I slipped on down that alley a keeping my Colt ready in my hand, ready for damn near anything. I come to a door what I didn’t know what it was, but I opened it anyhow and stuck my head in. It was just only the back door a the gen’ral store. I shoulda knowed. The man in there kinda jumped and looked around.
“Anyone come a running into here?” I asked him.
“No,” he said.
I closed the door and moved on down the alley, and ever’ door I come to, I done that same thing. No one nowhere along the line admitted to seeing no one come in through his back door. I stood there in the alley asking myself where in the hell that shooter coulda gone to. Then I said to hell with him! What’d I want with him anyhow? Hell, he done us a favor, whoever the hell he was. I wanted Clell Hook, and them other two. I wanted them other two ’cause I was for sure that they’d eventual come after me if they was able. But I wanted Clell the most.
What I hoped would happen was I hoped that ole Rice would come on that Stanley Pigg and kill him, and ole Chastain would come on Jody Hook and kill him, and me, I’d come on Clell and finish up my job what I had promised ole Zeb I would take keer of. That was how I was wanting things to come out, but you know, things never does work out just exactly to my satisfaction. Then I heared some shots.
I tuck off in the way I was thinking they come from, and I run back around to the main street and down toward the end. I seed ole Rice a ducked down behind a water trough, and I figgered if he was hiding from flying lead, why, I hadn’t oughta just leave my ass out in the open, so I ducked into a doorway.
“Rice,” I said.
“In the stable,” he said.
“Where’s Chastain?” I said.
“Across the street,” he answered me.
’Bout then I seed a head pop up from the opening to the barn loft, and I sent a shot at it. It was a long shot with a six-gun, so all I done was I kicked some splinters at him, and he ducked back down. Whoever it was, I couldn’t recognize him, but I did see that he was a holding a six-gun in his hand.
Ole Jim Chastain, he started working his way down the street toward the stable. He kept his back pressed against the walls a the buildings as he moved, but pretty soon, he was halfway on down there. Me and Rice was still away back. I seed the big front barn door creak open just a crack, and I seed a hand with a gun come a poking out. Before I could yell or do anything, it fired a shot, and I seed Chastain drop to one knee. Me and Rice both fired shots at that door, but all we done was just make whoever that was duck back inside.
I seed that someone run over to Chastain and helped him inside a building. I guessed that he’d be all right. I hoped so. But seeing him get shot like that made me mad, and I come outa my doorway and run down the sidewalk toward that barn. I passed by a couple a doorways and then ducked into another one. I was some closer than I had been before. Then I heared Rice yell out at me.
“Kid,” he said, “be careful. You damn fool.”
“You be keerful, you son of a bitch,” I hollered. “I aim to get them bastards.”
I run right out in the middle a the street then, and I fired a shot up into the loft. Then I called out in my biggest voice, “Show yourselfs, you coward peckerwoods. Piggs and Hogs.”
I tell you what, bullets started flying from up in the loft and from down at the front door, and they kicked up dirt all around me. It must a been some kinda miracle what kept any of them from hitting me, ’cept I don’t know who would make such a miracle happen for me. But I musta looked a sight, ’cause when the bullets started hitting close to my feet, I hopped up and down and danced a while before I come to my senses and run for cover. There was a store across the street what had a front porch on it with space underneath that porch, and I tuck me a flying dive, and hit the dirt and rolled right under the porch. Just as I rolled under there, I heared a bullet thunk into the wood right over me.
I asked myself, What did that Rice call me? A damn fool? Hell, I guessed that he was most nearly right about that. I heared some more shots, and I wondered where they was coming from. I guessed that ole Rice was trading shots with them in the barn. I scooted on my belly till I got myself in a position close underneath the edge a the porch where I could peek out and see the barn. The first thing I noticed was that from my new position, whenever that barn door opened, the way it done whenever that bastard shot Chastain, I could see in there. I had me a whole new angle. I got myself set to try one a my best shots ever, and sure enough, pretty soon that door creaked open a crack again.
I leveled my Colt and held her steady, and I tuck a fine bead on the bastard just inside the barn door. I don’t know exactly what he thought he was a doing. I guess he was looking for me. He oughta had knowed that he had already put Chastain outa commission, and he was looking and aiming in the wrong direction for ole Rice. But he didn’t know where I was at. He musta wanted a little better look, ’cause he pushed that door a little bit wider open, and then I squeezed my trigger. Damn, but that shot was loud down under that porch.
The ole boy standing in the doorway a the barn give a twitch. I knowed I’d hit him. I didn’t know how serious though till I seed him let go a his gun and let it fall to the ground. He still just stood there for a bit, and then he wobbled, and then he fell back. I didn’t know if he was dead or not, but I knowed he was out a commission. I could tell that much.
Well, I knowed there was still one up in the loft, and then there was one more somewheres. There weren’t no way a knowing if he was in there in the barn with them or not. Only them two had showed theirselfs. I tried to get me a look at ole Rice to see what he might be up to, but I couldn’t really get no good look at him. Then I realized what I had did to myself. I had gone and got myself pinned down underneath that there porch. It was one thing to go a rolling underneath it for cover, but it would be a whole different story to try to come a crawling back out without getting a bullet in my back or my head or somewheres. I guessed I’d be down there till the fight was over with and done. I just hoped that ole Rice would win it.
I heared another couple a shots, and then I got myself a idea. I felt kinda stupid it had tuck me so long to come up with it, but the damn porch had three sides—well, anyhow, it had a front and two sides—so I fin’ly realized that I could make my way to the side that was the furtherest away from the barn. It would be the blind side as far as them in the barn was concerned. So I scrunched and scooted myself around till I was headed thataway, and then I bellied all the way across the length a that porch till I reached the far side.
I come out from under that porch sideways still a laying flat on the ground. Then I wormed my way back to the back end a the porch where I could come upright a leaning on the front wall a the building. I done that real slow, and as I done it, I seed that fella up in the loft take a shot at Rice and make water splash in the trough. It was his last mistake though, ’cause Rice come back at him real quick. He hit him, I think in the chest, and the feller wobbled and fell forward outa the loft. He landed kerplunk down on the ground in front a the front door. He never moved no more.
I stood on up then, but I was still a holding my Colt ready. I knowed there was one more of them yet, but like I said, I didn’t have no way a knowing where he might be. I looked over at ole Rice, and I seed that he was a standing up from behind that watering trough.
“Be keerful, you damn fool,” I hollered out to him. “There’s one more yet.”
“Let’s move on in,” he said.
So Rice headed for the barn door from his side a the street, and I come at it from my side. We was a moving in on it from two different directions and from different distances, so if the last one in there was to try to shoot one of us, the other’n would get a good chance at him. I was hoping he had figgered that out as good as me. Rice got to the barn before me, and he stood there a hesitating a bit. He looked back at me and seed that I had him covered good. He leaned over and tuck hold a the shirt a that dead one there what had fell from the loft and drug him off to one side. Then
he waited for me to come on up.
When I got there, the two of us was a standing there in front a the barn door a looking stupid. We knowed there was another dead’n just inside the door, and we knowed there was another live one, the last a the bunch, somewheres. I nodded toward the body what he had pulled off to one side.
“Who was he?” I whispered.
“Not Clell,” he said.
I was just a dying to see the one inside the door. I reached over to get a hold a the door, and Rice put a hand on my arm.
“Stay back out of the way,” he said.
I nodded, and then I swung that door real hard to get it wide open. I stepped to the side as I done that, and so did ole Rice. We waited, and no one tuck no shots at us. We kinda stepped into the doorway, but it was just only half the doorway, ’cause, you know, them old barns has two big front doors, and I had just only swung one of them open. We could see the dead fella there. I just couldn’t wait no more. I moved right on over there and rolled him over onto his back, and it weren’t Clell. I sure as hell was disappointed. I straightened my ass up and walked over beside ole Rice again.
“It ain’t him,” I said. “And he ain’t inside there neither.”
I weren’t standing in the wide-open doorway no more. I was standing just in front a the other half a the door or the other door or however you keer to look at. And just then I heared someone give a loud “Hyaw,” and something hit that loose barn door and sent it a flying open and a knocking me flat on my ass, and ole Rice too, and a big stallion come a rushing out just as I was trying to get back up on my feet. He run into me and sent me a whirling. I only got a glimpse a the rider on his back, and I was so dizzy that I never even got my Colt out much less had a chance to use it.
I heared ole Rice get off a shot. I knowed it was Rice ’cause it was so close by me.
“Did you get him?” I shouted.
“Hell, no,” he said. “Let’s get some horses and get after him.”
“Who was it?” I yelled. “Did you see him?”
“It’s Clell, Kid,” Rice said. “God damn it, let’s go.
Chapter Twenty
Well, me and ole Rice, we grabbed up the closest two saddled horses without worrying about who they belonged to, and we skeedaddled out a town on ole Clell’s trail. He was already outa sight, but we seed which way he was headed all right. We rid them horses like hell meaning to catch up with the bastard, and they was pretty good horses all right. If I’d a had a chance, I’d ruther of been on ole horse though, but sometimes you just ain’t got no choice. We was outa town some ways, and we still hadn’t caught sight a Clell, when of a sudden something come a flying right at my head, and I just barely ducked it in time. As it was a flying by me, I realized what the hell it was. It was a horseshoe.
’Bout that time too, the horse ole Rice was on started slowing hisself mighty fast, and ole Rice like to of lost his seat, but he hung on all right. I jerked back on the reins a mine and pulled him around.
“He lost a shoe,” I yelled.
“Keep after Clell,” Rice hollered back at me, and I turned my horse again and commenced on the trail. I rid that animal as hard as I dared to for as long as I dared, and then I slowed him to a walk. I looked ever’ whichaway, and I couldn’t pick up no sign a Clell. I couldn’t find no place where he coulda got off the trail neither. I can’t tell you how bad I wanted to find that skunk. I wanted to find him for all the reasons I done told you about, but I wanted to find him, too, ’cause ole Rice had been forced to quit the trail, and he was a counting on me to take keer a the situation.
Well, I stayed out all damn day, and I was hungry as hell and tired. I weren’t thirsty for I had come across a pool a good water, so me and the horse was both satisfied in that way. When the sun got low in the west, I decided that I had failed my duty that day. I rid back into town with my head a hanging. I found ole Rice at the hotel. He told me that ole Zeb was done passed out, and he said that Chastain had only just tuck a bullet in the thigh. He would be okay. I was glad to hear that. But I weren’t very happy to have to tell him about how my day had gone.
“I never seed nothing of him,” I said. “Never.”
“Well,” Rice said, “he gave us the slip all right.” It was awful good of ole Rice to include hisself in that remark, but he didn’t really deserve to be stuck in there with me. He’d had to a dropped outa the race early on account a the horse he was on. It weren’t his fault. It was me. I’m the one what was out all day on a good horse and never seed the man I was a chasing.
I got myself something to eat, and then I tuck a bottle up to my room and drunk myself to sleep. The next morning I went down to get some breakfast, and there was Zeb and Rice and even ole Chastain. Sally was there a setting with Rice. I went on over and set with them. A course, the talk was all about the shooting that tuck place the day before. The two men what we kilt was Stanley Pigg and Jody Hook. After that the talk turned to me and Rice a chasing ole Clell outa town and coming back empty-handed.
“Kid,” ole Zeb said, “let’s forget about that Clell. I’m a itching to get back to the mountains and sniff out some color. Pack up and ride along with me. What do you say?”
“I don’t know, Zeb,” I said. “If I don’t go on ahead and get that Clell now, why, he’s liable to come a sneaking up on either me or you one a these days.”
“Well, then,” he said, “you can take him when he comes a sneaking. You can do it. I seed you do it before. Might be easier to let him come after us than for you to keep on a trying to chase him down.”
I thought about that, and I figgered that ole Zeb could be right there. I sure hadn’t had no luck tracking nor chasing Clell. I didn’t want to give up so easy though,’special not with ole Rice a setting there.
“Rice,” I said, “you going to keep after ole Clell?”
“That’s what I was sent here for,” he said.
“What about my paw?” I said.
“He was a part of that gang,” said Rice, “and he was my prisoner, and he escaped. I don’t take kindly to that. I do have some kind of professional reputation to maintain.”
“Well, how about this?” I said. “Suppose you go on after Clell and forget you ever seed my paw. Forget that you even know anything about him. What I’ll do for you in exchange for that is I won’t ride along with you no more. Thataway you and me won’t have to fight over ole Clell. I’ll promise to quit trying to kill him, and I’ll just leave him for you and the Texas hangman. What do you say?”
He set there and thunk a minute. I knowed he was thinking hard, ’cause he shoved his hat back and scratched his head. “Are you really willing to give up your claim on Clell Hook?” he said.
“I promise you, Rice,” I said.
He stuck his hand out for me to take, and I tuck it and shuck it.
“It’s a deal,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said.
Well, I was outa the manhunting business. By and by, ever’one got up and went somewheres. Ever’one ’cept me and ole Zeb. We had each just got our cups filled back up with coffee, and I had put a bunch a cream and sugar in mine.
“When we taking out a here?” I asked him.
“The sooner the better,” he said.
“Let’s pack up and go right now,” I said.
“Right now?” he said.
“Yeah,” I said. “I got no reason to hang around this ole town.”
“All right,” he said. “We’ll do her. Just let me finish this here coffee.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll finish mine too. Zeb?”
“What?” he said.
“Can we go find your peak and climb it?” I asked him.
“You wanta climb up ole Pike’s Peak?” he said.
“That’s just what I want to do,” I said.
We packed up ever’thing we owned, and we loaded it all on Bernice Burro and on one a the extry horses we had. Then we went on over to the gen’ral store where Zeb bought up a whole bunch a supplies for us,
including a canvas tent and a good heavy coat for each of us. He bought a lamp and a stove what burned kerosene, and he bought a can of kerosene to burn in them. We had food in tins, and jerky and hardtack. We got plenty a bullets and flour and gravy and coffee and a few bottles a whiskey. Fin’ly we packed all that on the extry horse, and we rid outa town. We never even told no one what we was a doing nor where we was a going.
It was a long and slow trail, but it was relaxing riding along like that, back on ole horse and with just only ole Zeb and Bernice and the horses for company. I was needing to relax too. I had got myself pretty high strung out a chasing all them outlaws and killing and such. We rid along just east a the big Rocky Mountains, and all the way along, I could see the snow on top and the low clouds a hovering there. It was sure pretty, but I was anxious to see that Pike’s Peak. A course, I knowed by then that it weren’t really ole Zeb’s mountain like what he had told me, but I never let on to Zeb that I had found that out about him.
Well, the farther north we rid, the higher up we was a going and the colder it got. I was sure glad that ole Zeb had picked up them two winter coats, cause pretty soon we had to stop and break them out. About noon we stopped and het up some beans and made some coffee over a campfire. Then we cleaned up the camp and headed out again. We rid all day, and toward the evening dark, we found us a campsite for the night. We built another fire and laid out our blankets. Then we had us another meal. We was just a setting and drinking coffee. The sun had done gone down, and ole Zeb come up with a hell of a surprise for me.
“Kid,” he said, “I seed who it was that shot that Eddie Hook in the back and kept him from shooting ole Rice in his back.”
“You did?” I said. “How come you never told?”
“I didn’t think it was no one else’s business,” he said.
“Well, who was it?” I asked him.
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