LAND OF STARS: The Texas Wyllie Brothers (Wilderness Dawning Series Book 2) Read online

  Once again, her heart cried out for justice denied.

  It was easy to tell that the young man who rode beside Steve was Samuel, the brother she hadn’t met yet. He looked even more like Steve than Thomas did.

  But what on earth was going on?

  She started to call to Steve, who hadn’t yet seen her, but the noise of the large crowd behind and all around them would have made it impossible for him to hear her. The crowd was shouting that the two prisoners, if that’s what they were, should be lynched.

  They appeared to be headed for the fort. She turned to the dressmaker and said, “That’s my fiancé on the bay horse. I’ll be back later.”

  “Goodness!” the woman said. “Do be careful, dear.”

  “Can you please send your husband to get my father?” she asked the woman. “Have him tell Father what’s going on. If the Alcalde’s facing charges, I know Father will want to be there.”

  “Yes, of course. And I’ll tell my husband to hurry,” the dressmaker said and dashed inside her shop.

  Rebecca rushed to join the crowd. Hurrying and keeping to the outer edges of the throng, she managed to work her way toward the front. When she was close enough, she ran up beside Stardust. “Steve!”

  “Rebecca. You shouldn’t be here,” he said glancing behind him. “The crowd is growing aggressive. It’s becoming a mob.”

  “Lift me up,” she said, struggling to keep up with him.

  Steve reached down and lifted her as though she weighed as much as a kitten. He placed her side-saddle in front of him.

  “This must be the lovely lady I’ve heard so much about,” Samuel said.

  “Samuel, this is Rebecca, my fiancé,” Steve said.

  “Sorry we had to meet under these troubling circumstances,” Samuel said.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “I made a citizen’s arrest. Procela hired that man to kill Samuel,” Steve said and pointed to Giller. “The man’s rifle shot came close to taking my brother’s head off!” His anger still heated his voice.

  “But you’re all right?” she asked Samuel.

  “The man just ruined a perfectly good hat,” Samuel said.

  “You should go home,” Steve said. “This situation worries me.”

  Rebecca vigorously shook her head. “Justice for my brothers is the only thing I’ve ever wanted that I could not get. Nothing would make me happier than seeing that vile man face his crimes. I’m staying. And I sent someone for Father.”

  “I’m worried that this rabble will dispense frontier justice before we can get them to the Comandante,” Baldy said.

  On the frontier, ‘lynch law’ was common practice where no formal legal system existed, and sometimes even where there was. Frontier conditions encouraged the swift punishment of criminal behavior.

  “Just keep moving toward the fort,” Father said. “Although, I’m sorely tempted to let this crowd have at these two.”

  “You know you can’t do that,” Baldy said.

  “I know,” Father said. “But I won’t stop them if they try.”

  “Neither would I,” Rebecca said.

  Chapter 29

  The stone fort loomed ahead of them. So did a confrontation with the Comandante and possibly his troops. This could go well or very badly, Steve thought. Even with the citizens backing the four of them up, if the Comandante supported Procela, they could be in serious trouble. Most of the settlers weren’t even armed. They’d invested everything they had in order to make the trek into Texas, leaving little money for weaponry. They could be slaughtered by the bayonet-tipped rifles of the soldiers.

  The fort’s tall palisades were only the face of a much larger complex of buildings that lay through a gate on the north side.

  “Halt,” his father called to Procela and Giller just inside the entrance.

  Steve could see that the fort was laid out with a central parade ground, with officers’ quarters along one side and enlisted men’s barracks on the other, along with other structures. Similar to the many forts he and Samuel had visited when they sold cattle, he knew it would also have a commissary, hospital, bakery, powder magazine, carpenter’s shed, smithy, and stables scattered around the post.

  Intimidated by the soldiers at the entry, the crowd congregated just outside the gate and did not immediately follow them inside. But the noise from the throng intensified as people shouted, trying to be heard above one another.

  Father turned to Samuel. “Tell the soldiers in Spanish to call their commander at once before this mob gets out of control.”

  Samuel nodded and translated, shouting over the ruckus the crowd was making.

  At once, one of the two soldiers at the entry took off toward the officers’ quarters. The crowd took the opportunity to rush through the gates filing on either side of Steve and the others, still mounted on their horses.

  “If this goes badly, I’m going to set you down. I want you to get out of the fort as quickly as possible and run home. Stay there until I come for you,” Steve told Rebecca.

  “But I want to help,” she said.

  “I know you do. But you’re unarmed, and I can’t be protecting you and my family at the same time.”

  “Give me one of your two pistols.”

  “Rebecca, there’s only one shot in a pistol. There are a hundred soldiers here.” Even now, the soldiers were coming toward them.

  “But…”

  “Please, I beg you, do as I say.”

  Rebecca pursed her lips, and a momentary look of discomfort crossed her face, but then she nodded. “I’ll leave at the first sign of trouble, but you must promise to guard yourself well.”

  Before Steve could reply, Comandante José Cosio emerged and marched swiftly toward them. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

  Steve rode forward. “Comandante, I am Steve Wyllie. I have made a citizen’s arrest of Alcalde Procela. I hereby turn him over to you for punishment of his numerous crimes.”

  More soldiers from around the fort filed out of their quarters and ran toward the crowd, their bayonet-tipped rifles held in their arms. The situation was a powder keg. And it would only take one fool to light it.

  “Comandante Cosio, I am Stephen Wyllie. These are my two sons, Samuel and Steve, and our close friend, Dr. Grant,” Father began. “We have recently relocated here from Pecan Point, where our homes were flooded. We request your intervention in several serious matters. Most recently, Mr. Giller here was hired to kill my son, Samuel.”

  “Who hired him? And why is the Alcalde tied up?” Cosio demanded. He spoke with authority in perfect English, as though he were educated at a fine university. Tall, slim, and hale looking, with ink-black hair, the Comandante was an imposing figure in his tailored uniform. Cosio appeared extremely displeased, and a questioning glance passed between him and Procela.

  “The Alcalde hired me,” Giller said. “He paid me in gold to gun down Samuel Wyllie. Procela said Samuel was a traitor and intended to kill him.” Apparently, Giller’s avowal that he never lied was true. “I thought the Alcalde was enforcing the law, keeping Nacogdoches safe from villains. I didn’t know he was cheating settlers and taking bribes.”

  Cosio stepped in front of the Alcalde, his face mere inches from Procela’s. “Why did you hire a killer?”

  “This family plotted to deceive me. They thought me a fool.”

  “How?” Cosio appeared to be growing impatient.

  “They said they were friends with the doctor and would persuade him to stay in our town. They knew I wanted a doctor for our town.” He pointed to Dr. Grant. “In exchange, I would give them land grants with water.”

  Cosio’s fury erupted, and he glared at the Alcalde. “For that, you hired a killer? Are you out of your mind? We’ve had enough complaints about you without you adding to the settlers’ grievances.”

  “The Alcalde gave us worthless back land without water,” Steve said. “And that after we paid him a fifty-dollar bribe in gold.”
/>   At that point, some of the outraged settlers stepped forward and started shouting accusations at Procela about the bribes he had taken from them, promising them land, and then never delivering. Their faces were livid, and many of them shook their fists.

  Procela appeared indifferent to their hurled curses.

  “After the Alcalde took my gold, he’s kept me waiting a year!” one man shouted.

  “I’ve spent the last year in poverty and misery, looking forward to better times. But all my family has received are empty words and hollow promises,” another aggrieved fellow added.

  “I think he had my brother killed,” a man shouted. “Right after he complained to the Alcalde, my brother was found shot.”

  Steve saw Giller glance down at the ground.

  With narrowed eyes, the Comandante faced Procela. “Alcalde, you agreed to display sound moral principles and good conduct. Clearly, you have failed these people and the Mexican government. You have pilfered and taken bribes. You are a weak and inefficient administrator of our laws. You discourage and disgust me.”

  Then Rebecca’s father rode through the gate and carefully guided his fine mount through the throng of incensed people. The horse’s coat glistened with sweat from being ridden hard.

  Rebecca, still sat side-saddle in front of Steve with her back ramrod straight. “Father!” she called. “The Alcalde tried to kill Steve’s brother. Tell the Commander about my murdered brothers. About how their killing was the Alcalde’s doing!”

  Mr. Tyler rode over to them, regarded his daughter a moment, and dismounted. “Comandante, I am Charles S. Tyler, and that forthright young woman is my daughter, Rebecca.”

  The Comandante politely tipped his hat at Rebecca and then returned his gaze to Mr. Tyler. “Yes, Mr. Tyler, you own the sugar mill here in town and are one of our leading citizens. I apologize that I have not yet had a chance to call upon you.”

  Mr. Tyler took a deep breath and continued. “You may recall that about six months ago, my sons were shot before one of your army’s firing squads.”

  Cosio’s expressive face became somber. “I am sorry for your loss, Sir. An unfortunate execution that occurred while I was in San Antonio. The Alcalde came here to the fort and brought the letters that your sons wrote to the American government that contained complaints about Procela and Mexican policies toward settlers. Since I was elsewhere, he showed them to my second in command. Procela demanded the two be executed at once for inciting rebellion. The Mexican government and our governor are nervous about uprisings by Americans. Eager to make a name for himself, and impress the Alcalde, my officer ordered the executions.”

  Steve felt Rebecca’s body tense in his arms.

  She shot a brutal glare at Procela. “My brothers were virtuous men with nothing but compassion for the people whom this Alcalde was cheating. They were perfect, loving sons to my parents, and they were devoted brothers to me. I loved them very much. And for absolutely nothing, you had them murdered. Shot like rabid dogs.” She was so incensed by the time she finished, she was shaking.

  “I didn’t shoot them,” Procela said coldly. “My hands are clean.”

  “But you falsely accused them, condemning them to death,” Mr. Tyler said.

  Cosio continued, “When I returned from San Antonio and learned the two were put to death without a hearing, I dismissed that officer and sent him back to Mexico. I should have come to you then, but an apology would have been meaningless. Your sons were dead and buried.”

  “So, it was Procela who was reading the letters of this town’s citizens,” Tyler said. “And it was him who demanded that my sons be executed without allowing us to provide proof of their innocence. Proof that their trips to Louisiana were purely to conduct commerce with merchants there.”

  “Indeed, it was Procela. Before I returned to the fort, the letters were destroyed so I had no way of knowing how valid the Alcalde’s accusations were. Although I cannot bring your sons back, I can promise you that the Alcalde will be punished now that I know your sons’ complaints about the Alcalde were valid. And Mr. Wyllie, he will also be punished for trying to kill your son. As will the man he hired to do the killing for him.”

  Mr. Tyler turned around, and with narrowed eyes, he glared at Procela. “May you rot in hell, Sir.”

  “Actually, he should burn in hell,” Rebecca swore.

  Procela glared back at them with haughty disdain.

  “What about all of us?” one settler asked. “When will we get our land grants?”

  The Comandante stepped forward. “I will begin searching for the Alcalde’s replacement at once. I do not know what Mexico’s policy will be in the future. The colonization law may be revoked, or it may be expanded. The events surrounding Mexican independence have thrown government policy regarding Texas settlement into chaos. I do not know how I can reassure you.”

  “What can you do?” a woman asked.

  Many others grumbled as well as their level of dissatisfaction rose.

  “For now, we will try to accommodate those of you who are already here.” He turned to one of his officers. “I want you to make a list of all the settlers who have paid Procela a bribe to acquire land, the amount paid, and how long they have been waiting.”

  The officer saluted, and he and another man hurried inside one of the buildings, presumably to get a portable desk and writing supplies.

  “People of Nacogdoches,” Cosio said, raising his voice, “line up and tell my officer what he needs to know. When you leave, spread the word that all those who are waiting for land need to come here and register. But no new applications can be made. Remember, you must be honest. Deception will not be tolerated and could result in severe punishment.”

  “What about our money?” the same woman asked.

  Cosio’s face softened as he gazed upon her, likely noticing how thin she was. “I will personally make a search of the Alcalde’s home, recover what records and funds I can find, and pay back what I can. But I make no promises. The man may not have a peso left.”

  Samuel swiftly dismounted and handed Samson’s reins to their father. “I’ll put your name down, too,” he told Steve. His brother was the first in line when the officer returned with a small wooden desk. As the man sat down, the other soldier put out paper, ink, and quill.

  Steve often leaned toward the side of hope, but today he wondered just how many of these people would get their land. How many would see their dreams replaced by despair?

  While Samuel gave his information to the soldier, Baldy dismounted and strode over to Giller. “Sir, I urge you to make your peace with God by admitting that you have sinned and asking his forgiveness for any murders you have committed. His grace is sufficient to forgive you.”

  His head lowered, Giller nodded. “I will. I have killed six men for the Alcalde and others in power. I always believed I was doing good. I see now that I was wrong. God forgive me.”

  “I appreciate your honesty. So will God. But I will have to tell the Comandante that you have confessed to six murders,” Baldy told him.

  Giller glanced up with watery eyes. “I understand. You and the Wyllies could have already killed me, but you showed mercy and brought me here to face my crimes and receive justice.”

  “I will ask God to show you mercy,” Baldy told him.

  “Thank you,” Giller said. “That is all a sinner can ask.”

  Baldy turned and spoke quietly with Cosio before he remounted.

  “Put both of them in separate cells in the Correction House,” the Comandante ordered.

  The crowd cheered their approval as the two were led away.

  “How do you think they will be punished?” Rebecca asked Steve.

  “Hanged, I imagine. Or shot.” Steve tightened his arm around Rebecca and rode a few feet away from the others and the crowd. “I’m glad you and your parents will finally see justice done.”

  “Thanks to your citizen’s arrest,” she said. “That was a bold and brave thing to do.”
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  “When it comes to justice, we must all represent the law,” Steve said.

  “Justice won’t bring back my brothers, but Procela’s execution will ease the bitterness that I’ve held in my heart. Now, I’m free to love you without holding on to that anger. I can love you now with all of my heart.”

  A breeze rustled her hair, and he gently tucked the long strands behind her ear. “Once we’re married, I will show you how I will love all of you.”

  She blushed furiously. “For now, will you just take me home? I want to tell Mother the news.”

  “If it’s all right, I’ll ask Father, Baldy, and Samuel to come back to the house with your father. They’ll want to tell Melly, Louisa, and Abigail what’s happened.”

  She nodded. “Of course. We’re all family now.”

  Steve rode Stardust over to her father and the others who had moved off to the side, away from the crowd.

  Father handed Samson’s reins back to Samuel as his brother strode up after giving his information to the soldier.

  “That’s done, for what it’s worth,” Samuel said wretchedly. Uncharacteristically, he hung his head, and his broad shoulders slumped forward.

  The sadness on his brother’s face invaded Steve’s own heart. He had never seen Samuel this disheartened, but they all knew the hard truth. It was very unlikely that Samuel would ever get his land grant. Understandably, he wanted a place of his own. He only wanted to use the Tyler land temporarily.

  “Samuel,” Rebecca said. “Listen to me and listen well.” She spoke with obvious conviction.

  They all stared at Rebecca, wondering what it was she wanted to say.

  “Steve told me that you made him a partner in the cattle operation. That means I’m a partner too. And I want you to understand that the land my father is giving us will belong to all of us. Not just me. And not just Steve. It will be ours. And the cattle and horse farm will be the heritage of both our blended families.”