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Page 5
Higdon
commenced in a slow and unsteady voice, remarking first that Yocum
was already back from Cedar Bayou with the title to Carey's property,
but for payment the old robber planned to substitute murder for the
gold, slaves, and horses he had originally promised.
"My life and yours are both at stake if I back down, Carey," he said,
"but I ain't no Judas hunting thirty pieces of silver. Yocum made
me promise to take you tomorrow morning to a swamp, about seven miles
from here, under the pretense of hunting the mule you have running
loose. He, his son Chris, and Bud McClusky will be waiting there.
If I do not choose to see you murdered, I am to pretend to see a deer
and ride away, while they kill you and throw you into the slough with
the alligators. My payment for playing Judas is to be your mule, a
gun worth about $100, and a good race horse."
Relieved
that he had finally found some one he could trust, Carey proffered
a solution that he thought might get Higdon temporarily off the hook.
Unknown to either Yocum or Higdon, Carey's mule was in the nearby
woods, hobbled and grazing, for he long foreseen the possible need
for a quick getaway. And about four miles south of stock pens, there
lived an old farmer, named E. C. Harris, who raised and cured tobacco,
and Carey had already visited him on two occasions to buy the fuel
for his habit.
"Early in the morning," Carey suggested, "tell Yocum that I left before
daylight to buy smokes at old Harris' place, but will be back by 10
o'clock, and we'll go looking for the mule then. He'll believe that
'cause he knows I'm a slave to tobacco. I'll leave my coat and knife
at your place and that oughta convince him that I'll be back."
" Where are you going?" Higdon inquired.
"I guess back to Cedar Bayou and face up to the law. There's plenty
witnesses for my defense and maybe I can get a fair trial."
He then shook hands with Higdon and retreated to the woods to find
his mule, fully-prepared to rise before daylight and follow the westbound
sun toward Cedar Bayou. Along the way he planned to stop off at the
residence of a certain Liberty County rancher and tell him where he
could find his missing brother's mare with the stocking feet.
As
directed, Higdon also rose early the next day, and he and his wife
rode through the woods to Yocum's Inn. Old Yocum, his son Chris, and
Bud McClusky, each of them heavily armed, stood by the rail fence
of the corral as they talked. When Higdon drove up, Yocum demanded
in an upraised voice, "Where's Carey, and when are you two heading
for the thicket?"
"In two or three hours. Carey left early to go to old Harris' place
for smokes, but he'll be back by ten."
"You didn't follow my order!" old Yocum retorted.
"Don't fret over it!" Higdon replied, noting the old killer's piercing
eyes and stern facial expression." Carey'll be back soon, and your
plan will still carry through. Why, he even left his coat and knife
at my place, and you know he wouldn't leave without those. Ask my
wife if you don't believe me!"
Old Yocum then glanced at the young woman and seemed convinced after
her affirmative nod. "Never mind!" he answered, "I'll change the plan,
but you shore cheated yourself out of a fine mule, a gun, and a fast
stallion."
He then turned to his son, Chris, and Bud McClusky and directed them
to hide out along the trail south of the stock pens. When they sighted
Carey, they were to shoot him immediately and haul the body away to
the alligator slough. After Zeke and Tabitha Higdon returned to their
cabin, they hastily loaded their sparse possessions on the mule cart
and lit out toward the west, avoiding the south trail where the killers
would be hidden. next
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