Merriweather Rides West

by Lee Lejeune

  ‘What about you?’ Sam asked him.

  ‘I’ll meet you at Stump Hollow some time tomorrow,’ Running Deer said. He looked at Marie. ‘I guess you know Stump Hollow, Miss Silversmith?’

  Marie nodded. ‘I know it. It used to be a mine. There’s an old deserted shack up there.’

  Running Deer nodded. ‘That’s where I’ll meet you. Can’t say exactly when, but it will be sometime tomorrow.’ He turned to Sam. ‘You know the place, Mr Critchley?’

  ‘Can’t say I do,’ Sam said.

  Running Deer nodded. ‘I’ve drawn you a map, sir.’ He placed a scrap of paper on the table and Sam leaned forward and scrutinized it with one eye closed.

  ‘Stow it away and don’t let anyone else see it, sir,’ Running Deer said. He got up from the table. ‘Well then, I’ll just slip away and see you later.’ He patted the bulge where the cap and ball was concealed. ‘And next time I see you this here old timer here will be good and loaded and ready for action – but don’t shoot me by mistake.’ He gave a lopsided grin and left as quietly as he had come. The bartender was so busy with his customers that he scarcely noticed.

  ‘Well,’ Sam said, ‘that is some Indian. Moves like a shadow even indoors.’

  Sam Critchley went over to the bar, and soon he and the bartender were engaged in deep conversation about all things under the sun. The bartender was nodding and smiling politely, trying to show interest in subjects he neither understood nor cared about.

  Jacob and Marie went out through the swing doors and Jacob looked up and down Main Street, but there was no sign of Sheriff Olsen. ‘I just hope that Killop guy is still safe and tidy in the town caboose,’ he said to Marie.

  Marie was looking in the direction of the sheriff’s office. ‘That’s not what I’m worried about, Jacob. The question in my mind is, has Olsen sent a wire through to the judge.’

  They went back to Marie’s cabin and gathered supplies for the trip. Then Marie put plates on the table and served up a meal. ‘We’re going to need food in our bellies,’ she said. ‘My intuition tells me we’ve got a rough time ahead.’

  Jacob tucked into the meal with relish, ‘Do you always cook like this?’ he asked.

  She smiled at her plate. ‘Only on special occasions, Mr Merriweather.’

  He smiled. ‘Well, when we’re together full time, Miss Silversmith, I hope every day will be a special day.’

  ‘We’ll make sure it is, Mr Merriweather,’ she said. ‘We’ll make sure it is.’

  After the meal Jacob checked his Colt Peacemaker and the Winchester, and made sure he had a good supply of shells. ‘What about you?’ he asked Marie. ‘What will you have in your saddle holster?’

  ‘I have my pa’s old Springfield,’ she said. ‘I used it for deer hunting and it’s as good as ever it was.’

  ‘Well, I hope you don’t have to use it,’ he said, ‘because it’s a one-shot rifle. So every shot has to count.’

  ‘Then it’s a good thing I’ve got a steady hand and a good eye,’ she said.

  They sat and talked until the sun went down. Then they went out and saddled the horses. While they were in the pasture, Running Deer’s wife Sophie suddenly appeared.

  ‘Don’t you worry about a thing, Miss Silversmith,’ she said. ‘I’ll look after the horses while you’re out yonder, and if you’ll leave the key with me I’ll look in on the house and make sure everything’s in apple pie order. That’s if you trust me.’

  ‘Why, sure I trust you,’ Marie said, ‘and thank you for the kind offer.’

  Sophie looked at Jacob and marvelled. ‘You sure are tall, Mr Merriweather.’

  ‘Well, thank you, Mrs Running Deer. I didn’t do anything to deserve it. It’s just the way I grew.’

  ‘Well, the Great Spirit sure did a good job on you, sir.’ She moved closer to Jacob and looked up at him as though he was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. ‘Why are you taking Miss Silversmith on this crazy mission, sir?’’

  Jacob shook his head. ‘I’m not taking her,’ he said. ‘She’s taking herself. It’s no use arguing with a determined woman.’

  ‘Well, you take good care of her, sir, you hear me!’

  Jacob looked at her and smiled. She was a woman of some spirit, and he wondered how she and her husband had managed to accommodate to the white man’s world. It must have a taken a lot of grit. ‘Don’t you worry yourself, Mrs Running Deer. Everything’s going to be fine. I feel it in my bones.’

  It was getting on for midnight and most honest folk were in bed, but there were a few people lounging around on the sidewalk, and one man, high on booze, was singing some kind of hillbilly in an untuneful, high-pitched voice.

  Jacob and Marie went out by the back way, avoiding the main drag. They would hit the trail half a mile or more beyond the edge of town, passing the odd homestead where the good folk were mostly snoring in their beds. It seemed Sophie’s Great Spirit was looking down on them with favour because the moon soon peered between the trees to smile at them and light their way.

  ‘So you know this old deserted mine really well?’ Jacob asked Marie.

  Marie nodded. ‘Been there a few times.’ Her teeth gleamed in a smile. ‘No home comforts, as I recall. Just dust and spiders and maybe a rat or two. Bats as well, so I’m told, but nothing to suck your blood. No snug corners to sleep in, either.’

  They continued along the trail for some distance. And then Marie drew rein and stopped. ‘Funny how different things look at night,’ she said.

  ‘You sure you remember the way?’ he asked.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she assured him. ‘If we get lost at least we’ll be together, in which case, I can cast a spell.’

  Almost as if in response a coyote suddenly howled from a thicket close by.

  ‘Well, they seem to know you’re here,’ Jacob said.

  ‘Those critters know a whole lot more than you think.’

  He followed her along a faint trail for quite a long way until he saw a grey shape looming up in front of them.

  ‘This is it,’ she declared with apparent relief. She dismounted and walked her horse forward. ‘Plenty of grass for the horses to chew on.’

  ‘Stay here,’ Jacob said. ‘I think I’d better check there’s no one around.’ He dismounted and walked towards the grey building. Fortunately, the moon held up a candle to show him the way. He felt like a knight approaching a dark tower. ‘How the hell is Sam going to find his way here?’ he asked himself.

  The door had been cut down for firewood long before, and inside it was creepy and weird. Suddenly a bat flew from the interior, brushing his face with its wings.

  ‘Don’t go in there,’ Marie warned him.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Jacob asked her.

  ‘We spread out our bedrolls and try to get some sleep. In the morning we’ll need to be good and alert and ready for anything that might come our way.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  As was his custom, Jacob lay with his head on his saddle and his Colt Peacemaker within easy reach. He stared up at the stars but avoided the moon, since folk said that if you stared too long at the moon you got moon madness. He didn’t believe that nonsense, of course, but he turned his head and looked at Marie’s sleeping head. She was so close he could have touched her, but she was wrapped up in her bedroll and he heard her breathing steadily and knew she was already fast asleep.

  ‘Is this me lying here under stars so close to a girl that I could touch her, or is it somebody else?’ he asked himself. But before the answer came he was dreaming.

  In his dream he was lying so close to a creek that, if he turned on his side he would roll off the bank and be swept away in the current and lost for ever. Then he woke with a start and saw a man standing with a gun pointing at his head. He reached for his Peacemaker but it would have been too late.

  ‘So you see,’ the man said quietly, ‘always hold yourself ready, even when you’re asleep. I fear you’ve got a lot to learn, amigo, and you’d better learn fast because y
ou only have one life to lose, and out here it could be snuffed out just like a candle flame.’

  Jacob sat up and blinked. ‘How did you get here, Running Deer?’

  ‘The usual way,’ Running Deer said. ‘You might be OK in town but you have to learn to tread lightly here!’ He crouched down beside Jacob. ‘That’s what my people have learned from generation to generation. It’s come to be part of our nature.’

  ‘Where will you sleep, my friend?’ Jacob asked him. Running Deer’s teeth gleamed in the darkness, and he shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Don’t you worry about me, Mr Merriweather. I just hunker down anywhere I find myself and sleep like a bat in a cave – but as soon as a mouse moves I’m as awake as though I’d never slept. Just the way the dumb beasts are. So they’re not so dumb after all.’ He straightened up and holstered his gun. ‘See you in the morning, Mr Merriweather.’ And then he disappeared as silently as he had come.

  Jacob lay down again and tried to sleep.

  Come sun-up he woke with the scent of wood smoke in his nostrils. He sat up and stretched his legs.

  ‘Good morning, Jacob,’ a voice said from close beside him. ‘Did you manage to sleep?’

  ‘On and off,’ he said.

  ‘Mostly off,’ Marie laughed. ‘When I looked over at you, you were snoring like a buffalo. Which was a pity, because it was so cold in the night I hoped you might crawl in with me so we could keep each other warm.’

  ‘That’s a promise we’ll have to catch up on later,’ he said. ‘Right now I can smell wood smoke and when Running Deer is around that must mean breakfast.’

  Marie got out of her bedroll and shook herself. ‘I guess I’ll go down to that creek and freshen up.’

  Jacob watched her as she walked off in the direction of the creek. She was dressed in range clothes just like a man, but the way she moved told Jacob she was all woman to the core of her being.

  Running Deer was bending over a pot by a fire he had built up close to the old mine. By daylight the building had lost its romantic charm: it was just a grey, derelict hulk that had seen much better days. In fact it had been a failed enterprise that had never been good to anybody. Jacob learned later that the owner had lost all his money and shot himself through the head.

  Marie’s idea of freshening up had been to shed her clothes and immerse herself in the freezing cold water. When she came out she looked at Jacob and laughed, ‘Why don’t you jump in?’ she challenged. ‘It’s the best way to wake up after a rough night.’

  ‘Because I’m a martyr to goose pimples,’ Jacob replied. Nevertheless he rose to the challenge and plunged in – and decided that if Marie could stand that freezing water, she must indeed be a witch!

  They sat around Running Deer’s fire and felt the heat coming off it and seeping into their bones. Running Deer dished out the food, which tasted like manna from heaven!

  ‘I wonder where Old Sam pitched up?’ Jacob asked Running Deer.

  Running Deer shrugged fatalistically. ‘I think we have to be patient, Mr Merriweather. He’ll be here soon enough.’

  ‘Soon enough’ turned out to be around midday. Sam rode in on his burro and sang out, ‘It’s me, Sam Critchley, so don’t shoot in case you get the wrong man! And I don’t want to die young. I don’t think Saint Peter and the angels are ready for me right now. They’re awful particular up there.’

  Then he appeared between the trees riding his burro.

  ‘What kept you?’ Jacob asked him.

  ‘Circumstances,’ the old man replied.

  ‘What circumstances?’

  ‘Like avoiding action,’ Sam said. He got down from his burro. ‘When I rode out of town I had the distinct impression someone was tailing me.’

  ‘Did you see anyone?’ Running Deer asked him.

  ‘No, I didn’t see a human soul. It was just a creepy feeling I had. Call it premonition if you like.’

  Running Deer looked up, suddenly alert and wary. ‘Well, folks, we have to get out of here pronto because if Mr Critchley has been followed, it means we’re in danger.’

  No one argued with that. Jacob said, ‘Marie, you and Sam go down to the creek, saddle up the horses and take cover among the trees. And don’t show yourselves till I come looking for you. And Marie, hold that Springfield rifle of yours ready ’cause I think you might need it.’

  Sam and Marie moved as quickly and as silently as they could down to the river. Jacob scooped up the bedrolls and his saddle and made for a thicket close to the deserted mine. Running Deer left the fire and his cooking pot and just faded away like a ghost into the thicket. A moment later he appeared beside Jacob.

  ‘Hold your breath and keep as still as that mouse I mentioned,’ he said quietly.

  Jacob crouched down and held his Colt Peacemaker ready. ‘I just hope Marie doesn’t have to use that damned Springfield rifle,’ he muttered to himself. ‘That one-shot rifle is about as good as nothing against killers like Wolf or Stringer.’

  They waited for what seemed an eternity, and Running Deer was so still he might have been a stone statue. Then he turned slowly towards Jacob and whispered, ‘I hear them coming. So hold yourself ready so they don’t see us, and don’t shoot unless we need to.’

  Jacob nodded, and wondered what ‘need’ meant! Then he heard the sound of horses approaching. They were moving steadily and slowly towards the ruined mine. He peered out and saw two riders approaching. They were now so close he could have taken a shot at them, but he kept himself still and slowed his breath. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

  The riders rode right up to the fire and one of them dismounted. He had a quirly stuck in his mouth and Jacob recognized him as Sheriff Olsen. The other guy stayed in the saddle and Jacob saw it was the man called Wolf.

  Olsen looked down at the fire and said, ‘Well, looky here. This fire’s still smouldering and this is the cooking pot they must have used. So they can’t be far.’

  Wolf was looking round holding his gun in readiness. He seemed to stare right through the thicket where Jacob and Running Deer were crouching. Then he turned towards the derelict mine. ‘They might be in the building. Maybe I should take a looksee.’

  He got down from his horse and moved towards the entrance. He turned towards Olsen. ‘Cover my back while I go inside.’

  He approached the doorway and fired a shot. The sudden explosion echoed through the empty building like a crack of thunder on a still day. ‘Anybody in there come out before I come in and get you!’ Wolf shouted. Then he disappeared inside and they could hear his spurs jingling.

  Sheriff Olsen grabbed his horse’s reins and jigged it round so it shielded him from whoever might be approaching.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Jacob whispered to Running Deer.

  ‘We wait,’ Running Deer mouthed at him.

  Wolf emerged from the ruin, holding his gun. He approached the fire and looked into the cooking pot.

  ‘Why, I do believe we almost caught them at breakfast,’ he said, ‘so they must be quite close unless they heard us and galloped off hell for leather.’ He laughed, and Jacob had the impression he was drunk or high on some drug.

  Olsen was a good deal more cautious than Wolf. He stood behind his horse and peered over its back from the ruin in the direction of the creek.

  ‘I figure they’re not far,’ he said. ‘They could even be watching us right now.’

  Wolf growled like the wolf he was. ‘Well, that old so-called spirit healer won’t get far. He talks good, but he don’t know his ass from his elbow. Don’t even know when he’s being tailed.’

  Well, he got that wrong, Jacob thought. Old Sam’s got more savvy in his little finger than Wolf’s got in his whole damned body! The picture that came into his mind was so absurd he almost laughed. But then he froze.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Olsen asked Wolf.

  ‘What we do now is we ride after them and put them in the land of the big sleep,’ Wolf said. ‘That’s what the boss wants, and
that’s what the boss is gonna get.’

  ‘After what you’ve been drinking, d’you think you can aim straight?’ Olsen asked Wolf. Jacob thought he sounded somewhat nervous, as though he didn’t care for this mission or Wolf one little bit.

  Wolf gave a quiet chuckle. ‘You don’t need to worry none about that, Olsen. I shoot a lot better when I’ve had a few drinks. I see two targets and that gives me two choices.’ He raised his gun and aimed into the bushes and said, ‘Pop, pop, that’s the way the shooter jumps, and they never know what’s hit them.’

  Jacob knew it was time to act, but as he rose and levelled his gun, Running Deer put a hand on his arm to restrain him.

  Olsen mounted his horse and both men rode away towards the creek.

  ‘Why did you do that?’ Jacob demanded angrily.

  For the first time Running Deer looked confused. ‘Because killing’s too easy, I want to see Wolf swing.’

  ‘What about Marie and Sam?’ Jacob asked him.

  ‘Follow me!’ Running Deer said.

  Then Jacob discovered how Running Deer had acquired his name, because he ran so fast that Jacob couldn’t keep pace with him. But Running Deer didn’t follow the tracks to the creek. He cut away to the right and sprinted to the top of a low bluff from where he could look down and see the two riders.

  Olsen and Wolf had stopped and dismounted, and Olsen was kneeling close to the creek and reading the signs. From where they were standing, Jacob and Running Deer couldn’t hear what was said but Jacob judged by their body language.

  ‘Lookee here,’ Wolf said. ‘This is where they picked up the horses and this is the way they went along the creek. If we ride on we can catch up on them and then take a pop at them. So follow me, Sheriff.’