Tanner Oaks Texas Ranger

Chapter 1

Approaching the arroyo early in the evening, where he had found out from listening to people talk, was the big spring. He thought this might be the strong hold of the Dagmount gang because of all the horse tracks leading into the arroyo. There was heavy timber for over a mile around and the high plains around the timber. Tanner had seen smoke rising from the spring area on his slow climb up the plains to the arroyo toward the spring from the flat country below. He was within a quarter of a mile of the spring when he noticed that the shifting breeze, of the on coming darkness, brought with it the smell of smoke.

Tanner dropped from the Appaloosa horse, tied it to a tree, and jerked the Winchester from the saddle scabbard. Tanner drifted like a cloud shadow across the dry ground and into the shelter of rocks and scrub trees. The last few yards Tanner worked his five foot ten one hundred seventy-five pound frame through the trees and tumbled boulders until he had to lie on his belly and he crawled forward to over look the spring area in the valley.

Years ago, someone had built a rock house, which was in fairly good repair, and there was a long dugout type of structure made into the side of the small cliff behind the house. The corral looked as if maybe twenty horses were inside of it and another spring, which was walled in, over near the dugout house.

The main spring was this side of the house in a great cup of sun-bleached rocks. Suddenly a woman screamed and Tanner snapped his head around trying to find where the woman was screaming. She came staggering out from the old house holding rags of clothing about her almost naked body as she was running across the empty ground toward the spring, her long red hair flowed behind her. A man stood up from among the rocks that had a flat crowned floppy hat on the back of his head. He had a grin on his brown face and his arms outstretched to catch this ripe plum of a woman.

She darted sideways and ran down the slope. Two more men appeared from the brush grinning at her with their white teeth in sharp contrast to their dusty moustaches and dark skins. One of them snatched at her rags and as she pulled away, she stood there trembling, mother-naked, trying to cover her full breasts with her arms. While the three men roared with drunken laughter. Another man came from the house staggering a little in his drunkenness and eagerness as he ran toward the desperate woman. As Tanner went sliding down the slope, away from the arroyo while they were too busy with the woman, and might not notice or see him.

There was no time for Tanner to deliberate now. He slid back through the brush away from the lip of the chasm and into the woods. This was not the time for one Ranger against one gang of cut throats. Hell he had counted eighteen men either watching or trying to catch the woman. He needed more guns to help kill the Dagmount gang and root them out of this place. He made it back to Buddy his Appaloosa horse and slipped into the saddle turning the horse toward Fort Cobb. They had a telegraph line and he would wire Ranger Headquarters that he had found the hideout. It would be up to Captain Brown of the Rangers to get him help unless he might talk to the Fort Commander and get him to send some troops out here to the arroyo.

Tanner let the big Appaloosa gelding set the pace for the twenty miles or so to the Fort. The horse could cover more ground that way and still stay in good shape. It would take till late into the night for him to get to Fort Cobb, or more likely close to dawn, but he needed to send the messages and he would have answers to who would come to help by the next evening. The Calvary wouldn’t help for they would only say bandits ain’t their problem. That was the usual excuse they gave when the law asked them for help. As he rode he could look into the distance for miles of country that looked perfectly flat. However this was only a deception because of the gullies and arroyos that cut into the land.

It was sometime after midnight and closer to dawn by the time Tanner got the messages sent out from the Fort on the telegraph lines. The Sergeant orderly informed Tanner he would have to report to the commanding officer of the post in the morning to discuses his problem with getting help with supplies and such. Tanner stabled the horse in the livery corral and slept a good night’s sleep in the hay loft for what little time was left of the darkness.

The next morning when Tanner reported to the Post Commander and was setting in the office the Cornel Williams said, You sure it’s the Dagmount gang?

Yes sir Tanner replied.

They are the scourge of the area stealing and killing from Nebraska to the Mexican border. They’re nothing in that band but cut throats, killers and thieves. Why are you trying to take the gang on?

Captain Brown said he was going to retire in two months and Truman Dagmount with his gang needed to be stopped. Cap Brown has been after him and his gang for over ten years and he wanted to clear them up before he retired.

We don’t have the authority to provide military interference with civilian problems. However you can pick up the supplies you might need from the supply officer.

Thanks for letting me send them messages off last night. Tanner said as he was leaving the office. As he crossed the parade grounds with the orderly from the commander’s office the orderly stopped an officer and after talking with him the officer, Tanner followed the officer to the supply depot.

After the introductions Lieutenant Boswell arranged for the supplies of large sacks of hard tack, jerky and dried prunes. He also found the only pack horse the Fort had, because the army only used mules for packing supplies and ammunitions. Tanner didn’t want a mule because the mules bray could be heard a far and would be unusual on the plains.

By the time the supplies and pack horse was situated in the livery for packing later. The runner from the post telegraph office found Tanner coming out of the livery barn. The runner gave tanner a yellowed slip of paper. Tanner read the message which read.

Notified Bell. Marshals have no one in area. Should get men by tomorrow night.

Brown.

Tanner thought well I’ll wait till tomorrow night and see who shows up. Tanner went to the horse watering trough to clean up some. He took off his shirt and washed the shirt out and also his upper body. An Indian looking girl dressed in a blue gingham dress stopped and looked at him for a few seconds and then went on toward Officers Row where the Officers and their wives lived. Tanner just shrugged it off as that maybe she was looking at his old wounds and scares.

Tanner was putting his shirt back on wet. For it would dry soon in this heat and would keep him cooler for a little while. He saw the Indian girl coming from the Officers Row carrying a basket of laundry. As she neared him she stopped and asked, You the Ranger needing help?

Yes mama.

Tomorrow take your things and camp two miles east of here near the big creek. While you are on the Fort you should wear the White Bear so he can see. She said and then she walked off going to the washing shed across the compound.

Tanner stood there trying to figure out what the meaning of the message was but it seemed she wanted him to move from the Fort and wait for help east of the Fort. Let the bear see part must mean wear the necklace of the White Bear on the outside of his shirt.

It was almost noon and no more messages had come for him. No one had showed up to help him so after leaving word with the Post Commander and the stable men about where to find him. Tanner packed up the things from the livery and rode over to the Suttlers Store. There he bought a few things such as a skillet, small coffee pot, a rasher of bacon, two pounds of ground coffee and small bag of sugar. Then he headed out of the post turning to the east.

He was still wondering about the message the woman had given him at the water trough but he might as well find out. It took about half an hour to come to the big creek, if you might call it that for it didn’t seem big to Tanner but at least it had water. After locating a good place to camp where he could see toward the distant Fort, Tanner unsaddled his Appaloosa, took the packs from the pack horse, and staked the two horses out to graze.

He was setting in the shade when he noticed two horses coming to the creek from the east. He watched as the two men stepped down and let the horse’s water. Then the men led the horses up to where Tanner was setting in the shade and Tanner could see the White Bear hanging from a leather strap around each of the rider’s necks.

The two men unsaddled their horses and staked them out close to Tanners big Appaloosa and pack horse. As they walked back to camp the two men introduce them selves as Charlie Diditmore, a dark skinned with light brown hair stood about five foot five and might weight a hundred and fifty pounds and Bob Lewis, which was a white man almost six feet tall and that big around and the long black beard kept getting in his way when he spit his tobacco juice out. Then they set about building a small fire and putting the coffee pot on the rocks near the flames. The coffee was ready soon and Charlie pulled the pot off the coals to let the grounds settle. Heard you have a problem. When the rest get here you can tell us all at one time. Have a cup and Bob can warm up some beans and ham his old lady sent with him.

At different times that afternoon a rider would show up or even two at a time. By the time light was fading in the west Tanner could see four riders coming toward the camp. As the riders neared the camp Tanner could see it was Plenty Wolf and three other of the Comanche that lived and worked on the Bell Ranch.

The riders dismounted and Plenty Wolf came over to Tanner. As he squatted down he said, Ding Dong Bell no come. Horses kick in leg and broke. He sends regards. Ms Kathleen due to drop kid any day now and Harm is new daddy.

How bad is his leg? Tanner asked with concern in his voice.

Doc put wood on leg to hold.

After the horses were taken care of Tanner made a head count coming up with six white men, two black men, five Comanche’s, and five other breeds or Indians making the total count of eighteen. After he told what needed done, then there might be a few that would leave. Tanner told of the situation with the Dagmount gang, where he had found them and if the gang wasn’t there they might have to pull back for a few days and wait.

Looking around at the men with the White Bear seeing from their chest the men stood up, went to took care of the horses, and then rolled out the bedrolls for the night. It seemed as if none of them was leaving anytime soon and might be in it for the ride. Some of the men talked amongst themselves and to others in the clan but none said any thing to Tanner or the Comanche’s.

The next day the men rode to an arroyo lined with trees and Tanner figured it was five miles southeast of the Dagmount hideout. It was over in the late afternoon and they made a cold camp. Here they would wait till dark and after scouting the hideout might move in before day light in the morning.

As it was getting dusky dark when Tanner put the hackamore on the Appaloosa and walked back to camp. "Plenty Woof, Eats Too Much come with me. The rest of you rest up while we scout the camp. It didn’t take long for the two Indians to slip a bridle on their horse. They rode from camp into the failing light of night.

Not long after they left camp Tanner sent Plenty Wolf to circle around and scout the west side of the small valley as him and Eats Too Much went to the east and north side of the outlaws hideout. They tied the horses to a stout oak tree. Pulling some of the long hairs from the horse’s tail they tied the horse mouth shut to keep it from letting out a whiny if it smelled other horse.

As they slipped through the brush and timber Tanner pointed to the north and Eats Too Much faded quickly from sight. Tanner slipped through the brush until he knew he was close to the lip of the valley. Then he crawled until he could see into the valley. Looking the arroyo over, he could tell that the gang was still there from the several fires burning around the area and the lights from lanterns. He could hear some of the men down there talking but it were too far to hear what was being said by them.

From here he couldn’t see any guards and knew either they were good at staying out of sight or this bunch was damn fools for not putting out a guard. After seeing no guards Tanner backed from the lip and eased back to where he tied his Appaloosa horse. He didn’t have to wait long on Eats to Much to sip back in and they mounted riding east.

After they got back to where Plenty Wolf was setting, on his horse, they removed the horse hair from the horse’s mouths. In less than an hour they were back to the camp sight. Plenty Wolf took care of the horse as Tanner squatted down and talked to the men.

Tanner looked around the men and said, Here is how I would like for you to scatter. Eats Too Much will lead you four white men to the north end to stop the gang from using the narrow trail going that direction. Plenty Wolf will lead and show you where the south end of the valley and stop anyone from ridding out. Plenty Wolf will then lead the rest with him to the west side. You three men, pointing to three black men, will take the east side of the valley with me. Try to wait till day light before getting very close and watch out for guards. When I think it might be light enough, for us to see well, I’ll open the ball. If we can wait that long it would be best. Rest till about midnight and then we’ll all go and get into position.

What about the booty? One of the men asked.

You can have all the money, guns or anything of value and horses. I want anything with writing on it to identify the man and might need a horse or two if some of them are alive.

Chapter 2

It was sometime around midnight when Tanner saddled his horse. He could hear the other men moving about and the creak of leather as they made ready to ride. The pack horse was to stay at the camp site and the men had taken the food from the pack and stored what they wanted in the saddle bags they had on their horses.

They all rode as silent as possible and not long after leaving camp the riders began to split off into the assigned groups they to go with. It was just a short while that Tanner dismounted and tied his horse putting the horse hairs around his horse’s mouth to keep him quiet. All of the other riders were doing the same thing to their mounts without anyone telling them and Tanner knew the men knew their business.

As the men moved through the woods Tanner could hear very little noise made by the men because they were good in slipping along. They had moved off from each other and would take up positions on the lip of the arroyo. It was just a few minutes before Tanner belled down and crawled the last few yards to a position to over look the cabin.

Now the wait was on and it would be a few hours until the sky would start to lighten up enough to see down in the camp. There were the red eyes of camp fires that had died down to the cherry red glow of coals of burnt out fires. The only sound coming to Tanners ears was of the horses moving around down in the corral.

Laying and waiting was the hardest part for Tanner as he got to thinking. He hoped Bell would get back on his feet soon and didn’t lose his leg to infection. He could remember when he first met Harm as Harm led the wagon train coming west. Tanner’s family was hungry, his grand father and the children that had came with them from the reservation. He hadn’t been able to catch enough or steal enough food to feed his family.

Tanner had begged for food from the people at the wagon train and spoke only the Comanche tongue. Jess Pickens had talked to them in Comanche and Harm had set in the back ground. Later on Tanner had talked to Juan in Spanish. He hadn’t talked to Bell in the English tongue until after Betty died in the robbery at Mobeetie by the outlaws. Bell had taken it hard about her dieing and it was a long time before he remarried to that Red headed Kathleen. She was a good woman to Tanners children and his people.

The day Harm Bell and he had left to find the outlaws that had killed Betty was the first time he had spoken to Harm in English. In Tanners mind he could still see the surprised look on Harms face when he had spoke to Harm in the white mans tongue.

The light was coming brighter in the eastern sky and the sound from the camp below was of people moving around to the new dawn. Now was the time, to start the ball, Tanner thought but as he was about to holler into the camp area a shot came from the north end of the arroyo.

In minutes men started pouring out of the dugout and two men came out of the house. Tanner yelled down into the camp, Texas Rangers! We’ve got you surrounded so give up and live! All Tanner got for a response was the bullets singing over his head from the men in the camp firing guns at him.

Then it seemed as a giant clash of thunder as the Clan and Indians opened fire. Tanner was emptying his Winchester rifle at the men in front of the house. The deafening sound of gun fire came to as sudden of a stop as the rifles stopped firing. After a few minutes as Tanner reloaded the rifle he hollered out, Anyone want to give up now?

Getting no response Tanner slid down the sloping side of the bank of dirt. Looking off to the south and west he could see several of the men coming into the camp area. Those were checking on the downed men as they walked toward the house.

Tanner stopped at each body he came to and he searched the dead men, if he didn’t recognize the face from a wanted dodger, he would try and find out who they might be later. The ones he searched he only took any paper work from the dead and left the rest of the things lying on or near the body.

As Tanner neared the upper end of the draw he found one man alive. He squatted down and asked the man, Where’s Dagmount? Tanner asked as he picked up a piece of paper lying on the ground near the man. Someone had already been through and taken the guns and from the looks of the man’s shirt he must have had a money belt around his waist. Tanner took a .44 round from the man's pistol belt and begins to write on the back of the wanted poster, which had turned out to be on the man lying on the ground.

Dagmount and Sean Hailey left two days ago to check out the next job. The man said between short breaths.

Where was that at?

He never said but would be back in about a week. The man answered.

You able to tell me, who the rest of the men that are here? Tanner asked as the man seemed to be thinking.

The man rattled off nine names and while he was doing this Tanner wrote several of the names on the paper for he had already wrote the names from recognizing them from posters he had saw in the past. The man was in the middle of telling a name