Ride With the Devil Read Online Free Page B

Regulators?”
    “You’re damn right it was. It reached the point where we just decided we’d had enough. So I went before the town council and offered to lead a group of brave and dedicated men on a mission to rid our town of the Dawsons. That was how the Salcedo Regulators Brigade began.”
    “If the Dawsons are gone, don’t you think you could hire a city marshal now? Why is the brigade still here?”
    “We’ll hire a new marshal in due time,” Culpepper said. “But I don’t like to leave any job half done. And we still have some work to do here. One example is Ed Delaney, the fella you cut down.”
    “What did Delaney do?”
    “What didn’t the son of a bitch do?” Culpepper replied. “Steal, murder, you name it. He was one of those men who couldn’t settle down after the war. I’m sure you’ve seen them before, restless wretches. He wasn’t quite as bad as the Dawsons, but believe me, he was well on his way.”
    “I’m curious as to why you left his body hanging.”
    “Look at it from our position, Hawke. We had just come through a period of having our town ruled by outlaws, and Delaney was hell-bent to take their place. We wanted to send a message to anyone else who might have ideas of taking over where the Dawsons left off, so I got permission from the court to leave the body hanging.”
    “From the court?”
    “Of course from the court. Delaney was legally tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang.” Culpepper chuckled. “Come on, you didn’t think we lynched him, did you?”
    “I gave it a passing thought,” Hawke said. “It’s sort of unusual to find someone who has been legally hanged dangling from a tree for two or three days.”
    “I reckon it is rather unusual at that. Like I said, things around here have been unusual for quite a while now. But we’re working hard to put things right again.”
    “How many do you have in your brigade?”
    “Calling it a brigade may be a little overblown. There are actually only nine of us, counting me,” Culpepper said.
    “But still, nine of you? For a town this small, I wouldn’t think you would need anything close to that many.”
    “If the war taught me anything, Hawke, it taught me the value of force and power,” Culpepper replied. “With this many of us, nobody dares to give us any trouble. As I said, our job isn’t finished yet, but we are getting there. And I’m proud to say that people can walk the street at night without fear of being robbed or murdered.”
    Turning in his seat, Culpepper called over to the bar. “Paddy, are we better off now, or before we got rid of the Dawsons?”
    “There’s no question about it, Colonel Culpepper,” Paddy replied. “Salcedo’s been a lot more peaceful since you started the Regulators.”
    “Sounds like your good work is appreciated,” Hawke said.
    “Well, I’m real glad you see it that way, Hawke,” Culpepper said. Finishing his beer, he stood and extended his hand. “It was good seeing you again, but if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make out the roster for the watch tonight.”
    Shortly after Culpepper left, Paddy came over to the table to get his empty mug.
    “Say, wait a minute,” Hawke said. “I just realized that Titus didn’t pay for the beer. Do you keep a tab on him? Or do I have to pay for him?”
    “You don’t have to pay,” Paddy replied. “Nobody from the Regulators pays for their beer.”
    “Why not?”
    “Call it a courtesy.”
    Hawke laughed. “Well, if he doesn’t pay, then it wasn’t all that hard for him to buy me a beer, was it?”
    Paddy laughed with him. “No, I guess not.”

Chapter 3
    AFTER HE LEFT THE SALOON, COLONEL TITUS Culpepper walked down the street to the office of the Salcedo Advocate , which billed itself as “the Voice of Salcedo.”
    Cyrus Green, the mayor of Salcedo, was also the editor and publisher of the newspaper. He was a work in progress as far as being a newspaperman was concerned, looking for a voice that could create