The Ranger The Bounty Hunter and the Bounty

By John J. Law

Bounty Hunter Clay Barton is to deliver Joseph 'Joe' Barnes to a small train station ran by beautiful Stacey Irvine.
While waiting for the Texas Rangers to show up to collect the outlaw and pay Barton the bounty, Barnes' gang attempts a rescue. A violent gun battle ensues.
Will the Bounty Hunter be able to repel the gang long enough to collect his bounty?

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.C. Hulsey Books
• Release date: Dec 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223881032

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Turning in Her Grave

They had been riding for several days now, through the fickle weather. One day the heat was bearing down on them both. On another day, it was pouring down rain, as if the Heavens themselves protested Joseph ‘Joe’ Barnes’ apprehension. 

Barton couldn’t believe how fickle the weather could be. It was different. Something was different about this particular bounty. It was almost as if the weather had become a fickle mistress of sorts, prone to violent, and unpredictable mood shifts. And through it all, Barton and Barnes felt the humidity. The hot air all around them seemed to engulf and smother them, regardless of whether the weather was wet or dry.

Damn, this weather we’ve been having is pretty intense. Barton said, as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

Barnes snickered. He rode with his wrists handcuffed, and he was going nowhere. He had no choice but to ride alongside the bounty hunter that had captured him. That’s putting it rather mildly, bounty hunter.

Winter’ll be on us soon, but the rain fell like hot acid on the ground. It was just as humid as it is now, when it poured down. I tell you, somethin’s wrong. I ain’t never seen weather this bad, even when I was a little ‘un. The weather, the elements, them all’s out of whack. And you know what’s causing all of’em to go out of whack and such?

Barnes chuckled. Heh. Yeah, what’s causing all of the trouble?

Barton spoke with passion and enthusiasm. He spoke of things he had always wanted to say, but never really got to tell anybody. It was downright bizarre that he could only say such things openly, to the man he had just apprehended. A bounty hunter confessing to his bounty. Indeed, what had the world come to?

It’s them railroads! Them stupid railroads bein’ built by them J.P. Morgans and Rockefellers! Them big businessmen are runnin’ this country into the ground. Have you ever been to one of them railroad construction sites? When they’re makin’ the tracks, setting everything up?

Barnes smiled at Barton. He was clearly amused at the bounty hunter’s candor now. Can’t say that I have. I just rob the trains is all.

Barton shook his head, as he wiped more sweat from his forehead. I have. Can’t say that I find the experience particularly appealing and all. Men hauling iron everywhere, the heat bearing down on you like this, coal and soot everywhere, it’s not particularly pleasant. And when they get them trains up and runnin’ that’s something else! Those huge iron horses chug up so much smoke and grime into the air, spreading nothing but poison and black death. It’s terrible. You ask me, Mother Nature’s been mighty patient, but we’re stretchin’ that patience thin. Yes, we are.

Barnes nodded. He was a captive audience to Barton’s ranting in more ways