Now Playing: The Robin Hood of the Range
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Episode Seventeen concluded with:
The Robin Hood of the Range smirked and tossed
the saddle bags over his shoulder. “Why, that’s right sweet of you, girl.
Before I turn myself in, why don’t you give me one more kiss. Something to
remember you by while I’m sittin’ in a cold cell.”
The moment they kissed, Cissy knew something was
wrong. As soon as their lips parted, Ricky grabbed her by the hair as her pa
had often done, held her against his chest and placed the Derringer at the side
of her head.
“Ricky, please, you’re…”
“Shut up and move. We’re goin’ outside. If you
try to get away, I’ll kill you.”
Ricky shouted as he paraded with Cissy toward
the open barn door. “Mr. Detective, I know you’re out there. You’d better be in
plain view when I reach the doorway or Miss Cissy gets a bullet in her head.
You hear me?!”
Episode Eighteen
“Don’t
harm the girl, Cates,” Rance’s voice sounded from outside. “You’re holding all
the cards. I’ll do what you say.”
Cissy
Runyan spoke in a whisper as she pleaded with her captor to release her. She
fell silent as they left the barn and Ricky began talking with Rance.
“I
got some orders for you, Mr. Detective. Orders you better follow if you don’t
wanna see this girl’s head come apart.”
“Like
I said, Ricky, you’re holdin’ the cards.”
“First
thing, I need me another gun. I believe that is a Colt .45 you got strapped on.
Unbuckle the gun belt and let it drop, real careful like, to the ground.”
Dehner
needed to distract the killer. Tom Laughton was now advancing on Cates from
behind. The sheriff had been hiding at the side of the barn.
Rance
began to slowly take off his gunbelt. “How do I know you won’t use this gun to
kill me? Or for that matter, to kill everyone here, like you did at the Bolgers’
ranch?”
“You
just don’t know that, Mr. Detective. Killing all those folks at the Bolger
place did make things right convenient. People don’t tend to cause much
problems once they are dead.”
Ricky
Cates gave a harsh laugh. It would be his last laugh for some time. Sheriff
Laughton grabbed the Derringer from the outlaw, spun him away from Cissy and
delivered a hard roundhouse to the killer’s head. Cates went down.
“Are
you okay, Miss Runyan?” Tom Laughton asked as he handcuffed his prisoner, who
was lying on the ground, semi-conscious.
Cissy
nodded her head.
“You’re
not a very good liar, Miss Runyan,” Rance spoke as he buckled his gunbelt. “Tom
and I knew something was wrong when we talked with you. But this land is so
flat. Took us a while to circle back without being spotted.”
“We
hid our horses when we got near the ranch, and split up,” Tom spoke as he
stepped away from Cates and walked over to Dencel, who he also handcuffed. “I
took the house and Rance came here to the barn. Your ma is hurt, Miss Runyan,
but she’s gonna be okay. When I got here, Rance had your pa on the ground out
cold. We heard some of your talk with Cates. I hid by the side of the barn.”
“Thanks.
Both of you. Obliged.” The young woman’s words were flat and emotionless.
Cissy’s face was pale and her body limp, as if her soul had been ripped from
her by force. She looked down at Ricky Cates. The killer’s face was in the
dirt, his hands cuffed behind him. Ricky Cates was alive, but to Cissy he was a
lost dream.
“I
wanted it to be true,” Cissy spoke to everyone and no one. “Just this once, I
wanted things to be good. Guess I wanted too much.”
The
next thirty minutes or so were taken up with getting a buckboard ready to take
the women and the two prisoners into town. The Robin Hood of the Range was the
main catch, but Dehner was pleased that
Tom Laughton planned to charge Dencel Runyan with assault and anything else he
could throw at him.
The
two women were withdrawn, speaking only when spoken to. They had been freed
from one hell and seemed to wonder if another one awaited them. Dehner noticed
that Tom Laughton was very attentive to Cissy. The Sheriff had appeared smitten
by the young woman when he saw her earlier in the morning. Dehner hoped more
would come of that.
As he checked on the two prisoners who were
now lying on the flatbed of a dilapidated buckboard wagon, Dehner felt happy
that Ricky Cates was alive. Who knows what nonsense those Eastern writers would
have come up with if Cates had been shot down by a lawman? Now, those writers
would be covering the trial of Ricky Cates and relishing all the details of
Cates’ savagery. Ricky Cates would die at the end of a rope and the Robin Hood
of the Range would already be dead.
Tomorrow: A new
Rance Dehner western adventure:
Hellfire
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