Fugitive's Trail

by Robert J Conley

  “He got to feeling better,” she said, “and I couldn’t keep him down without I hit him over the head with a rolling pin or something. Likely you’ll find him around town somewheres.”

  I asked her if I owed her any money, but she said that ole Zeb had paid for ever’thing, so I guess I left him with enough money. I thanked her kindly for all her help, and then I went out a hunting him. I couldn’t help but think about how the last time I went a hunting ole Zeb in this here town, he was a laying out in a alley all beat up, and then I was thinking too that one a them bastards what done it was back in town. I tell you I was rushing around from place to place.

  I found ole Red back in the same place where I met her, and I run right up to her. She was a talking to a mining feller, and he kind a resented my intruding on the conversation like that. Red just leaned over close to his ear and whispered something, and he kind a lost the color in his face and excused hisself and faded away.

  “Where’s Zeb?” I asked her.

  “Can’t you even say howdy?” she said.

  “Howdy, Red,” I said. “Where’s Zeb?”

  “He’s all right,” she said. “He’s upstairs with one of the gals just now, likely having himself a grand ole time.”

  “You sure?” I said.

  “You want to go look in on him?” she said.

  “Well, I just been worried about him is all,” I said.

  “You didn’t flatter me none too much the way you come up to me, Kid,” she said. “I guess you sure didn’t miss me none. I bet you never even give me a second thought while you was away.”

  “I did too,” I said. “Why, hell, I thought about you most ever’day.”

  “I’ll bet,” she said.

  “Say,” I said, “what was it you said to that mining feller while ago?”

  “What?” she said.

  “You know,” I said, “that feller you was with what didn’t want me messing in. What was it you said to him to make him go off like that?”

  “Oh, that,” she said. “I just told him that you was the one what killed Asa Hook in here not long ago, the one they call the regular Billy the Kid.”

  “Oh,” I said, “that ole line again.” But I had to admit to myself that it did come in handy sometimes. When I come into that there room, I meant to talk to ole Red and find out what I could about Zeb no matter what, but I was just as glad that I never had to kill that mining feller. “You real sure that ole Zeb is okay?” I said.

  “I’m sure, Kid,” she said. “I seen him just before he went upstairs.”

  “You ain’t seed Clell Hook, have you?” I asked her.

  “Clell? No,” she said. “You didn’t get him?”

  I shuck my head. “Nope,” I said. “He’s got clean away, and we follered him right back here too. That’s how come me to be so worried about Zeb.”

  “I ain’t seen him in here,” she said, “but I’ll sure keep my eyes peeled.”

  “Well, maybe I had ought to look around town,” I said. “See if maybe I can spot him.”

  “You said ‘we’,” she said.

  “Huh?” I said.

  “You said, ‘we followed him back here.’ Who’s ‘we’?” she asked me.

  “Oh,” I said. “Well, along the trail I kind a got myself hooked up with a feller from Texas what’s after ole Clell too. Name a Bill Rice. A gal come along with us from out in Kansas, but that’s a long story. Her name’s Sally, and Sally and ole Rice are off somewheres getting us rooms.” I never mentioned ole Paw.

  “Is she with him or with you?” Red asked me.

  I knowed right away what she was a getting at, and I told her, “She’s with ole Rice.” It weren’t no lie neither. ’Course, I never bothered telling Red how it was me what had been in the sack with Sally and what stole her out a town and kilt a man for her. But then, she never asked me about none a them things neither. All she asked about was just who was ole Sally with at that time, and what I told her was the whole truth a the matter.

  “Why go looking around for Clell?” she said. “If you stick close to Zeb, then if Clell comes around, you’ll be there to look out for Zeb. What if you was to leave here to go looking and then he come right on in here, and Zeb just upstairs and not suspecting any trouble?”

  “Say,” I said, “you’re right about that. Why don’t I just get me a bottle and a glass and set right down here? Better yet, why don’t I get me a bottle and two glasses, and you set with me?”

  “I can go you one better than that, Kid,” she said. “Why don’t you get the bottle and the two glasses, and then why don’t you and me go upstairs where we can be alone?”

  “What if Clell comes in, and I don’t know about it?” I said. “What if we got ourselfs occupied in one a them rooms, and then ole Zeb gets done and goes downstairs and there’s Clell just a waiting for him?”

  “I can take care of that,” she said. “Come on.”

  She led me down to the far end a the bar where the barkeep was hanging out, and she motioned for him to lean over close to her.

  “I’m going upstairs with the Kid,” she said. “If ole Zeb Pike comes down, or if Clell Hook comes in, you get yourself upstairs fast and tell me. Don’t worry about what you might be interrupting. Just do it.”

  He looked a little bit uncertain, and he give me a look, but I give him a real hard one back, and I said, “Do what she says.”

  “Okay,” he said, and so then me and ole Red went on over to the stairs and started up. I noticed that mining feller giving me a kinda mean look, but he didn’t worry me none. I never knowed a miner what was a gunfighter, and ole Red had done scared him off once just only by mentioning my name. We got up to the landing, and I couldn’t help myself. I turned. around to look down over all the crowd, but I didn’t see no sign a Clell. I went on down the hall and into a room with Red.

  I was sure glad that I had tuck a share a that reward money or else I wouldn’t a been able to afford a tumble with ole Red, and by the time she had got me settled down about ole Zeb and Clell, I was ready for her. I had only just barely touched her, and I was already telling myself that a the three gals I had got me some experience with, she was the best one of all. ’Course, like I think I done told you, I most usual felt thataway about the one I was with at the time.

  She closed the door, but she never locked it, so I made sure that my Colt was real handy on the back of a chair right there beside the bed. While I was a setting that up, Red was pouring us a couple a drinks. I was thinking about pulling off my boots, when I heared some footsteps out in the hallway. I grabbed my Colt and bolted for the door. Easy like I pulled it open just a tad and peeked out, and damned if it weren’t ole Zeb and his gal a headed for the stairs. I jerked that door on open wide.

  “Zeb,” I said.

  “Hey, Kid,” he said. “It’s you! I didn’t think you was ever coming back.”

  “Come on in here,” I said, “and let’s have us a party.”

  Red come over to stand beside me then. “Howdy, Zeb,” she said.

  “Howdy, Red. Well, Kid,” he said, “we was all done—you know—and we was going back down to get us a drink or two.”

  “We got a bottle right in here,” I said. “Come on in.”

  The gal stood out in the hall. “I don’t know if I should,” she said.

  “I’ll tell you what you should,” Red told her. “You run down and get two more glasses and then bring them back up here. Hurry it up.”

  The gal hustled off, and the other three of us went back into the room.

  “Zeb,” I said, “I’m sure tickled to see you up and around.”

  “Ah, hell,” he said, “they can’t keep me down. You oughta know that.”

  “Well, I guess, maybe I did,” I said, “but I still didn’t like seeing you laid up like that.”

  Red had done poured two glasses a whiskey, but we hadn’t neither one touched them yet, so she handed one to ole Zeb, and he tuck to it like he hadn’t had none for at least six wee
ks, but I sure knowed better than that. She give me the other glass, and just about then that other gal come back with two more glasses. In another minute, we was all setting there drinking and telling tales and having a good time. The other gal’s name was Dolly. Me and Red was setting side by side on the bed, and ole Zeb, he was setting in a chair with Dolly on his knee. After a while, there come a lull in the conversation. I tuck advantage of it.

  “Zeb,” I said, “I got to tell you. I never caught up with ole Clell.”

  “Ah, that’s all right,” he said. “You tried. That’s what counts.”

  “No,” I said. “I mean, that ain’t all. He’s here.”

  “Here?” Zeb said. “Here where?”

  “Somewhere in this here town,” I said. “We follered him here.”

  Well, I had to go all through just who that “we” was again, and I done it again, still without making no mention a my ole paw.

  “Hell,” Zeb said, “leave him to that Texan. I don’t give a shit. Unless he comes messing with us, then you can kill him. Otherwise, just leave the Texan have him.”

  I didn’t say nothing to that, but I didn’t much like Zeb’s idea. I had swore that I was going to get Clell, and I meant to. Besides, I thought, ole Zeb seems to a forgot that Clell was out to kill me. Well, we partied in the room till we run out a whiskey, and then we decided to all of us go on downstairs and have some more drinks. We done that, and we was all a setting around a big round table when ole Rice come in and found me. I interduced him to ever’one and invited him to set with us and have a drink. He set down.

  “I’ll have one,” he said, “but don’t you think you’re being a bit careless, what with Clell Hook likely being in town?”

  “I can take keer a Clell anytime,” I said.

  “Have you ever tried shooting as drunk as you are right now?” he asked me.

  “Why, he kin shoot the whiskers off a cat,” Zeb said. “Don’t you worry none about my pardner, Kid Parmlee here. He’s a regular—”

  “Billy the Kid,” said Rice. “I know.”

  “Well,” I said, and I could tell that I was talking kinda blurry, “have you seed ole Clell around anywheres?”

  “No,” said Rice, “I ain’t seen him, but he’s here somewhere. That’s almost certain.”

  “Say,” I said, “where’s—”

  “Sally’s sleeping in her room,” said Rice, “and … my prisoner is handcuffed to the bed in my room. They’re okay.”

  “Prisoner?” said Red. She give me a look. “Is he a lawman?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I guess I forgot to mention that. It’s okay though. He’s from Texas.”

  I was afraid that either me or ole Rice was going to have to give a long explanation a what he was a doing in Colorady, but just then ole Jim Chastain, the local sheriff, come a walking up. He stopped right across the table from me and give me a stare.

  “Why, howdy, Sheriff,” I said.

  “Kid,” he said, “I was hoping that I wouldn’t see you here again.”

  “That ain’t a nice thing to say to me,” I told him. “I ain’t done nothing wrong in this here town.”

  “Trouble follows you,” he said.

  “If it’s trouble a follering him,” Zeb said, “then by rights you oughta be locking up the trouble. Like that Clell Hook what beat me up and robbed me, him and his worthless and now dead brother.”

  “Clell Hook is the trouble,” said Chastain. “He’s in town, and he’s got three more with him.”

  “Three more?” I said. “Ain’t there no end to them?”

  “Do you know who they are, Sheriff?” Rice asked.

  “I know them,” Chastain said. “But who the hell are you?”

  “Bill Rice,” Rice said, standing up to offer his hand to Chastain. Then he told the sheriff what it was he was a doing in Colorady, and how he couldn’t do nothing official, but they sure as hell did want ole Clell back in Texas so they could hang him up to a tall tree. After he listened to all that talk, ole Chastain shuck Rice by the hand.

  “I’ll help you all I can,” said Chastain, “but I have to be careful. Clell’s not wanted here.”

  “I know that,” said Rice. “Can you tell me who’s with him?”

  “Jody and Eddie Hook,” Chastain said, “and Stanley Pigg.”

  “Another Pigg?” I said.

  “I told you about those three,” Rice said.

  “I thought maybe they was some a the ones we done kilt,” I said.

  “No such luck,” said Rice.

  “What’s all this?” Chastain said. “You killed some of them?”

  He kinda looked around to see if there was anyone close enough to us to be a listening in on our conversation, and when he seed that there weren’t, he turned back to face Rice again.

  “Sit down,” Rice said, “and I’ll tell you all about it.” So they set, and Rice told him the whole tale a how we follered them outlaws back east and helped stop them from robbing that bank but only ole Clell slipped by us somehow. When he was all did, I guess he figgered he’d earned hisself a second drink, ’cause he went and poured him one.

  “So where the hell are they?” I asked.

  “The condition you’re in,” Chastain said, “I wouldn’t tell you if I knew.”

  “What the hell—”

  “Shut up, Kid,” Rice said.

  “You got no business talking to me like that,” I said.

  “Neither one a you,” said Zeb. “Why, Kid Parmlee’ ll take on the both a you.”

  Just then ole Red snuggled up to me and shoved a hand right down in my crotch. “Calm down, Kid,” she said. “You’re trying to fight the wrong people here.”

  Dolly tuck up the cue and begun to rubbing on ole Zeb, and the both of us stopped fussing right off, but I don’t think that we was none too calmed down. It’s just that we was getting wrought up over something entire different.

  “I think I’d better take you all over to my hotel,” said ole Rice.

  “We don’t need to go over there,” I said. “We can just go upstairs.”

  “I got a prisoner over there,” Rice said. “I might need your help.”

  I kinda puzzled over that, but even in my drunkenness, I figgered that maybe ole Rice was right somehow.

  “All right,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  The gals was holding me and Zeb up and making us walk sorta straight, and Chastain and Rice was walking along behind us. We was about to go out the front swinging doors when the barkeep called out something.

  “Hey, you,” he said. “Red and Dolly. You can’t leave here like that.”

  Chastain walked over to the bar and give the barkeep a look and said, “I can close this place down if I want to, can’t I?”

  The barkeep kinda gulped, and he said, “Yeah. I guess so.”

  “Then I reckon I can take those two gals out of here if I have a reason to,” Chastain said.

  “Yes sir,” said the barkeep, and we all went on outside. Well, I couldn’t rightly say just where we went to after that, but we wound up somewheres in a sure enough hotel and not just no whorehouse. Rice went and arranged for extry rooms, and he had them all right there together too. Me and ole Zeb and our two gals went into one room together. I guess ole Rice figgered that me and Zeb was too drunk to do anything anyhow, and besides that, even if we was to try, well, we had already did it earlier in the evening. What he didn’t know was that maybe ole Zeb had did it, but I sure never. Anyhow, I couldn’t by then, I was so drunked up.

  I guess I slept all right, but my head sure did hurt like hell whenever I woke up the next morning, and the first thing I knowed, the gals was insisting that we all get baths before we do anything else. Me and Zeb was a wanting some grub real bad, and Paw, he was too. I heard him once from down the hall, but the gals insisted, and ole Rice and ole Chastain, they agreed with them. So we had to wait while baths was drawed and while ever’one what was in line before us got his or her bath, and they never even let us stay
in the room and watch the gals a doing theirs neither. I was in a pretty foul mood by the time I was all shined up and smart.

  Anyhow, we fin’ly got us all set down together in a restrunt downstairs in that there hotel, and we got us some breakfasts ordered up. I think they had to raid the henhouse for us too, and we all drunk up enough coffee for a army. It made me feel some better, but my head was still a throbbing. I hoped that I wouldn’t run into no Hookses nor Piggses till afternoon at least. When we was done eating and was just a setting and making small talk and drinking more coffee, I got out my makings and rolled me a cigareet. Then I went to hunting a match, but I couldn’t find none in my pockets. Red said she’d get me one, and she got up and left the table. By and by, she come back and give me a match. I lit up that smoke, and then Red said, “I seen four men across the street, and one of them is Clell Hook.”

  I started in to jump up, but ole Rice stopped me. “Take it easy,” he said. “Just take a casual stroll over there to the window and look out. Don’t let them see you.”

  So I done what he said. I just kinda strolled a puffing my cigareet, and I walked over close to the front winder and sidled up to it, keeping myself kinda hid, and I looked out and across the street. There was that damn Clell all right, and he was with three other men. I figgered it had to be that Stanley Pigg, and them two other Hookses, Jody and Eddie. They was a rough-looking bunch, all right, and I figgered if I was to have to face any one of them in a fistfight, why, I’d a been scared to death. He could a broke me like a matchstick.

  But I never had no intention a facing any of them thataway. That woulda been just plain downright stupid, and I ain’t that. I ain’t too bright, I guess, but I’m that smart I don’t fight no one what can whup my ass. I know that I can face anyone with my Colt though, so if I got to fight, that’s the way I mean to do it.

  I went back over to the table and set back down. “I seed them all right,” I said.

  “All four?” Chastain asked.

  “There’s four of them,” I said.