The Bandit Princess

by J. Roberts

  “And the girl with him?” Del asked.

  “Maybe we’ll keep her for a while,” Hunter said.

  “She’s kinda skinny,” Del said.

  “Too skinny for you, maybe,” Tate said. “Not too skinny for me.”

  “And what about Pearl?” Randy asked.

  Hunter turned to face the man. He knew Randy was in love with Pearl.

  “Randy, you’re gonna have to make up your mind what you want,” Hunter said. “You want Pearl, or you wanna be rich?”

  “Yeah, come on, Randy,” Del said. “Don’tcha wanna be rich?”

  Randy looked at the three men who were staring at him, then said, “Yeah, sure, I wanna be rich, just like the rest of you do.”

  “We can give Pearl the chance to come along,” Hunter said. “And you can have her, Randy, but she ain’t gonna be in charge anymore.” Hunter looked at Del and Tate. “We’re full-growed men, and we shouldn’t be takin’ orders from a girl. I don’t care what her last name is.”

  “What do we do if Belle comes back?” Del asked.

  “We’ll deal with that if it happens,” Hunter said. “But in the end Belle Starr is just a woman, too.”

  The others nodded.

  “Hey, what about Dave?” Tate asked.

  “Dave’s an old man,” Hunter said. “He rode with Belle, and he might not like that we’re takin’ over from Pearl. We’ll just have to see which way ol’ Dave goes when we take over.”

  “And when will that be?” Randy asked.

  “You boys just keep your eyes on me,” Hunter said. “When I make my move, you back me up.”

  “But when will it be?” Del asked.

  “Soon,” Hunter said. “Very soon.”

  It was dark. Clint and Alice were seated by their fire. The moon was reflecting off the surface of the river, which was ambling, not running.

  “There’s one man I think we’ll have trouble with no matter how we play this,” Clint said.

  “Who’s that? Slaughter?”

  “No,” Clint said, “Hunter. He’s got ambitions.”

  “A criminal with ambitions?”

  “To be a bigger criminal,” Clint said. “He’s not going to be content to follow Pearl for much longer. He’ll want to take over.”

  “And kill her?”

  “If she won’t follow him.”

  “What about the other men? What would they do if he tried to kill Pearl?”

  “Dave would try to stop him,” Clint said, “so he’s probably going to try to kill Dave first.”

  “And then?”

  “The way Randy looks at Pearl, I think he’s in love with her,” Clint said, “but Hunter might still get through to him.”

  “How?”

  “How else? Money.”

  “This sounds like a dangerous game we’re playing, Clint,” Alice said. “Why are we playing it?”

  “It’s not a game, Alice.”

  “Then why don’t we just take Pearl in?” Alice said. “I know you have something else in mind.”

  “Look—”

  “Don’t lie to me,” she said. “Don’t treat me like a fool, okay?”

  He stared across the fire at her and said, “All right, Alice, I won’t. You’re right, I do have something else in mind.”

  “Do you want to let me in on it, since I’ll be risking my neck?”

  “I want to give Pearl a chance to change.”

  “Do you think she can?”

  “She’s young. Of course she can change.”

  “But do you think she will?”

  “I don’t know,” Clint said, “but I think it’s worth a try.”

  “And if she convinces you and you let her go? What are you going to tell the judge?”

  “That depends on you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes,” Clint said, “because I won’t let her go unless you’re convinced. And then what will you tell the judge?”

  “What about her men?”

  “We’ll take them in.”

  “Dave, too?”

  He hesitated, then said, “I guess that’s something else we’ll have to talk about.”

  “Did you know you were going to do this when we left Fort Smith?”

  “No.”

  “Then when?”

  “When I talked to Pearl today,” he said. “We talked about her mother. She’s really just waiting around here for her mother to come back.”

  “And if Belle comes back while we’re here, are we going to let her go, too?”

  “Like I said, Alice,” Clint said, “we’re not letting anybody go unless we both agree.”

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  When Clint and Alice awoke the next morning, they were grateful that they weren’t facing five or six guns.

  “Well,” Alice said, “nobody changed their minds during the night.”

  They washed up in the river, then walked back to the camp. There was some smoke coming from the chimney, which meant—hopefully—someone was making breakfast.

  Clint saw some movement in the tents, which he assumed were used as bunkhouses. He approached the house and knocked on the door. Pearl opened it and smiled at him.

  “Come on in,” she said. “Both of you. The coffee’s ready.”

  “Thank you,” Alice said, stepping into the house. Clint followed.

  “Sit at the table,” Pearl said. “I’ll bring the coffee.”

  Clint looked around. Except for Pearl, the house was empty. There was another room—a bedroom. He wondered if anyone was in there, like Hunter?

  Pearl brought them each a cup of coffee. Except for the coffee, though, Clint didn’t smell any breakfast making.

  Then he had a bad feeling, but it was too late.

  Hunter stepped from the bedroom, along with Randy. The front door slammed open and Del and Tate rushed in.

  All four of them had their guns out. When he looked at Pearl, she was standing with her back to the stove. Her gun was in her hand as well.

  Clint and Alice each had a cup of coffee in their hand. They’d been caught flat-footed, with their pants down, and whatever other clichés Clint could think to hammer himself with.

  All he could think was that he’d managed to get Alice Eads killed.

  “Alice—” Clint started, but Pearl cut him off.

  “Don’t apologize to her, Clint,” she said. “You haven’t gotten her killed—yet.”

  Hunter said, “Randy, get their guns—and be careful around Adams.”

  “Right.”

  “What’s going on, Pearl?”

  “Well, Clint, I had a decision to make last night,” she told him as Randy slid Clint’s gun from his holster, and then did the same to Alice. “You see, Hunter came to me and told me he was takin’ over my gang. He told me I’d gotten too soft. And you know what? He was right. So I told him he didn’t have to take over my gang. We’d just run it together.”

  “Dave went along with this?” Clint asked.

  “Dave doesn’t know about it,” she said.

  “Did you kill him?”

  “Of course not,” she said. “As far as I know, he’s still asleep. I just didn’t think he would go along with it—not right away. I’ll fill him in later.”

  “What if he doesn’t go along with it?”

  “Well, it’s not his gang, is it?” she asked.

  “He’ll go along, or he’s out,” Hunter said. “He’s a little too old for this work anyway. Pearl was only keepin’ him around because he rode with her mother.”

  Clint looked at Hunter and said, “You’ll never be half the man Dave Slaughter is now, never mind when he was younger.”

  “I’m twice the man he is,” Hunter said, “and twice the man you are, Mr. Gunsmith.”

  “Yes,” Clint said, “I can see that.”

  He sipped his coffee. Alice, seeing this, did the same. “What do you mean by that?” Hunter asked.

  “Don’t listen to him, Hunter,” Pearl said. “He’s just tryin’ to
get your goat.”

  “No,” Hunter said. “I wanna know what he meant by that.”

  Hunter looked around the room. Nobody spoke. Clint looked at Alice.

  “He means,” Alice said, “you need all this help to take him. That really makes you the better man, doesn’t it?”

  “I don’t need any help,” Hunter said.

  “No, Hunter,” Pearl said. “Don’t take the bait.” Clint was studying Pearl. Had he been so wrong about her?

  “I’ll show you,” Hunter said. Clint wasn’t sure who he was talking to—him, Pearl, or just everyone in the room. “Outside!” Hunter said.

  “Hunter—”

  “Take them outside!” Hunter told the others.

  Maybe, Clint thought as he and Alice stood up, Pearl was about to find out that she really had been replaced as the leader of her gang.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  As Randy, Del, and Tate took Clint and Alice outside, Pearl grabbed Hunter’s arm.

  “I don’t want you to do this!” she hissed.

  “Why not?” he asked. “You don’t want me to kill him?”

  “You’re a fool,” she said. “If you face him man-to-man, he’ll kill you. I don’t want that to happen.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “Maybe it’s him you don’t want dead?”

  She held his arm tightly and said, “I’m tryin’ to save your life, Hunter.”

  He yanked his arm away.

  “Come outside and watch,” he said.

  “I will.”

  He stormed out of the house, and she followed.

  Dave Slaughter awoke slowly. It had been like that for a few years now. The older he got, the harder it was to get up in the morning. He heard voices, got up from his bedroll, and walked to the tent flap. He saw Clint and Alice surrounded by Randy, Del, and Tate, who were armed. As he watched, Hunter came out of the house, followed by Pearl. They were also armed. Apparently, Pearl had made her decision.

  It was time for Dave Slaughter to pick his side.

  As they stepped outside, Alice whispered to Clint, “What do we do now?”

  “I know Hunter’s type,” Clint replied softly, so only she could hear him. “He wants to face me alone, in front of the others, to prove a point.”

  “So then he has to give you a gun, right?” she murmured back.

  “Yes,” Clint continued at the same low volume, “but he’ll probably give it to me with one bullet.”

  “What can you do with one bullet?” she whispered.

  “I can kill him, but then we’re going to have to move fast.”

  “With no guns? What are we supposed to use as a weapon?”

  “The element of surprise.”

  Dave stepped out of the tent with his gun belt over his shoulder.

  “What’s goin’ on?” he asked. “Why didn’t somebody wake me?”

  “You can stay asleep, old man,” Hunter said. “We don’t need you out here.”

  Dave looked at Pearl.

  “What’s happenin’?” he asked.

  “Hunter is going to face Clint.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged.

  “Clint will kill ’im,” Dave said.

  She shrugged again.

  Dave moved closer to where Clint and Alice were standing.

  “Adams!” Hunter shouted. “Have your woman move away from you.”

  “I’m not his woman!” Alice shouted back.

  “Move away, Deputy.”

  She “humphed” and put some distance between herself and Clint.

  “Who’s got Adams’s gun?” Hunter asked.

  “I do,” Randy said.

  “Unload it,” Hunter said. “Leave one bullet.”

  “You call that fair?” Alice demanded.

  “He’s the Gunsmith,” Hunter said. “If he’s so great, he’ll only need one bullet.”

  THIRTY-NINE

  Hunter walked over to where Randy was standing, unloading Clint’s gun. He considered having Randy leave the gun empty, but he knew Clint would check it first.

  “Tell the others,” he said instead, “as soon as he draws, kill ’im.”

  “Pearl goes along with that?” Randy asked.

  “She will,” Hunter assured him. “Give him his gun and pass the word.”

  “Okay.”

  “They’re going to try something,” Alice said.

  “I know,” Clint said, “and you’re not far enough away. Go stand by Dave.”

  “Clint—”

  “Just do it,” he said, “and be ready.”

  “For what?” she asked.

  “For anything.”

  Alice walked over and stood by Dave, on his left side.

  “Whose side are you on?” she asked.

  Dave moved his gun belt from his right shoulder to his left.

  “Whose do you think?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You watch Del and Tate,” Dave said.

  “Why?”

  “Hunter ain’t gonna face Clint alone,” Dave said. “He ain’t got the guts. He’ll have Tate and Del take him.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because you’re Clint’s only chance of comin’ out of this alive,” Dave said.

  “And how do I keep him from dying?” she asked.

  He looked at her and said, “By actin’ without thinkin’. You think, you both die.”

  She looked at his face, then at his gun, dangling from his shoulder.

  Sonofagun, she thought.

  “You ready, Adams?” Hunter asked.

  “You don’t have to do this, Hunter,” Clint said.

  “See that?” Hunter said to Pearl. “He’s tryin’ ta talk his way out of it.”

  “Sure I am,” Clint said. “I don’t want to kill you.”

  “I don’t think I’m the one’s gonna die,” Hunter said. “No, sir.”

  Hunter squared himself up, faced Clint head-on. “Randy, give ’im the gun.”

  Randy walked over and handed Clint his gun.

  “One bullet?” Clint asked.

  “Go ahead and check—easy.”

  Clint spun the cylinder, saw that there was one bullet. “Satisfied?”

  “I’m satisfied.”

  “Holster it.”

  Clint holstered the gun.

  “What about all of them?” Clint asked.

  “Don’t worry,” Hunter said. “They all know what to do.”

  Neither Hunter nor Clint noticed that Pearl was gone.

  Alice saw, though.

  “Pearl’s gone,” she said to Dave.

  “I know,” Dave said. “You’ll have to catch her.”

  “Catch her?” Alice asked. “When I’m dead?”

  “You’re not gonna be dead,” Dave said. “Neither is Clint. Just keep your eyes on him.”

  Alice figured she had to keep one eye on Clint, and the other eye on Dave’s gun.

  Dave hoped that Clint Adams was as fast loading a gun as he was firing one.

  Del and Tate were ready. Randy had given them the word. They were kind of disappointed that Hunter wasn’t going to face the Gunsmith fair and square. That would have been something to see.

  Neither of them had ever seen a legend like Clint Adams in action. A man like him, who had lived by the gun his whole life, deserved a better chance than this. But they had their orders. Adams was going to be dead in minutes, and Hunter alive, and they were more afraid of a live man than a dead one.

  They were ready.

  Randy was standing away from Del and Tate. He’d fire at Clint from another angle. He wasn’t disappointed in Hunter. He was disappointed that Hunter wasn’t going to get killed.

  He’d thought maybe today would be the day Pearl would be his. Now he was going to have to wait.

  Clint watched Hunter. The man was full of bluster, but down deep he was nervous. Maybe even scared. He could see it in Hunter’s hands, his stance, his hunched shoulders. There was no way he was goi
ng to face Clint fairly. The others knew what to do, all right. They were ready to start shooting.

  He looked over at Alice, who was standing next to Dave. The older man had placed his gun where she could get at it. Clint only hoped she was up to it.

  “You ready, Adams?” Hunter asked.

  Clint didn’t answer.

  He just stared at the man.

  FORTY

  Clint figured the signal was going to be his move, not Hunter’s.

  So he didn’t move.

  Alice made the first move. She brought her hand up quickly, grabbed the butt of the pistol in Dave’s holster, and pulled it free.

  She fired the first shot without aiming, just to get things started.

  As soon as Alice grabbed his gun, Dave yelled, “Clint!” and tossed his gun belt into the air. Clint caught it, went down on one knee, and started to speed load.

  At Alice’s first shot, the four outlaws froze, just for an instant. Her second shot took Del in the hip, spun him around.

  “Get her!” Hunter shouted.

  They went for their guns, even Del as he was falling.

  Clint snapped the cylinder shut and, fully loaded, stood up and started pulling the trigger. He saw Dave and Alice hit the ground, hoped that neither had been shot.

  Dave fell flat, but Alice went down on one knee and kept firing.

  The hammer finally clanked on an empty chamber.

  Clint fired once at Hunter, taking him in the chest. Then he turned his attention to Tate. The bullet took the man in the stomach, doubled him up. Del was down. Alice had hit him again.

  He looked around, but Randy was gone.

  He ejected the spent shells and reloaded anyway, just to be sure. Then he walked over to check on Hunter, Del, and Tate before approaching Alice.

  Alice stood up, looked around anxiously.