I hadn’t never seed a town look like that before, and it was kinda spooky like. It was real quiet, and the streets was empty. Them two dogs was all that was moving. Well, there was some horses tied at the rails here and there, and they was switching their tails and such, but there weren’t no people. Then Rice punched me on the shoulder and pointed west, and I looked, and I seed the cloud a dust that was a follering that outlaw gang. I knowed that’s what it was. It couldn’t a been nothing else. I got ready to kill me another Hook.
Chapter Thirteen
Well, sure enough, they was a coming our way. ’Course, they didn’t know it was us they was a coming at. They just thought they was a coming at the unsuspecting town a Lowry to do whatever it was they was a planning to do. Rich figgered it was to rob the bank, and the local law didn’t disagree none with him on that issue. There was men on rooftops, including me and ole Rice, men in doorways, men peeking outa winders. There was men ever’where, and most all of them with rifles. Some had shotguns, and some others had only handguns, but they was all armed. Them outlaws didn’t have no idea a what kinda trap they was riding into. I was just a hoping that no one would kill Clell before I got me a shot at him.
Well, the sheriff a Lowry had passed the word that no one but just only him was to fire the first shot, and so when them bastards come a riding on into town, ever’thing still stayed real quiet like. All of us gunmen in town kept ourselfs hid and waited. It was all I could do to keep my head down, I wanted so bad to raise it up and get a look at Clell to see where he was at. Anyhow, they rid on in kinda slow and easy, and sure enough, they stopped their horses right in front a the bank. I managed to take me a sly sorta peek.
You could see them looking around kinda edgy like, and you could see them heft their six-shooters to make sure they was sliding easy in their holsters. A couple of them was carrying rifles. Then you could see them all look toward the bank. They each but one pulled sacks outa their saddle bags, and then it come total clear what they was up to. All of them but that one started walking toward the bank. The one was left to watch the horses. The sheriff didn’t wait for them to get to the bank. He stepped right out and faced them.
“Hold it right there,” he said. “You men are covered from all over town. Stop where you stand and drop your guns.”
They stopped all right, and then they just stood there for a minute or so or maybe just for a couple a seconds, but it sure seemed a long time, like they was thinking it all over. Then three or four of them at once blasted the sheriff, and he went crashing back’ards through the big front winder a the store he was standing in front of. He was hit plenty. You could see the blood splatter each time a bullet tore into him. That broke all hell loose.
I seed three outlaws just tore to pieces by bullets coming at them from ever’ whichaway. They jerked and twitched, and it seemed almost like it was only just the bullets a hitting them that was keeping them from falling on over dead. I don’t know how come ever’one in town seemed to shoot at the same three outlaws, but they did, ’cause the other four made it in between buildings or around to the back a the buildings or something, and they headed out in four different directions.
I never even got off a shot, and I sure felt like a greenhorn. I had killed me some men, as you well know, but I hadn’t never seed nothing like that battle in the main street a Lowry. It musta been the way it was to be in a real war. I was just so astonished by the whole thing that I just set and stared. Well, when them four outlaws lit out in four different directions, what with the sheriff killed and all, why, different ones a the town folks jumped on horses and just tuck their pick on which one they was going to foller. My head fin’ly started to clear, and I seed ole Rice stand up and head for the back a the building we was on.
“Did you see where Clell went?” I said.
“Come on,” he said. “I’m going after him.”
We clumb down offa that roof, and I fell on my ass when I dropped down to the landing, but I scrambled right back up again. Rice was already halfway down the stairs. By the time I got down in the alley to where ole horse was a waiting for me, Rice was riding out, headed kinda northeast. I kicked ole horse into a fast run and tuck out after him. We rid hard for a ways, and I was fearful that ole horse might give out underneath me. We passed by where one a the town folks had got shot down. Going on a little farther, we passed two more town folks what had decided to give up the chase and go on back home. We kept a going.
Far as I could tell there wasn’t no one left between us and ole Clell. He was ours. I figgered the showdown between me and ole Rice was just around the bend. Of a sudden, Rice slowed his horse down, and so I slowed ole horse under me, but not too much before I rid myself on up alongside a Rice. I give him a look, but he never noticed it, or if he did, he made out like he never.
“What’re you doing?” I said.
“You see that line up there?” he asked me. He had a bad habit a answering a question with another question. That was another thing about him that annoyed the belt outa me. But I didn’t say nothing about it. Instead I just answered his question.
“Yeah,” I said. “I see it.”
“That’s a riverbank,” he said. “Hook has gone down that bank. I doubt he’s trying to cross the river with that tired horse. More likely, he’s resting his horse and waiting to try to pick us off from behind that riverbank. I figured we’d slow down. Rest our horses a bit too.”
“Yeah,” I said, “but what happens when we get close enough for him to get a good rifle shot At us?”
“Well,” he said, “in just about another minute, we’ll spread out wide. Try to keep out of his range. When we reach the riverbank, we’ll go on down and then come at him from two sides.”
“If I get to him first,” I said, “I’ll kill him.”
“I figured that,” he said. “But if I get to him first and have him in my sights, you back off.”
I rid on a ways a thinking about that one before I give him a answer.
“Well,” I said, “all right.”
“Let’s spread out,” he said, and he turned his horse to the right and started out at a sharp angle to the riverbed. I turned mine to the left and done the same thing. My heart was a pounding with anxiety, I wanted to kill ole Clell so bad. I even hurried ole horse a bit, hoping that I would get to Clell first, but then I slowed down again. I got to questioning whether or not I really wanted to get down behind that high riverbank all by my lonesome and try a sneaking up on ole Clell without Rice coming at him from the other side.
It seemed like a real long ride, and I kept expecting to hear a shot ring out from down there where he was a hiding and waiting, but maybe ole Rice’s plan was working. Maybe we was keeping well outa his range. When I fin’ly reached the bank, I had lost sight a Rice, but I figgered that he was prob’lyre too. It was a steep bank and a fair ways down, so I eased ole horse down in there real easy like. I looked quick to my right, but I didn’t see no one. Then it come to me that I’d have a easier time a sneaking up on ole Clell if I was afoot, so I clumb down offa ole horse’s back and give him a pat or two. I pulled out my Colt and started walking slow and keerful, watching ahead, stopping now and then whenever the river tuck a turn and peeking around the curve in the bank.
I knowed it was going to be a long walk, ‘cause I had rid a ways off to the left, keeping outa his rifle range. ’Cause I had rid at a angle, if the riverbank had been straight, it woulda been a shorter distance to go, but it weren’t. It was crookedy as ole Farty’s hind leg. I just kept a creeping and a watching, ready to shoot anything what moved. Then I seen him of a sudden, but he had his back to me, and he had his rifle up to his shoulder ready to shoot, but before he could pull the trigger, there was a blast, and he twitched. He stood a wavering for a second or two, and then he fell over on his face.
“God damn you, Rice,” I yelled, and I went running on ahead. “You said you wasn’t going to kill the son of a bitch.”
I got up to where the body was just
a laying there on its face, and I seen Rice a standing there, six-gun still in his hand. He holstered it.
“He didn’t give me any choice,” he said.
“Damn you,” I said.
“Roll him over and look at him,” Rice said, “before you cuss me out any more.”
“Huh?” I said. I dropped down and tuck hold of the man’s shirt and rolled him over on his back. “That ain’t Clell,” I said.
“No,” said Rice. “It ain’t.”
“Well,” I said, “you said we was follering Clell. You said you seed where he went.”
“I thought I did,” Rice said. “I was wrong.”
“Ain’t no telling where he’s went to by now,” I said.
“There were four of them,” Rice said. “There’ll be four trails out of town. Come on. Let’s load this one up and head back.”
“You load him up,” I said. “You kilt him.”
We didn’t talk none on the way back to town. I was a pouting, and I reckon ole Rice just didn’t figger I was worth talking at just then. But whenever we got back, we found folks in town still a running around and talking all excited about what had tuck place there. They was glad to see that me and Rice was bringing in one more a the outlaws. There was a small citizens posse in front a the sheriff’s office. They had caught their man too, and they had kilt him, just like Rice had did. Then Rice and some a the other men there went inside the sheriff’s office and commenced to looking through a stack a dodgers to see could they find out who all it was they had kilt. Rice come back out to find me in a bit.
“We got a reward coming for that fellow,” he said.
“I ain’t got nothing coming,” I said. “You kilt him.”
“We were in on it together,” he said. “You’ll get half the reward. What are you pouting about anyhow? It wasn’t Clell Hook I killed.”
Hell, I knowed that, and so I started in trying to figger out just what it really was that I was pouting about, but I never figgered it out. I guessed that maybe I had oughta cut it out.
“How much reward we got?” I asked him.
“Five hundred dollars,” he said. “The man was Leiland Hook.”
“Ain’t there no end to them Hooks?” I said.
“Not so far,” he said. Then he changed the subject. “The men that followed the other two trails came back empty-handed,” he said. “The trails will be easy enough to follow, but we won’t know which one is Clell.”
“Well, Rice,” I said, “you’re all the time telling me what we’re going to do next, so for once I’m going to tell you. Here’s what we’ll do. You foller one trail, and I’ll foller the other’n.”
“You sure?” he asked me.
“It’ll be just one on one either way,” I said.
“Okay,” he said. “But let’s wait till morning. We’ll get our reward money here in town. Get us a good meal and a good bed for the night. Start out fresh in the morning.”
I thought that one over for a minute, and I couldn’t see nothing wrong with the plan. It was already a bit late in the day to go starting off on a chase like that. “Okay,” I said. Well, we did get our money, and so where I had been near broke from giving near all my cash money to ole Zeb and to ole Red, as you might recall, I had me another two hunnert and fifty bucks in my pocket. I also had a evening and a night to kill.
I went and et me a supper in a pretty nice eating place with ole Rice, and then I went out on my own and hunted up a good-looking saloon. I went inside and had me a glass a whiskey, and I was kinda looking around at the gals in there. They had some gals in there all right, and a couple of them was kinda rank-looking, like as if they’d been rode a time or two too many, but there was also a couple a kinda cute ones.
Well, I waited till a little blonde was looking my way, and I pulled out my roll a bills and made sure that she got a look at them. Sure enough, the little blonde come a sidling my way in pretty short order. She come right up close and made sure that her bare nekkid arm was pressing against me.
“Hi,” I said.
“How do,” said she. “You just ride in today?”
“That’s right,” I said.
“You help fight them outlaws?” she asked me.
“I was out there,” I said, so I never lied about it.
“You likely need a little relaxing,” she said.
“You meaning to help me do that?” I asked her.
“I bet I could,” she said.
“Well,” I said, “let me get us another glass to go with this here bottle, and let’s just take our ass upstairs, you and me. Oh, is this bottle all right with you, or do you like something different?”
“What you got there is fine with me,” she said. I liked her for that, and I waved at the barkeep who come over right away. I paid him for the whole bottle and got another glass from him. Then I headed for the stairway with this blonde a hanging tight onto my arm. I guess I was kinda swaggering. Whenever we got upstairs and into a room just the two of us, she commenced to taking off all her clothes. I poured us each a drink, and then I done the same thing. We set nekkid on the edge a the bed and drunk whiskey, and then we got after it. When we was all done, she set up and looked kinda like she was deep thinking on something.
“Are you all right?” I asked her.
“Are you staying in town?” she said.
“Me?” I said. “Naw. I’ll be pulling out first thing in the morning.”
“Will you take me with you?” she said.
Well, now, that surprised the hell outa me. It was the last thing I expected to hear from a whore.
“What for?” I said.
“I want out,” she said. “I got enough money for stage fare, but Alf, he won’t let me go. He says I owe him, and till I can pay him off, he owns me, he says. I got to get out of here. I can’t stand it no more. Oh, I like you all right, but some of the others I have to be with—well, you just wouldn’t believe it.”
“I reckon I know what you mean,” I said. “But I’m riding outa here early in the morning. I’m traveling horseback.”
“I can ride a horse,” she said.
“But do you got a horse?” I asked her.
She dropped her head and looked real sad. “No,” she said. I couldn’t hardly stand seeing her like that.
“Hey, wait,” I said. “I got a idea.”
That perked her back up. “What is it?” she said.
“Never you mind,” I said. “You don’t got to know. ’Specially if it don’t work out. Be best if you don’t know. You stay here and make like I’m buying the whole night with you. I’ll come back before daylight.”
I pulled on my clothes and went out the winder, and when I dropped to the ground, I fell on my ass. She was looking out the winder and seen me fall down, and I wished that she hadn’t saw that. Anyhow, I got up and dusted off my butt, and then I went around a hunting for ole Rice. I fin’ly found out that he had checked into a room at the biggest hotel in town, and I went up and knocked on his door. He opened it with a gun in his hand.
“What are you doing here, Kid?” he said.
“I got to ask you something,” I said.
“Well,” he said, “what is it?”
“You know that feller you kilt today?” I said. “What’s going to come a his horse?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “Usually it would go to a sheriff’s auction. What do you want?”
“I want the horse,” I said.
He scratched his head and thunk a bit. “I don’t know,” he said. “Without a sheriff in town, it ain’t likely that anyone would notice. You want it, I’d say go ahead and take it. You planning on leaving here before morning? Trying to get a head start on me?”
“It ain’t that,” I said. “I just need that extry horse, and I don’t need no one in this here town asking no questions about it. That’s all.”
“Well, like I said,” Rice told me, “just take it. You know where that one trail headed back west?”
“Yeah,” I
said. “I think so.”
“Why don’t you follow that one,” he said. “The fourth one headed northwest. I’ll take it. First one of us gets his man, no matter who it is, cut across and look for the other. Agreed?”
I agreed and thanked him and felt kinda funny about it. Then I left. I went down the street to where the stable was at and found that horse and its saddle. I put the saddle on the horse and then led it around to the back side a the saloon where that blonde gal was a waiting for me. I hadn’t even thought of it till just then, but I never even had asked her name. Anyhow, I put the horse there, and then I went and got mine and brung him around. Then I tried to figger out how I was going to get back up in that room without no one seeing me, ’cause I meant for them to think I was up there all night, you know.
Fin’ly I led ole horse around to the winder where I dropped down from, and I stood up in the saddle and reached for the winder. I couldn’t quite get to it, but while I was stretching for it, that blonde gal come and looked out the winder and seed me.
“I got you a horse,” I said. “Can you get outa there?”
“I can get out just like you did,” she said, and she clumb right out that winder and down onto my shoulders, and the both of us went tumbling offa ole horse’s back and fell into the street. We sorted ourselfs out and got up and dusted off some.
Fugitive's Trail Page 14