by Petit, C. J.
“Nope. Let me have two boxes of 12-gauge #4 buckshot shells.”
Shotgun shells were a staple just like coffee and flour.
“Is that it?”
“Not unless you have something interesting.” John said with a grin.
“You seem to be traveling with a lady. You might like this.” he replied as he reached under the counter and pulled out a box.
He slid it across the counter and John opened the Cooper Pocket pistol box.
“Do you have any .31 caliber ammunition for it?”
“I’ve got the kit that ships with it that has forty rounds, paper powder tabs, percussion caps and a cleaning kit. I even have a small holster and gunbelt for it.”
“You’re right. I do like it. Go ahead and add it to the total.”
The store owner grinned and put the pistol, gunbelt and another box that was larger than the pistol box into the last bag. There were four large bags on the floor now.
“Your total is $67.45.”
John counted out the cash and received his change. It took them ten more minutes to get the bags onto the mule and tied down. John would take time when they stopped that night to get them all balanced. He felt the need to get out of town. There was a dead body in a bed back at the sod cabin that should be found shortly that might rile things up.
As he was leaving Plum Creek, though, he noticed that the café was open, so he dashed in and ten minutes later walked back out with a paper sack, which he laid on top of the only pannier with any room left. Then he stepped up and rode west out of Plum Creek.
He spotted Kate to his right about two miles out and waved. She waved back, and John was pleased to see that she kept riding southwest, so they would meet further away from town.
_____
The Murphy boys had been waiting in the cornfield for over an hour and no one had come out to use the privy. The day was warming, they were uncomfortable and now they were hungry.
“Hell, Kevin, I ain’t seen any movement at all. Maybe they’re busy, if you know what I mean.” suggested Joe.
Kevin thought about it for a few seconds. If the old man was taking Kate right now, he’d be vulnerable.
“Okay, let’s go!”
All three stood up quickly and began trotting toward the house. Their rifles were already cocked and ready as they neared the front door. They should have noticed the smell, but they didn’t.
Kevin didn’t want to be the first into the house, so he motioned for Joe to go first. Joe slammed the door open, and they all just ran inside, expecting to find a naked Kate and their father taking his privileges. All they found was their unmoving father under a blanket. The fact that he didn’t turn to scream at them gave them a hint as to his condition.
“Pa!” shouted Joe as he poked him with the end of his rifle.
Joe whipped his head back to his brothers.
“Pa’s dead!”
Kevin ripped off the blanket and they could see the hole in his chest where John’s .44 had entered.
“She shot him!” yelled Kevin.
“With what? Where did she get a gun?” asked Joe.
“She musta bought one or borrowed it or somethin’.” Kevin replied, not realizing how absurd the idea was.
Pat asked, “Where’d she go? She couldn’t have gone far.”
“She had to go to town. There ain’t anyplace else. Let’s go!”
They all hurried out to their mules, mounted and hurried northwest across the open ground toward Plum Creek.
_____
John and Kate finally merged about four miles west of Plum Creek. Kate noticed all the supplies and the bags of clothes as they both stepped down.
“Just how much did you buy?”
“Well, I cleaned them out of women’s clothes, but they didn’t have much. Then I picked up a bunch of other things while I was there. We’ll go through them tonight. I bought you some riding skirts, too, so when we stop for noon break, you can get changed and be more comfortable. I picked up two pairs of boy’s trousers and two shirts that should fit, too, if you’d rather wear those.”
“I appreciate the clothes, but I’ll stay dressed like this until tonight.”
“Okay, but you’ll probably want these.”
John rummaged around and pulled out the coat, gloves, boots, a pair of smaller socks and the Stetson. He walked over to Kate and handed them to her as she stared at the full bag of clothes.
“Those are all mine?”
“Yes, Ma’am. In fact, two of those bags are all your things. Go ahead and put on the new socks and try on the boots. I’m going to check our back trail while you do that. Just let me get my field glasses first.”
“Okay.”
John just reached into his saddlebags and grabbed his field glasses without rummaging. He knew where all the critical things were. He climbed back up on Arrow for the added height. Just those extra few feet would give him another two miles of viewing to the horizon on the flat plains.
John gave a quick scan of the area without the glasses and didn’t see any movement or dust clouds coming from the town. He would have been surprised if he had.
He pulled the field glasses level and did a slow search. Except for seeing a lone coyote trotting across the prairie just to the northwest, there was nothing moving at all.
Kate had plopped on the ground and pulled on the socks and the boots. She was surprised how well the boots fit and wondered how John had pulled that off. She stood, took off the large army coat, folded it, put it where John had taken the new clothes, and finally pulled on her new gloves.
She pulled on the hat and said, “I’m ready to go again, John.”
John put the field glasses back into the saddlebags and turned back toward Kate.
Kate smiled at him and John had to hold back laughing at the sight of Kate in those enormous pants and shirt. She’d look better tomorrow.
“Nobody is coming up from behind us, so we can press on west and see if we can find our families.” he said with a smile still amused by her attire.
Kate stepped up in the saddle, and felt much better with boots on her feet, gloves on her hands, a new coat, and a hat on her head, because it was still chilly, even with the sun. Being warm was a good thing.
John waited until she was in the saddle, then they set off west at a walk.
_____
The Murphys had stepped down in front of the dry goods store first because they knew Kate had nothing but one dress and no shoes. She must have had money hidden someplace that they hadn’t found.
Kevin walked into the store followed by his brothers.
“Hey, Willie, have you seen Kate this morning?” asked Kevin.
Willie Allen, like most of the townsfolk, didn’t care for the Murphys one bit, and they tended to walk off with things without paying, too. Most of the town’s citizens knew about Kate’s imprisonment, but without any law, they were all concerned about their own welfare, so no one did anything. Willie was ashamed of their lack of action.
“No, Kate hasn’t been in.”
“Damn!” Keven said under his breath.
While Kevin was talking to Willie, Pat and Joe were wandering the aisles picking up some food and other things when Pat noticed that there weren’t any dresses, just an empty spot. So, Kate had stopped by after all. Willie must have been lying, and he’d catch him in his lie when he got up front.
He and Joe walked back and noisily dropped their free items on the counter.
“Say, Willie, how come all the dresses are gone?” asked Pat with a knowing smile.
Willie didn’t realize the connection between the dresses and Kate, or he would have lied, but instead, he said, “Some stranger came by this morning and bought them all. I’m going to have to send a telegram to my supplier, but it’s going to be a few weeks before they get here. You need one for Kate?”
Pat suddenly changed his opinion because now, the bullet hole in his father made a lot more sense.
“Nah. Where did this
stranger go?” Pat replied.
“He headed west. Why?”
Pat turned to Kevin and said, “That’s what happened! Some damned stranger killed pa and took Kate away. We gotta stop him!”
Willie suddenly understood what an error he had just made. Obviously, the tall stranger had indeed rescued Kate, killed that bastard father of theirs and had then bought some clothes and other things that she needed. He felt like an idiot.
“Did he have a lot of guns?”
“Nope. Just a pistol and a shotgun.”
Kevin said, “I’ll bet I know where he got the shotgun, too.”
He turned back to Willie and snarled, “Put all this on our account and give us a bag.”
Willie hoped that his lie about the guns balanced his stupidity earlier as he scooped the food into a bag and handed it to Kevin. He didn’t bother adding the amount to their account because they never paid anyway.
The brothers hustled back out the door, and mounted their mules. Kevin handed the heavy bag to Joe who hooked it around his saddle horn before they turned west, riding at a medium trot.
Willie watched them go and muttered, “I hope that feller kills every last one of you bastards.”
He paused and said more clearly, “And I hope that feller makes things right with Kate.”
_____
Kate and John were walking their horses because the mule was so loaded down. John figured he’d be able to shift some of the weight to the horses tomorrow.
After a few minutes, John looked over at Kate’s still scraggly hair, then dropped back to the left side of the mule and reached down into one of the bags, found the hairbrush and then returned to the front next to Kate.
“I found this in the store as I was leaving and thought you might find it useful.”
He handed Kate the hairbrush. She broke into a grin, let go of the reins, and accepted the hairbrush. It wasn’t fancy, but it was very useful, and it showed her a measure of consideration she hadn’t experienced in years.
She turned to John, smiled broadly and said, “Thank you, John, that was very thoughtful.”
“I figured you hadn’t been able to brush your hair for a while and you’d probably like it.”
“I do, but do you think the horse will wander if I use it now?”
“No, he’ll go whichever way Arrow goes. Give me your hat and I’ll hang onto it.”
“Okay. This may take a while to get all the knots out. There are probably more knots than hair.” she said with a soft laugh.
She handed John the Stetson and began to brush her hair. She was right about the knots, and as they rode along she battled the knots, achieving small victories in numerous hair skirmishes.
John smiled at the sight of Kate fighting her hair war, and took the time to check their back trail, but still didn’t see anything.
_____
The Murphys had been closing the eight-mile gap when they started to less than five by noon. It was Pat who pointed out a problem.
“Hey, Kevin, we didn’t bring any water.”
Joe said, “We got some cans of beans and tomatoes that have water in ‘em.”
“We’ll give it another hour. If we don’t see ‘em, or find some water, we head back.” Kevin replied.
“We’re just gonna let Kate leave?” asked Joe.
“What else can we do? We can’t keep chasin’ much longer.”
“Let’s go a bit faster.” shouted Pat as he kicked his mule to a fast trot.
The others followed suit and were soon gaining on John and Kate rapidly.
_____
Kate had finally worked out the last of the kinks and was now luxuriating in the feeling of the brush gliding through her long, light brown hair that now glistened in the late morning sun.
John had found a good spot ahead next to a feeder stream for Plum Creek and pointed it out to Kate, so she picked up the reins again and found the advantage to wearing pants when she stuck the hairbrush handle in the right pocket.
John stopped near the stream and stepped down as Kate did the same, happy that her feet had something to protect them from the sharp stones that had always found her feet before.
“Okay, Kate, I’m going to let you go through your new clothes and things while I fix us some bacon and egg sandwiches for lunch.”
Kate, who had been reaching for her Stetson, turned quickly toward John and said, “You’re kidding aren’t you? You can’t make them that fast.”
John grinned and replied, “You’re right, I can’t. But I bought some when we left Plum Creek. They’re in that bag on top of the pannier on your right side.”
Kate jogged over to the mule, saw the paper sack and pulled it out of the pannier, quickly unrolled the top of the paper bag, put her face over it and with closed eyes, took a deep breath, and simply said, “Oh, my!”
John smiled as he absent-mindedly reached for his field glasses to check their back trail again. Kate walked around the mule and pulled out a sandwich and handed it to him.
“Thank you, Kate.”
“You’re welcome, John.” she replied as she reached in, took out the other sandwich and ripped off the butcher paper that prevented it from being devoured. The poor sandwich’s protection gone, it soon met its fate as Kate almost inhaled it.
John ate his sandwich much more slowly, and not because his name was Slow John. He was staring eastward at their backtrail. He had spotted a dust cloud in the distance. The only reason there would be anyone following them is that the Murphy brothers had found their father and were coming to seek revenge, or more likely, they were coming to claim Kate.
Kate saw him standing with the half-eaten sandwich in his hand as he stared.
“What is it, John?”
“I believe the Murphy boys are coming to pay a visit.”
Kate’s memories flooded her mind and she started walking backward automatically, as if adding another few feet of distance would provide protection.
John guessed they were less than three miles out. About fifteen to twenty minutes to get ready.
“Are we going to run, John?” Kate asked in a voice bordering on panic.
“No, Kate. We’re not going anywhere.” he replied as he finished his sandwich in two big bites.
He quickly walked to Arrow and pulled out the Spencer and then the Winchester. He handed the Winchester to Kate and said, “Hold that until I tell you I need it.”
“Okay.” she replied, feeling less anxious because John seemed so in control.
He took off his gloves and jacket, laying them on the ground before he reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a box of .44 cartridges for the Winchester. After he set them on the ground, he pulled out a dozen cartridges and dropped them into his two pants pockets. That gave him seven shots with the Spencer and twenty-seven with the Winchester.
He turned to Kate and asked, “Do you know what kind of guns they have?”
“I’m not sure what they are, but they’re really long.”
“Do they put bullet in the back near the trigger, or do they put them down the barrel?”
“They pour powder in the barrel and then the bullet.”
“Good. They’ve got muzzle-loaders, so they’ll be really slow to reload. Let’s move the horses and the mule to the stream and let them drink. Keep them there and you can pull out a bedroll and lie on the ground near the stream. Okay?”
Kate didn’t know what John was doing, but took her horse’s reins and began to move him into the stream as John led his horse and the mule in as well. The animals went readily into the water and began to drink. John pulled off his bedroll and let it unravel to the ground. He set it on the edge of the bank, which should give Kate some protection as she’d be flat and on the slight decline.
“Go ahead and lie down, Kate.”
“What will you do, John?”
“Stop them.”
Kate stretched out on her stomach, so she could see what John was doing. When she did, she couldn’t believe what s
he was seeing. He just stood there in plain sight. It was like he wanted them to shoot him. She felt the fear beginning to bubble inside her. Fear for herself if the Murphys made it past John, but even more for John, and not just because he was the only one who could bring her back to her family. She was beginning to believe that he was a good man.
She was about to say something when John said without turning his head, “Don’t worry, Kate. I know what I’m doing.”
Kate hoped so.
John did know exactly what he wanted to do. He began jogging forward until he was a good hundred yards in front of Kate, giving her a buffer of safety in case of high misses.
Then he set down his two rifles. He assumed the stance of a gunfighter, with his pistol prominently displayed on his hip.
He saw the three brothers racing toward him now, less than a mile away. It would all be over soon.
The brothers had spotted John and Kate when the two were walking their horses into the stream bed and had slowed down to a regular trot out of caution.
When they reached a mile, they spotted John as he jogged closer and set something on the ground, but they were still too far out to see what it was.
“What’s he doin’?” asked Pat loudly over the hoofbeats.
Joe replied, “He thinks he’s gonna scare us with his pistol. Is he just stupid, or what?”
Kevin was inclined to go with the or what. Nobody could be stupid enough to try to stand off three men with rifles with a damned pistol. He suspected that the man had laid a rifle down at his feet, but didn’t know what kind of rifle.
“I think he’s got a rifle on the ground.” he finally said.
“So? We’ve got three, Kevin, and he’s got Kate, too. Did you see her?”
“Yeah! I seen her!” shouted Joe.
Kevin finally said, “Okay. We split up a bit. Don’t forget, he’s got all those supplies, too. And if he’s got supplies, he’s got money to buy ‘em.”
The lust for Kate was enhanced greatly with the greed for money and supplies. All caution was rejected, and they picked up the pace, cocking their rifles as they began their attack.
“Here we go.” John said to himself.
He just watched as they drew closer, separating by thirty yards. He began estimating distance, counting it down in his head: eight hundred yards, seven hundred, six hundred.