by Saran Essex
‘What. . . ?’ Emmett was bewildered.
Leroy’s voice was louder as he said, ‘Hogan’s bullets missed the ropes . . .’ he paused for a second, and then said, ‘This has to be kept between us because I don’t think he wants anyone to know, but it was Lonzo who shot down those oil lamps.’
‘Lonzo!’ Emmett gasped.
‘Yeah,’ Leroy nodded, and for a moment, admiration for Lonzo showed in his eyes, ‘It seems our unfriendly and outspoken Lonzo is a wizard with a gun.’
Emmett asked in bewilderment, ‘But . . . why is he willing to let Hogan have all the praise and thanks for what he did?’
Leroy gave a slight shrug, ‘He must have his reasons.’
He did not tell Emmett that he believed Lonzo to be the Sundance Kid. That was one secret he was going to keep to himself.
Emmett asked, ‘Does Lonzo know that you know?’
Leroy jumped off the rail of the corral fence before answering, ‘No, he don’t. And like I said to you before, this has to be kept between us.’
Emmett also jumped down off the rail, and the partners started to walk over to the bunkhouse to try and get some sleep – but before they reached the building, Emmett stopped walking, and asked, ‘So just how good is Lonzo with a gun? You called him a wizard, and I know how good you are . . . .’
It was true. Leroy was a fast shooter and a good marksman.
Leroy smiled. Admiration showed again in his eyes, and he said, ‘Lonzo’s faster than me, I think he’s faster than anyone I’ve seen so far, and even under pressure, he hits where he aims.’
Emmett gave a low whistle, and said, ‘If he’s faster than you, then he must be something special!’
‘He is.’ Leroy still smiled, and emphasized again that it had to be kept between the two of them.
Emmett grinned: it was quite obvious that Leroy felt a strong sense of loyalty towards Lonzo, and he got the feeling that sooner or later, Leroy would ask him about the possibility of them taking on another partner.
CHAPTER 8
It had been over three weeks since the traumatic incident at the dance, and following it, Jeremiah had allowed Bart Jarvis and his ranch hands to use the general store, but they were not permitted to enter the saloon or the eating house. Jarvis and his men were furious at this ban, and had made several attempts to barge their way into the buildings, but they had been forced out at gunpoint by Jeremiah and his sons, or by some of the men who worked for them.
Also since the incident at the dance, quite a few head of cattle had started disappearing from Caleb Baxter’s eastern range land, and he strongly suspected that ranch hands from the Cottonwood ranch had been rustling his cattle. The eastern range of Caleb’s ranch stretched for over six miles, and ended at the edge of an area of steep and rocky country that separated his land from land belonging to the Cottonwood Ranch. This area of broken country was difficult to cross, but there were a couple of narrow and level stretches of land virtually hidden in the rough terrain, and Caleb felt sure that Jarvis’s men had been using these level strips of land to ride across to his range and rustle some of his stock.
Caleb wanted to thwart the rustlers somehow, or maybe even catch them, and he decided to send two of his men to one of his line shacks on the eastern range to keep an eye on the herds of cattle that were grazing there, and whose numbers had been slowly dwindling. He decided to ask Leroy and Emmett to ride out to the line shack on the eastern range. They would stay at the shack for about a month to watch over the cattle, after which time they would be replaced by two other ranch hands.
But two days before Leroy and Emmett were due to ride out to the shack, Caleb’s brother, Jeremiah, rode up to the ranch house quite early in the morning to ask Caleb if one of his ranch hands could help him out in his general store for a while as two of his sons were away visiting friends. Jeremiah then rode back to his small community and left it up to Caleb to speak to his ranch hands and to ask one of them to go and help out at the store.
As it was early morning and not long past breakfast time, Caleb first stopped at the bunkhouses to see if any of his men were inside still eating breakfast. There was no one in the first bunkhouse, but in the second one he found Leroy, Emmett and Marvin Kilbey. Leroy and Emmett were sitting on their bunks and sorting through some things to take to the line shack, and Kilbey was sitting at the table in the cook shack, just finishing his breakfast before riding out to join Lonzo on the northern range.
Caleb walked through to the cook shack at the end of the bunkhouse, and said to Kilbey, ‘Jeremiah needs someone to help in his store – how’d you like to go and work for him for a few weeks?’
Emmett and Leroy overheard him, and Emmett’s face lit up – he was always eager to spend more time with Annie, and before Kilbey could say anything, Emmett shouted through to Caleb in the cook shack, ‘I’d like to go and help at Jeremiah’s store!’
Caleb smiled as he heard Emmett’s eager shout – he knew how Emmett felt about Annie, and he stepped away from Kilbey and the cook shack, and walked up closer to Emmett, and stood looking at him with a knowing smile on his face. Leroy also had a huge smile on his face.
Their smiles caused Emmett to feel a little self-conscious at his excited outburst. He looked from Caleb to Leroy, and said rather uncomfortably, ‘That is . . . if it’s OK with you two?’
‘You’re supposed to be going to the line shack with Leroy,’ Caleb reminded him. Emmett’s face fell.
‘It’s OK,’ Leroy said cheerily to Caleb, ‘One of the others can go to the line shack with me – let Emmett go work at Jeremiah’s store if he wants to!’
Caleb did not want to disappoint Emmett, so he agreed the decision with Leroy, then asked him how he felt about Lonzo accompanying him to the line shack. Caleb had a lot of respect and liking for Lonzo. The sandy-haired young man was a very willing and dependable worker, but Caleb was aware that the amiable Leroy Parker found the rather unfriendly Lonzo to be particularly annoying. Leroy’s cheerfulness seemed to fade, and he hesitated, but Emmett smiled – he knew what his partner’s answer would be.
Leroy gave a kind of resigned sigh, and said to Caleb, ‘I guess I can put up with Lonzo’s company for a few weeks.’ Emmett chuckled to himself at Leroy’s answer.
Caleb said, ‘It’s settled then,’ and left the bunkhouse.
Emmett chuckled again. Leroy gave his partner a hard stare and asked what was so funny.
‘Oh,’ Emmett smiled innocently, ‘It’s just the thought of you having to put up with Lonzo’s company for a few weeks. . . .’
‘I ain’t too pleased about it!’ Leroy said indignantly.
Emmett laughed, ‘You got a liking for Lonzo’, he said, ‘Why don’t you just admit it?’
Marvin Kilbey could be heard laughing in the cook shack.
Leroy grunted, and started sorting through his things again, but keeping his gaze firmly away from the amused Emmett, he did admit something to himself: that next to Emmett, Lonzo was the only man he would like beside him if there was any trouble with the rustlers – and it wasn’t because he believed Lonzo to be the Sundance Kid. It was because he knew that Lonzo was calm and fearless in a dangerous situation, and that he wasn’t the type to run out on a companion – and, he finally admitted to himself, it was because he liked the man, and felt an increasing kinship with him.
A day later, and roughly an hour before midday, Leroy and Lonzo started out on their ride to the line shack.
The day was warm with plenty of sunshine, and the first two miles of the ride were through lush, natural meadowlands. A mile further on past the meadows they rode through an area of grassland that was interspersed in places by shrubs, trees and natural springs that seeped from the ground. At times while riding through the grassland they passed small herds of Baxter’s cattle.
During the ride to the shack, Leroy chatted away almost non-stop. He talked for several minutes about Mike Cassidy, the man who had taught him and Emmett a lot about ranching and shooting – a
nd while talking about Mike, he mentioned the short time that he and Emmett had spent rustling with Mike, though he quickly pointed out that he wouldn’t rustle from anyone whom he considered to be a friend.
‘I like to call myself Leroy Cassidy at times,’ he stated with a cheery smile to Lonzo, ‘in honour of Mike.’
Lonzo tried to shut his ears to most of Leroy’s ceaseless chatter. The only response he made to it all was a sort of non-committal grunt. Leroy was by nature a talkative and sociable person, and he was finding it hard to get used to Lonzo’s quietness. They were about two miles from the line shack when Leroy tried to get a verbal response from Lonzo by saying, ‘I still don’t know if Lonzo is your first or last name . . .’
‘No, you don’t . . .’ Lonzo said impassively.
Leroy sighed wearily, and asked, ‘Are you from the east? I once had a neighbour who came from the east, and the way you speak sometimes reminds me of him.’
Lonzo gave him a hard glower. Leroy groaned to himself as he realized that he had made a mistake in asking about the east. He had forgotten momentarily that Lonzo wanted to keep his identity of the Sundance Kid a secret.
Leroy said quickly, ‘I ain’t trying to pry into your past or anything like that, I’m just trying to have some sort of conversation with you – I just ain’t the quiet type.’
Lonzo’s hard glower slowly turned into a smile, and he muttered, ‘I bet no one’s noticed that!’
Leroy laughed, ‘Well . . . at least you still got your sense of humour!’
The day felt a lot warmer when, some fifteen minutes later, Leroy and Lonzo rode out of the grassland and into an area of rough country. They followed along a wide, rocky and uneven trail that was lined by large boulders, spiky bushes and clumps of trees for a mile or more to the line shack. The shack stood on a level piece of ground near to the foot hills of Cold Spring Mountain. It was a one-roomed cabin built of logs, with a small porch attached to the outside. There was a small fenced corral to the side of the shack, so the two men saw to their horses, and then let them loose in it.
Carrying their saddle-bags and other gear, Leroy and Lonzo entered the shack and glanced around. There were two small windows, one on each side of the doorway. A pot-bellied stove with a flat top that could be used for cooking stood against one wall, and there were a couple of long shelves fixed to another, one stacked with tinned goods and storage jars, the other with metal plates, bowls and cups, along with cast-iron pans and skillets.
Two narrow wooden beds each with a mattress, blankets and pillows were wedged against the back wall. There were hooks on the walls to hang clothes on. A wooden table and two chairs stood in the centre of the room; a large oil lamp and coffee pot stood on top of the table.
Leroy went over to the shelves and studied the contents of the tins. There were beans, ham, fruit and vegetables, and also tins of condensed milk. Caleb liked to keep the line shacks well stocked with provisions. Leroy turned to Lonzo with a broad grin, and said, ‘Well, I guess we won’t starve while we’re here!’
They opened a tin of ham and sat down at the table to eat, and Leroy chatted away merrily for most of the meal. Lonzo sighed wearily at times, indicating that he thought Leroy talked too much, then finally he said with a scowl, ‘I bet Emmett’s real glad to be away from your non-stop jawing.’
Leroy only laughed; he was finding it easier to control the irritation that Lonzo usually stirred in him. He said cheerily while looking across the table at Lonzo, ‘Emmett’s my partner, and he puts up with anything from me . . . it’s what partners do, they work and ride together, and they put up with anything from each other. . . .’
Lonzo grunted without looking at him, and concentrated on eating.
Leroy laughed again, and Lonzo looked up at him – and then, for a split second before Lonzo swiftly turned his eyes away, Leroy was able to look straight into Lonzo’s steel-like, grey-blue eyes, and he felt a strong, almost spiritual connection with him.
Leroy realized then that Lonzo felt the same kind of kinship with him that he felt whenever he was near Lonzo – and it made him want to know more about the reserved, sandy-haired young man.
‘What about you?’ Leroy asked Lonzo, ‘Do you have a friend or partner somewhere that you sometimes team up with? Or do you always ride and work alone?’
Another scowl appeared on Lonzo’s face. Leroy assumed that he was going to get an angry reply, and he said, ‘Sorry if I’m prying again.’
But the scowl on Lonzo’s face gradually disappeared – and indeed the more time that he spent with Leroy Parker, the more he was finding it impossible to stay angry with him, and the more he was also aware of the kindred spirit that existed between the two of them.
Lonzo looked down at his food. He felt uneasy about the affinity he felt with Leroy, and when he spoke it was in a curt tone. He said, ‘I had a couple of friends at one time, and they were kind’a like partners, but they double-crossed me, and that taught me that you can’t trust anyone. So the last thing I want or need is a partner.’
Leroy did not say anything straightaway: he just stared intently at Lonzo as he looked down at the table. One of the many things that he had sensed about Lonzo was that he would make a true and loyal friend or partner to someone if given the chance, and that all he would ask for in return was the same kind of loyalty; in truth, a man after his own heart – and Leroy’s next words came blurting out before he could stop them.
He said in a very earnest tone, ‘You can trust me, I’d never double-cross you if you were my partner. . . .’
After he said this there was an uncomfortable atmosphere in the room. He had spoken like this on a sudden impulse, and he was now wishing that he hadn’t. So OK, he knew that Lonzo felt the same kind of affinity that he did, but they hadn’t known each other all that long, and they were far from being partners – in fact they weren’t even friends, so why would Lonzo care if he could trust Leroy or not?
Lonzo slowly lifted his head to look at Leroy, with bewilderment flashing in his eyes. Leroy’s words had completely confused him. Why would he say something like that? What point was he trying to make? In his own mind he was thinking they weren’t partners, they weren’t even friends – they were just two men who happened to be working at the same ranch together. The fact that they might feel a kind of kindred spirit was irrelevant.
The confusion that was whirling around in Lonzo’s head caused him to react angrily, and he burst out with a cutting harshness to his voice, ‘Well, that’s good to know, but why would I care if you double-crossed me or not, you ain’t my partner, you ain’t even a friend!’
Leroy lowered his head: clearly Lonzo’s cruel and biting words had hurt him deeply.
Lonzo regretted his angry outburst as soon as he saw how much his words had hurt Leroy. He had forgotten about the sensitive side of Leroy’s nature – but he did not apologize.
After finishing their meal, Leroy and Lonzo left the shack and went over to the corral to catch and saddle their horses. There was an uneasy silence between them, and Leroy avoided looking at Lonzo.
They had already agreed beforehand that they would ride together through the half mile or more of rough country, and then they would split up to keep a watch on the several herds of cattle that were grazing in the grassland and meadows. Leroy was riding ahead of Lonzo as they cantered along the rough trail that led away from the shack, and he was still riding ahead as they rode into the grassland and spotted a small herd of cattle to the right of them.
He reined his horse to a stop, and as Lonzo rode up to him, just muttered something about staying in the grassland to watch the herd they could see to the right of them. He expected Lonzo to carry on riding into the meadows beyond to look for other groups of cattle – but he didn’t, he reined his horse in next to Leroy, and stared at him for a long moment.
Leroy was conscious of this, but his feelings were still bruised, and he wouldn’t look at Lonzo, but just stared straight ahead. Another minute passed by, and t
hen Lonzo said brusquely: ‘I don’t know which I find the most annoying, your endless jawing, or your sulking!’
Leroy felt almost compelled to laugh at those words: he turned to look at Lonzo, and smiled. With his good humour restored, he said with a touch of cheeriness, ‘I told you before, I don’t sulk!’
‘Yeah, you do!’ Lonzo’s voice was rough, but then he took a deep breath. They might not be partners or friends, but he did trust Leroy, which was a rare thing for him, and he still regretted his harsh and angry words. He waited a second, and said in a more reasonable tone, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at you, but I don’t know what point you were trying to make – it’s like I said, we ain’t partners, you already got a partner . . . we ain’t even friends, so why would you say something like that?’
Leroy knew it was the closest thing to an apology that he was going to get. With a carefree shrug and a smile, he said, ‘Forget it, I don’t even know why I said it. . . .’ He suddenly laughed, ‘Anyway, a partnership between you and me ain’t ever likely to happen, it would be a disaster, wouldn’t it? I mean, with you and your plain speaking, and me and my “sulking” as you so nicely put it. . . .’
A faint suggestion of a smile appeared on Lonzo’s face, and he was just about to pull on his horse’s reins to ride away, when a thought struck him. He said to Leroy, ‘It might be a good idea for us to have some sort of signal between us, in case one of us should meet up with the rustlers and get into trouble while on our own. . . .’
‘What sort of signal?’ Leroy queried.
‘I was thinking of whistling a tune.’
‘I don’t know about that,’ Leroy said a little doubtfully, ‘Maybe firing two shots would be better?’
Lonzo grinned, and started to whistle a few notes from ‘Oh Susannah’; then he switched to ‘Sweet Betsy from Pike’, adding a few odd notes in places.