The remaining two robbers realized then that they couldn’t continue to ride toward him, but there was no cross street for them to take, so their only option was to turn and gallop away in the opposite direction. Falcon aimed at them, but he didn’t want to shoot them in the back. He didn’t have to, because by now half a dozen of the men of the town were out in the street with rifles, shotguns, and pistols, all of them pointing toward the fleeing bank robbers.
The two remaining outlaws, realizing now that they had no place to go, reined their horses, threw their guns down in the dirt, and put their hands up. “No, no!” they shouted. “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot! We quit, we quit!”
With their surrender, the armed men of the town came running out into the street with their guns aimed at the two robbers.
“All right, you two, climb down off them horses,” one of the armed men shouted in an authoritative voice. As Falcon watched from where he was, he saw a flash of light from the badge that was on the vest of the man giving the orders.
Falcon hurried over to the woman.
“Miss, are you and the child all right?” he asked. “Were you hit?”
“No, we’re, we’re fine,” she answered in a weak and trembling voice. “Thank you, mister. Thank you.”
At that moment another man came running up the street. He put his arms around the woman, then reached down and picked up the little girl. They stood there for a moment, then the man directed the woman and the little girl to go into the building that had had the window shot out.
The next person on the scene was the store clerk who had been sweeping the porch.
“Mister, I want you to know I ain’t never seen nothin’ like that in all my life,” the store clerk said to Falcon. “I mean, the way you just stood out there in the middle of the street and faced down them four fellers like you done.”
Falcon chuckled. “The way it turned out, I didn’t have any other choice. All of a sudden I realized I was standing in the middle of the street with nowhere else to go.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not quite how it was,” said the man who had come to embrace the woman and the little girl. “You were there because you went out to rescue my little girl. I don’t know what would have happened to her if you hadn’t done that, and mister, I can’t thank you enough.”
By now the sheriff had joined those who were congratulating Falcon. The two who had been captured were being led off.
“Mister, this town and this county owe you a debt,” the sheriff said. “We recovered every dollar they took.”
“How’s Deputy Larson, Sheriff?” the store clerk asked.
“I’m sorry to say that he’s dead,” the sheriff replied.
“But at least two of his killers is dead,” one of the men who had gathered around Falcon said.
“And if ever there was anybody that needed killin’ it was them,” the store clerk said.
“Too bad the other two weren’t killed,” the little girl’s father said.
“They will be,” the sheriff said. “They shot Dewey Larson down in front of the whole town. I don’t reckon it will be very hard to get a conviction, and knowin’ Judge Norton, those two galoots will be legally dangling from a rope within a week.”
“And I’ll be there to watch,” someone said.
“Hell, more ’n likely the whole town will be.”
“Are you just passing through?” the sheriff asked Falcon. “Or were you plannin’ on stayin’ here for a while?”
“I was planning on eating a supper I didn’t have to cook, and sleeping in a bed instead of on the ground,” Falcon said.
“Ha! Well, mister, I can guarantee you that we’ll do that for you. You can eat in any café you want, and the meal will be free. And you can stay free in the hotel as well. The town will pick up the charges.”
“And if you’re a drinkin’ man, you’re welcome in my saloon tonight,” another man said. “My name is Tilsdale, and I own the Silver Strike Saloon. Come on down and visit us. The drinks will be on the house.”
“Well you folks are being mighty kind,” Falcon said.
“We owe it to you, mister . . . you know what? I haven’t got your name,” the sheriff said.
“It’s MacCallister,” Falcon said. “Falcon MacCallister.”
The sheriff laughed. “I’ll be damned. Well, I might have known that it would have to be someone like you who did all this. The name is Wallace. Harold Wallace,” the sheriff said, sticking out his hand. “I reckon you’ll be wantin’ to board your horse tonight, too.”
“Yes.”
“Abner!” Wallace called, and a moment later another man, also wearing a badge, came trotting up.
“Yes, sir, Sheriff?”
“Has Dewey’s wife been told yet?”
“Dewey’s brother has gone down to tell her.”
“That’s good. She’ll take it better from him than one of us, I expect. You tell Tom Nunlee that Dewey is to be given the best he’s got.”
“Yes, sir.”
“This is the man who stopped them,” Sheriff Wallace said. “His name is Falcon MacCallister. I reckon you’ve heard of him.”
“Yes, sir, I sure have!” Abner said, sticking his hand out toward Falcon.
“I want you to put Mr. MacCallister’s horse in our private stable behind the jail tonight,” he said. Wallace looked over at Falcon. “You’ll be wanting your saddlebags, I take it?”
“And my rifle,” Falcon said, reaching for the items.
“What say we get you checked into your hotel first, then get you fed? After that, you’re on your own. And whenever you’re ready to leave, why, you can just come down and get your horse.” Wallace pointed. “That’s the jail down there. The stable is right behind.”
“Thanks.”
Falcon followed Sheriff Wallace to the hotel, where the sheriff checked him in and told the clerk that the city would be paying the bill.
“Take his saddlebags up to his room now, so I can take him over to Kathy’s Café and get him a good supper.”
“Oh, you’ll like Kathy’s place, Mr. MacCallister. She sets a real good table.”
The food at Kathy’s was good, but it was a little disconcerting with everyone pointing to him, and talking about him, very quietly. After a while Kathy came over to his table. Kathy was a tall, slender woman with dark eyes and black hair. She was, Falcon couldn’t help noticing, a very attractive woman.
“I’m sorry about all this,” she said. “I know that all the pointing and talking about you is making you uncomfortable.”
“It’s all right,” Falcon said. He smiled. “I’ve been pointed at before.”
After having his supper, Falcon went into the Silver Strike Saloon, where he was cheered by all the saloon patrons as soon as he went in.
Falcon smiled self-consciously and waved at the others, then he started toward the bar.
“No, sir, Mr. MacCallister,” the bartender said. “You just have you a seat over there, and one of the girls will bring you anything you want to drink. Mr. Tilsdale, he told me you’d be comin’ in here, and that I was to take good care of you.”
“Well, I appreciate that, bartender,” Falcon said.
“What will you have, Mr. MacCallister?” one of the bargirls asked.
“A beer,” Falcon said.
Falcon had one beer, then, to the disappointment of all the customers who wanted him to “have a drink with them,” begged off by explaining that he had been on the trail for a couple of weeks and was anxious to sleep in a real bed tonight.
CHAPTER FIVE
That night Falcon extinguished the lantern, shucked out of his boots, pants, and shirt, and climbed into bed. It had been two weeks since he had slept in a real bed. This bed had a mattress, springs, and sheets that were almost clean.
He didn’t know how long he had been asleep when something awakened him. He lay very still, barely breathing, every sense on the alert as he listened. He heard the doorknob turn, ever so slightly, and he was up
instantly, reaching for the gun that lay on a table by his bed.
He moved into the darkest corner of the room and waited there. It was more than just the doorknob turning, he could hear a key being pushed into the keyhole. The key turned, and there was a solid click as the tumblers were tripped. Naked, except for a pair of skivvies, Falcon felt the night air on his skin. His senses were alert, his body alive with readiness.
Outside the hotel Falcon could heard a tinkling piano and a burst of laughter coming from the nearby Silver Strike Saloon.
Slowly the door opened, and a wedge of light spilled into the room. Falcon pulled the hammer back on his pistol, the sear making a double click as it rotated the cylinder.
“Oh!” It was a woman’s voice, and in the light that was now coming into the room, he could see that it was Kathy, from the café.
“Kathy?” Falcon called.
“Where are you?” she asked.
By now Falcon had lowered the hammer and put the pistol down on the table.
“I’m over here,” Falcon said.
Kathy stood in the doorway. The hall lantern backlit the thin, cotton robe she was wearing, and he could see her body in shadow behind the cloth. It was easy to see that she was wearing nothing underneath.
“Come on in,” Falcon invited as he lit a lantern on the table nearwhere he was standing. Kathy closed the door behind her.
“Have I picked a bad time?” Kathy asked.
“A bad time? I don’t know. What time is it?”
“It’s one o’clock in the morning.”
Falcon laughed. “Now, what can be bad about one o’clock in the morning?” he asked. “I do have a question, though. How did you know which room I was in? And how did you get a key?”
“I not only own the restaurant, I also own this hotel,” Kathy said.
“My. You’ve done very well to be such a young woman.”
“I haven’t done well. I married well,” Kathy said.
“You’re married?”
“I’m a widow. Poor Mr. Wilcox passed away at the age of eighty-three.”
“I do hope he died with a smile on his face,” Falcon said.
“I did what I could to please him. You don’t sleep in a lot, do you?” Kathy asked, looking pointedly at Falcon in his skivvies.
“Would you be more comfortable if I got dressed?” Falcon asked.
“No, that won’t be necessary,” Kathy said as she pulled her own gown off, revealing a naked body, shining gold in lantern light. “You would just have to get undressed again.”
At this very moment, at the other end of the street from the Starlight Hotel, Dale and Travis Hastings were in the county jail. They were the only two survivors of the failed bank robbery.
“Who did the sheriff say that feller was that kilt Toby and Andy?” Dale asked.
“His name was MacCallister. Falcon MacCallister.”
“Yeah, I thought that was what he said. I’ve heard of him before.”
“Who hasn’t? Hell, he’s as famous as just about anybody you can name,” Travis said.
“You know what we should have done, don’t you? What we should have done is, we should’ve joined up with Ackerman when we had the chance,” Dale said.
“Why? You remember him, don’t you? He was the most overbearing, arrogant son of a bitch in the whole army. Why, he’d as soon put you in the guardhouse as return a salute,” Travis replied.
“That was then. Besides, me ’n you seen him get his comeuppance, because we was both there when they busted him down to private and marched him off the post. He ain’t in the army no more.”
“But you heard what Boyle said. He’s runnin’ his outfit like an army.”
“So what if he is? It’s workin’, ain’t it? Boyle said he’s got more money now than he’s ever had in his life.”
“Yeah, well, that don’t take all that much, does it? Boyle ain’t never had more’n two nickels to rub together in his life.”
“Really? Tell me, Travis, how much money do we have now?”
“We don’t have none.”
“That’s the point. Boyle’s got a lot of money. And if we had gone with ’em, we would have a lot of money now, too. And we wouldn’t be sittin’ here in this jail. The truth is, if we had been with Ackerman when we tried to rob that bank, we would ’a got away with it. There ain’t no doubt in my mind.”
“Ain’t no sense in talkin’ about it now,” Travis said. “We’re in jail an’ more ’n likely, we’ll be goin’ to prison for a lot of years.”
“No, we ain’t.”
“What do you mean, we ain’t?”
“We’re goin’ to bust out of here,” Dale said.
“How are we goin’ to do that?”
“They didn’t search my boot,” Dale said.
“The derringer?”
“The derringer,” Dale replied, smiling and nodding his head.
“How are you goin’ to use it?”
“All we got to do is get the guard in here.”
“He ain’t goin’ to come in here just ’cause we call him.”
“He will if you try to commit suicide.”
“What?”
“Not really. But we’re goin’ to make it look like it. Start chokin’ like you took poison or somethin’. Be grabbin’ your throat and gaggin’ when the guard comes in here.”
“All right,” Travis said.
“Get ready. Guard! Guard! Help! Help! Come in here, quick!” Dale started yelling.
“What the hell’s goin’ on in there?” a voice called from the front of the jail building.
“Hurry, get in here! My brother’s dyin’!”
They heard the door from the front part of the jail being opened.
“Now!” Dale said.
Travis put both hands to his throat, rolled his eyes back in his head, stuck his tongue out, and started making gagging sounds.
“What happened? What’s goin’ on?” the guard asked.
“My brother! He took some kind of poison!”
The guard opened the cell door, then came in. “What did you do a stupid thing like that for?” He walked over to look down at Travis writhing on the bed.
“To get you in here,” Dale said calmly.
“What?” The guard turned toward Dale and saw the derringer in his hand. “Where did you . . .”
That was as far as the guard got before Dale pulled the trigger. The .41-caliber bullet plunged into the guard’s neck and he put both hands there, then began choking as the blood not only spilled through the fingers of his hands, but also drained back into his throat. He staggered back a few steps, then fell.
“Let’s get out of here,” Dale said.
The two men went into the front of the jail and started jerking open drawers until they found their pistols. Strapping them on, they went out back, found their horses and saddles, and fifteen minutes later were riding quietly out of town.
Falcon was reading the paper over breakfast in Kathy’s Café the next morning.
GUNFIGHT HURLS THREE MEN TO ETERNITY
Deputy Dewey Larson Killed, His Widow Mourns
MURRAY JEFFERS AND CARL MALONE ALSO SLAIN
World Is Better Off for Their Demise
Yesterday afternoon at a time lacking fifteen minutes of four o’clock, just before the bank was due to close, four desperadoes, Murray Jeffers, Carl Malone, and Dale and Travis Hastings, entered the bank and, at gunpoint, relieved the bank of over three thousand dollars.
Upon exiting the bank they turned the streets of Meeker into a battlefield hoping to cover their escape by shooting up the town. When at last the smoke had cleared, three men lay dead in the street, they being the above mentioned Jeffers and Malone, two of the outlaws, and Deputy Dewey Larson, who courageously stepped into their escape path to stop them.
Assisting Deputy Larson was Falcon MacCallister, a well-known figure throughout the West. It was fortuitous for our fair town that Mr. MacCallister happened to be passing through at th
is time. By his courage, and the accuracy of his shooting, the murder of Deputy Dewey Larson was avenged, and two of the most pernicious desperadoes of recent years were dispatched to their Maker, whose mercy they can only hope for, as no one who remains on this mortal coil would deign to lift a prayer on their behalf.
The remaining two would-be bank robbers in attempting to turn away from the deadly shooting of Falcon MacCallister encountered several armed citizens of the town who persuaded them to give up their ill-gotten gains and surrender. Dale and Travis Hastings are now residents of the city hoosegow, where they will remain until a jury of 12 men, good and true, will find them guilty of murder and Judge Norton will, no doubt, sentence them to have their necks appropriately stretched.
Falcon was just finishing reading the news article when Sheriff Wallace came in to the café. He stood just inside the door for a moment and looked around until he saw Falcon, then he came walking quickly over to his table.
“Good morning, Sheriff,” Falcon said. “Won’t you join me for breakfast?”
“I can’t, I don’t have time. Last night those two bastards killed my night jailer and escaped.”
“The Hastings?”
“Yes, Dale and Travis. How did you know their names?”
“In the paper,” Falcon said. “But the paper didn’t say anything about them escaping.”
“That’s ’cause the paper didn’t know anything about it. I don’t know how those two did it but when Deputy Parker went in to relieve Abner this morning, he found him lying dead in the empty cell with a bullet hole in his neck.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Sheriff,” Falcon said.
“I thought maybe I ought to tell you about it, ’cause I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have it in mind to come after you, seein’ as you killed their two partners yesterday.”
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