Exploits of the Black Ranger

The first gunfight he had there was with the outlaw and rapist Tommy Bodritz who attempted to bushwhack the Black Ranger one winter evening after the saloons had closed for the night. At 25 yards in the dark Pat had managed to take Bodritz down with a shot clean through the heart....word soon spread throughout Texas that the Black Ranger was a man not to be taken lightly. That shot through the heart was dumb luck, sure, Pat would have hit Tommy somewhere in the torso but he wasn't going to tell anyone that the shot was luck. And why should he? If the story would make his opponents more nervous then that was fine with him.

Pat Bridges had a strict moral code that he lived by, he didn't drink alcohol nor did he indulge in sexual escapades. Some of his friends wondered why he hadn't become a priest but he just wasn't into being tied down to a church or turning the other cheek when confronted with evil men. The law needed to be enforced and the law abiding citizens to be defended, that was his job and that's what he enjoyed doing.

Johnny Starn owned the Bar X ranch about twelve miles north of Eagle Pass and Jeff Canife was his ranch boss, for months Pat had been hearing rumors that Canife and his cowhands had been crossing the border into Mexico and rustling cattle from the rancheros there. If true, this was serious business and it had to be stopped

To be continued......

30 Nov 2009