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Short Stories & Tall Tales
Death of a Prophet
Tim Tobin
As Noah Green galloped across the rain-swept Kansas plain, his slicker kept some of the rain off, but not much. He spurred his horse onward hoping to reach camp before the thunder and lightning started. The cowboy had no reason to suspect that his killer rode about a quarter mile behind him.
The shot hit Green in the middle of his back. He lurched forward and grabbed for the mane of his horse. He missed it and fell face down on the muddy prairie. The rear hooves of his horse trampled his legs as it sped by.
Green was surprised that it didn’t hurt more. He thought about trying to turn over but he was too tired and he was getting very cold. He lay bleeding in the mud wondering who had killed him.
His killer reined in his horse and dismounted. He cocked his rifle again and approached the prone body. He kicked the cowboy who just moaned. The killer put his boot tip under the man’s chest and rolled him over.
Noah Green looked up with rain in his eyes. He tried to speak but rain water ran down his parched throat. He swallowed a bit of rain gratefully and his eyes finally focused on the man who shot him.
“Who are …?” he rasped.
The gunman shot him again, this time directly in the heart.
The killer bent over the dead body and unbuckled the gun belt. It was worth $20 or $30 dollars. He rifled the man’s pockets, turning them inside out and found four silver dollars. The killer stood again and looked for the cowboy’s horse thinking that perhaps he had a rifle in the boot. But the horse was nowhere to be seen.
The man mounted his own horse and rode off with the rain soaking him to the skin.
In the morning Matthew and Joshua Green found their dead brother lying on the trail to camp. The scavengers were already at work and Josh blanched audibly. Noah had been shot twice and robbed. But a bank draft for fifty dollars was still in his shirt pocket. The killer either missed it or did not want to deal with a bank.
Matt and Josh used just a small spade to bury Noah. They marked the shallow grave with a large stone and they studied a nearby boulder formation so they could find the spot again.
Finally they removed their hats and Matt, as the oldest brother, said a brief prayer. He remembered Noah as his baby brother, a gentle man with a big heart and easy laugh. He wondered what desperation drove a man to kill for a pistol and a few dollars. Josh followed Matt’s amen with his own.
Josh looked over the area. Any signs the killer might have left washed away in the rain. He commented to his brother that they probably would never know who killed Noah. Matt agreed.
They retrieved Noah’s horse who grazed nearby and headed to their next job.
For the moment they had done all they could.
***
Located between Topeka and the Kansas River, the Prophets was a successful horse ranch in northeastern Kansas. Three young brothers, Matthew, Joshua and Noah, ran the ranch after their parents died in Indian raids.
Friends and neighbors nicknamed the boys The Prophets because of their biblical names. The nickname stuck and the family horse ranch became known as The Prophets.
Matt was now twenty-six and Josh was twenty-five. Noah was twenty-two when he was murdered and robbed. The Prophets’ customers included ranchers, individual cowhands and the U.S. Army.
Noah’s murder occurred on the trail to Ft. Leavenworth where the Prophets were delivering on a contract for a herd of twenty mustangs. Along the way Noah detoured to drop off a string of three horses to Jacob Wolfe. Wolfe was a cattle rancher and always needed horses. Noah was shot returning from Wolfe’s ranch.
Matt and Josh rode back towards The Prophets after they concluded their business at Ft. Leavenworth. They kept a lookout for Noah’s gravesite and finally spotted the rock formation.
From atop their horses they saw a man standing over the grave. From a distance it seemed he was desecrating the grave. The Green bothers dismounted, tied their horses to a shrub and approached as quietly as they could.
The man was about twenty yards away and had a stone in his hand. Matt drew his pistol and Josh crept along the tree line so they would have the stranger in a cross fire. Josh gave his brother a nod and Matt challenged the man.
“Hold it, mister! Stay put,” Matt shouted.
The man stiffened and dropped the rock. His right hand dangled close to his gun. This time Josh hollered at him.
“Don’t! There are two of us.”
The man relaxed his hand and raised both arms to chest level.
Matt approached and took the gun from the man’s holster and tossed it towards the boulders.
“Who are you and what are you doing?” asked Matt.
Sailor Jack told them he rode by and saw a dead body partially covered by mud. He assumed the man had been buried and in the recent rain and the dirt washed away. He was trying to use rocks to cover the remains.
Josh walked closer and heard Sailor Jack’s story. In fact stones covered about half of Noah’s remains. He glanced at Matt and they holstered their pistols. They explained who they were and apologized for drawing down on Jack.
The three men finished covering the body with rocks.
The Green brothers had already decided to ride to Jacob Wolfe’s spread. They wondered if Noah argued or fought with someone there. Matt and Josh agreed that it was a long shot but worth the ride.
Sailor Jack told them he worked for Wolfe and would ride along with them.
“No,” he said, “I didn’t meet your brother. I was in town on ranch business.”
***
Jacob Wolfe was not much help. Noah dropped off the three horses and Wolfe gave him a bank draft for fifty dollars. Wolfe told the brothers that Noah was a fine young man who had no disagreements with any of the ranch hands.
“Boys, I really doubt any of my men would do such a thing,” Wolfe concluded.
Wolfe invited Matt and Josh to dinner and offered them a bed in the bunkhouse for the night. After dinner Sailor Jack explained how he got his name.
“I was a real sailor, a whaling man, back East in Connecticut,” he explained.
For the next two hours Sailor Jack regaled the cowboys with stories of his adventures aboard the whaling vessel Her Green Eyes. Jack’s own eyes danced when he told of the dalliance he had with the captain’s wife.
“She did indeed have lovely green eyes,” he laughed.
Jack talked about hunting the great whales across the vast oceans of the world. He spoke of stifling heat near the equator and of gales so cold they froze the lines to the sails.
But mostly he talked about being away for years at a time. His eyes saddened and grew moist as he remembered his late wife, Helen, who died in childbirth waiting for him. Their son did not survive a week and Jack was left all alone.
So Jack signed on again for an extended whaling cruise. But with his appetite for the loneliness of the sea sated, Jack disappeared on the day they were to sail. The captain called the coppers to look for him. A young cop named Raymond Collins found Jack stealing a horse.
Jack confessed to the cowboys he used his whaling knife to murder the man.
And then he looked westward for something new.
He traveled west as a hired hand for a family of four. He drove their prairie schooner, repaired the white cloth cover and fixed wheels and axles. And when the owner was away hunting with his boys, Sailor Jack dallied with the comely Helen.
When Thomas Noonan caught Jack with his wife the men fought viciously. At first it was a fistfight, but the fight took an ugly turn with both men using axes, crowbars and wooden axle rods as weapons.
They pummeled each other until both men lay bleeding and exhausted in the dirt. Noonan crawled towards the wagon to fetch his pistol. But Sailor Jack got to his feet and staggered to the wagon first.
He grasped his knife and dispatched Thomas Noonan to another place.
There was no law where the fight occurred so Jack mounted his stolen horse and ran.
Jack ran until eventually he found Jacob Wolfe’s ranch where he was hired as a handyman.
Just as Sailor Jack was finishing his story, Wolfe entered the bunkhouse with assignments for the next day.
“Jack,” said Wolfe. “I see you’ve been telling them tall tales again! Better get to bed fellows. Dawn comes early hereabouts.”
Before turning in, Matt and Josh Green shared a cigarette outside in the cool night air.
Josh spoke first, “What did you think of the sailor’s story?”
“Well, Josh, I’ll tell ya. That man admitted to murdering two men and he has the morals of a rattlesnake. I know what he said out on the prairie but we don’t know what really happened.”
***
Ann Barnett untied her apron, fussed with her hair and left the general store to meet her latest beau, Will Wormley. Will was derisively nicknamed Willie the Worm because the town residents thought he was sneaky. He was in fact small in stature and very thin. So it didn’t take much to form a nickname out of his given name.
Ann didn’t care though. She liked Willy and the few dollars he always had in his jeans. Willy rarely held a real job because he got his money gambling in the saloon. He was a good poker player and many thought his luck came from a fifth ace. But no one ever caught him cheating. So the Worm was known for being a clever player who needed watching, nonetheless.
Josh was also sweet on Ann. But The Prophets was fifty miles from Bright Hill and Ann’s interest in a fellow she only saw every few months cooled.
“Besides, she thought, “the only thing to do on a ranch is hard work.”
“Yet,” Ann thought to herself, “Josh is cute.”
Josh and Matt rode into town as Ann and Willy strolled arm-in-arm down the street. Josh nudged his horse forward and said hello to Ann. She only mumbled a hello but batted her eyelashes flirtatiously.
Willie was flush having just won $12 playing stud poker. He was not about to let a ranch hand horn in on his girl.
A few moments and a few words later, Josh and the Worm were rolling around in the horse crap on the dusty street. Ann screamed and Matt came running. So did a few cowboys who had been drinking in the saloon.
But Josh and Willie stunk so bad that nobody would touch them.
The tepid fistfight finally petered out with some name calling and vague threats. Ann glared at Josh as he limped off towards the barbershop and a bath. Willie settled for a horse trough. Matt followed Josh a good ten yards behind.
Ann pouted and returned alone to her room.
“What a way to spend Saturday night!” she thought. Willie wanted nothing to do with her and Josh would be riding out as soon as he cleaned up.
“Men!” she growled to herself. But Ann was sure Willie would knock on her door in the morning.
By the time Josh cleaned up it was too late to start for the ranch. So Matt and Josh went to get a beer and something to eat. Sailor Jack rode into town just as the brothers were entering the saloon. They greeted each other and walked through the swinging doors together. Matt glanced at Jack’s waist.
He was wearing Noah’s gun belt.
No doubt about it, the belt belonged to Noah. Just to make conversation Matt admired the gun belt and asked where Jack had gotten it. The old sailor just shrugged and told Matt he had bought it yesterday from some guy in town.
Following the conversation Josh also recognized the gun belt. His temper flashed for the second time that day. He flat out accused Sailor Jack of murder.
“Now hold on, Josh,” said Jack. “I bought this from a man here in town. I never even met your brother.”
But Josh whipped out his pistol, cocked it and aimed directly at Jack’s head. Now Matt tried to calm Josh.
“C’mon, Josh. He might be telling the truth.” Josh hesitated and brought his gun down. Sailor Jack saw his chance and slapped Josh’s gun out of his hand and bolted for the door.
Matt drew his pistol and fired at the fleeing sailor. He missed and both brothers ran into the street shooting wildly as Jack galloped out of town. Matt and Josh gave chase.
They were gaining on Jack when Matt’s horse stumbled in a prairie dog hole and went down with a broken leg. Matt flew off the horse’s back, struck his head on a rock and lost consciousness for a few moments.
When Matt came around, Josh had already shot the horse. Hours passed as they rode double back to town and more time passed buying a new horse and retrieving Matt’s saddle and gear.
And Matt’s head hurt and he was dizzy. Reluctantly, the brothers decided to wait before looking for Sailor Jack. And then for weeks they tracked him all over eastern Kansas. Jack was cunning and knew how to live off the land.
And for two months he left a trail of robbery and murder.
Matt and Josh drifted into a ghost town that was once named Cumberland. They had spent months away from The Prophets trailing Sailor Jack. If he did not turn up soon they would have to give up the chase and become horse ranchers again.
The one street in Cumberland was deserted and weeds sprouted through the dirt. The half-a-dozen business were boarded up and the windows smashed by drifters taking pop shots at the glass.
The Green brothers reined in their horses and looked around.
Matt dismounted and tried the water pump. It was dry.
A discouraged Matt Green looked at his brother.
“This dump isn’t a very good hideout. Might as well move on.”
“I guess. Matt, I think it’s time to give this up,” replied Josh.
As Matt was mounting his horse, a gun shot whistled by the spot where he had been standing. Both brothers dove off their horses and crept behind the rotting water trough. Two more shots shattered the old wood forcing the brothers to kick in the saloon door.
The barroom was dark and dirty with cobwebs clinging to the bar, stools and lamps. Matt and Josh crawled in the dust on their bellies to the broken windows where Matt risked a glimpse. A shot forced him back down.
“Any idea where he is?” asked Josh.
Matt’s heart was still racing and he just shook his head.
They waited in total silence for many minutes trying to decide what to do.
Finally the silence was broken by the sound of a running horse.
“Not again!” yelled Matt and who dashed out the door and saw the sailor disappearing down the trail. He popped off a couple of useless shots and grasped the reins of his horse. Mounting as quickly as possible the brothers began a desperate chase.
Jack had a head start of only a few hundred yards this time and he and his horse were exhausted from running. The sailor saw a outcrop of boulders and made a snap decision to make that place his last stand.
He grabbed his rifle, saddlebags, and canteen and hid among he boulders. He slapped his horse who kept running. Jack thought to himself that if he was lucky the brothers would ride right by the rocks and he could pick them off with the rifle.
Instead Matt and Josh saw Sailor Jack stop and hide. They reined in their horses just outside of rifle range. Matt called out to Jack.
“Give it up, Jack! There’s no place to go. We have food and water and we’ll just wait you out.”
Frustrated and frightened Jack blazed way with his rifle until he was out of ammunition. He then drew his pistol and waited for the end.
When the rifle fire stopped Josh marched directly towards the boulders with his rifle spitting out bullet after bullet. Matt sprinted to the right to get another angle and then turned his rifle on Jack’s hiding place.
They found Jack, the man who killed a policeman, a wronged husband and their brother, among the boulders cowering in fear and crying.
***
Sailor Jack sat on his horse, a noose around his neck. The rope was tied to the lone tree in the middle of Cumberland. Jack was frightened and could not hide it. His gaze swept from Matt to Josh and back again. And he pleaded for his life.
“If you boys do this, I think you’ll regret it. I did not kill Noah.”
Josh seethed. Of course Jack had killed Noah. He had his gun belt. There was no sign of the man who Jack said had sold it to him. And he ran.
“Matt, let’s do this and go home.”
Matt stood in his saddle, stretched and seemed to be thinking it over.
“Jack,” he said. “You are an evil man and there is no law for a hundred miles. And Josh is right. You shot Noah in the back for a gun and a few dollars. You are going to hang right here and right now. But I’d be obliged it you would own up to this thing.”
Jack slumped in his saddle and finally accepted his fate.
“Well, boy. Do what you gotta do. But remember, you do have the wrong man.”
The rain started gently at first but within moments there was a downpour.
Matt was more patient and thoughtful than Josh but even he had tired of the argument. He knew beyond any doubt that Jack was guilty.
He smacked Jack’s horse on the rump and it walked out from under Jack.
The drop was not enough to break Sailor Jack’s neck.
Instead he swung from the tree slowly strangling. He danced and kicked off his boots. His face turned purple and his eyes bulged from his face. He made short gasping sounds. Rain water slid down his closed throat. Jack took a good five minutes to die.
Matt hung his head in shame. Even Josh removed his hat and lowered his eyes. When they were sure Jack was dead, they buried him under some stones and left him in an unmarked grave.
Willie the Worm sat on his horse in the rain and watched the lynching from a nearby hill and chuckled. The Green brothers had no idea he killed Noah for a poker stake. He was safe.
He rode off towards the town of Bright Hill and Ann and a dry bed.
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