Before he could draw much comfort from that line of speculation he heard his own gun go off.
A second or two later it went off again, and then again. The sound came from just north of the gully.
As he could not be any wetter, and could not stand the suspense of not knowing what was going on, he waded the little creek and climbed the bank, only to look and see the barrels of a shotgun not a yard from his face. The ox of a man held the shotgun; in his big hands it looked tiny, though the barrels in Roscoe's face seemed as big as cannons.
"Clamber on up here, traveler," the big man said.
July had told him never to argue with a loaded gun, and Roscoe had no intention of disobeying his instructions. He climbed up the muddy bank and saw that Janey was involved in a tussle with the little outlaw. He had her down and was astraddle of her and was trying to tie her, but Janey was wiggling desperately. She was covered with mud, and in the wet, slick grass was proving hard to subdue.
The man cuffed her twice, but the blows had no effect that Roscoe could see.
The big man with the shotgun seemed to find the tussle amusing. He walked over for a closer look, though he continued to keep the shotgun pointed at Roscoe.
"Why don't you just shoot her?" he asked the little man. "She was willing to shoot you." The little man didn't answer. He was breathing hard but he continued to try and tie Janey's wrists.
Roscoe had to admire Janey's spunk.
The situation looked hopeless, but she kept struggling, twisting around and scratching at the man when she could. Finally the big man stepped in and planted a muddy boot on one of her arms, enabling his companion to tie her wrists. The little man cuffed her again for good measure, and sat back to get his breath. He looked around at Roscoe, his eyes as bad as ever.
"Where'd you get this feisty rabbit?" he asked. "She dern near shot me and she nicked Hutto." "We're from Arkansas," Roscoe said. He felt foolish for having given Janey the pistol. After all, he was the deputy. On the other hand, if they had seen him shoot, the men might have shot back.
"Let's just shoot them and take the horse," Hutto, the big man said. "We could have done it this afternoon and saved all this time." "Yeah, and the dern soldiers would have found them," the other said. "You can't just leave bodies lying right in the road no more. Somebody's apt to take an interest." "Jim, you're too nervous," Hutto said.
"Anyway, this ain't a road, and we ain't far from the Territory. Let's shoot 'em and take what they got." "What have they got, by God?" Jim asked.
"Go bring the horse." Hutto brought Memphis and the two amused themselves for a few minutes by going through the bedroll and the saddlebags. One kept Roscoe covered with the shotgun while the other emptied the contents of the saddlebags carelessly on the wet grass. What they saw was very disappointing to them.
"All right, Jim, I told you they looked like a waste of time," Hutto said.
"Well, there's a horse, at least," Jim said. Then he gave Roscoe a mean look.
"Strip off them duds," he said.
"What?" Roscoe asked.
"Strip off them duds," the man repeated.
He picked up Roscoe's pistol, which had fallen in the grass, and pointed it at him.
"Why must I?" Roscoe asked.
"Well, your underwear might fit me," Jim suggested. "You ain't got much else to offer." Roscoe was forced to take off every bit of clothing. He felt miserable taking off his boots, for he knew that wet as they were he'd be lucky to get them back on. But then, if he was dead it wouldn't matter. When he got down to his long johns he became embarrassed, for after all Janey was sitting there watching. She was wet and muddy, and hadn't said a word.
The man seemed to think he might have money sewed in his long johns, and insisted he take them off. Hutto poked him with the barrels of the shotgun, something he couldn't ignore. He took them off and stood there naked, hoping Janey wouldn't look.
Of course the men found the thirty dollars he was carrying in his old wallet--it represented a month's wages, and was all he had to finish the trip with. But they had found that before they made him strip. They seemed reluctant to believe it was all the money he had, and casually proceeded to pick his clothes apart with their knives.
"The thirty dollars is all I got," he said several times.
"I guess you wouldn't be the first man to lie," Jim said, picking at the seams of his pants to see if he had any greenbacks sewed in them.
Roscoe was appalled, for the clothes that were being destroyed were the only ones he owned. Then he remembered that he was going to be killed anyway and felt a little better. It was very embarrassing to him to have to stand there naked.
The men weren't watching Janey--they were too intent on trying to find money in his saddlebags.
While they were all ignoring her she had been quietly scooting backwards on the slick grass. Jim had his back to her and Hutto was winding Roscoe's old pocket watch.
Roscoe happened to look and saw that Janey was quietly creeping away; they had tied her hands but had neglected her feet. Suddenly she began to run. It was deep dusk and in a second she had got into the tall grass north of the gully.
She made no sound, but Hutto must have sensed something, for he whirled and let go a blast with the shotgun. Roscoe flinched. Hutto fired the other barrel, and Jim turned and shot three times with Roscoe's own pistol, which he had stuck in his belt.
Roscoe peered into the dusk, but there was no sign of Janey. The bandits looked too, with no better luck.
"Reckon we hit her?" Jim asked.
"Nope," Hutto said. "She got in that tall grass." "Well, she could be hit," Jim said.
"I could be General Lee, only I ain't," Hutto remarked, looking disgusted. "Why didn't you tie her feet?" "Why didn't you?" Jim retorted.
"I wasn't sitting on her," Hutto said.
"You watch this one and I'll go catch her," Jim said. "I bet once I do she won't get away for a while." "Why, Jim, you can't catch her," Hutto said. "In this dark? Remember how she ambushed us? If she was a better shot we'd both be corpses, and if she's got a rifle hid out there somewhere we may be corpses yet." "I ain't scared of her," Jim said. "Dern her, I should have cracked her with a gun barrel a time or two." "You should have shot her," Hutto said.
"I know you expected to amuse yourself, but look how it turned out. The girl got away and the deputy only had thirty dollars and some dirty underwear." "She can't be far," Jim said. "Let's camp and look for her in the morning." "Well, you can, but I'm going," Hutto said.
"A girl that size ain't worth tracking." Just as he said it, a good-sized rock came flying through the air and hit him right in the mouth. He was so surprised he slipped and sat down. The rock had smashed his lips; blood poured down his chin. A second later another hit Jim in the ribs. Jim drew a pistol and fired several times in the direction the rocks came from.
"Oh, stop wasting shells," Hutto said.
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
Two more rocks came flying in, both aimed at Jim. One hit him right in the elbow, causing him to double over in pain. The other flew over his head.
Hutto seemed to think the whole thing was funny.
He sat on the muddy ground, laughing and spitting great mouthfuls of blood. Jim crouched down, pistol drawn, watching for rocks.
"This beats all I ever heard of," Hutto said. "Here we are in a rock fight with a girl no bigger than a minute, and she's winning. If news of this gets out we'll have to retire." He looked at Roscoe, who was standing stock-still. One of the rocks had just missed him--he didn't want to move and risk interfering with Janey's aim.
"By God, when I get her she'll wish she'd kept a-running," Jim said, cocking his gun.
A second later a rock hit him on the shoulder and the gun went off. Furious, he fired into the darkness until the pistol was empty.
"Well, we'll sure have to kill this deputy now," Hutto remarked. He wiggled a loose tooth with a bloody finger. "If he was to tell about this, our reputation as desperados would be ruint for
ever." "Then why don't you get up and help me rush her?" Jim said angrily.
"Oh, I think we should just sit and let her chunk us to death," Hutto said. "I think it serves us right for being idiots. You was scared of this deputy, when he ain't no more dangerous than a chicken. Maybe next time you'll be content to shoot when I want to shoot." Jim opened his pistol. He was trying to reload and watch for rocks, too, squinting into the darkness. Another rock came in low and he managed to turn and take it on his thigh, but it caused him to drop three bullets.
Roscoe was beginning to feel more hopeful. He was remembering all the varmints Janey had brought into camp--probably she had used them to sharpen her aim. His hope was she'd start throwing for the head before the men got around to killing him.
Hutto was calmer than Jim. He reached over, got his shotgun and broke the breach.
"I'll tell you, Jim," he said, "you just keep sitting there drawing her fire. I'll load up with some buckshot. Maybe if she don't brain you before the moon rises, I can catch the angle and shoot her. Or at least chase her out of chunkin' range." He reached into the pocket of his buckskin coat for some shells, and as he did, a miracle happened--for in Roscoe's mind a miracle it was. He stood there, naked and wet, sure to be murdered within a few minutes unless a slip of a girl, armed only with rocks, could defeat two grown men armed with guns. He himself was so sure of being killed that he felt rather detached from what was happening, and invested only faint hope in Janey's chances of saving him.
Nobody saw July come. Hutto was reaching in his pocket for shells and Jim was trying to fish those he had dropped out of the mud. Roscoe was watching Jim, whom he liked least. He was hoping to see a big rock hit Jim right between the eyes, perhaps cracking his skull. It wouldn't stop Hutto from killing him, but it would be some consolation if Jim got his skull cracked first.
Then, at the same moment, Jim, Hutto, and he himself all became aware that someone was there who hadn't been. It was July Johnson, standing behind Jim with his pistol drawn and cocked.
"You won't need them shells," July said quietly. "Just leave 'em lie." "Well, you son of a bitch," Jim said, "what gives you the right to pull a gun on me?" Jim looked up, and just as he did, the rock Roscoe had been hoping for sailed in and hit him right in the throat. He dropped his gun and fell over backwards. He lay there clutching his throat and trying desperately to draw breath.
Hutto had two shotgun shells in his hand but he didn't try to shove them in the shotgun.
"I've had bad luck before, but nothing to top this," he said, ignoring July and looking at Roscoe. "Can't you at least make that gal stop throwing rocks?" Roscoe was having trouble believing what he saw. He felt he had missed a step or two in the proceedings somehow.
"Are you gonna get your clothes on or are you just going to stand there?" July asked.
It sounded like July, and it looked like July, so Roscoe was forced to conclude that he was saved.
He had been in the process of adjusting to impending death, and it seemed to him a part of him must already have left for the other place, because he felt sort of absent and dull. Ordinarily he would not have stood around on a muddy prairie naked, and yet in some ways it was easier than having to pick up the pieces of his life again, which meant, first off, having to literally pick up pieces of his clothes.
"They cut up my duds," he said to July.
"I doubt I'll ever be able to get them boots back on, wet as they are." "Joe, bring the handcuffs," July said.
Joe walked into camp with two sets of handcuffs. It shocked him to see Roscoe naked.
"I never seen so many young 'uns," Hutto said. "Can this one throw rocks too?" "Who is throwing the rocks?" July asked.
He had been about to step in before the rock-throwing started, but the rock-thrower's accuracy had been so startling that he had waited a few minutes to watch the outcome.
"That's Janey," Roscoe said, buttoning up what was left of his best shirt. "She practices chunking varmints. It's how we been getting our grub." July quickly handcuffed Jim, who was still writhing around on the grass. The blow to the throat seemed to have damaged his windpipe--he gasped loudly for air, like a drowning man.
"You might shoot me, but you ain't putting no dern cuffs on me," Hutto said when July approached him.
"This is July Johnson, and I wouldn't fight him," Roscoe said. For some reason he felt rather friendly to Hutto, though it was Hutto who had been most inclined to kill him.
Hutto didn't fight but neither did he get handcuffed, for the simple reason that his wrists were too big. July was forced to tie him with a saddle string, a method he would rather have avoided. A man as large as Hutto would eventually stretch out any rope or piece of rawhide if he kept trying.
Roscoe managed to get his pants to hold together pretty well although they were full of holes.
As predicted, he could not get his boots on.
Joe helped, but the two of them made no headway.
"It's a good thing you shot," Joe said. "We was already camped, but July recognized your gun." "Oh, was that it?" Roscoe said, reluctant to admit that it had been Janey who shot.
Once the men were handcuffed and tied, July got them onto their horses and tied their feet to the stirrups. Hutto and Jim he knew by reputation, for they had harried the east Texas trails for the last year or two, mostly robbing settlers but occasionally killing those who put up a fight. He had expected to find Roscoe eventually, but not the two bandits. Now something would have to be done with them before he could even ask Roscoe all the questions he wanted to ask about Elmira. Also, there was the rock-thrower-- Janey, Roscoe had called her. Why was a Janey traveling with Roscoe? Indeed, where was she? The rock-throwing had stopped but no one had appeared.
Now that the danger was past, Roscoe began to feel that there were many awkward matters awaiting explanation. He had forgotten about Elmira and her departure for several days, although her departure was the reason he was in Texas. Also, he would have to explain to July why he was traveling with a young girl. It seemed better to talk about the miracle of July's appearance, but July didn't want to say much about it.
"I never expected to see you right then," Roscoe said. "Then there you were, pointing that gun." "This is the main trail to Texas from Fort Smith," July pointed out. "If I was looking for you that's where I'd likely be." "Yeah, but I didn't know you was looking for me," Roscoe said. "You don't usually." "Peach wrote and told me you was on the way," July said. It was all the explanation he planned to offer until he could get Roscoe alone.
"I guess we're caught, but what next?" Hutto asked. He did not like to be left out of conversations. Jim, who still had to suck hard to get his breath, showed no inclination to talk.
"You say there's a girl?" July asked.
"Yep, Janey." "Call her in," July said.
Roscoe made an effort, but it went awkwardly. "Come on, July's here," he said loudly into the darkness. "It's safe, he's the sheriff I work for," he added, just as loudly.
There was no sound from the darkness, and no sign of Janey. Roscoe could tell July was impatient. It made him nervous. He remembered how Janey had disappeared for two hours that afternoon. If she thought July would wait two hours, she didn't know much about him.
"Come on in, we've got these men tied," he said, without much hope that Janey would obey.
She didn't. There was not a sound to be heard, except for some coyotes singing about a mile away.
"I suspect that girl has Indian blood," Hutto said. "She had us ambushed, fair and square, and if she was as good with a pistol as she is with a rock we'd be dead." "What's the matter with her?" July asked.
"Why won't she come?" "I don't know," Roscoe said. "She don't take to company, I guess." July thought it a very odd business. Roscoe had never been one to womanize. In fact, around Fort Smith his skill in avoiding various widow women had often been commented on. And yet he had somehow taken up with a girl who could throw rocks more accurately than most men could shoot.
"I d
on't intend to spend the night here," July said. "Has she got a horse?" "No, but she's quick of foot," Roscoe said.
"She's been keeping ahead of me without no trouble. Where are we going?" "To Fort Worth," July said. "The sheriff there will probably be glad to get these men." "Yes, he will, the son of a bitch," Hutto said.
Roscoe felt bad about going off and leaving Janey, but he couldn't think what to do about it.
July tied the two outlaws' horses to a single lead rope and instructed Roscoe and Joe to stay close behind them. It had clouded up and was almost pitch-dark, but that had no effect on July's pace, which was fast. Having to deliver the outlaws to justice was taking him out of his way, but there was nothing else for it.
When they had been riding about an hour, Roscoe got the scare of his life, for suddenly someone jumped on the horse behind him. For a terrifying second he thought Jim must have gotten loose and come to strangle him or stick a knife in him. Memphis was startled, too, and jumped sideways into Joe's horse.
Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove Page 52