Now Playing: The Robin Hood of the Range
Episode Twelve
concluded with:
“What’s goin’ on?” Dencel stumbled onto the
porch and viewed the newcomers with hostility. “What’s the law doin’ here? I
ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”
“I’m sure you haven’t, sir,” Dehner felt sorry
for Iola. He had spotted the look of tension and fear on her face when her
husband barged out of the house. He could only turn around and glance briefly
at Cissy. Her reaction was harder to gauge. “We’re tracking a killer--”
“A killer!” Cissy’s voice was almost a scream.
Episode Thirteen
“Yes
ma’am!” The sheriff replied immediately. “Ricky Cates robbed the bank in
Grimsby and killed Russ Adams. We’re pretty sure he holed up at the Bolgers’
place.”
“Oh…”
Cissy shook her head in a disjointed manner, then noticed the curious looks
from the two lawmen. “I mean, that makes sense…that he would hide out at a
farm.”
They’re
lying, the young woman thought to herself. They’re lying in order to fool
people into helping them catch the Robin Hood of the Range.
“The
Bolgers paid a terrible price for hiding an outlaw,” Rance said. “Two lawmen
that stopped there were gunned down. Shot in the back. The Bolgers were both
killed, as was a man who worked for them.”
Iola
placed a hand on her chest. “My Lord! That’s horrible. You and the sheriff find
that Ricky Cates, Mr. Dehner, and see that he gets what’s coming to him!”
“We
intend to do just that. Thanks--”
Tom
Laughton laughed softly. “Looks like you’ve been up and busy doin’ chores this
morning, Miss Runyan.
“Ah…”
The girl shrugged her shoulders.
The
sheriff pointed at Cissy’s head. “You’ve got hay in that pretty red hair of
yours, Miss Runyan.”
Cissy
hastily ran a hand through her hair, leaving the hay untouched. “That’s not so
strange. See, I slept in the barn last night, takin’ care of a sick horse. A
pinto we hope to sell this afternoon…”
Dencel
shouted angrily at his daughter, as if she had insulted him. “We ain’t got no
pintos!”
“Of
course not!” Cissy again shrugged her shoulders. “I meant to say a buckskin. I
guess sleepin’ in the barn has made me dumber than a mule.”
“I know a little something about horses, like
me to take a look at him?” Dehner asked.
“Obliged,
but no…not necessary…he’s just fine!”
“Well,
Rance and I better be goin’. The sheriff smiled at the three Runyans. “Thanks
for your time.”
As
the lawmen rode off, Cissy spoke to her parents. “There’s a few more things
that need tendin’ to in the barn. Only
take a few minutes, then I’ll get
helpin’ with breakfast.”
Iola
stared at her daughter for a moment before speaking. “Honey, don’tya think it
would be better if you had something to eat first?”
“Leave
the girl alone!” Dencel shouted at his wife. She’s got work to do at the barn.
You get to makin’ breakfast.”
Cissy
watched her parents go back into the house, then ran to the barn. She slowed
her pace as she got inside and approached the bales of hay. “Mr. Cates…Ricky?”
she spoke in a stage whisper. “It’s me, Cissy.”
“You
alone?”
“Yes.”
“You
better not be lyin’.”
“I’d
never lie to you, Mr. Cates.” She approached the bales slowly. Peeking over
them, she saw the outlaw holding a gun. “You look just like you did the first
time I saw you, Ricky Cates.”
“Who
were those men?”
“I
thought those riders would wake you up.”
“Who
were they?”
“The
law. Sheriff Laughton from Grimsby and a range detective named Rance. Forgot
his last name.”
“What
did you tell them?”
The
girl had originally planned to tell Ricky about her blunder concerning the
pinto. But there was an undercurrent of
anger in his voice and she wanted desperately to stay in his favor. “I told
them lawdogs I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of any stranger. You must be somewhere
far off. And they believed me. They rode out of here fast, trying to pick up
your trail.”
“Good
work.”
“Could
you put the gun away now, Mr. Cates? I need to change your bandages, and…”
“Reckon.”
***
Dencel
Runyan stood with his back to the barn, directly beside the door. He gripped
the Henry in his hands as he listened to the conversation taking place inside.
All his life, he had been cheated out of what was rightly his. Well, now he was
going to get even with everyone. There had to be a reward of some kind out for
Ricky Cates, but Dencel hoped for more. He hoped Cates still had the money from
the bank holdup.
Tomorrow:
Episode Fourteen of The Robin Hood of the Range
