Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 23:55:36 -0000
From: dbrown@ggu.edu

The following is a work of fiction.  The usual caveats apply.  If you
are under 18, you shouldnt be here.  Please leave and come back when
youre old enough, if you still want to.  If you dislike male to male
love-making, please dont read this.  If you didnt get excited when
the cowboy hero got bound and gagged by the bad guys, then you probably
wont enjoy this story.  If you like cowboys roped and gagged, please
read on and welcome.

Note: this is the West of the imagination, not the history books. 
Enjoy.

THEY THAT HAVE POWER TO HURT
by Henry Pouchette

AS I OPENED THE DOOR to my room, I heard a low gasp of in-taken breath.
 Ralph was hunkered down over the strongbox from under my bed.  It was
open, and he had a handful of the bundled banknotes in one hand.  He
looked up at me, his expression a mixture of startlement, regret, and
anguish.
	"What does this mean, Tom?" he said in a low voice.  I reacted
smoothly, stepping inside and shutting the door slowly behind me.  As I
started across the room, I reached into my hip pocket and pulled out my
big bandanna.
	"What are you talking about, Ralph?"  I asked.  I was moving toward
him casually, as if nothing he had done or said bothered me, as if he
had asked me the time of day.  But I was tensed to spring as soon as I
was close enough.
	"This money," he said angrily, "what the hell are yuummmmmphummmmph!"
	His words were cut off and muffled as I took one quick step and closed
the gap between us, stuffing the wadded bandanna into his mouth as I
did so.  Instantly, I pushed him over, face down on the floor, easily
done since the man was teetering off-balance on half-bent knees.
	"Mmmmmmph!  Mmmmmmmmugulmmmmmph!"
     I held one hand clamped hard over my old friend's mouth as I
scrambled to pull the lariat down from my saddle where it lay beside
the bed.  Ralph almost twisted away from me, and for a moment my hand
slipped from his mouth, but I managed to bear him down flat once more,
straddling his back with my legs and pressing his arms against the hard
wooden floor beneath my knees. He spat out the bandanna.
	"What the hell are you doing, Tom?"
	I took an instant to pull his own bandanna from the back pocket of his
levis and wrapped it around my own.  Then I shut him up once more,
shoving the whole big wad into his open mouth as he suddenly realized
how serious I was and tried to shout.
	"Mmmmmmmulummmph!  Muguluuummmmmmmmph!"
	I held one hand tight over his mouth while I struggled to loosen his
neckerchief from around his throat.  After tugging awkwardly at the
knot in the heavy silk, with Ralph rocking from side to side beneath me
and moaning into the bandanna wad, I worked the big scarf free.  Taking
my palm from his lips, I grasped the neckerchief in either hand and
whipped it over his mouth, tugging the doubled cloth back hard between
his jaws and straining his head back as if I were pulling on the reins
of a horse.  He made a muffled gurgle far back in his throat as the wad
of bandannas was forced in deep. Bringing the long ends together behind
his head, I drew them as tight as I could and cinched them off into a
brutally secure knot at the base of his skull.
	"Mmmmmmmmmmmph!  Mmmmmmmmmuummmmmmmph!"
	Now I had both hands free to use in hog-tying him, and I set to work
with the lariat.  I looped the rope around one wrist and tied it snug,
and then I forced him to bring that hand down behind his back.  He
struggled and fought me every inch of the way, but, though he was a
year younger, I had always been taller and outweighed him by twenty
pounds.  And I was driven by more than anger or even the need to keep
my secret. For years I had dreamed of taking Ralph by force once more,
and the actual experience of making the man again submit to me aroused
every ounce of energy I possessed.  Though he fought me, though he
resisted me, though he almost broke free, though he struggled to lift
himself from the floor despite my weight on his back, slowly I bound
him, cuffing him once or twice, twisting his arms behind his back and
tying them, wrapping snug coils of rope around his wrists, lashing more
loops tightly around his upper arms to secure them to his chest.  He
rocked from side to side, moaning into the gag, straining at the rope,
but I overmastered him and cinched off the rope with a hard knot.  
	Still straddling my bound friend, still holding him to the floor with
my weight, I took out my clasp knife and cut off the remaining rope at
the knot.  Then, taking care not to let Ralph sense any slack in my
hold on him, I eased myself around and flung myself down onto his legs.
 He struggled again, thrashing beneath me and trying to keep me from
binding his feet, but I overpowered him once more.  With tight coils of
the rope, I lashed his booted feet together around the ankles, and then
I used more of the rope to bind his knees.  
	Once I had him bound and gagged, I again turned myself around while
keeping my body pressed down hard on his.  By now, of course, I was
panting not only with the effort it had taken to force him into
submission but also with the excitement aroused by the binding and
gagging themselves.  As I swung myself head to head with him once more,
my cock, already stiff, ached and grew yet harder as my movements
ground it into Ralph's firm ass.  Beneath me, Ralph moaned into his gag
and struggled in his bonds.  I held him clasped tightly in my embrace,
pressing him to the floor.  For several moments, we both lay still,
both of us breathing harshly.  Then Ralph began to struggle again in
earnest, and I knew I would need to bind him up yet more tightly.
	I dragged myself to my feet, and then, grabbing Ralph around the
waist, I heaved him up like a bundle of straw and half flung him, half
lifted him onto the iron bed.  Despite his struggles and muffled
protests, I forced him to lie catty-cornered across the narrow
mattress, and then I used the remaining rope, cutting it into two
lengths, to fasten first his shoulders and then his feet to opposite
corners of the bedframe.  For his shoulders, I passed the rope, with
some difficulty, between his upper arms and his torso, looping the cord
up and around the iron post.  His feet were simple, requiring only a
tight loop from his ankles to the post.  When I had done, Ralph lay on
his back, stretched diagonally across the bedstead, bound flat to the
mattress.  He stared up at me, a mixture of anger, disbelief, and
dawning fear in those long gray eyes.  He strained and tugged at the
ropes, but I know my work, and they held him tightly, barely able to
move. 
	"Mmmmmmummmmph!  Mugulummmmmmph!" He shouted into the gag angrily.  I
crossed to my saddle bags, took out two more of my big bandannas, and
returned to sit on the bed beside Ralph's head.  Taking one of the
bandannas, I opened it up and then gathered it into a big wad.  Setting
that aside, I took the other bandanna and opened it as well, folding it
on the diagonal into a broad bandage.  I took my time, enjoying what I
was doing, anticipating the excitement of adding to Ralph's gag, able
to work slowly now that I had him helpless and under my control. 
	Bending over my captive, I looked down into his face.  His neckerchief
was bound so tightly through his mouth that it dragged his lips back
and made his cheeks bulge.  Smiling at him, I forced the wadded
bandanna between his lips, stuffing it in front of the tight band of
his neckerchief.  Then I took up the second bandanna and that I tied
snuy over his now doubly stuffed mouth, pressing the thick center of
the handkerchief tightly down over his lips and straining the folded
cloth hard over his jaws and around his head to cinch the ends off in
as cruelly secure a knot as I could manage.  I felt my sex stiffen and
jerk with excitement as I tied that brutal gag.
	"Mmmmmmm. Mmmmph."  Ralph struggled hopelessly against the smothering
layers of cloth.  His moans were faint, choked back into his throat,
muffled into pathetic mumbling.  Hovering over him, my face so close to
his I could feel the breath that whistled through his nostrils blowing
softly on my cheeks and moustache as mine must have blown on his, I
stared into his eyes.  I was leaning on my left arm.  With my free
right hand, I tenderly brushed his salt and pepper hair back from where
it had tumbled over his forehead in our struggles.  His eyes looked up
into mine.  He was angry still, I could see, but frightened also. 
Slowly I let my hand slide down his face, his throat, his chest, his
side.  Gently and then more firmly I pushed my fingers between his
legs.  He moaned and writhed.  Beneath my hand, I could feel his hard
sex pinned to his thigh beneath his levis.
	"Couldn't resist snooping, could you, Ralph?"  I smiled down at him. 
"'Course," I went on, "there's no harm done, is there?  You aren't
gonna get a chance to tell anyone, and it's made a perfect opportunity
for me to truss you up and gag you just like I used to do.  Later
tonight, when I leave, well, Ralph, I'll just load you up, hog-tied and
gagged the way you are, along with the rest of my baggage, and take you
along with me."  He jerked angrily at his bonds.
	"Mmmmmmph!  Mmmmmmmm!"
	I grinned at him.  "It was time you quit that dumb job out at the
ranch anyway, Ralph.  You can just come along with me.  You won't be
the first cowpoke I've kidnapped."
	He stared up at me, suddenly still.  It was impossible to read his
thoughts.  His eyes were narrowed, his body tense.
	"Oh, yeah," I said softly.  "I've had other men right where I have
you, Ralph.  Young trailhands who never suspected the big bad
gunslinger might want to do more with them than a just a
little-boys-together roll in the hay.  And older trailhands, too, who
should have known better.  But they all found out that you can rope
more than calves, and that a man can shut you up good and tight with a
handful of bandannas." I chuckled.  Ralph, I suddenly thought, looked
more indignant than frightened.
	I bent closer to him, my words almost whispering into his ear.
	"Did you think you were the only one, Ralph?" He stirred in his ropes
and turned his face away.  "Did you think I let all those long years go
by without hog-tying another man for loving like I hog-tied you?" I was
surprised myself by the bitterness in my voice, but I went on
regardless.  "It wasn't me who left, Ralph.  You got chicken, said fun
was fun, but I was going too far when I wanted us to skirt the law a
little and make real money, and you left me." I stopped, took a deep
breath, and forced myself to go on more calmly.  "Well, now you're here
again, with me.  It's what you said you wanted, two nights ago in the
saloon.  Maybe you didn't mean it, and even if you did, maybe you
didn't mean this way, with me tying you up like this and gagging your
mouth like this, but you always knew that was how it has to be for me."
I stared down at his averted face.  "You know it does, Ralph," I said,
and I heard with shame the pleading in my voice.
	Ralph turned his head to face me once more.  He was looking up at me
now, and the anger and the fear were gone from those gray eyes.  I saw
tears welling up in them, and he blinked rapidly.
	"Don't you start crying, you bastard," I exclaimed.  "I ain't taking
that gag out of your mouth for that." He stared back at me still, and I
watched him anxiously, afraid his tears would block his breathing,
unwilling to remove the gag, afraid not to lest he smother.  He blinked
again, and again, and I saw the tears subside as he regained control of
himself. I watched him closely for a long moment, until I was sure he
could still breathe.  Only when I was sure he was safe did I realize
that the sight of my strong cowboy in tears had aroused me even more. 
I swallowed, trying to control my feelings, aware too well of how much
I wanted simply to take Ralph into my arms and love him till he and I
both shot the works.
	"Besides, cowboy," I said harshly, "what I can feel in those pants you
wear stretched so tight over your hard ass ain't a corncob and I don't
think it means you're so unwilling as you pretended you were while I
tied you up.  You always did like to play I was a mean hombre making
you do stuff you didn't wanna, and I can see you haven't changed a
bit." I brought my face down close to his.  "You like those ropes and
you like that gag.  You can't deny it, cowpoke."
	Ralph strained hard at his bonds in response to my taunt and fought
the gag.
	"Mmmmmmmmmugmmmmmph.  Mmmmmmmmmph."
	"That's right, old man," I said, "you just go ahead and struggle and
shout.  I remember, Ralph.  I remember."  He stared back at me,
suddenly still, and then his eyes closed.  I found myself curling his
head in the crook of my arm, my face pressed down into his hair.  It
was graying now, with a hint of thinning at the temples, but still soft
and thick everywhere else, and it smelled clean, just soap and water
clean.
	"You remember, too, don't you, cowboy?" I said softly.  "Remember
those long nights that last summer, when we were out together rounding
up the strays?  Lying warm together under our blanket those cold nights
high up in the foothills, the stars thick as traildust and the night
black as the inside of your boot?  You use to grin like an idiot when I
started to uncoil that rope, and when I lassoed you and pulled you down
to hog-tie you, remember, the way you laughed at me, just out of cussed
pleasure?  And then I'd gag you, I'd stuff your mouth full of your and
my bandannas, and tie my neckerchief over your lips, and you'd struggle
and moan but I knew you wanted me, and you did, didn't you, Ralph?  You
used to tell me I was a handsome cuss."
	I pulled away to look down into his face.  He lay still beneath me,
his eyes closed.  For a long moment we were like that.  Then he opened
his eyes and met my gaze.  I saw no fear now, and no anger.  I wasn't
sure what I did see.
	"I thought you were the handsomest cowboy I'd ever seen," I said
suddenly.  I don't know why I said it to him then, after what I'd done,
attacking him, trussing him up, gagging him, making him my prisoner. 
But I said it.  And I meant it.  "I always have," I went on.
	He nodded.  "Mmmm."  He wasn't trying to yell now.  He wanted to say
something, I could see that in his eyes.  But I couldn't take the gag
out.  It would have to wait.  I wondered if it would have to wait
forever, if he would refuse to tell me later, when I had him safely
away from this two-bit town, what he had wanted to tell me now.  But I
couldn't risk taking out the gag.  He wanted me still, I knew that. 
And he, well, he loved his friend still, too, even if I had turned into
a bastard and a bandit.  But he would feel he couldn't let me go on
being a bandit, that he had to make me stop, no matter what.  And I
wasn't going to let him.  He was better off gagged, and gagged good, I
thought, to save him from trying to save me and ruining us both
instead.  That's what I thought.
	We both jumped near a foot when the knock came at the door.  I was so
intent on Ralph, I hadn't even heard anyone coming down the hall. 
Ralph looked over at the door.
	"Mmmmmph.  Mugulmmmmph!"
	I grinned at him.  His noise was only a pathetic grunt, inaudible, I
knew, beyond the thick walls of my room in this adobe hotel.  I lifted
myself up and went over to the door.
	"Who is it?"
	"Johnson, it's me.  Open up."
	I recognized Driver's voice.  I opened the door a crack and looked
out.  Driver stood just outside, alone, looking anxiously up and down
the hall.
	"Let me in, Johnson."
	"Sure, Mr Driver," I said with a smile, and opened the door wide
enough to let him pass.  When he was in, I shut the door behind me and
locked it.
	When I turned, Driver was staring over at Ralph, who lay staring back
at him, his eyes wide above the cruelly tight bandanna gag. Driver
turned to me with a wild expression.
	"What's going on here?  What are you up to, Johnson?" He turned back
to look at Ralph once more.  "That's Curtis, isn't it, one of the hands
out at the Triple R?  What's he doing here?"
	I smiled calmly.  "Ralph and I are old friends, Mr Driver.  But he
snooped a bit too much, so I had to make sure he didn't spill the beans
on us."
	"But he can identify us.  He can identify me.  You're going to have to
get rid of him, Johnson."
	I stepped up to the little man, who was practically spitting in his
sputtering agitation.
	"You listen to me, Driver," I said fiercely, and I pressed him back
against the door.  "I said that Ralph is my friend.  Nobody, especially
no duded up rich banker like you, is gonna talk about getting rid of
him.  He's fine like he is.  He's not going anywhere, and he's got a
gag the size of a cannonball stuffed in his mouth so he's not telling
anybody anything, either, and nobody's gonna find him here or hear him
try to yell.  He's just fine and dandy like he is.  When I leave
tonight, I'm taking him with me, slung like a sack on his horse and
just as tightly hog-tied and just as tightly gagged as you see him now.
 You won't see me again, just like we planned, and you won't see him
again, neither, so you just stow your yap about getting rid of him. 
You got that?" I glared down at him, ready to tear the little bastard
apart whatever he said.
	Driver looked up at me, and then glanced over at Ralph.  "Well, I
reckon he's not going anywhere or blabbing to anyone, is he?" He gave a
nervous chuckle.  "I suppose you know your work, Johnson."  I let him
slip past me, but I kept close to him when he crossed the room to look
down at Ralph, helpless and silent on the bed.
	"Trussed up like a calf, isn't he?"
	"Yeah," I said quietly.  "Just like you're gonna be, later tonight."
	Driver slid his eyes around to look at me, one eyebrow raised.  A sly
grin curved his mouth beneath his fussily curled moustaches.  "Do
tell," he said.  "Surely it won't be necessary to tie me up and gag me
quite so thoroughly."
	I grinned back, but grimly.  "Like you said, Mr Driver, I know my
work, and I know to leave even a willing robbery victim like yourself
looking like he was the victim of circumstances completely beyond his
control."
	"Yes, well," Driver said.  "I suppose you're right.  But I insist on
your using my own handkerchief for the gag, Johnson.  I want to know
it's clean."
	"Fine with me, Mr Driver, fine with me.  But it'll be handkerchiefs,"
I said, emphasizing the plural.  "When I gag a man, he's gagged good
and proper."
	Driver frowned, still looking down at Ralph, who looked up at us both,
his eyes anxious above the gag.  I wanted to reach down and stroke him,
gentle him  like a spooked horse, but I wasn't going to shame him in
front of a louse like Driver. 
	"Are you sure he won't get free, or work that gag out of his mouth
while you're gone?"
	I looked down at Ralph, utterly helpless on the bed, trussed up so
tight he could hardly shift from side to side and gagged so brutally he
could barely make a noise loud enough for us beside him to hear.  I
smiled darkly.  
	"He's not going anywhere, like I told you, and he's so gagged he's
mostly thinking about breathing, not about yelling."
	Driver nodded.  "All right.  He does look ... vulnerable."  
	I shot a glance at the man.  He had an expression on his face I didn't
like, a speculative expression, as if he was wondering what he might do
with Ralph, helpless like he was.
	"Handsome, isn't he?" Driver said with a curl of his lip to me.
	"Huh," I grunted.  "Don't you get any ideas.  He ain't tied and gagged
for you to have fun with him."
	Driver gave me a nasty grin and shrugged.  "All right, Johnson.  I
won't interfere in your little game with your cowpoke here."  He
suddenly turned serious.  "Let's talk business."
	"There isn't much to talk, and anyway, not here." Drive cocked an
eyebrow at me.  "What he hasn't heard, he can't repeat later on. 
Com'on out back, on the porch."  Driver glanced down at Ralph once
more, then followed me with a sly smile. 
	We went out the tall windows at the rear of my room, onto the rough
wooden balcony that stretched across the back of the hotel.  It
overlooked a dusty alleyway between the kitchen and the stables.  The
smell was bad, but if you looked up, you could see the cool blue of the
far mountains off to the north.  Driver's nose wrinkled, but he said
nothing about the smell--or the view.
	"Everything's set, Johnson," he said in a low voice.  "My houseman is
off in Carverton, visiting his sister, and my bodyservant has Thursday
nights off every week.  I'll be alone in the house."
	I grinned down at him.  He wasn't bad-looking, if you liked wiry
little older guys who dressed too well.  He was bald, but his skull had
a good shape to it, and he wasn't fool enough to try and hide his
baldness but kept what hair he still had cropped close.  He was
obviously proud of his beard and moustaches, which were thick and
carefully groomed.  He was dressed in a city suit of gray, in a soft
rich cloth that made you want to touch it, and his necktie was a deep
navy blue with small white dots.  In his chest pocket he wore a big
handkerchief of white silk in a foppishly large puff.  I decided that I
was going to enjoy making the little man appear the victim of a robbery.
	"That's fine, Mr Driver," I said. "I'll be there, like I said.  You
can open the safe, and I'll take the coins, and then I'll make sure it
looks like you did it all unwillingly.  Real sure."
	"Yes, well, I want you to make it look like a real robbery, of course,
but you don't have to tie me up too tightly."  He sounded a little
nervous.
	"I have to make it look real, Mr Driver, don't I?"  I was laughing to
myself.
	"I suppose, Johnson.  But of course I've never been robbed before and
certainly never tied up and gagged."
	"You may find you like it, Mr Driver," I said, still laughing to
myself.  "Some men do."
	He looked up at me intently.  Then he looked away, and said in a stiff
voice, "I wouldn't know about that."
	I'll bet you wouldn't, was what I thought, remembering the look he had
given Ralph, but I said nothing, just smiled blandly.
	"So that's it, Johnson."
	"Just one thing, Mr Driver."
	He raised his eyebrows.
	"The second payment?"
	He nodded.  "You'll have it.  The coins aren't worth dirt, but my
money is.  The second half will be in the safe with the coins."
	I nodded acknowledgment. We went back into the room. Ralph lifted his
head to watch us return, his eyes intent above the gag.  He looked
angry, and he struggled.
	"Mmmmmph!  Mugummmph!"
	Driver stared at him, seemingly fascinated.
	"You really have got him muzzled, haven't you?"  he said to me.
	I grinned.  "Wait till tonight, Mr Driver, and I'll show you how it's
done."
	He frowned at me as I pushed him toward the door.
	"Tonight, Mr Driver," I admonished him as he hesitated for a moment in
the hall, and then I shut and locked the door.
	"Mmmmmph!"  Ralph was trying to say something through his gag.
	I walked over to the bed and sat down beside him, leaning over him.
	"Mmmmummmumph!"
	I brushed his hair back and smiled down at him.  "You know, Ralph,
it's just real hard to understand a man when he has a big wad of
bandannas stuffed in his mouth."
	"Mmmmmmm! Mmmmmmmmugulmmmmmmmph!  Mmmmmmggmmmmmph!"
	I patted his cheek.  "How about if you save it all up and tell me
about it tonight, when I've got you safe away from this place and I can
take that gag out of your mouth."  I don't know why, but I suddenly
bent over and kissed him on the forehead.  Then I pulled back and
looked into his eyes once more.  He shook his head back and forth and
frowned at me, but I knew it wasn't my kiss he was refusing and I saw
tears of frustration and something else forming.
	"Mmmmmmmph!  Mmmmmmmph!"  He stared up at me, trying to speak with his
eyes.  And then he subsided, defeated by the gag and by my
unwillingness to listen.  I knew what he wanted to say.  He wanted to
tell me not to do it, it was wrong, I would pay for it somewhere,
somehow.  But I wanted the money.  And I wanted him.  And keeping him
trussed and gagged and faking a robbery with Driver was how I could
have them both, if I worked it right, I told myself.  I lay down beside
Ralph, my head on his shoulder.  I thought he might struggle and try to
toss me off, but he didn't. He sighed through his nostrils above the
brutal gag in his mouth, and I felt his firm chest slowly relax beneath
my cheek.  He was defeated, and he knew it.  I stoked his side gently
and tried not to think about how much I wanted to take the man just the
way he was, bound up hand and foot and gagged so tightly.  It was dusk,
now, the light in the room going dim and dusty.  We had several hours
to wait.  And we waited.
	I must have fallen asleep.  When I opened my eyes, the room was
completely dark.  I could hear Ralph's breathing above me, and I could
tell that despite the discomfort of the ropes and the gag, he had
fallen asleep as well.  I eased myself off him, hoping not to wake him.
 He gave a jerk, and his eyes flew open.  He started struggling
frantically against his ropes and shouting into the gag.
	"Mmmmmmugummmph!"
	"Hush, Ralph, hush," I said softly and took him in my arms.  I felt
the rigid strain ebb slowly from his body as he remembered where he was
and what had happened to him.  He looked at me, not frightened any
more, just resigned and sad-looking.  I guess he knew he couldn't stop
me.  And he wasn't scared of being bound and gagged when it was by me;
I reckon he remembered, like I did, how well he liked it years ago,
when I tied him up and gagged him for our loving times.  "That's a good
boy," I said softly, and stroked him slowly.  I felt my sex stiffen in
my levis as I stared down at my helpless cowboy, and I eased myself off
him.  I was beginning to want to forget Driver and our plans and just
stay here with Ralph.
	Standing up, I went over to the bureau, struck a match on my bootheel,
and lit the lamp, turning its flame low.  By its light, I started
packing up my satchel.  I had used one lariat on Ralph, but I always
kept extra rope with me, just in case I met a handsome cowboy who
needed some persuasion.  I added a couple of big bandannas, to make
sure I would have plenty to use for Driver's gag.  I planned on making
sure the little bastard was muzzled within an inch of his dirty life. 
I glanced up into the blotched looking-glass above the bureau.  I
looked like a bandit, I thought.  Sometimes I wondered what Ralph saw
when he looked at me.  A big man, tall and broad in the shoulder and
chest, long in the leg.  I dont know about my face.  Deep-set eyes
under thick brows, short staight nose, full lips that used to be red
like a girls, but faded now at almost fifty and grim under a heavy
moustache, a square chin.  Some cowboys had liked me.  I never felt
sure why.	
	I was dressed in dark clothes, charcoal gray shirt and levis, black
leather boots, belt, and vest.  I took a big handkerchief of black silk
and tied it over my face as a mask.  Then I pulled the handkerchief
down to hang from my throat as a neckerchief; I would pull it back up
later, when I got to Driver's place.  Putting on my hat and hefting the
satchel, I returned to stand beside the bed.  I sat down beside Ralph,
one hand reaching out to ruffle his hair.  He shook his head slowly at
me, and mumbled into that big gag, but his protest at my being about to
leave was half-hearted.  He knew he couldn't have stopped me, gag or no
gag.  I checked his ropes and the gag carefully.  The ropes were still
as tight as I had tied them, but his desperate struggling had loosened
the bandanna around his head ever so slightly.  I undid the knot, and
then, just to be sure, I retied his silk neckerchief, pulling that even
more tightly than before, and then retied the bandanna over his mouth,
stretching the cloth as snug and taut as I possibly could.
	"Mmmmmmummmmmph."  Ralph moaned and his eyes reproached me as I tugged
and tied the handkerchiefs.  The gag was a cruel one, I knew, bigger
and more tightly bound than I had ever used on a man before, but I was
determined that he would stay silenced and helpless while I was gone,
and I ignored my own pity for how I had muzzled my poor cowboy.
	"I'll be back as quick as I can, cowpoke," I said quietly.  "Then I'm
gonna take you off with me, and we'll go to a place I know up in the
mountains."  I smiled down at him.  "There's a place half a night's
ride from here where we can stop and rest.  I'll take the gag out then,
Ralph.  I mean, after we've had some fun."  I ruffled his hair again,
and then, unable to stop myself, I brought my hand down to feel his
crotch.  His sex was hard in his levis.  The gag was cruel, but my
cowboy loved to be my prisoner.
	"Try to sleep some more, Ralph," I said as I rose.  "It's gonna be a
long ride tonight, and real hard for you, trussed up and gagged."  With
a final stroke of my hand on the side of his face, I turned and left
the room.  I saw that his eyes never left me until the door shut me
from view.
	Outside in the hall, I stood listening for a moment.  I could hear
nothing, even in the silent hotel, except the faint swish of a curtain
on an open window  at the end of the passageway.  Carefully, I leaned
my ear against the heavy panel of the door to my room, straining to
catch any noise.  Very distantly, I heard Ralph grunting into his gag. 
Obviously, he was struggling to free himself and calling for help.  No
one would hear him, I could tell that for sure, and I had tied him too
tightly and gagged him too securely for him to escape his bonds. 
Shaking my head, I turned and went down the hall to the stairs.   
	As I walked toward Driver's place, I kept thinking about Ralph lying
there in my room.  I wasn't worried he would get loose.  I didn't lie
when I told Driver I knew my business.  I had tied up more men than my
poor cowboy, and not all of them for love.  And the same with gags. 
There were quite a few bank clerks and railroad guards who could have
testified to my skill with a hank of rope and a handful of bandannas. 
So I knew that when I got back, Ralph would be lying right where I'd
left him, tied and gagged.  No, it was just that I couldn't get him out
of my mind.  For one thing, the way he looked.  I mean, on a horse or
walking down the street, his long legs in his levis, his big shoulders,
his bright eyes always smiling at me, his little boy grin under that
big moustache.  And also how he looked right now, helpless as a baby
bird, but a damned sight more quiet, hog-tied on that bed and gagged so
tight I knew his jaws must ache.  The image of him drove me wild.  I
wanted to go back and free him and beg his forgiveness, but I knew if I
did go back I'd be more likely to rape the poor sap than I would be to
let him loose.  I tried to make myself think less on Ralph and more on
what I was intending, and I hurried toward Driver's house.
	Driver was a rich bastard, and he lived in one of the biggest places
in this little town.  Not that it was all that fancy, when you got down
to it.  Just a wooden house, two stories, filled with a lot of fancy
furniture and geegaws.  But it passed for something swell in this part
of the state, and Driver passed for a gentleman, too.  I don't know how
he got away with living alone, without a woman.  I thought all bankers
had to be married or nobody'd trust them with their money.  He managed
it though, and no one around seemed to think anything about how he
lived alone with just two men to keep his household for him.  I'd seen
his "bodyservant" as he called him, and I had some ideas of what went
on at that house, but I'd kept my ideas to myself.  Now, however, as I
approached the house, I realized that I was looking forward to at least
part of the evening's planned activities.  I thought to myself that I
would just check out if Driver found ropes and gags as interesting as I
thought he might.
	Glancing around the empty road, I slipped into the shadows of the tall
cottonwood trees that leaned over the yard at Driver's place.  I pulled
the black silk handkerchief up over my face and then went quietly
around to the back of the house.  The back door was unlocked, just as
Driver had said it would be, and I let myself in noiselessly.  It was
dark in the back rooms, and I paused to let myself get used to the dim
lighting.  When I felt I could see well enough to move around without
knocking over half the furniture, I slipped down the hall toward the
front parlor, where I could see the glow of a lamp.  As I stepped
gingerly along the carpeted floor, I took out one the bandannas and
gathered the big square of soft cloth into a wad.
	Driver was seated in a chair in the parlor, just inside the wide
opening from the hall.  He had his back to me, and he was reading
something, a big report of some kind.  I acted quickly, stepping up and
bending over him from behind to shove the bandanna into his mouth.
	"MMMMMMMMUMMMMMUGULLMMPH!"  He jumped up, gurgling into the gag.  I
didn't try to stop him, just stood there, trying not to laugh.
	Turning to face me, his eyes bugged with fright, he hovered in front
of me, paralyzed for several moments.  Then he reached up and snatched
the bandanna out of his mouth.
	"Johnson, you idiot! What do think your doing?"
	I grinned at him.  "Just what you told me to do, Mr Driver. Stage a
robbery with you as the victim."
	He dropped the bandanna.  "You scared the heck out of me."
	"Sorry," I said, almost meekly.  There was no sense in getting him too
riled up.  "Come on, let's get this over with, shall we?"
	He glared at me for a moment, and then he turned and led the way
across the room to a little alcove.  He had already unlocked the safe
and left it open.  The leather box with the fake coins was on a little
table, a bundle of banknotes on top.  I took up the bundle and fanned
through it.  Satisfied, I put the box and the banknotes inside my
satchel.
	"Fine, Mr Driver.  Now I'll fix you up and be on my way."
	He looked at me, hesitant and nervous.  "What will you do?"
	"Oh, don't worry, Mr Driver," I said smoothly.  "I'll take care of
things."
	He stared at me and then he motioned toward the little table.  "I
brought down a couple of my silk handkerchiefs."  There were two big
silk handkerchiefs, both of them black, where he pointed.  He had said,
I remembered, that he wanted to provide the handkerchiefs for his gag,
to be sure they were clean.  I had thought he might try to get away
with a couple of little pocket things, but the handkerchiefs on the
table were big squares of heavy silk.  I decided Driver was not the
wimp he sometimes seemed.
	I took the rope from my satchel and stepped over to the little man.
	"Turn around, Mr Driver"
	"Right here?" he asked.
	"Why not?"
	"I don't know, I just thought that, well, maybe you'd tie me to a
chair or something.  How does a robber manage these things?"
	"All in good time, Mr Driver," I assured him, chuckling to myself. 
"All in good time." I cut off a length of the rope and used it to tie
his wrists snugly together behind his back.  Driver gasped softly when
I pulled the bindings tight, but he made no protest.  Another length of
the rope bound his arms securely to his sides.  I could feel my sex
hardening in my pants as I trussed up the little man.  He was wary and
nervous, but submitted to me meekly.
	"There now, Mr Driver," I said cheerfully, "that's a good start.  Now
for the gag."
	I took one of the black silk handkerchiefs and opened it up.  The
thing was huge, bigger than a bandanna, and I smiled to myself with
satisfaction.  This was going to be good, I thought.  I took up the
other handkerchief and opened it onto the first, gathering the two into
a huge wad as big as my fist.  The silk was heavy, and the big ball of
cloth was almost liquid in its inky richness.  I reached around to grab
Driver's bearded chin in my hand, pulled open his mouth, and shoved the
big wad between his jaws.  The little man made a choking sound, but
submitted as I stuffed the whole enormous gag deep into his mouth.  I
reached up and untied my handkerchief mask and used it to bind up his
jaws, pulling the doubled triangle tight over his lips and wrapping the
ends around his head to knot them at the base of his skull.  I pulled
the handkerchief as tight as I could, so tight his cheeks bulged out
over the top, forcing the gag in deep. 
	Finishing the knot off behind his head, I took Driver by the shoulders
and turned him to face me.  The little man gazed up at me.  He looked
mighty helpless, and all that cock-of-the-walk strut seemed to have
drained out of him.  Grinning down at him, I lead him over to the chair
I had first found him in and bent over to take up my bandanna where he
had dropped it on the seat.  I stuffed that into his mouth, in front of
my neckerchief, and then used the second bandanna from my satchel to
bind up his jaws.  Now he was double-gagged, just like Ralph.
	Driver tested the gag tentatively.
	"Mmmmm?  Mmmmmmumph?"  His eyes widened as he realized just how little
noise he was able to make.  "Mmmmmmmmummmmph!?!?"
	I smiled at him wickedly.
	"Quite a gag, huh, Mr Driver?  I told you I knew my work.  And gagging
a man is one of my favorite things."
	The little fellow's eyes stared at me above the tightly tied bandanna.
	"If I remember rightly," I said to him as I took him over to a
sturdy-looking chair in front of his desk, "you had an expression on
your face when you saw Ralph that told me you found things like ropes
and gags more interesting than you might want to let on." I shoved him
down into the chair and proceeded to bind him into it as I continued
talking.  "Well, Mr Driver, I find roping up men and stuffing big
handkerchief gags in their mouths more than a little interesting
myself.  It's the stock in trade of a bandit like me, of course, but
it's more than that." I grinned up at him as I lashed his legs to the
chair rungs.  He stirred in the ropes, testing them, discovering how
securely I had tied him up.  "Binding and gagging a fellow gets me all
excited, Mr Driver, even when it's a little tramp like you."
	"Mmmmmmph." He mumbled indignantly into the gag at that, and I
chuckled.  Standing up, I looked down at him.  I had lashed him tightly
into the chair, arms, chest, waist, thighs, and calves.  The way his
arms were pulled behind him forced him to thrust out his chest, and
that threw the big puff of his silk show handkerchief into even greater
prominence.  I reached down and gave it a flip with my finger.
	"Let's just see how being trussed and muzzled makes you feel, shall
we, Mr Driver?"
	He frowned up at me, and then, when I reached into his lap and began
to loosen the fly of his trousers, struggled and protested.
	"Mmmmph!  Mugummmph!"
	I grinned and put my hand inside his pants.  His cock was rock hard,
and I pulled it out.  It stood up from his lap straight into the air. 
Driver moaned, his eyes shut.
	"Thought so," I said with a wicked chuckle.  "You really like ropes
and gags as much as I do, don't you?" 
	Driver moaned again, avoiding my eyes, his cheeks flushing red above
the tight gag.  I stuck my hand inside his coat and took out the big
handkerchief of white-dotted blue cotton I found in his inside pocket. 
Grinning down at my little coconspirator, I shook the handkerchief
open, twirled it on the diagonal, and then tied it tightly around the
base of his cock and balls, pulling the soft band as tightly as I dared
without actually hurting the poor man.
	"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!  Mummmmmmummmmmmmmph!"
	Driver really moaned now, but his moans were not protests but
unwilling acknowledgment of how excited he was at being bound and
gagged and at having his privates trussed up as well.
	"There now, Mr Driver," I said softly.  "All done.  I'll just take my
pay now, and leave.  Somebody, that bodyservant of yours, maybe, will
find you in a few hours and set you free.  Meanwhile, you just enjoy
yourself."
	Driver stared up at me and then began frantically shaking his head. 
"Mmmmmmmph!!  Mugummmmph!!"
	I knew what he meant.  He didn't want me to leave him with his
privates out and stiff and tied up like they were.  I ignored his
muzzled pleas and took up my satchel and put on my hat.  For a long
moment, I stood looking down at him, savoring how he looked all trussed
up and gagged like that, struggling and mumbling.  Then I turned and
left.  When I gave him a last look, he was still struggling and
moaning, and his cock was till ramrod stiff.  He was going to have to
give some difficult explanations to whoever found him.
	Letting myself out of the kitchen, I slipped down the back of the row
of houses until I could cut across to the main road again.  Tying
Driver up and gagging him like that had excited me, all right, and, at
some other time, I would sure have liked to take advantage of the man
once I had him helpless.  Heck, I would have done it whether he'd had a
hard-on himself or not.  He wouldn't have been the first, either.  But
now, though I shied from admitting it to myself, at least from
admitting how strong my feelings were, I was anxious to get back to my
poor cowboy.  The image of him lying helpless back in my room had kept
coming back to me even while I was busy with Driver, and now all I
wanted to do was get back to Ralph.  What I would do when I got there,
I wasn't sure.  The stiff soreness in my crotch didn't seem to mean
that I would be untying him right away, though.
	I tried not to hurry along the main street of town.  I didn't want to
draw attention to myself.  When I finally was walking down the hall to
my room, I forced myself not to burst in but to pause instead, my ear
against the door.  All was quiet, and I wondered if my poor cowboy had
dropped off to sleep again.  Stealthily, I tuned the knob and slipped
inside.  Moonlight slanted through the window and lit the room dimly. 
I crossed over to the bed on silent feet and looked down.  Ralph lay as
I had left him, tied down to the mattress and helpless.  The gag was
still bound tightly over his mouth.  Above it his eyes stared into
mine.  He wasn't asleep.  He was just lying there, waiting for his old
friend gone bad to come back for him.  As I returned his look, he
stirred slightly and gave a soft moan into that cruel gag.
	I had wondered before if I would rape him or free him.  I didn't do
either.  I whispered to him, "My poor cowboy, forgive me, my friend."
And I slowly unbuttoned my fly and took out my aching cock.  Standing
beside him, my eyes on his, I started to jack myself off, my hand slow,
but my heart thumping so hard I thought the deskclerk would come
running to see what the heck was going on.  Ralph watched, his eyes
moving from my face to my crotch and back.  I stroked and stroked,
trying to keep from just jumping over the cliff before I even knew I
was up the mountain.  My breath got harsher and harsher, hurting my
throat.  Ralph twisted in his ropes, his eyes bright in the moonlight,
his brows drawn down as he watched me.  He mumbled into that huge gag,
and my cock leapt in my hand at that helpless sound.  I realized I was
going to the edge, I was almost at the brink, I was going over.
	"Ralph, Ralph, oh, my poor cowboy," I gasped harshly as my spunk
jetted up and out and onto the floor.  I was almost sobbing with the
pain and the joy of coming over my bound and gagged old friend.  I
staggered forward and fell on Ralph where he lay.  For a moment, I was
too dazed to do anything but try to catch my breath.  Finally, I lifted
my head and looked into Ralph's face.  He was watching me.  He didn't
look angry.  He looked sad, a little.  He looked, well, he looked like
he used to look up on the mountain when I had brought myself off
against his taut belly and looked up at him to be sure he didn't hate
me.  I saw that it was still not hate he felt for me, but love.  I was
his best buddy, his bunkie, his man, the one he looked up to and
trusted.
	I stoked his hair, and his eyes closed, and he moaned into the gag. 
He stirred under me, and his eyes opened, and the softness in them
sharpened into a helpless pleading.  And I understood.  I reached to
unbutton his fly and his cock sprang out.  Smiling up at him, I stroked
it gently, and he bucked in his ropes and moaned again into the gag.  I
took his cock into my mouth, slowly easing its stiff length between my
jaws.  Ralph groaned and twisted.  I pulled myself fully onto the bed
and straddled him, my lips circling his dick, slowly pumping his stiff
cock in and out of my mouth.  For a long while, I kept the rhythm slow,
while Ralph twisted and turned in the ropes that held him and guttural
moans vibrated behind his gag.  Gradually his struggles become more
intense, his moans more agonized.  He was nearing the brink, and I
slowed down for a while.  I enjoyed my control of him, of his pleasure,
I enjoyed having him bound and gagged and helpless to do anything but
lie there and respond while I sucked him and stroked him.  Twice more I
brought him near to the edge, and twice I edged him back.  After that
third time, he jerked and strained at the ropes and shouted desperately
into the brutal gag.  In the moonlight, I could see tears of
frustration welling at the corners of his eyes.  I took pity on my poor
cowboy at last, just like I always had, and I sucked him for real,
sucked him hard and steady, and faster and faster.  He bucked beneath
me, he fought the ropes.  He shouted into the smothering gag.  His hot
cum spurted into my mouth, and I sucked him harder as he writhed and
whimpered.  At last he lay still, drained, his slowly slackening cock
easing from my mouth.  I pulled up and looked down at him.  He stared
back at me, his eyes blurred with tears.  I smiled and gently tucked
his cock inside his trousers, fastening his fly once more.  I took a
deep breath.
	"We have to get out of here, Ralph.  Tonight.  Now."
	I got up and gathered up my saddle bags and my bedroll.  With a glance
and a smile at Ralph, I hurried silently out the window and down the
back stairs to the stables.  In a little while, I had our horses
saddled and bridled, and I brought them out and tied them to a post at
the back of the hotel grounds.  The front of the hotel and the main
street were busy, but here behind, it was quiet and deserted.  I ran up
to my room.  Working quickly, I untied the ropes that bound Ralph's
shoulders and ankles to the bedposts.  I knew that he would be too
cramped and sore to walk even if I had freed him, so I pulled him to
the side of the bed and then helped him to sit up.  Before he had a
chance to understand my purpose, I pushed my shoulder into his belly
and hoisted him up.  He was heavy, but I am strong, and I was taking my
cowboy off to be with me and me alone.  He mumbled protestingly into
the gag, but I ignored him.  Hefting him into a more secure position on
my shoulder, I went out onto the balcony and then down the stairs. 
When I reached where the horses were tied, I eased Ralph off my
shoulder and into a leaning posture against the fence.  I looked into
his eyes and he stared back at me above the gag.  
	"Cowboy, you can ride on your ass, or you can come slung over your
saddle.  If you want to ride, you got to help me get you up there, but
I'm not untying your hands and I'm not taking out your gag.  Decide
quick, or I'm just gonna put you over your saddle like a sack.  You
gonna help me?"
	Ralph hesitated, and then he nodded.
	"Good boy."  I used my knife to cut the ropes on his legs.  He almost
fell, and I had a hard time keeping him upright, but I managed.  I took
him by his belt and heaved him up onto the saddle.  His legs must have
been numb, but he scrambled and struggled to help me as best he could,
and we finally got his one leg over the horse, and I pushed him into
his seat.  I used the cut ropes to tie him into the saddle.  Then,
taking the reins of both mounts, I swung up into my own saddle and sat
for a moment looking at him.
	"I like this, Ralph," I said softly.  "I should have just kidnapped
you that last time, and we wouldn't have lost all those years." He
stared back at me for a long moment, and then he nodded.
	"Umm hmmph," he said into that big gag.
	I grinned and leaned over to cuff him tenderly on the side of his head.
	"Let's go," I said, and I wheeled the horses, and we started off into
the night and into our new life.
===================================
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