“All right,” I said. “Let’s get on our way.”
I led the way outta town and my five-man posse follered me. We hadn’t got far before we heared someone riding up behind us. I slowed down and looked over my shoulder and seed Henshaw and Martin coming up fast. When they come close, Henshaw called out, “We’re riding with you.”
“Well, come along then,” I said.
We rid along a ways when Happy pointed off the road and said, “Right over there was their camp, Barjack.”
We hadn’t give voice to it yet, but I reckon that we all knowed we was trailing Harm Cody and his four pals. We moved on down to the campsite, and the Churkee dismounted to look around. Final he looked up at me.
“Well?” I said.
“I’d say they broke camp before they rode into town. They’ve been gone from here for a while.”
“Can you tell us where they went from town?” I ast him.
“They kept going south on this road,” he said.
“Let’s ride,” I said. And I never waited. I turned my horse and headed on. The others were right behind me. Miller come up last, on account a’ he had to get his ass mounted up again. But he caught up again real quick and was riding right along beside a’ me. He was watching the trail we was a-follering. By and by, he said, “They’ve slowed down now.”
“Saving their horses, I reckon,” I said. “They’ve rid them hard for a time now. How much of a lead do you reckon they have on us?”
“I’d say they’re a couple of hours ahead,” Miller said.
“Let’s ride hard for a ways,” I said, and I kicked up my ole horse. The rest all done the same to keep up with me. We rid along that way for a few miles before I slowed us down again. My ole horse was a-panting. “We any closer to them?” I ast ole Miller.
“Not much,” he said.
We kept on a-plodding along our way. Once or trwice I ast him if we still on their trail for sure, and he assured me that we was. So I just kept on a-going. Then we come to a fork in the road, and ole Miller, he hauled back on his reins and stopped his horse. “Hold on,” he said.
“What is it?” I said.
“One of them turned off here by himself,” Miller said. “The other four kept going straight.”
“What the hell?” I said. “One of them off by hisself?”
“That don’t make no sense, Barjack,” Happy said then.
“So who do we follow?” said Butcher.
“There ain’t no way for us to know who it is,” I said.
“It could be any one of them,” said Miller. “Even Cody himself.”
“Maybe a couple of us ought to go after that one,” said Henshaw. “What do you say, Barjack?”
Well, I tuck me a minute to think it all over, and it come to me that I could send off Martin and Henshaw. I didn’t like having them along in the first place, but then I didn’t trust them off by their own selfs neither. Final I looked over at ole Sly.
“Sly,” I said, “what would you say if I was to ask you to take ole Henshaw there and foller that lone wolf?”
Sly looked at Henshaw and then he looked back at me. “I’d say all right,” he answered.
“Henshaw?” I said.
Henshaw looked at his buddy Martin and then at Sly. Final he looked at me. “You’re the boss here, Barjack,” he said. “What ever you say is all right with me.”
“Okay,” I said. “You two go on after that one. The rest of us will stay on the trail of the other four. Good luck to you.”
“The same to you,” said Sly, and he turned off the main road to foller that lone wolf. I set and watched them go for a few seconds, and then I said, “Let’s get after them other ones.” I started in to ride and the other’ns follered me. As we rid along, I was a-thinking about what I had did to ole Sly. I didn’t have no high opinion a’ Henshaw atall, but if I had to split up my posse, it figgered that Sly was the onlyest one what I could really trust. I counted on him to do whatever it was that needed to be did, and if that goddamned Henshaw failed to back him up properlike, well, what the hell, Sly was the least likely one of all of us to need any help. He’d be all right. I tried to put him outta my mind.
“Them tracks saying anything to you, Miller?” I ast.
“Not much,” he said. “They’re just moving ahead is all.”
“Well, at least we know that we’re still on their goddamned trail,” I said.
“Wait a minute,” Miller said. “They’ve picked up their pace again. Moving along pretty fast now.”
“Let’s keep up with them,” I said, and I spurred my horse up. The others did the same thing. We kept it up for maybe two miles, and I slowed us down then. Up ahead was a little trail heading off to our left, what woulda been east, and Miller hauled up again a-studying the trail. He pointed down that little lane.
“One of them went down there,” he said.
“What?” said Butcher. “Again?”
“I’m not thinking for them,” Miller said. “Just watching their tracks.”
“I’ll be goddamned,” I said. I shoved my hat back and went to scratching my head.
Chapter Five
Well, I went to wondering just what the hell was a-going on with those bastards, splitting up like that, but what was worse, it was causing me to split up my own forces too damn much. There weren’t no way a’ knowing just which ones a’ them outlaws was splitting off down them side roads, nor who mighta been carrying the loot. I didn’t see how I could ignore any one a’ them neither. I was tempted to lead the whole lot a’ what I had left with me after that one, but then if the main bastard Cody and the bank loot was still headed south ahead of us, we’d lose time that way. I had to split us up some more. I couldn’t see no way around it. I looked around at each a’ the remaining members a’ my little posse. Final I heaved a big, heavy sigh.
“Happy,” I said, “you take Dingle and foller this son of a bitch.”
“Okay, Barjack,” Happy said, and he didn’t wait no time. He just turned his horse onto that there trail and lit out. Ole Dingle hustled his animal around to foller like as if he was about to be left behind.
“All right,” I said, “let’s the rest of us get going,” and I whipped up my ole black stallion. The three men left all follered me. Miller stayed right up aside a’ me where he could read the trail we was a-going after. They was four of us left, me and Miller and Butcher and that ole Martin, and we was on the trail of three owl hoots. We didn’t know if that Cody was one a them or not, and we didn’t have no idee what the hell they was up to.
I couldn’t help myself. As I rid along the road I kept a-wondering how them that I split off from my posse was a-doing. I weren’t worried none about ole Sly and not too much about Happy, but I just couldn’t keep myself from wondering about them. I wondered, did they catch up with them bastards yet, and then if they had, did they kill them or what? And I wondered if either one a’ them was Cody, and did whoever they was have the money or any part of it along with them? I tried to stop thinking thattaway, but I just couldn’t help myself. I tried to think about who it was up ahead of us, but that didn’t make no difference neither. The Churkee final interrupted my thoughts, for which I was some thankful.
“Barjack,” he said, “we’re narrowing the gap. I’d say they’re no more than an hour ahead of us now.”
We’d been moving along kinda easy to save our horses, so I said, “Let’s pick up the pace somewhat,” and we went to running our critters. In a few more minutes, we come to a place where the road narrowed a bit and it had tall hills on both sides. I shoulda knowed better, and I could still kick my own self in the ass if I was agile enough for it, but I just only kept right on a-racing along that damn road. Then of a sudden they was shots fired, and I heared one a’ them whistle right beside my ear.
“Goddamn it,” I shouted. “Demount and take cover.”
We all went to getting down off our horses and running for the side a’ the road and hunting cover. But I seed ole Martin,
while he was a-running, take a slug in his leg. He yelled and stumbled and fell down in the middle a’ the road a-bleeding like a stuck pig. Miller run back out in the road and grabbed him under his arms and dragged him to the roadside and behind a big rock that was a-setting there real convenient-like. The bullets kept on a-splatting all around us. One of our horses went down a-screaming with blood pouring outta his neck.
Me and what was left a’ my posse was busy sweeping our eyeballs acrost them high hills and looking for whoever it was what was taking potshots at us. Final I seed some smoke puffs about halfway up the side a’ the hill on the other side a’ the road from where I was slunked down behint a bush. I commenced to squinnying my eyeballs up on that hillside where I seed them the puffs a’ smoke, but I couldn’t for the life a’ me locate no goddamn shooter up there. Then one a’ the outlaws popped up from behind a rock up there and tuck a shot that hit the dirt just to my right-hand side.
I yiked out loud, and Miller the Churkee, what had managed to get off a’ his horse with his rifle gun, snapped off three shots real quicklike and that owl hoot up there jerked and screamed and went and fell down the hillside for a few feet. He sure as hell looked like as if he was kilt. Then a whole damned barrage follered, and I laid my ass down flat on the ground. I suspect ever’one else done the same thing. Then the shots quit, and it got awful quiet for a spell, and then I heared some hoofbeats off in the distance. We all waited for some time, and nothing more happened atall.
At long last I stood up real slow, and still nothing happened. “Get up, ever’one,” I called out. “They’ve rid off.” The rest a’ my posse come up to their feet, and still no one shot at us, so I guessed that I was exact right in my judgment. Well, ole Martin, he never stood up. He was a-laying behint that rock where Miller dumped him, and he was a-moaning and a-groaning. I walked right past him on my way out into the road, and I seed that his leg was a-bleeding pretty bad.
“Someone see can you stop that bleeding,” I said, and Miller went over to see what he could do. Then I looked up on the side a’ that hill. “Who wants to climb up that there hillside and locate that one body?”
“I’ll go, Barjack,” Butcher said.
“Take on off then,” I said, and ole Butcher went to running up the hillside. He slipped and fell down a couple a’ times on his way, but he final got there, and I seed him look around some and then and head on back down. He slipped down again a couple more times, but he did make it down and out into the road, and told me that there weren’t no body.
I shook my head, and then I turned back toward ole Miller, who was still a-messing around with Martin, and I said, “That one what was shot got away.”
“Barjack,” Miller said, “I did the best I could here, but if we don’t get this man to a doctor, he’s liable to bleed to death.”
“Well, goddamn it,” I said. “If we take the time to go back, Cody and them others’ll get away clean.”
“He can’t last,” Miller said.
I knowed how bad Miller wanted to get that damned Cody, so I knowed it were a sacrifice for him to say what he done. “Well,” I said, “someone put Ole Martin into a saddle, and then let’s all mount up.”
“Which way are we going, Marshal?” said Butcher.
“Back to Asininity,” I said, “quick time.”
Miller and Butcher heaved ole Martin up into a saddle, and Martin damned near howled with the pain. We had one kilt horse, so that meant we was short one. Miller got up behint Martin so he could hold him up straight in the saddle, and we headed back. Martin moaned all the damn way. I most near wished he would just go on ahead and die, but he never. I could see that blood was still a-dripping from his leg wound.
We had to slow down pretty quick so as to save our mounts, and we was just a-plugging along without no one a-saying nothing, just ole Martin groaning and whimpering. It come to me that he was being nursemaided by the same man that him and his buddy Henshaw had tried to pick a fight with in the Hooch House, and I wondered if he thunk anything atall about that. I kinda doubted it on account a’ all his caterwauling. I figgered he weren’t thinking about nothing but his own damn misery.
Like I said, we was plodding along, and then I seed ole Happy and ole Dingle the Scribbler come a-riding into the road up ahead of us. They seed us a-coming and stopped to wait for us. Whenever we caught up to them, ole Happy, he said, “What’s going on, Barjack?”
“Ole Martin got his ass shot up,” I said. “We’re taking him in to the doc.”
“You letting that Cody and them others get away?” he said.
“Hell,” I said, “Miller said Martin’d bleed to death if he didn’t get to a doc right quick.”
“Oh,” said Happy.
“I guess you didn’t have any choice then,” said Dingle.
“I reckon not,” I said. “Now tell me. What the hell are you doing back here?”
“We run into a dead end,” said Happy. “We follered that trail for a few miles till we come to a old shack, and then we dismounted and sneaked up to it. We never heared nothing. Final, I bursted in through the front door. Well, it was the only door, but only there weren’t no one in there. We nosed around some outside, and it looked to me like as if the son of a bitch we was after had went and cut acrost the hills a-heading back for the main road to join back up with his buddies. I decided we should just ought to come back to the road and see could we catch up with you.”
I didn’t say nothing for a space. We just continued riding slowlike toward Asininity. Then final I said, “It looks to me like Cody sent them two off just to get me to split up the posse the way I done. The sorry-ass son of a bitch. It looks like he outsmarted me all right.”
“Aw, there wasn’t no way you could know, Marshal,” Happy said.
I noticed outta the corners a’ my eyeballs that ole Dingle had pulled out his little notebook and was a-scribbling in it. I never said nothing about it, though. Martin howled out in pain like as if something had just hurted him real bad. I decided we could pick up the pace, and so I tole ever’one, and we headed on faster. We had rid on ahead maybe a mile or so when I happened to glance over and see that Martin had apparently passed out. Miller was a-holding him up in the saddle. We went on going fast for another mile or so, and then I slowed us down again.
I was pissed off that ole Martin had went and got hisself shot, making us have to turn around and go back. I was thinking that had been mighty small minded a’ him to do that. It didn’t make no sense, me thinking like that, a-thinking that he had damn near did it a purpose. I can say that now, but at the time I was for sure pissed off at him for it.
About the time we had slowed down, I seed ole Sly the Widdamaker ride out onto the road up ahead and right behint him come Henshaw. Henshaw was a-leading a horse that looked to have a body throwed over it. We come to a halt whenever we got up to them.
“What you got there, Widdamaker?” I ast.
“We caught up with him, Barjack,” Sly said, “and he wouldn’t come along peacefully.”
“Well,” I said, “it looks to me like as if you taught him better. We’re headed back on account of ole Martin there got his ass shot and is like to bleed to death.”
Then ole Sly, he raised up his left hand, and he had a bag in it.
“Is that there the money?” I ast him.
“I don’t know if it’s all of it,” he said, “but it’s a bagful.”
“Well, I be goddamned,” I said.
“Barjack,” said Miller, “we’d better be going.”
I looked over at him a-hanging on to Martin there, and I said, “Okay.” Then I started in to riding again, and the rest rid along with me. There wasn’t nothing more to tell about the ride the rest a’ the way back into Asininity on account a’ nothing of any interest tuck place. We moved along as fast as we could, slowing down ever’ now and then for the sake a’ the horses.
When we final come back to town, it was already after dark, and we rid straight up to the front of ole Do
c Cutter’s place, and I told Butcher to help Miller get Martin down and into the doc’s place. Whilst they was a-getting Martin down, I demounted and went up to the door and banged on it real loud a-hollering at the same time. “Doc,” I yelled out. “Doc, get your ass up and open the door.” I kept it up till he come to the door and opened it. By then Butcher and Miller had Martin up to the door too.
“What the hell is it?” Doc said.
“Martin’s shot and bleeding,” I said.
“Well, bring him on in,” said Doc.
Butcher and Miller went to carrying him in, and I said, “I’ll be over to the Hooch House,” and I left them there to deal with the wounded man. I rid my horse on over to the Hooch House, and the others went along with me. Sly carried that bag into the place and we all set down around my personal table. Aubrey seed us coming and brung us all drinks, and ole Bonnie like to knocked me over running up to me and slapping her fat arms around me.
“Oh, Barjack,” she said. “I been so worried about you. God, I’m glad you’re back.”
“Oh, hush up, Bonnie,” I said, “and let’s set down.”
Well, she hushed and we set. I picked up my tumbler full a’ whiskey and had me a nice long drink, and then it come to me that after all, I was just as glad that ole Martin had got hisself shot and brung us back to town. Sly plopped that bag a’ money on the table in front a’ me, and I looked at it, and I said, “Happy, fetch the banker in here.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, and he jumped up and run. Dingle was a-scribbling again. “Barjack,” he said, “are we going back after them in the morning?”
“Hell,” I said, “I don’t really see no reason to do that. Sly kilt one of them, and we got the money back.”
“But the others are still guilty of bank robbery,” he said.
I looked up and scowled, and Sly said, “Dingle’s right, Barjack.”
I was saved on account a’ Happy come back in just then with the banker, and I open up that sack and dumped it out on the table in front a’ me. The ole money-grubber’s eyes opened up real wide when he seen it.
Barjack and the Unwelcome Ghost Page 4