The Gold of Devil's Canyon: The Gold of Devil's Canyon Book 1, #1

By J L Boling

 

In The Gold of Devil's Canyon, Author J L Boling has recaptured the true spirit of the American Action Western: A train is robbed. A posse pursues through parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. During the chase, the author shares insights into the people as well as the sites along the way. The plot has its twists and turns, and the reader will be amused by the author's homespun humor. So mount up and enjoy the ride. It's time to catch the train robbers! And the gold they hijacked and hid needs to be found.

Jerry Boling is the father of five children, and also has fifteen grandchildren and seventeen great grandchildren. He and his wife, Cindy, live in Oklahoma City and spend a lot of time with those kids and grand kids. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. L. Boling
• Release date: Feb 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393593652

Book preview

THE GOLD OF DEVIL’S CANYON

J. L. BOLING

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

THE GOLD OF DEVIL'S CANYON

Second Printing 05-19-2020

Copyright © 2020 J. L. Boling.

Written by J. L. Boling.

Table of Contents

Title Page and Copyright Page

Dedication

THE GOLD OF DEVIL’S CANYON

BY J L BOLING

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This book is for Ray, Cindy, Brooke, Connie and all my family.

Without you, this could not have happened.

Chapter 1

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You could hear the sound of hoof beats as the riders rode down into the winding red rock canyon. It was damp and cool in the deeper part of Devil’s Canyon. This was Oklahoma, or Indian Territory, and there were three riders, riding fast and hard, trying to escape a posse that was on their tail.

A few days ago, Jess and his gang had robbed the train that went from southern Kansas northwest toward Colorado. For the last few miles the land had been flat grassland with trees only in the low spots where water collected and there was an occasional creek. Now they were going into a deep dark canyon with big cottonwood and elm trees. These trees were large enough that it would take two of these men together to reach around them. There was damp, and soft dirt on the canyon floor with lots of grasses, and the trees almost blocked out the sun. 

There were also trees that had died, but still stood like sentinels watching for anyone who didn’t belong here. The wind had been blowing before they reached the canyon, but now they could hardly feel a breeze or hear a sound except for their horses’ hooves.

The riders were moving at a breakneck speed trying to escape the posse that had been chasing them, but they were losing ground because of the two hundred pounds of gold they had stolen and were carrying in their saddlebags. As they came into Devil's Canyon they were about two hours ahead of the posse.  They were searching for a place to hide the gold and lighten their loads, so they could escape the posse.

It would be hard for them to carry that much gold on their horses, and still get away. Jess didn’t want to leave the gold, but believed it was the right decision if they were going to stay ahead of the lawmen. None of them had ever seen this much gold before, so it was going to be really hard to leave it behind. Jess had convinced the other two that if they were going to escape, they had to leave the gold somewhere that it couldn’t be found easily by anyone but themselves.

There were tall, red rock cliffs on both sides of them. Jess looked up on the side of the canyon wall and saw a shallow looking cave about twenty feet above the canyon floor. The cave was almost covered by vines and trees which grew from the canyon floor and from the red rock that made up the canyon walls. They stopped, and Jess being the most agile, climbed up one of the trees covered with vines and managed to get into the cave. The cave went about thirty feet back into the canyon wall and was as dry as a desert. 

The mouth of the cave was tall and wide, but quickly became lower and narrower as it went toward the back of the cave where the floor met the ceiling. Over to the left side there was a pack rat's nest, made of sticks and leaves that covered a lot of the cave floor. There were rat droppings and doodlebug holes all over the red sand that was a foot or two deep on the cave floor.

Jess dug a good sized hole in the sand and then went back to the mouth of the cave. He then called down to the other two men for a rope, so he could hoist up the three saddle bags full of gold, one at a time. The two men on the ground tied a bag of gold to the rope, and Jess hoisted it up. After two more times of doing this, Jess got a couple of dozen of the gold coins out of one of the bags. Then he put the rest of the gold in the hole he had dug, and covered them with the red sand. All three men took stock of where they were, marking in their minds the position of the cave and how the trees almost hid it from view. Then they quickly remounted their horses and rode out of the canyon, escaping the posse and riding south toward the Red River and Texas.

After days of hard riding they were in south Texas feeling good about their escape, because they thought they had completely lost the posse. However, they did not feel so good about the gold as it was useless to them buried in Devil’s Canyon hundreds of miles north.

They had stopped at a wide place in the road, which was made up of a general store, saloon, and rooms for rent. They were far enough south that they had started to see lots of prickly pears. These prickly pears were taller than a man if he was sitting on his horse. Almost everything else that grew around there was shorter than the prickly pears, but had just as many thorns. The prickly pears had thorns that were three or four inches long and were very painful if you happened too get close.

They were all glad to see this place, because they were tired of sleeping out in the open on this hard, rocky ground with very little grass for a cushion. This area was very different from most of the surrounding country. It had big trees growing along a creek and acres of grass that covered much of the creek bottom. The creek had a lot of water flowing in it even though the weather had been dry for the last month. With the sub-irrigation that was here and the warm weather this far south, this area would probably stay green most of the year.

The building that made up the store was probably thirty feet by forty feet and made of rough cut pine lumber that had been shipped in from somewhere else. The lumber was too long and straight to have come from here, because there were no pine trees in this part of Texas. The barn was about a hundred feet west of the store, and was about twice as large as the store. It also had a hay loft which made it more than twice as tall.

The spring fed creek about three hundred feet south of the store, added a lot to the worth of this place. Jess decided this would be a good place to rest up for a while. Since they had been riding over some hard, dry, rocky ground that would make their tracks difficult to follow, so Jess thought they should be able to rest for a week without the posse catching up with them.

This wasn’t a fancy place, but probably had food and water, beds, and whisky. That’s just what they needed until things cooled off. Then they could go back for the gold. 

Who runs this place? said Jess as they stepped onto the porch and walked into the store.

Well, I do. The name’s Willy Dye. Willy was a bandy, rooster type guy who had thin, spindly legs, a little pot belly, and a beat-up old hat on his unusually small head. Willy didn’t have an extra ounce of fat anywhere on him, and though his movements were kind of quick and a little nervous, he seemed quite capable of doing anything he put his mind to. What can I do for you gents? said Willy with a hint of a smile that showed his yellowing teeth. 

Three rough looking guys who looked as though they had been riding hard for a while, Willy thought. They must be cowpunchers from down south, one of those big spreads near the Rio Grande, or maybe they’re going there to look for work.

Can you put me and my boys up for a while? Jess asked.

Yep said Willy, Just as long as you can keep me paid up a week ahead. Would you like me to take care of your horses too?

How much? asked Jess.

Oh, ‘bout a dollar a day for all three. replied Willy, and three dollars a day for you and your boys, but that includes three meals a day. There’ll be breakfast at seven, dinner at noon, and supper about dark. That’s the way I eat and it should be good enough for anybody. There’s a place down at the creek where I have laid down some planks to stand on for us to take a bath, and you fellers are welcome to use it if you want to. 

Jess was five feet ten inches tall, around two hundred pounds, and was covered with the dust of the trail from head to toe. He had close set, unusually clear green eyes, red hair, and by looking at his skin you could tell he hadn’t spent much time indoors.

Willy thought for a second that he might have stepped out of line, but before he could say anything more, Jess just gave him a hard looking smile.

That’ll be fine, here’s a twenty dollar gold piece. Let me know when that runs out and I’ll give you more, or you can give me change back when we leave if I have any coming. Earl, you and Slim go out and get the bedrolls and saddle bags, said Jess. Then take the horses to the barn and pull the saddles off, and give the horses a good rub down.

He knew the rooms would just have some chairs and cots, and maybe a table and wash basin with a pitcher of water.

Ok, boss said Earl as he and Slim headed for the door.

Earl was about five inches shorter than Jess, but probably outweighed him by twenty pounds.  And there was something unusual about his legs.  It looked like they were too short to reach the ground, but he looked that way because his body was unusually long. His hair was brown, thick, and curly.

Slim was just the opposite of his name.  He was as short as Earl, but was about thirty pounds heavier and his hair was black as coal. He wore a black, wide brimmed hat that just seemed to make him look shorter and rounder. He had a quick easy smile with big white teeth that made him look like he had a little bit of Mexican blood in him.

Chapter 2

I’ve got them over here in this sand, yelled Ben. United States Marshal Wayne Barks and the posse had been circling for about half an hour, they were trying to get back on the trail of the outlaw gang. Wayne Barks was happy to hear that Ben had found some tracks. This was the third time since they had crossed the Red River that the trail had petered out, and they had lost time finding it again. That was the fate of a lawman though, never knowing where he was going, until he got to the end of the trail.

Marshal Wayne Barks was a big man, over six feet tall and very strong with sun- darkened skin, bright brown eyes, and thick, dark brown hair that he kept cut short when he was near a barber shop. Lately he had been spending so much time on the trail that his hair was starting to tickle his ears and neck as it came out from under his hat. He and his two deputies could go for days without rest, especially when they had a full moon and clear skies like it had been the last few days.

Are you sure it’s them? asked Marshal Barks. Ben Benson, with his vivid blue eyes, long blond hair, and chiseled features that could melt the heart of any young girl, took his black hat off his head and ran his hand through his blond hair and gave Wayne a big bright smile.  Yep, that one horse has a broken shoe on its left hind foot, and they’re still heading mostly south toward the Rio Grande, Marshal.

Sure hope we catch up before they get to Mexico with that gold. said Barks. He knew if the robbers got to the border it would be a waste of time to go into Mexico after them, and he was pretty sure that’s where they were headed.

Sam Johnson was the oldest of the posse, and he had steel gray eyes, was a short and muscular man, and weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds. With his gray hair showing from under his hat, he looked down at the tracks and said, If they keep moving this fast they will be in Mexico before we catch up to them.

Then let’s keep moving as fast as we can without losing the trail. Sam, you take the lead and let’s see if we can catch these outlaws, said Wayne Barks.

As Ben brought up the rear he was chewing on a strip of beef jerky and thinking about his girl, Sadie, who was the cutest girl he had ever seen. He was remembering how much they liked square dancing at Goodman’s barn dance that happened on most Saturday nights. They both enjoyed listening to the square dance caller, Jeff Holleyman, who had taught them how to square dance and could call and sing as good as any square dance caller he had ever heard.

Then he remembered one of the guys who lived in town named Bart Atkins, the man he had punched in the eye at the last dance because he caught him sniffing around Sadie. Now he was worried about what Bart would be doing since he had been out chasing outlaws, and Sadie loving to dance the way she did.  He and Sadie had been together for over a year now and he didn’t want that to change, because he was thinking about changing her name to Mrs. Ben Benson if she would have him.

It was about sundown and the second full day since they had stopped to get any more than a few hours rest. Wayne raised one of his big hands in the air and called for a stop so they could recharge. He knew it was time when he saw the little creek trickling along as clear as an icicle hanging off the front porch. There were also a few big cottonwood trees and a small clearing in the middle of them. Wayne called for the stop and the others didn’t ask any questions, they just went about their part of setting up camp. With the little creek, the big trees, and the low grasses, this would be a good place to set up camp and rest for a day or two, but the circumstances wouldn’t allow that right now. They had