The Railroad War

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Teaser chapter

  There was no time to think . . .

  Her champagne had been drugged. The door opened. The man who stood there looked at Jessie, and his cold eyes gleamed like opals reflecting firelight. She groped for the butt of her Colt with numb and clumsy fingers. Then a blanket came down and enveloped her head. As she slid through the folds of the blanket, her right hand scraped against the stubby derringer nestled in her boot top. Jessie was clinging desperately to consciousness. She slid the wicked little derringer out...

  Also in the LONE STAR series from Jove

  LONGARM AND THE LONE STAR LEGEND

  LONE STAR ON THE TREACHERY TRAIL

  LONE STAR AND THE OPIUM RUSTLERS

  LONE STAR AND THE BORDER BANDITS

  LONE STAR AND THE KANSAS WOLVES

  LONE STAR AND THE UTAH KID

  LONE STAR AND THE LAND GRABBERS

  LONE STAR IN THE TALL TIMBER

  LONE STAR AND THE SHOWDOWNERS

  LONE STAR AND THE HARDROCK PAYOFF

  LONE STAR AND THE RENEGADE COMANCHES

  LONE STAR ON OUTLAW MOUNTAIN

  LONE STAR AND THE GOLD RAIDERS

  LONGARM AND THE LONE STAR VENGEANCE

  LONE STAR AND THE DENVER MADAM

  LONE STAR AND THE RAILROAD WAR

  A Jove Book/published by arrangement with

  the author

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Jove edition/September 1983

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 1983 by Jove Publications, Inc.

  This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part,

  by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.

  For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  200 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-16938-4

  Jove books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

  200 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. The words

  “A JOVE BOOK” and the “J” with sunburst are trademarks

  belonging to Jove Publications, Inc.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  Chapter 1

  “There are people who’d call this land a desert, Ki,” Jessie Starbuck said. Her sea-green eyes swept the seemingly endless expanse of the vast prairie that surrounded them, a vista of low, broken hills and half-hidden arroyos covered with short grass that was beginning to turn yellow in the late summer heat. She tossed her head, and under the wide brim of her low-crowned hat, her shoulder-length mane of tawny hair glinted as the sun touched it. “But I call it home, and I don’t think I’d ever want to live anywhere else but here, on the Circle Star.”

  “I’ve heard your father say the same thing, Jessie,” Ki told her. “He loved the ranch, just as you do.”

  They rode on across the prairie in companionable silence, letting their horses set their own gait, feeling no need for conversation, until Ki touched the reins of his horse to slow it down. He brought a hand up to the rolled bandanna that encircled his head, and shaded his almond-shaped eyes, the most visible evidence of his Japanese ancestry.

  “I see the line fence just ahead,” he said. “But we haven’t run into that bunch of stray yearlings Ed asked us to look for.”

  “Let’s ride the line for a little way,” Jessie suggested. “If we don’t see them before we’re ready to turn back, Ed will just have to send one of the hands out to find them tomorrow.”

  Jessie pressed her leg lightly against Sun’s flank. The magnificent palomino turned and started moving parallel to the strands of barbwire that marked the ranch’s boundary line. Ki reined his mount to follow her. They’d ridden only a short distance along the fenceline, the hot wind of midafternoon in their faces now, when Jessie reined in suddenly and half-rose in her stirrups, gazing at the terrain on the other side of the fence.

  “Ki. Look there. It’s a body.”

  “You’re right,” he agreed. He pulled up his horse and tossed the reins over its head. Like all Circle Star mounts, the animal was trained to stand when its rider trailed the reins. Ki dismounted, telling Jessie, “You wait, I’ll go look. It might be unpleasant.”

  “Even if it is, I’d rather go with you.”

  Jessie let Sun’s reins trail, and swung out of the saddle. She walked beside Ki to the fence. He put a hand on the nearest post and vaulted lightly over the top strand of wire, then lifted the middle strand to let Jessie duck through. They walked side by side toward the huddled form that had caught her eye.

  Details became visible. The body was that of a small man wearing blue jeans and a denim shirt; a felt hat that had rolled off its wearer’s head when he fell lay at one side, exposing a shock of sandy hair. Ki knelt and turned the body faceup.

  “Why—it’s just a boy!” Jessie exclaimed. “He’s not dead, is he, Ki?”

  Ki pressed the back of his hand to the youth’s forehead. No. He’s breathing, but he’s got a high fever and his skin’s ght and parched. Heat prostration.“

  “I’ll go get the canteen,” Jessie volunteered.

  Ki had already lowered the youth’s head and was on his eet. “I’ll get it, Jessie. You stay here and shield his face rom the sun with your hat.”

  On her knees beside the boy’s recumbent figure, Jessie eld her hat to shade his white, drawn face. She put his age t about fourteen or fifteen. He had not yet begun to shave, ut a fuzz that was neither down nor quite whiskers grew long his jawline and a shading of the same light fuzz overed his upper lip. His cracked lips were pale, almost s light as his skin, and his aquiline nose was pinched and hin. She saw the edge of a folded paper protruding from is shirt pocket, and was reaching for it when Ki returned vith the canteen.

  Jessie deferred investigating the slip of paper until later. She slipped off her neckerchief, crumpled it into a wad, and held it while Ki soaked it with water from the canteen. She squeezed the sopping cloth gently, holding it over the boy’s mouth, letting a few drops wet his lips and trickle own his throat, then started mopping the taut, parched skin of his face with the wet bandanna.

  Ki said thoughtfully, “He isn’t wearing a gunbelt, and he’s got on shoes instead of boots, and his hat has a narrow rim, so it’s not likely that he’s a hand from one of the anches around here. He’s a little young for that, anyway. f you don’t need me to help you with him, I’ll do some acktracking and see what I can turn up. I don’t see any oofprints around here, but if he was riding, his horse ought o be somewhere nearby.”

  “Go ahead,” Jessie said. “I’ll be all right, I don’t need any help right this minute.”

  After Ki left, Jessie concentrated on keeping the boy’s ace moistened and trickling water into his mouth a few rops at a time. Treating sunstroke was not new to her. Even those who were accustomed to living and working in the pitiless, glaring sunshine of the southwest Texas summe occasionally misjudged the amount of exposure they’d had and fell victim to heat prostration caused by going too long in the sun’s searing rays without drinking enough water to replenish body fluids lost through sweating.

  Jessie knew that she had to maintain a careful balance in restoring the liquids the sun and hot air had drained fron the boy’s slight body. Drinking too much water too fas brought on c
onvulsions that could kill, but if the water tha a sunstoke victim needed was not replaced rapidly enough there was danger that an equally fatal fever would develop She kept wetting the bandanna, mopping the face and hands of the unconscious youth and squeezing a few carefully counted drops of water into his mouth.

  Ki had not yet returned when the boy stirred. His bod) began trembling, and after a moment he opened his eyes. He stared unseeingly into the coppery sky, and Jessie hurriedly held her hat up to shield his face from the sun. Gradually the boy’s eyes lost their vacant stare. Jessie held the dripping bandanna above his mouth and squeezed out a few drops. They boy grabbed for it with feeble, uncoordinated movements of his hands, and Jessie moved it quickly out of his reach.

  “Lie still,” she commanded. “I know you’re thirsty, but if you were to drink too much now, you’d be in worse shape than you already are. Just be quiet and let me take care of you.”

  A dry rasping came from the youth’s throat, and his lips worked when he tried to answer her, but he could form no words with his swollen tongue. Jessie squeezed a tiny trickle of water into his mouth and he swallowed, his face twitching in pain as he moved his tongue and throat.

  “Don’t try to swallow,” she cautioned. “Just let the water run down your throat. You’ll be able to talk in a few minutes.”

  By now the glazed look had left the youngster’s eyes. He nodded that he understood, and lay quietly. Jessie kept up her ministrations, and after several more dribbles of water had gone down his throat he wheezed a bit, swallowed hard, and spoke in a hoarse, strained whisper.

  “Lady,” he said, “you know where the Circle Star ranch is?”

  “Of course. It‘s—”

  “I got to get there,” the boy broke in, trying to sit up.

  Jessie slip an arm under his shoulders to support him as she said, “Stop worrying, now. And please lie still! You’re in no condition to move yet.”

  “How far away am I?” the youth asked. Before Jessie could reply, he went on insistently, “I got to find Mr. Alex Starbuck as fast as I can.”

  “He‘s—” Jessie stopped short. She realized suddenly that almost anything she said to the boy about Alex would only confuse and excite him, and that was the last thing he needed. She said, “You’re just a few steps from the Circle Star now. That’s its boundary fence, right over there.”

  As soon as she’d spoken, Jessie was sorry for what she’d said. The youth pulled away from her supporting arm and tried to sit up. His movement startled her, and she squeezed the bandanna involuntarily. A stream of water ran into the youth’s mouth. He gagged, and his body convulsed as he coughed chokingly. The strain of coughing, combined with his struggling movements, was too much for his weakened system. His eyes rolled upward and he lapsed into unconsciousness again.

  Jessie dropped the bandanna and placed her hand on the boy’s chest. His heart was fluttering wildly when she first felt it, but as the seconds ticked away, it slowed to a normal, steady beat. She let the youth’s shoulders down again, and propped her hat on his forehead at a slant that shaded his face from the sun; then she picked up the bandanna and brushed it clean. She was wetting it from the canteen again when Ki returned.

  “How is the boy?” he asked.

  “Better, I think. At least he was, until he tried to tall and got excited and fainted.”

  “He talked? What did he say?”

  “He asked where the Circle Star is, Ki! He came hen looking for my dad!”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know why! He fainted before he could tell me.‘

  Ki nodded thoughtfully. “That fits in with what I figured out while I was backtracking.”

  “What do you mean?” Jessie frowned.

  “I only meant that I figured out he was heading for the ranch, Jessie. I backtracked his footprints as far as the ridges just this side of the road, and even from the top of the highest ridge I didn’t see any sign of a horse.”

  “Where could he have started from?” Jessie asked, her brow wrinkling into a puzzled frown. “All there is in that direction is the railroad. Ki, you don’t think—”

  “Yes, I do, Jessie,” Ki broke in. “The railroad station’s the only place he could have come from. You know how the road curves to avoid the ridges. The stationmaster probably headed him this way in a straight line, to save him five or six miles of walking along the road.”

  “But that’s still fifteen miles, Ki! It’s almost a full day’s walk. No wonder he got sunstroke!”

  “He’s lucky we came along when we did.”

  “Yes.” Jessie looked at the boy’s face. It was pallid and drawn, though he was breathing regularly and steadily. She took the slip of paper protruding from his shirt pocket, and unfolded it. A frown formed on her face as she looked up at Ki and said, “All that’s written down here is ‘Circle Star Ranch, Sarah County, Texas.’”

  “That’s probably all the address he had, and he didn’t want to forget the name of the county,” Ki suggested.

  “I suppose. But why did he ask for Alex, Ki? Wouldn’t anyone who knows the Circle Star know that my father’s been dead all these years?”

  “Not necessarily. Not if they came from a place far enough away so they’d have to travel here by train.”

  “I suppose.” She looked down at the youth’s colorless face. “Ki, we’d better get him to the house. He’s not showing any signs of coming around, and he ought to be out of this hot sun.”

  “We can carry him to the horses. It’s only a few steps.”

  Between them, they got the unconscious youth to the fence, and slid him under the bottom strand of barbwire. When they reached the horses, Ki mounted up and lifted the boy by the arms while Jessie boosted his legs. When the boy was settled into the front of the saddle, Ki wrapped an arm around the youth’s chest and they started back to the Circle Star’s main house.

  Ed Wright, the Circle Star foreman, was working at the horse corral and saw them approaching. He was waiting when they reined in, and helped them get the still unconscious youth into the house.

  “Where’d you find him?” Wright asked Ki as they laid the boy on the bed in the room adjoining Jessie’s. “He’s not from around here, judging by the outfit he’s wearing.”

  “I had the same idea,” Ki said, as he and Wright began undressing the unconscious lad. “He was lying on the prairie, just outside the line fence on the north range.”

  Jessie entered the room in time to hear Ki’s reply. She’d let Ki and the foreman carry the boy to the room while she got a pail of water and a stack of large bath towels. Unfolding one of the towels while she spoke, she told Wright, “We don’t know anything about him yet, Ed, except that he asked where he could find the Circle Star, and then said he was looking for Alex.”

  “But your father—” Wright began.

  Ki interrrupted. “Yes. The boy didn’t know Alex was dead, so that means he’s not from anyplace near here.”

  Jessie spread the water-soaked towel over the recumbent youth, covering him from shoulders to knees. Over her shoulder she asked, “Did you look in his pockets?”

  “Not yet.” Ki picked up the boy’s trousers and emptied the pockets. He said, “Three cartwheels and a few pennies. A jackknife and a piece of string. And the paper that was in his shirt pocket. That’s all, and it certainly isn’t much.”

  Jessie had placed her palm on the boy’s forehead after she’d covered him. She said, “His fever seems to be going down. I think we got to him just in time, Ki. A little while longer in that sun, and he might not have come around.”

  Jessie’s touch had aroused the youth. He stirred and opened his eyes. For a moment he gazed into space, disoriented. He stared at the ceiling without moving, then turned his head slowly while he looked around the room. After examining his surroundings, he fixed his eyes on Jessie, Ki, and Ed.

  “You don’t have anything to worry about,” Jessie assured him, her voice soothing. “You’re at the Circle Star ranch, and after
you’ve rested awhile you can tell us who you are, and then we’ll talk about why you came here.”

  “If this is the Circle Star, where’s Mr. Alex Starbuck?” the boy demanded. His voice was still very weak, and he spoke in a rasping half-whisper.

  “Let’s talk about that later,” Jessie said. “Unless you’d like to tell me why you came here. I’m Jessie Starbuck.”

  “Mr. Alex Starbuck’s wife?”

  “No. His daughter.”

  “I guess I better wait,” he said. “Grandpa always told me if there was trouble too big for him to handle, he could get Mr. Starbuck to help him.”

  “Who is your grandfather?” Jessie asked.

  “Captain Bob Tinker. You’d oughta know that, if you’re Mr. Starbuck’s girl.”

  “I suppose there are a lot of things I don’t know,” Jessie replied. “Including your name.”

  “It’s Bobby. After Grandpa.”

  “Where do you live, Bobby?”

  “With Grandpa, of course. In Hidden Valley.”

  Bobby’s voice was growing raspy again. Jessie filled a glass with water from the pitcher that stood on the marble-topped commode beside the bed. She handed him the water, but he was unable to close his hand around the glass.

  Jessie slid her arm under Bobby’s shoulders, lifted him a bit, held the glass to his lips, and let him drink a few sips. He groped for the glass, trying to grasp it and empty it in a few quick gulps, but Jessie quickly moved it out of his reach. Even this slight exertion was too much for the weakened youth. He sagged back onto the bed, and Jessie slid her arm away and let him fall back with his head on the pillow.

  “You’ve got to rest now, Bobby,” she said gently. “We can talk later about you and your grandfather, and why he sent you here to find Alex Starbuck.”

  “I ain’t got time to rest!” Bobby said, his face contorting into a worried frown. “I got to find Mr. Starbuck and tell . . . tell him . . . Grandpa’s in . . . trouble.”

  Bobby’s last few words trailed off and were almost inaudible as his body sagged and his eyes closed and he lost consciousness again. Jessie placed a hand on his forehead as she and the men stood looking at the youth’s towel-draped form.