hung butt forward in a low cavalry-twist draw holster. On the left was sheathed a massive ivory handled James Black bowie knife.

  Coming somewhere between the giant and the black haired Texan in height and physique, being younger than both—the facial appearance of the latter notwithstanding—the cowhand bringing up the rear was another blond, also good looking. Apart from the addition of a brown and white calfskin vest, his garments were much the same as his companions’. Despite being only in his late ’teens, he wore his gunbelt and twin staghorn Colt Artillery Model Peacemakers with assurance.

  Compared with the other three, even the blond youngster, the leading Texan seemed insignificant and practically diminutive. Not more than five foot six in height, aided by the high heels of his cowhand style footwear, his tanned face was no more than moderately good looking and far from eye-catching. Tilted back on his head, his black hat displayed dusty blond hair. Knotted about his throat, the long ends of a tightly rolled scarlet silk bandana trailed over the front of an open necked dark green shirt. Hanging outside his tan colored boots, the legs of his Levi’s pants had been turned up to form cuffs almost three inches deep. Although his clothes were as costly as those worn by his companions, somehow he contrived to give them the air of having been handed down to him as somebody else’s cast-offs. Not even a well made gunbelt, with two bone handled Colt Civilian Model Peacemakers in cross-draw holsters served to make him any more noticeable; especially in the company he was keeping.

  ‘It seems you’re known to them, Captain Hart,’ Johnson remarked, watching the shortest blond raise a hand in a gesture of greeting and start to walk towards the trail boss, followed by the other three. Wondering why they were allowing themselves to be led by such a diminutive person, he went on, ‘Or perhaps they are more members of your crew?’

  ‘They’re not, it’s Du—’ Stone commenced, but once again he was distracted before he could finish a comment. ‘Damn it, won’t those two red-topped yahoos ever learn?’

  The New Englander turned his gaze, as he had previously, to ascertain what was attracting the trail boss.

  On arriving at the Fair Lady Saloon, where he had been told he could locate the man he was seeking, Johnson had found Stone sitting at a table on the right of the front entrance with several members of the Wedge trail crew. Two of them, with different shades of red hair, were now leaving their chairs. While listening to their conversation from outside the batwing doors, prior to entering and asking the trail boss for a few minutes private conversation, the New Englander had heard the taller and more fiery haired cowhand called, ‘Johnny’ and the other referred to appropriately as ‘Rusty’.

  Waiting until the four newcomers had gone by their table, the redheads exchanged comments briefly and followed. Passing swiftly on either side of the blond giant and the black dressed Texan, they lunged inwards. Showing what might have been considered commendable teamwork under different circumstances, Johnny grabbed the small cowhand by the left wrist and back of the dark green shirt collar. At the same moment, Rusty caught hold of him in the same fashion from the right. Having done so, they began to hustle him in a half circle away from his companions.

  ‘We’re not having no Rio Hondo varmints any place we are!’ Johnny announced, without so much as a precautionary glance at the three Texans accompanying the small man they were grasping. ‘Are we, Rusty?’

  ‘We for sure ain’t!’ seconded the other Wedge cowhand, paying just as little attention to what most people would have considered a potential and potent source of objection to their behavior. ‘Outside’s the place for such!’

  Seeing his young companions were exchanging startled and worried glances, and possessing a far greater experience of such matters, Johnson was prey to even greater misgivings. It had been several years since he had spent time west of the Mississippi River, but his earlier dealings with cowhands from the Lone Star State had taught him how the majority had considerable pride in, and loyalty for, the ranch by which they were hired. On entering the saloon, he had noticed that four separate groups of Texans were present as well as customers from other Western occupations. All were watching with an interest he found disturbing. He was familiar with how quickly a full scale brawl could develop amongst such a crowd should they become aroused. What was more, once the fighting commenced, even those occupants of the barroom who had no desire to become involved might be attacked before they could state their specific intentions.

  Even as the New Englander was drawing his unpalatable conclusions over the events taking place near the main entrance, he became aware that there was something puzzling about certain responses being shown to them.

  Despite members of the Wedge crew behaving in a most untoward fashion, Stone Hart was giving no indication of concern or rising to intervene!

  On returning his gaze to the other three newcomers, Johnson discovered to his surprise that they too were displaying a remarkable disinterest!

  Instead of offering to help their companion the blond giant looked at the other two and gave an almost Gallic shrug of his shoulders. Glancing at the men holding the small cowhand, the youngster—who the new Englander would have expected to take some form of action no matter what was done by his companions—did nothing more than give a shake of his head redolent of sympathy for an error being committed. Then all three continued to stroll towards the counter as if nothing untoward was taking place behind them.

  Before Johnson could ponder upon the reaction of the trail boss and the other three new arrivals, which struck him as being peculiar to say the least, his attention was again diverted!

  Neither speaking nor attempting to struggle against the grips of his captors, the small cowhand appeared to have accepted his eviction as inevitable!

  Allowing himself to be forced away from his apparently disinterested companions, seeming even more diminutive in comparison with even the shorter of his assailants, the blond began to move his feet after the fashion of a soldier changing step to conform with the rest of a parade. Having achieved the requisite step he braced his weight suddenly upon his stiffened left leg. Raising the right, bending it at the knee, he brought its thigh parallel to the floor. Inclining his torso forward, being helped to retain his balance by pulling against the hands which wer
e grasping him, he snapped the elevated limb backwards. Guided with accuracy, regardless of him being unable to look where it was going, the edge of the tan colored boot’s instep struck Rusty just below the left knee. Letting out a startled and pain filled yelp, the powerfully built, ruggedly good looking trail hand released his hold, and staggered back a few steps.

  On effecting the escape from the clutches of his shorter assailant, the small blond brought the foot which did this down to his right rear. To Johnson, it seemed he was making a mistake. The movement caused his left hand to be twisted behind his back. However, he immediately raised the liberated arm in front of his chest until its clenched fist was almost touching his left shoulder. Then, rotating his hips vigorously to the right, he chopped his elbow around. Striking Johnny in the midsection with considerable power, it elicited a spluttering grunt and, forced to let go of the wrist and collar, he too stumbled away.

  Before the small blond could do any more, Rusty returned to the fray. Jumping forward, he encircled the newcomer’s arms from the rear in a bear hug. Eager to make the most of this, Johnny lunged forward with eagerly reaching hands. Once more, the diminutive intended victim proved equal to the needs of the situation. Making no attempt to escape from the arms which were pinioning his own to his sides, he shifted his weight on to his right leg and bent it slightly at the knee. Then he brought up and shot out his left foot with great rapidity. Walking into the rising boot, which took him in the pit of the stomach, the fiery haired Wedge rider gave vent to another agonized squawk. Folding at the waist, his advance was turned into a hurried retreat. Nor did his misfortunes end there.

  Having delivered the kick, the blond swiftly lowered his foot so it passed between the spread apart legs of the man to his rear. While doing so, he pivoted his lower torso to the left and began to spread his arms apart with an upwards surging motion. Small he might be, but he clearly was far from being puny. Although his actions did not break the bear hug completely, they caused it to be loosened sufficiently for his purposes. Reversing the direction taken by his hips, he propelled his left elbow against the solar plexus of the man to his rear.