Free Slocum and the Long Ride by Jake Logan

the bedroll on the ground.
    â€œWhat are you doing here then?” the bigger one said, and his horse tried to twist around. The rider jerked on his bridle and the horse reared precariously high. Then in a flash Lupe appeared and whistled sharply. She tossed him the Spencer rifle. He cocked the hammer back, then fired at the shorter man on foot. The gun smoke from the .56/.52-caliber rimfire cartridge was blinding, and no wind stirred to remove it. The crazy horse had thrown the big man off.
    Slocum set the rifle down and swept up his own handgun. He rushed over to see about the wounded short man on the ground.
    â€œWho are you?” he demanded.
    The short man held his right arm; he was obviously wounded in it, judging from the blood on his sleeve. Slocum picked up the Colt. He held the old revolver, which must have weighed nine pounds, in his left hand as he backed up to order the big man to get over there. He disarmed him of some old Civil War six-shooter. They sure had ancient armory on them.
    â€œFind a rope, we’ll tie them up,” he said to Lupe.
    She agreed and picked up the one tied on Slocum’s saddle. Barefooted, she brought it over to him. He forced the two men to get on their bellies, and he tied their hands behind their backs.
    Meanwhile she took their boots off and threw aside the knives that were concealed on them. She demanded, “Who are you
bastardos
?”
    When they didn’t answer her, she stomped on the short one’s kidneys with her bare heel. “Damn it, tell me, and now.”
    â€œOh, Mother of God, woman, my arm is killing me. My name is Santo Vantis. His name is Coffee Jack.”
    â€œWhy Coffee Jack?” she demanded.
    â€œI don’t know. They always call him that.”
    â€œDid you know these men?” Slocum asked her.
    â€œNo. You, Santo, tell me how you know me.”
    â€œDon’t kick me again. We heard you had gold your dead husband had gathered.”
    â€œWho told you?”
    He shook his head. “I don’t know his name.”
    â€œI think you must ride with that Gomez and you killed my husband.”
    â€œNo, no.”
    â€œDon’t lie to me. Tell me or you maybe be made into a gelding.”
    â€œWe didn’t kill him. Gomez killed him because he never would tell him where he hid his gold. We figured you knew where it was hidden and had gone up there and gotten it.”
    â€œDoes Gomez know you came back up here?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhat should we do with them?” She whirled to face Slocum, realizing then that there was a crowd of women who had come to see what had happened there.
    She held her hand up to stop Slocum and turned to speak to the crowd. “Did you hear these bandits admit they killed my husband?”
    Heads nodded. That was not enough for her. “What should we do with them? The Federales will only turn them loose.”
    â€œHang them,” one said, and the crowd quickly agreed.
    â€œWe will send for our men to come here and do that,” another spoke up.
    â€œNo,” a matron-like woman said. “We don’t need our men. They killed her husband. We are not helpless. Catch their horses and bring them. I saw a strong-looking limb back there. They have ropes on their saddles. Get them, get them.”
    â€œYou don’t have to be in on this,” Lupe said to Slocum.
    â€œI am here.” He had no use for the pair of admitted outlaws.
    The mob of women who took charge of the two men were not gentle, and they kicked them in their butts to make them move forward. The swelling crowd moved up the road to the west. They had captured their horses as well.
    Lupe had gone ahead to help them get the job dome.
    Slocum wondered if she might know where her husband had hidden the gold. That was a new twist in her case. Obviously her man had been smart enough to hide the gold he’d panned, and she’d no doubt picked up a lead that might help her locate it.