A Cold Hard Trail

by Robert J Conley

  “Hey, Churkee,” I said, “lower your gun. This here is my ole pard, Zeb Pike.”

  Chapter 19

  Well, ole Churkee shuck hands with Zeb, and then he looked back at me and said, “What are you doing over here?”

  I told him how the posse had been divvied up and how I had follered his trail over to the south road so I knowed where he was at, but that one half a the posse was over at Weaver’s and the other’n was on the way, and ole Potter, he was a-waiting for the rest in spite a the fact that I had told him that we was enough already to take that there bunch a Morgans. Then I tole him that I was a-worrying over him being off by hisself like that, and so I made to come over and join him, but ole Zeb, he was worried about me making my way across by my own self, and with good reason too, so he had come along. Well, whenever I got through with all a that, ole Churkee kindly shuck his head like as if it needed clearing out. I don’t know how come.

  “So what are you doing?” I asked him.

  “I’m just watching this road in case anyone else tries to go in there or anyone tries to come out,” he said. “If the posse attacks them from the other side and they try to make their escape, I’ll be here.”

  “We’ll be here,” I said, correcting him what he said.

  “How soon do you think the rest of the posse will arrive?” Churkee asked me.

  “Ain’t no way a knowing,” I said. “We left them a-chasing after all that sign you left out on the prairie. Then we sent someone to fetch them on back.”

  “They shouldn’t be too much longer then,” he said. “I think we’d best get ready. I’ve been studying the situation here. Now that you two have joined me, I think two of us should stay right here, and a third should go over that way up on the mountainside.”

  I looked over where he was a-pointing at, and it was the side a the mountain all right, kindly looking down onto Morgan’s camp. Way down at the bottom where it come down to the camp it was a straight drop-off of maybe twenty foot or so. I ain’t too good a judge a them kinda things. But on up the side above that drop-off it was all a kinda gentle slope. They was boulders spotted here and there along the side. It looked to me like as if a feller could make his way along that there mountainside from one boulder till the next one till he got into a good position for looking down into the camp. The onliest problem would be the getting from one big rock to the next one right out in the open. Anyhow, I was feeling kinda smug after what I done earlier on that ole mountain, and this here looked to be plumb easy.

  “I can do her,” I said, and I seed Zeb give me a look, but he never said nothing.

  “Okay,” Churkee said.

  “Well,” I said, “I’ll just go on ahead and get started.”

  I made my way up and over to the first big boulder easy enough, and I hid down behind it and looked over into the camp. I seed some a them outlaws all right, and they wasn’t none of them what seemed to be a-looking in my direction, so I crouched down kinda low and made a run for the next boulder. Soon as I went to running, I got me a surprise, on account a I was running on that slope, and it was kinda awkward, but I adjusted to it quick enough, and I made it on over to that next hidey spot without no one taking no shots at me. They hadn’t saw me. I hunkered down there and waited a bit, and then I snuck me another look.

  Well, it still looked to be safe enough, and I wanted to get my ass over one more time to the next big rock a-sticking outa the side a that mountain where I would have me a real good look down over most a that camp, so I tuck out again, and I was just about halfway across there whenever I seed that Shark. He was right down under me a-looking up at me, and he had out his shooter and, bang, he fired just as I seed him. I stopped as quick as I ever could, and his bullet kicked up dirt just in front a me. It startled me some, and my feet both slud right out from under me.

  I went to sliding down that slope on the seat a my britches, and there weren’t no way I could stop it. I seemed to go faster and faster, and then I come to the end a that gentle slope, what had turned out to be not so gentle after all, and I just flewed out into space over the edge a that drop-off there, and I was moving pretty damn fast. I could see down below me where I was a-headed, and I seed that ole Shark looking up with his mouth open and his eyes wide, and then I hit him. I come down a-straddle a his face like as if I was a-jumping into a saddle from offa something, and I heared his neck snap whenever I hit.

  Well, hitting old Shark like that kindly broke my fall somewhat, and my feet dug into the ground and my ass whomped into his chest. He never moved. He was deader’n hell, I can tell you. But the commotion he and me had made drawed the rest a them outlaws right on out and put their all attention right on me. There weren’t no one else. I sure did feel lonesome, but I whipped out my Colt, and I dropped the one what was clostest to me.

  If you recall, me and Weaver and them had burnded ole Morgan’s camp clean down to just ashes, and the place there where it had been builded was flat, so there weren’t no place to hide, not anywhere near me. Morgan and them had put up a couple a new tents for temporary, but they was off some little distance from where I had landed my ass on poor ole Shark. I don’t know just where they come from, but I seed a half dozen a them bastards coming at me, and they all had their guns out and was a-firing wild. I figgered I was fixing to go out in a blaze a glory right then, but I also figgered to take a few a them shit heads along with me.

  Well, I knowed the range of a six-gun, all right, and even though they was a-shooting wild at me, they was still too far off to do any good lessen one of them just got hisself a lucky shot. Now you know, whenever a bunch a men get to running together like that all ganged up, one of them’s bound to come out ahead a the rest, so I watched for that, and whenever one did get out in front, I waited just a bit longer, and then I fired me a bullet right into his belly, and he went down hard. The rest kinda spread out then. Like I said, there wasn’t no cover down there a no kind.

  Then I seed some more a the bastards come on outa them new tents, and then I heared some shots come from back behind them. It was Churkee and ole Zeb what had heared the shots and knowed that I was in some kinda trouble. Maybe they had even seed me slide. I ain’t sure, but they did draw some a that unwanted attention away from just only me. So some a the outlaws turned to face Zeb and Churkee, and some of them kept after me. Well, I was up on my feet by this, and I was a-running and a-dodging thisaway and that and shooting whenever I got me a good target. A few a their shots come awful close for comfort, but I never did get hit, and I tuck out a couple more of the turds.

  Then the real uproar commenced, ’cause just then Potter and them come in from the direction a Weaver’s camp, and they come in a-shooting and a-hollering. It was almost like another a them war fights but only this time there weren’t no explosions happening around like what there had been before. Them owlhooters was in a real bind, I can tell you. They had the big bunch a the posse and miners a-coming at them from one direction, ole Zeb and Churkee from another direction, and just me by myself off over in yet a third. Some more a them fellers dropped dead from bullet shots, and then the ones what wasn’t kilt final went and throwed down their guns and up their arms and give up the fight.

  Potter set some men to tying the hands a the standingup outlaws behind their backs, and Zeb and Churkee come a-running over to where I was at.

  “Are you all right?” Churkee asked.

  “I ain’t hurt,” I said.

  “I never seen nothing like the way you tackled that there Shark,” said Zeb. “Whatever put a thing like that into your head?”

  I give a shrug.

  “Well,” I said, “it just kindly popped up there. I seed where he was at and where I was at, and I figgered I could take him thataway. That’s all.”

  “Damn, damn, damn,” Zeb said. “That was really something to behold.”

  I looked at Churkee then, and I said, “Did you get Morgan?”

  “I never set eyes on him,” Churkee said. “Let’s take a look around.
”

  We started walking over toward the tents, and whenever we walked past one a the bodies what I was responsible for, we tuck us a good look at it, but I already knowed that none a them was ole Morgan, nor neither one a the old men nor that damn kid Gish. We strolled on over to where the live ones was all rounded up, and there I seed one a the old men.

  “Looky there, Zeb,” I said. “That there’s Charley Coy. He must be the one what they thought was you.”

  Zeb hawked and spitted on the ground.

  “Ain’t no way,” he said. “He’s too old and too damn ugly.”

  ’Course, that’s just what I thunk about that damn Gish, not the too old part but the other part, but they had mistook him for me anyhow, but I never said nothing more about it. The other old man nor the kid nor Morgan was with the live ones. We went to hunting around amongst the kilt ones over thataway, and then we seed that they was a couple shot but not quite kilt, and a couple a Potter’s men was busy patching them up so they could save them to hang up by their necks. We went over to look at them, and one of them was the other old man, that Ben Wright. He looked to be hurt bad, and I figgered he wouldn’t never make it to the hanging place. We went and found ole Potter and Weaver was there with him.

  “Well, Kid,” Potter said, “you told me you didn’t want to wait for the rest of the posse. You figured out how to get your way, didn’t you?”

  “You might not never believe me on that,” I said, “but I never started this here fight a-purpose. I told you I was worried about ole Churkee over here all by hisself, didn’t I? Well, me and Zeb come over here on account a that, and I was just a-getting myself a good position up on that mountainside over yonder whenever ole Shark spotted me and tuck a shot at me. That’s all. I meant to wait it out like you said.”

  “Okay,” he said. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “Hey,” I said, “have you saw anything a that Gish or of ole Morgan?”

  Potter give a look to Weaver, and Weaver shuck his head.

  “I didn’t see Morgan,” he said.

  “And I never saw the kid,” said Potter.

  Damn, I wisht he hadn’t a called him that.

  “You reckon could they be a-hiding around here somewheres?” I asked.

  “I don’t see how or where,” Potter said, “but I guess anything’s possible.”

  Churkee turned and walked away without saying nothing, and I watched him where he was a-going. He walked on over to where the prisoners was standing all tied up, and he stepped right up and looked one a the bastards in the face. I follered him to see what was he up to.

  “Where’s Morgan?” he said.

  “I don’t know,” the man said.

  Churkee stepped in front of another one and asked the same question. He got the same kinda answer. I walked on over to his side and poked him on the shoulder. He give me a look.

  “Hold on there a minute,” I said. “This ain’t doing no good.”

  I grabbed another one what Churkee hadn’t spoke to yet and pulled him outa the crowd. “Come on,” I said, and I drug the bastard well off from the rest, and Churkee follered me. “Cut him loose, Churkee,” I said. Churkee and the owlhoot both give me funny looks, but Churkee cut the ropes. The owlhoot kindly rubbed his wrists a little bit, and I said to Churkee, “Give him your six-gun.”

  “What’re you doing?” the man asked me.

  “I’m a-fixing to give you a chance to beat the hangman,” I said. “If it was me, I’d ruther go by a bullet than a rope. Give it to him, Churkee.”

  “Wait a minute,” the man said. “I didn’t ask for this.”

  I looked around and seed a saddled horse off to the far side a the tents.

  “Looky yonder,” I said, and he looked. “You know, you might could get lucky and kill me, and if you was to do that, you might could make it to that there horse before anyone gets you. Thataway, you’d really beat the hangman. It’s worth a try, ain’t it.”

  “Of course,” Churkee said, “no one’s ever beat the Kid before.”

  “You’re that Kid Parmlee, ain’t you?” the outlaw asked me.

  “That’s what they call me,” I admitted.

  “I don’t want to fight you,” he said. “Tie my hands back the way they was. Leave me be.”

  “Give him a gun, Churkee,” I said.

  Churkee drawed his six-gun and flipped it around holding it out toward the owlhoot grip first. The man backed away.

  “No,” he said. “I won’t.”

  “Well, then,” I said, “I’ll just step me a few paces back and commence to shooting. You know, I can cut a ear a-purpose when I take it in my head to do such stunts.”

  “Sheriff,” the man hollered. “Help.”

  Outa the corner a my eye, I seed ole Potter come a-walking our way.

  “There’s a easy way outa this for you,” I said. “Just answer us a couple a questions. Where’s Morgan, and where’s Gish?”

  “They never came up here,” he said. “Morgan told us to come up and wait for him. Him and the kid rode on back into Nugget.”

  Potter come up just about then in time to hear that. He grabbed that outlaw by the front a his shirt and pulled him around to look in his face.

  “Morgan and Gish rode into Nugget?” he said.

  “Yeah. That’s right.”

  “What for?”

  “Morgan said he didn’t like being run out of a town,” the man said. “He said his business wasn’t done in Nugget, and then the kid said he had something to settle there too. They sent us on up here, and they was going back to Nugget.”

  “Tie him back up,” Potter said. “We’ve got to get ready to ride.”

  Me and Churkee and Zeb didn’t have nothing to get ready, but ’cept me and Zeb had to go back over to Weaver’s camp to get our horses and saddles. We tuck us a couple a the outlaw horses to ride over there on, and Churkee went out and fetched his own horse, and the three of us rid into Weaver’s camp. Me and Zeb saddled our own nags, and we throwed together a few supplies and headed on out. We didn’t worry none about how soon Potter and them others would be headed back. We rid out on the road headed for the south route down the mountain, and we only got about halfway to the turning-down place by nightfall. We had to stop and make us a camp for the night.

  Ole Zeb, he whomped us up a quick meal and some coffee, and it was all mighty good, and we set up a while a-drinking coffee after we et. Churkee, he was real quiet. I knowed he was a-thinking about that Morgan and what the bastard had did to his daddy. I didn’t want to bother him in his thinking so I just kept quiet or else I said something to Zeb whenever I felt like saying something. But it did come to me that it was getting mighty tedious a-follering them two owlhoots around the countryside. Final, we laid out our beds and tuck to them for the night.

  Zeb fixed us up a breakfast in the morning and some more coffee, and we et in a kinda hurry on account a Churkee especial wanted to get on the trail. Whenever we at last come to the place where the road went on down the mountain, we met up with the rest a Potter’s posse with the supply wagon a-coming along behind them. We stopped long enough to fill them in on what had done happened at Morgan’s camp, and then let them get on past us, and then we headed down.

  We made it on down and onto the flat road what led into Nugget going north or Fosterville going south. I thunk for just a minute about ole Chastain, and I thunk that I was sure enough lucky that I hadn’t come too close to him up there right after the fight, but then I went and put him outa my mind, so I could concentrate all my thinking energies on Morgan and on Gish. ’Course it was Gish that I really wanted bad, on account a he was the one what had caused me all a my recent miseries. The two ole men was done tuck keer of. It was Churkee who wanted Morgan real bad, and me, I just wanted to see him get his man. I had somewhat against ole Morgan too, but it was on account a what he had did to my new friends at Weaver’s, and on account a it looked sure as hell like he hadn’t give up on that scheme, but Churkee’s reason was
even more personal, so I figgered it was me for Gish and Churkee for Morgan.

  Night come on us again before we made it all the way into Nugget, and so we camped again. Zeb done the cooking again, and we et. It was getting chillier in the night air, and we put our beds more closer to the fire and figgered some one of us would get up now and then to put on more sticks and keep it going all night long. We was tucking ourselfs in when old Zeb spoke up.

  “Reckon what them two is doing to Nugget just now?” he said.

  “Ain’t no telling,” I said, “what with the sheriff and most near all the able-bodied fighting men outa town.”

  “Whatever it is,” said Churkee, “they won’t be doing it for much longer.”

  Well, we managed to stay warm and get us a pretty good sleep, and in the morning, much of a hurry as we was in, we waited till Zeb could get us all fed again, and we washed it all down with coffee. Then we cleaned up our campsite, packed up, and headed out. We had to make ourselfs hold it down to save the horses on account a we was in such a all-fired hurry to get our ass on in there. But we went to riding along for a while at a pretty fair clip, and then we’d slow down and walk the horses a while. We done like that most a the way on in. At last we seed the place just ahead.

  “We’d better ride in slow,” Churkee said. “We don’t want them to see us first. Not if we can help it.”

  ’Course, me and ole Zeb, we both knowed that Churkee was right about that. He didn’t really have to tell us that. We rid into town real slow like all right and looking around us in ever’ and all directions for any sign a them two. I looked especial in winders and doors and in them little narrer places in betwixt buildings. I never seed no sign a them we was a-looking for. Neither did Churkee nor Zeb. It was long about mid-morning whenever we come a-riding in, and the streets was kinda busy for a small town. We rid all the way through town and turned around and come right on back into the middle a town and still never seed no sign a Morgan nor Gish. We stopped there and set still for a few seconds, I guess. I looked at ole Zeb, and then I looked over at Churkee.