Robert Parker - Ironhorse

“One thing you got going for you,” Uncle Ted said.

“That being?” Virgil said.

Uncle Ted pointed to the engine and first coach sitting off in the dark at the far end of the westward swing of the wye.

“There’s the down pony over there. We got plenty of room to back up and get back on the track heading forwardly south.”

“That’s good,” Virgil said.

“It is,” said Uncle Ted. “Might as well get us going that direction now, don’t you think?”

“I do,” Virgil said.

Uncle Ted moved the engine along the half-moon curve of the wye and throttled down to a stop short of the west switch. He looked back to Berkeley and pointed to the switch in front of us. Berkeley waved, nodding, and moved ahead of us and made the switch. Uncle Ted urged the engine forward and stopped. He looked back, watching Berkeley. Berkeley threw the switch again, and we backed up with our stock car now pointing to the north. Uncle Ted backed up shy of the main line, stopped the Ironhorse, and set the brake.

“This is it,” Uncle Ted said.

“Good,” Virgil said. “I reckon we shut this thing down until it’s time to return.”

“You got it,” Uncle Ted said. “Just so you know, if we go completely cold it will take three hours to fire back up, maybe longer.”

“How long will it take to get going again if you keep the fire stoked?” Virgil asked.

“Hour, tops.”

“You got enough coal to keep us warm?”

“Do if you don’t leave me here till winter.”

“Then let’s keep the fire burning.”

“Will do.”

Uncle Ted set about putting the Ironhorse into the biding pattern. He turned off the air jammer, shut down the hydrostatic lubricator, the whining dynamo, and finally closed the turret valve, cutting the supply to the injectors. He opened the door on the firebox, shoveled in more scoops of coal, and began moving the coals around, banking the fire.

“I’ll keep us warm,” Uncle Ted said. “Be as cozy as a concubine’s kitty when you return.”

The Ironhorse coughed a few final pounding chugs. The boiler shot out puffs of steam, and the big engine went silent. My ears felt like they were full of water from listening to the noisy locomotive. The only remaining noise was the cooling iron popping and the crackling from the fire inside the firebox. Virgil and I stepped out of the cab and climbed down from the Ironhorse.

“Virgil,” I said.

Virgil looked at me and followed my look to a dark stand of trees about thirty yards away, next to the river.

Virgil saw what I saw.

“Rider,” Virgil said.

“Is.”

Virgil slowly pulled back the lever and cocked the Henry rifle.

There was no movement from inside the trees, but there was without doubt someone there, sitting on a horse, watching us.

Though there were dense, dark patches of shade along the river where the rider was, sunshine made an appearance on the spikelet tops of the tall bluestem grass that stood between the river and us.

Berkeley walked up from the west switch.

“In the trees, just behind you,” I said. “Caballero.”

“Not Lassiter,” Berkeley said without looking behind him in some obvious move. Berkeley turned slowly. “Surely not Lassiter.”

The rider edged his mount out of the trees and started walking slowly toward us.

“Here he comes,” I said.

We watched.

He was on a tall muscled bay horse with a bosal-style hackamore. The rider worked the bay around a patch of low boulders and walked toward us. He was a dark man wearing a denim coat and a sombrero that sat low, just above his eyes. He continued coming closer.

He stopped about twenty feet from us.

“Virgil Cole?” the rider said.

Virgil took a short step forward.

“You?”

“LeFlore,” he said.

Then he swung his leg over the saddle and slid to the ground with athletic poise.

“Jimmy John LeFlore.”

He walked toward us, and his bay followed. Jimmy John was a handsome Choctaw. He had a thin mustache and chin whiskers. He was tall, lean, and tough-looking. He wore his trousers tucked into tall rugged boots, and he carried no gun, at least no gun that could be seen. He stopped about ten feet from us.

“My deputy, Everett Hitch, Constable Burton Berkeley.”

Jimmy John looked at me, Berkeley, and back to Virgil.

“You need some help of some kind?” Jimmy John said.

He spoke clearly with an educated quality to his voice and no hint of Choctaw tongue.

“We do,” Virgil said.

“What do you need?”

“Need you to help us find some people.”

Jimmy John’s horse turned and pulled at some grass.

The saddle was a well-worn, heavy-duty working rig with large saddlebags. A slim scabbarded short bow with arrows hung between the front cinch and fender. A long length of wire was coiled like a rope that draped from the pommel. A pair of pole climbing spikes and a ratchet lever come-a-long hung from behind the cantle. Leather straps tied off all types of telegraph line odds and ends, but they were all secured so as not to make noise.

“Who?”

“Two women, they are being held for ransom.”

Jimmy John took a single step closer.

“Who has them for ransom, and why?”

“Jenny in Half Moon Junction said you would be the only one who could help us,” I said.

The name Jenny seemed to change Jimmy John’s demeanor. He tipped his hat back on his forehead and came a step closer.

“How can I help you?”

“I understand the Division City mines used to have wire service, is that correct?” Virgil said.

“That is correct.”

“Is the line still there?”

“It is.”

“Is it operational?”

“The line still exists, it’s in the loop,” Jimmy John said, “but the mines, the businesses are gone.”

“So, if the line is still there,” Virgil said, “there is a possibility for one of them to wire?”

Jimmy John looked at Berkeley. Then at me. Then at Virgil.

“There is,” Jimmy John said. “Why?”

Jimmy John was by all means knowing and understanding of white man’s culture and craft but remained stoic and reserved as if he were not part of its fabric. His countenance seemed that of the patient eagle.

“We got reason to believe the ransom wire came from the Division City mining camps,” Virgil said.

“What makes you think that?” Jimmy John said.

“The father of the women being held hostage received a wire, a ransom demand, back in Half Moon Junction. According to Jenny, the signal was weak,” I said. “Weak, but was for sure pounded by the Tall Water Falls operator. Jenny feels the operator is not in Tall Water. Says the telegram came from someplace else altogether.”

“Jenny say which Tall Water Falls operator?”

“Ernest,” I said. “Ernest C.”

Jimmy John looked at me and nodded very slowly.

“The ransom note spelled out the demands, which provided us a radius,” Virgil said.

Jimmy John looked off toward the river, thinking before he responded.

“A radius?” Jimmy John said. “From where an exchange would take place?”

“That’s right,” Virgil said. “Part of the exchange, anyway.”

“The money part?” Jimmy John said.

Virgil nodded and pointed up the track.

“The last pass switch in the south mountain pass,” Virgil said. “Want the ransom strapped on a pack mule.”

“Mule takes it from the pass switch to the mines?”

“That’s right,” Virgil said.

“Smart,” Jimmy John said.

Jimmy John turned back to his horse, opened the saddlebag, and pulled out a wide leather-bound book.

“Tough route up through,” Jimmy John said. “Hard to follow a mule.”