Jake Marlow

Table of Contents

Jake Marlow

Wes Henson is a member of Western Writers of America.  He served in the Air National Guard and the Navy Reserve.  He retired from Mars Petcare and taught Martial Arts for many years.  He lives with his wife, Nancy, and their two Standard Poodles, Henry and Louis, in Pickerington, Ohio.

Jake Marlow

By

Wes Henson   

Chapter 1

The two men held their lanterns high as they surveyed the cave.  The yellow light danced  off the walls.  The bigger of the two men said,  I know there’s more gold.

The short man said,  I don’t like this Ned.

Ned spit a stream of tobacco juice and tugged at his beard.  You worry too much Carl.

I don’t want to get caught,"  Carl said nervously.

Charlie Reams and the L-C ranch hands don’t come up here.

Carl nodded and said,  I’m not worried about the L-C.  I’m worried about Bob Crates and his gang.  Especially, that little weasel, Luke Perry.

Ned stopped and looked at his friend.  He could see the fear in his eyes.  He couldn’t blame him.  Crates and his gang don’t have any business here,  Ned said, trying not to show his fear.

That doesn’t mean anything to Crates,  Carl replied.  Remember when we were riding through Thurman Potts’ land and Crates’ men took a shot at us?  Crates isn’t supposed to be on Thurman’s land, but he was.  What was he doing on the TP ranch?

Rustling cattle,  Ned answered.

That’s right,  Carl said, his head shaking up and down,  rustling cattle, and that’s a hanging offense.  But, Crates isn’t afraid of anything, and you know why?  Because he’s crazy, and he’s a killer and he wants the whole territory.

Ned thought about what Carl said.  Thurman Potts and the TP ranch are the biggest outfit next to the Circle-C ranch, Bob Crates ranch.  And Crates is on a killing spree.  Crates and his gang already killed several men in town; most of them were from the TP.  While on the other hand, Crates only lost one man in the gun battles.  Crates’ ranch was located between the TP and Circle-C, and rumor was, Crates wanted the TP, and everyone was waiting for a range war to break out.  I don’t think he’ll come up here, this place is haunted,  Ned said trying to reassure his friend.

Carl looked around the cave.  Water dripped from somewhere in the cave, the flames from the lantern hissed and a rat ran by his feet.  He jumped and watched it scurry away.  He hated caves, caves were cold and damp.  They were dark, and bats and rats lived in them.  But this cave seemed even more menacing because of the mountain it was located in.  A couple of years ago lightning struck the woods in the mountain and caught everything on fire.  Now everything around the mountain looked haunted.  What trees that still stood were charred and burnt, and those trees reached eerily into the sky.  The ground was still burnt in places and deadfalls and boulders cluttered the mountain.

Carl spotted another rat.  The rat hissed at him.  The flame from the lantern leaped and hissed, as if it possessed a power far greater than the rat.  The rat turned and ran away.  Carl breathed a sigh of relief.  Then he turned and looked at Ned.  Ned was laughing at him.  Carl hung his head in shame.

Ned chuckled and said,  You’re afraid of everything, but you don’t have to be afraid.  I’ll take care of Crates if he shows up.

Carl looked at Ned when he turned away.  Sometimes he wished he were like Ned.  Ned is big, strong and tough.  Ned even carried a pistol on his hip like a gunfighter.  Although Ned had never been in a gunfight he considered himself fast.  When he and Ned were alone, Ned would brag about how fast he was.  Carl on the other hand, is small, frail and weak.  And he is a coward.  He let Ned bully him and talk him into things, but it wasn’t a bad life.  Ned took up for him and let him hang around.  They had been partners for five years.

Ned pointed at a spot on the wall and said,  Let’s try there.

Both men set their lanterns down.  Carl picked up a single jack and Ned picked up a double jack, and both men began working the side of the cave.  With each swing Ned took with the jack sparks flew off the wall and chunks of rock fell to the floor.  His massive arms glistened in the yellow lantern light.

Every few minutes Carl took a breather and looked around the cave to make sure there weren’t any rats sneaking up on them.  Then he wiped his face with back of his sleeve while he watched his partner.  Then he would pick up his jack and peck away at the wall.

After an hour and a half Ned set his jack down, picked up his lantern and held it close to the wall and screamed,  Gold!  We’re rich!

Carl set his jack down and picked up his lantern and eyed the wall.  Inside the rock there were patches of gold.

Ned said,  I bet there’s gold all through there.

Carl looked at the wall in astonishment and muttered,  Gold.

Ned looked at his friend and said,  Didn’t I tell you there was gold in this cave?

You were right as always Ned.

Ned picked up a couple of rocks and held it close to the lantern.  He turned the gold over in his hands and said,  This is a rich vein.  We’ll be working this vein for months but we need supplies.  With this gold, and the gold we have in are bags outside we can buy plenty of supplies.

We can’t buy supplies in Butler Springs,  Carl said nervously,  we don’t’ want anyone asking where we got the gold.  But actually, he didn’t want to run into Crates or Luke Perry.

We’re ride into Hayden and buy supplies.

Carl breathed a sigh of relief and said,  Good idea.

We better get going,  Ned said as he turned and walked away.  I want to get out here before dark and see the elephant one last time. 

Carl had only been out West eight years and he had to get used to the phrases they used in the West.  See the elephant one last time meant whiskey, fighting and women.  Carl didn’t like whiskey and fighting, but he would like a whore.  Once they started mining he wouldn’t see a woman for months.  Carl followed Ned as he wove his way out of the cave.

When they walked out of the cave they were so preoccupied with their own thoughts that they didn’t see the seven men who sat on horses in front of them.  Ned was thinking of tying one on, a good fight and a whore.

Carl was thinking of a whore and kerosene for the lanterns.  The thought of running out of kerosene while in the cave scared him. 

Carl was the first one to spot the riders.  He looked up and his eyes locked on the eyes of Luke Perry.  Perry’s green eyes bored into him.  Carl dropped his lantern and wet his pants.

Crates and his men laughed as piss ran down Carl’s leg and onto his boots.  Ned spit a stream of tobacco juice and set his lantern down.

Crates said,  You boys are trespassing and you’re stealing my gold.

You’re trespassing too,  Ned said tentatively.

Carl looked at Ned.  What was he doing?  Crates had six men with him.  If he didn’t make Crates mad, maybe he wouldn’t kill them.

Crates ignored Ned and pulled a pouch out of his vest pocket.

Ned said,  That’s our gold.

Crates put the pouch back in his vest.  We only need one of you boys to show us where the gold is.  So, one of you has to go, and guess who that is loudmouth?  Crates said as he looked at Ned.

Luke Perry asked,  Can I kill him?

He’s yours,  Crates said.

Perry’s green eyes bored into Ned.  Perry said,  "Whenever you’re ready, make your move. 

*                     *                          *

Ned licked his dry lips and stared into Perry’s eyes.  Perry’s eyes were cold and menacing.  At first he thought he could buffalo Crates and his men into leaving, but he should have known better.  Crates had a lot of tough men working for him and Crates wasn’t afraid of anything.  But, it didn’t matter what he said; Crates was going to kill them anyway. 

Ned looked at Carl, then back at Perry.  Ned practiced several times a week with his pistol, and he had hoped someday he be considered a dangerous man.  He had never faced another man with a gun, and now that he faced another man he was petrified.  His hand began to shake and Perry laughed at him.  Ned went for his gun.  His hand closed on the butt of the pistol, but he was too slow.  Perry had his gun in his hand.

Ned froze, his hand on the butt of his pistol.  Perry smiled and shot him in the stomach.  Fire seemed to rocket through Ned’s stomach.  Ned doubled over and fell on the ground, his hands clutching his stomach.  And at that moment he realized he didn’t want to be a tough man.  Instead, he wished he never carried a gun.  He felt a tear roll down his cheek, and his thoughts were on a woman, Nancy, his wife who died ten years ago.  He glanced down at his hands that clutched his stomach.  Blood seeped between his fingers.  Pain shot through his body.  He wished the pain would go away.

Perry walked his horse over and looked at Ned.  He said,  At least you had sand.  Then he shot Ned in the head.

A sledge hammer seemed to slam into Ned’s head.  Stars exploded in his head and an immense pain racked his body, and everything seemed to be getting darker and dimmer.  He felt himself fighting for air.  He didn’t want to die.  He tried to scream out, but he was choking on his blood and his scream was trapped in his throat. Then he rolled over on his back, dead.  His lifeless eyes stared into space with a terrified look of pain and horror.

*                       *                        *                              

Carl watched this like a man doomed to the gallows.  He looked at Crates and cried out as tears streamed down his face,  Please don’t kill me!  I’ll show you where the gold is.

Crates said as he dismounted,  I won’t kill you as long as you show us where the gold is.

Relief washed over Carl as he picked up the lantern with a shaky hand.

Crates turned to his men and said,  Gates, you and Perry come with me and bring a rope.  The rest of you stand guard.

Carl looked at Crates and said,  We don’t need a rope. 

Crates smiled, a cold, vicious smile, and said,  Yes we do.

Carl had seen Crates smile like that before.  It was the smile of a crazy man, a man possessed by the devil.  If Carl hadn’t already emptied his bladder, he would have urinated all over himself again.

Gates shoved Carl and said,  Get going!

Carl stumbled forward and began walking slowly towards the cave.  With each step he took he prayed they wouldn’t kill him.  Once inside the cave he moved more slowly through the labyrinth and wondered if he would ever see the sun again.

Twice the small party had to get down on their hands and knees and crawl through small openings.  When they came to a fork in the cave, Carl stopped, glanced one way, than the other.  The light from the lanterns danced off the rocks.  Carl looked at the shadows of Crates and his men as they loomed over him.  And as he looked at Crates’ shadow, horns seemed to be growing out of Crates’ head.  The lantern in Carl’s hand began to shake.

Gates said in a cold voice,  Keep moving!

Carl turned his attention back to the fork when a two-foot rat run in front of him.  Carl screamed and dropped his lantern.

Crates and his men laughed and Perry said in a taunting voice,  You scream like a woman.

Pick up the lantern and let’s go!  Crates ordered.

Carl picked up the lantern and took the left fork.  With each step he took his knees shook and almost buckled.  After ten minutes of walking they reached the gold

*                    *                    *     

Crates held his lantern high and surveyed the gold.  He smiled at his good fortune.  The fact that he didn’t own the land was only a minor inconvenience.  When he left San Francisco four years ago ahead of a lynch mob he cursed his bad luck, but, he quickly adapted to life in the West.  He changed his name and with the money he stole before he fled he began to build an empire.  An empire based on robbery, theft and murder.  An empire he ruled with an iron fist.  He found out it was easier to manipulate people in the West.  For instance, the men who worked for him were dangerous men.  They were outlaws, robbers, murders and gunfighters, men accustomed to violence.  Yet they followed him and obeyed his orders without question.  Why?  Because he is a cruel and dangerous man.  Crates had always been fast with his hands, and with a pistol he was unmatched in skill and speed.  But what set him apart from other men was, that he loved to kill, and he killed without mercy.  And out West as long as a man carried a gun there were no laws preventing you from killing him.  All you had to do was insult your adversary and the other man would draw his gun.  Because out West if you walked away from a fight you were labeled a coward and if you were labeled a coward you were shunned just like a leper in the days of Jesus.

Another reason his men obeyed him and feared him, was his two right hand men, Perry and Gates.  Luke Perry, the little gunman with piercing green eyes and deadly guns.  Perry enjoyed killing men almost as much as he did.  The second man is Brian Gates.  Gates is a big, barrel-chested man who loved to beat men with his fists.  Gates loved to disfigure men with his knuckles.  So the thought of his men betraying him and trying to steal his gold never entered their mind.

Now with the discovery of the gold he would have even more power and wealth, and on one could stop him.  Right now he coordinated bank and stage coach robberies from his ranch.  While he slowly plotted and began his plan to take over the two big ranches that bordered him, Thurman Potts’ ranch and Charlie Reams’ ranch.  He was trying to put them in financial trouble by rustling their cattle.  Potts suspected that he was behind the stolen cattle, but he couldn’t prove it.  The reason Potts couldn’t prove it was because Crates was taking the stolen cattle to a ranch in Sothern California under an alias.  Everyone in town is expecting a range war, especially since both sides had been in several gun battles in town, and Potts told several people in town that Crates and his men were rustlers.  Potts would be dealt with soon, before the sun set he would be dead and no one in town would blame him for killing Potts and his hands.

The L-C ranch, Charlie Reams’ ranch that Charlie ran with his daughter Lori, would have to be dealt with differently.  At first he tired courting Lori in hopes of marrying her and taking over the ranch, and Charlie and Lori had accepted him with open arms.  And why shouldn’t they?  He is handsome and he has a sliver tongue, but that all changed with the gun battles in town with the TP hands.  Then Potts began telling people in town that he was rustling cattle.  Now Charlie and Lori didn’t want anything to do with him.  So he altered his plans.  He knew Charlie Reams was in financial trouble and before the Reams became cold to him he found out that Charlie had some investments in San Francisco.  And since Crates still had contacts in San Francisco he had a friend write Charlie Reams a letter telling him that his investments had finally paid off.  But in order to collect the money on his investments he had to appear in person.  Charlie was on his way to San Francisco at this very moment, but there would be no money waiting for him; Crates had other plans for him.  As for Lori Reams, she is a woman.  Women couldn’t run a ranch, they were weak, at least in his eyes they were.  He would try to court Lori one more time, and if he could, he would marry her.  Then after they were married she would die in an accident.  If that plan didn’t work in a few months he would kill her and her hands and take over her ranch.

Crates felt like a king.  His plans were moving along smoothly and no one could stop him.  The people of Butler Springs were awed by his wisdom, good looks and charm, and those who weren’t impressed with him, feared him.  He had the whole town buffaloed, and if that didn’t work he had the law on his payroll.  Marshall Tom Freeman is a man who could be bought, and he quickly became one of Crates’ hired men.

Crates turned around surveying the cave with his lantern.  In a corner two rats hissed at him and retreated into the darkness, and from the darkness their beady eyes stared at him.  Their eyes glowed from the darkness.  Crates looked at Carl and saw the fear in his eyes.  Crates smiled.  This would be even better than he planned.  Life was truly a blessing when you were so powerful.

Crates looked at Carl and said,  I’m not going to kill you.  I’m going to let the gold kill you.

*                      *                              *                             

Carl took his eyes off the rats and looked at Crates as he loomed over him.  Crates reminded him of Satan and the rats that lurked in the darkness were his demons ready to do whatever their master commanded, and he wasn’t far from the truth.  I don’t want the gold, you can have it, just let me live,  Carl