The Delivery

by James Edwin Branch

  He’d do it but he didn’t want to. The Ira Beckam that was the town marshal of Bensonville was a different man than the man that he was before he moved there. That Ira Beckam would pull first and ask questions later. This Ira Beckam was a man of peace and deep thought.

  He spent the night hoping he could find a way to talk the brothers out of violence if it came to that. He also hoped that if he had no choice that there was still enough of the old Ira left in him. A man who wouldn’t pull when his life depended on it shouldn’t hold the position of marshal.

  Less than a mile away, Rafe McGinty had an eerie feeling. There was something in the air. The smell of danger seemed to envelope him and for the first time in his life, he was thinking about giving up the chase and his association with his brothers and going off on his own.

  He hadn’t shown it to Harvey, but he was tired of trying to live up to Virgil’s expectations. The closer they got to catching Uriah and Miss Millicent, the less he felt inclined to harm them. He was beginning to believe that it could be time for the brothers to all go their own ways. Rafe chose an odd time to develop a conscience.

  He wanted to head out to California and see what was there. It was a quest that Virgil didn’t share. Not only did Virgil shoot down his plan, but he also told him it was a stupid idea in the first place.

  After that, Rafe only stayed because he didn’t want to leave Harvey alone with Virgil. He feared that Harvey would turn out just like Virgil, full of misguided hatred. California could mean freedom and a new life for Rafe.

  Rafe heard that a man could get rich there. There was gold, big cities, fine women and big fancy hotels. All the things he longed to see were right there in one place.

  If he could just get out from under Virgil’s thumb. The brother’s parents died at an early age and Virgil, being the oldest took it upon himself to raise his brothers. It was tough on the young Virgil.

  Rafe didn’t want to seem ungrateful to him, but much of what Rafe did was an act. He acted like Virgil expected him to act, just to keep the peace between them. His acting was getting out of hand. He believed his act so well that he pushed Harvey into tracking these people when in his heart he was having second thoughts.

  He hadn’t really wanted to track these people down, but he thought it was what Virgil expected of him. He couldn’t let Virgil down. It was the same trap he’d fallen into time and time again.

  As the chase wore on, so did the lump in his throat that told him what he was doing was wrong. He wasn’t sure how to stop what he’d already started. He kept thinking that if he had followed Virgil’s instructions in the beginning, he wouldn’t be out here now.

  He’d give Virgil what he thought he wanted this time and get even with these folks for the family, but after this, he intended to let Virgil know that he was going to strike out on his own.

  Harvey was grown now and capable of making his own decisions. Rafe knew that Harvey would be okay, maybe even better if he left.

  Rafe believed that if he left, maybe it would give Harvey the strength to venture out on his own also. Harvey had the best education of them all. Virgil made sure that Harvey went to the schoolhouse when he was young. It was something he told Rafe that both of them were too old to continue.

  Harvey could read and write with the best of them. Both Rafe and Virgil were extremely proud of him.

  Rafe paced his camp, wondering what the morning light was going to bring. Occasionally he looked over at Harvey as he slept. He was the future of their family. Rafe wondered if what they were about to do would scar him. It was actually Rafe that couldn’t live with it, not Harvey, but only the morning would reveal that.

  Back at the rescue site bonfire, it was the lieutenant that was pacing. Though he lacked very much field experience, he knew the odds of rescuing these people were already a long shot. He wasn’t at all sure what they’d find in those woods at first light.

  He paced back and forth watching his men as they slept. It was better that they got a good night sleep. He pushed them pretty hard to get them there. He was certain the new day wouldn’t bring much pleasure for any of them. Come early morning it would be cold and damp as they entered that tree line. The dense foliage was certain to be a problem for his horse soldiers.

  As he paced he heard the sergeant stir. The man was his rock when it came to his first command. He remembered the advice his father had given him.

  “You trust and rely on your sergeants, they run the military. A good sergeant will get you through.”

  The lieutenant’s father was a retired colonel in the Union Army. He’d been wounded at Gettysburg and left the Army. He always had the best advice though, and the lieutenant took most of it to heart.

  As the lieutenant stood looking up at the night sky, the sergeant approached him.

  “You seem a little bit worried about this search, sir.”

  “I suppose I am, Sergeant. You know as well as I do that those folks have been exposed to the elements way too long now.”

  The sergeant nodded his head in agreement.

  “You can only do the best that you can do, sir, no one expects any more than that from you.”

  “Thank you sergeant, I appreciate the kind words, but if we find them all dead I’m still going to wonder if there wasn’t something else we could have done.”

  The sergeant nodded and looked the lieutenant in his eyes and smiled.

  “We all will, sir. But it won’t be anything you or I did that made this happen.”

  The lieutenant put his hand on the sergeant’s shoulder and smiled.

  “I know I’m pretty green out here, Bill, and if I forget to tell you, I truly appreciate all that you do for me.”

  The sergeant nodded and raised his hand in a salute.

  “It’s my pleasure to serve with you, sir.”

  The sergeant turned and walked back towards his bedroll after the lieutenant returned his salute. The sergeant never dropped his military protocol. This young officer had mettle and compassion. The sergeant knew he’d be a great officer if he held his current course. The lieutenant needed to know his own skill level and who he was meant to be as an Army officer, and the sergeant was intent on helping him find out this information.

  He wished he could give the young officer some peace over their next day’s activity, but deep down he knew that nothing would ease the pressure the lieutenant was feeling.

  This was just an experience a young officer had to endure. The odds of finding those folks alive were slim and the sergeant knew it up front.

  There would be other missions. Some of them would be going into battle and some would be rescues like they were on now. Nothing could prepare a young officer for the pain or the problems of command. He’d have to experience them for himself. How he dealt with them would determine what kind of leader he was destined to become.

  The young officer propped up against a large boulder and pushed his hat down over his eyes. He thought about the marshal he’d encountered on the trail. That man was chasing down two armed men all alone out there in the dark. When he wondered if he had the courage for what he was about to face in the morning, he thought about Marshal Beckam and what kind of man he had to be. It made his job seem easy in comparison.

  There was trouble everywhere, and no matter what, dawn was coming with some sort of change.

  The lieutenant settled in with the townspeople and the cavalry as they all awaited first light. Just outside the camp, a lone figure skirted their position in the dark.

  Virgil McGinty watched the bonfire from a distance as he crept by. He didn’t want anything to do with the Army or the townspeople. All he had on his mind right now was saving his brothers from a run in with Ira Beckam.

  Virgil got past the rescue camp, lined up with the railroad tracks, and he began following them towards Kingman’s Ridge. It was too dark to be riding in the woods, but if he followed the tracks, he could be nearly at the ridge by dawn. He hoped he could pick up his brothers’ trail at first light
and maybe even run across the marshal before they did.

  While the night passed slowly for most of them, it was a long painful night for Virgil. His shoulder hurt, and he knew he couldn’t stop to sleep. He had to catch up with his brothers and fast.

  Chapter 10

  Ira’s Peacemaker

  Dawn broke like any other that morning in Virginia. First up were the McGinty brothers. Rafe rolled out of his bedroll as a faint shade of blue began to disturb the night sky. The smell of evergreens filled his nostrils. The coming event he had worried about half the night was almost upon him now.

  He shook Harvey awake and told him to get up. Rafe then went about rustling some grounds to make just enough coffee to get the two of them on the trail. His need for coffee was suddenly halted when he spied the old barn’s structure off in the distance. He’d decided to throw caution to the wind and light a fire until he saw that barn.

  Knowing that the black man he was tracking was traveling with the woman, he figured that he’d want to keep her out of the cold night air as much as possible. The nights in Virginia that time of year can come with a powerful chill.

  As soon as he saw the structure, he had a feeling that Uriah and the woman might be holding up in there. They hadn’t been that far ahead the night before when Rafe was tracking them. Suddenly he realized they could be right on top of them.

  Rafe and Harvey mounted their horses and quietly approached the burned out farm. They tied their horses in the brush and slowly edged closer to the single remaining building. Without making a sound, they both crept, looking for any sign that the two might be inside the barn. When one of Uriah and Millicent’s horses whinnied, it gave Rafe all the information he needed. Now his quarry was only a few feet away.

  Rafe knew that Uriah and the woman were armed, so he whispered, urging Harvey to wait until they stepped outside.

  They waited outside the barn for what seemed like an eternity. All the while that feeling in Rafe’s gut, the conscience he’d found the night before was still growing stronger within him.

  Inside the barn, Millicent stirred. She saw Uriah sleeping across the building by the door and marveled at how he’d been looking out for her.

  This stranger had turned out to be a good friend. Despite the differences between them and where they’d come from, both of them wanted the same things. Their conversations on the trail were warm and friendly. The more they talked, the more they got to know one another.

  Neither one of them seemed to have a true purpose or place in life now. She was hoping that the man in West Texas would be her place and Uriah was searching for his place. They had reached a place where there was no skin color or racial differences between them. They were just two people with the same wants, close friends trying to find themselves, both caught in an awkward situation and making the best of it.

  His situation made her sad. She wished she could help Uriah find some remains of his family, but from what he’d told her that wasn’t much of a possibility.

  He mentioned a woman who had been close to him. Her name was Molly, and she, like Uriah, was raised on the plantation. He spoke of her with a twinkle in his eye and told Millicent of the last time he’d seen her.

  It was just outside Atlanta several years before. She hugged him and wished him well as he went north near the end of the war. He was escaping to freedom and she was wishing him God’s speed and a safe return.

  He planned to join up with the Union Army, and although he knew the odds of finding her again were slim, he promised her he’d try. The country was in turmoil then, and a return to the south meant chaos for him.

  After the war, he stayed with the Army and became a buffalo soldier. His travels led him to Montana and the Dakota Territory. It was a long way from Atlanta. Time and life got in his way, and after all these years, it was finally time to try to make some sense of it all.

  He’d told Millicent that when he hopped the train, he was hoping to find Molly when he got down to Atlanta. If she was still there, he wanted to find out what happened to her.

  As she watched Uriah stir, Millicent was wondering if there was some way she could help him find Molly. Maybe when they got to Atlanta, she could go with him while he looked for her. There was no telling what he might find after all this time, and it might be nice to have someone he knew go along with him.

  They were strangers a few days before, however now she felt as though she’d known him all her life. She’d learned to trust him, and she knew that he was a good man. He’d long since proven he had no designs on her. All he’d done since they met was look out for her. She was hoping to return the favor. Even the incident in the cabin didn’t seem to even up what she felt she owed him.

  Back down the trail, Ira broke camp and mounted his gray. The morning light put him back on the McGinty’s trail only about two miles north of the barn. He couldn’t see it from his camp, but like Rafe, he noticed it before he’d traveled very far.

  Uriah awoke and was gathering up their things and urging Millicent to get ready so they could get on their way.

  He swung open the rotted old wooden doors of the barn and waited until she was next to him before they began to lead their horses out of the barn.

  As the two of them stepped out of the barn side by side and entered the clearing, the McGinty brothers came out from their cover. Harvey quickly drew his pistol and called out to the two of them, “You two hold it right there.”

  Uriah and Millicent were caught off guard by Harvey and they both stood still. They were facing the young man with his pistol already drawn.

  It was at that moment that Rafe’s change of heart seemed to drive itself home. He hadn’t drawn his gun, and his pistol still sat in its holster with the tie down strap laced over the hammer.

  “What are you going to do, Harvey?” Rafe asked.

  “I’m going to do what we came here to do,” Harvey bellowed.

  Uriah realized they were in trouble, and he moved slowly, placing himself between the barrel of Harvey’s forty-five and Millicent. She was scared, yet she couldn’t help but notice his bravery.

  “Hold it right there, I said,” Harvey called out to Uriah halting his movement

  “You fellows started this,” Uriah began, “We never wanted any trouble with you.”

  “Well you darn sure got it now,” Harvey shot back.

  “We don’t have to do this, Harvey,” Rafe pleaded.

  “What’s the matter with you now, are you going soft on me, Rafe?” Harvey asked in a voice that seemed so filled with anger.

  “It just seems like maybe I was wrong to bring you here,” Rafe began, “I thought about it last night. Virgil is going to be alright, and we did tie that fellow up and beat him some.”

  “It don’t make any difference,” Harvey shot back, “We’re here, and that woman shot our brother. It’s time to even the score.”

  Harvey held both Millicent and Uriah under the barrel of his gun, and his face was beginning to boil with anger. With each second that went by, Harvey became more and more uncontrollable. It was obvious that at any moment, he would explode with precarious results.

  “I’m going to kill them both right here and end this now,” Harvey shouted out. His body seemed tense and his gun hand was shaky from his boiling temper.

  Rafe realized what he’d done and that at any moment, he would be faced with a situation he couldn’t take back.

  “There’s no need for this, Harvey, we can just get our things and our horses and leave them out here the way we first found them.” Rafe pleaded once more.

  “That ain’t the way it’s gonna be,” Harvey resounded.

  None of them noticed the lone figure that crept up behind them. He’d been listening to the entire conversation and was only about thirty feet behind Harvey when he finally spoke.

  “You ought to listen to your brother, son,” the voice said from behind Harvey.

  The presence of another person froze Harvey in place for the time being and it was a mome
nt before he spoke.

  “Who is that behind me, Rafe?”

  Rafe could see Ira Beckam clearly. He stood just a short distance away.

  “It’s that marshal from Bensonville, Harvey, the one that I told you about that Virgil said for me to stay clear of him.”

  “This is none of your business, Marshal,” Harvey spouted, cocking his neck slightly as if he was talking over his shoulder. His back was still facing Ira, and Harvey kept his gun trained on Uriah and Millicent.

  “These two stole our horses and took our gear after this woman shot my brother.”

  “I’ve heard the tale, and I saw the evidence first hand back at the cabin, son” Ira began, “I know you fellows tied him up and beat him for no good reason. Don’t you think there’s been enough violence among you for now?”

  “I told you this ain’t none of your play, Marshal.” Harvey answered. He was rocking slightly back and forth on the balls of his feet and Rafe was afraid he was about to do something stupid.

  “The marshal’s right, Harvey, he’s approached us peaceful, he don’t even have his gun on us. All he wants to do is make peace.”

  Harvey smiled; Rafe’s remark about the marshal’s gun being in his holster was all he needed. Rafe realized immediately that he’d made a mistake telling Harvey about the marshal’s gun.

  Harvey turned as fast as he could and swung his Colt around towards Ira. Rafe watched in horror as his little brother made his play.

  Ira’s hand was only a few inches from his belt, and as Harvey turned, Ira reacted. His hand slipped over the butt of his pistol and the Colt Peacemaker seemed to jump into his hand. Ira’s left hand came up just as rapidly, and almost with a blur, his left palm slammed across the hammer of the Peacemaker.

  Flame and smoke accompanied the roar as the Peacemaker broke the morning silence. The others stood still watching almost as if they were frozen in time.

  Harvey rocked backward and fell straight over. He never managed to pull the trigger. His life was gone in an instant; he was dead before he hit the ground.

  Rafe could hardly believe his eyes. Harvey had a big hole straight through the middle of his chest and his eyes stared upward with an empty glare.