The livery barn is a busy place, what with people coming and going. Besides boarding horses, Roly has two Belgians by the names of Samson and Delilah. He also keeps a couple of Indian ponies and rigs for rent. In one corner of the barn he allows ranchers to display the wagons and farm implements they are wanting to sell. It’s a good place to advertise, because those heading to their homesteads might find something they need to get started. Roly gets a small commission for his trouble.
Toward the end of my second week at the stopping house, I am laying fresh straw in the stalls when a cowboy comes in looking for a secondhand saddle. Roly lays out what he has. Judging by the way that cowboy handles those saddles—tossing them aside like corn husks as he disapproves of one after another, cursing and declaring them worthless—I gather him to be an unpleasant sort.
“I ain’t interested,” he finally says.
Roly and I look at one another. I know Roly has another couple in the bunkhouse, just brought in from Pincher Creek, but I gather he feels the same as I do about the nature of the man. He has no inclination to tempt the cowboy to stay any longer. “Well, I showed you all I got. Sorry I couldn’t help.”
But instead of turning around and leaving, the cowboy strolls right past him into the barn. He stops in the center of the room, strikes his heels into the dirt and squirts a jet of brown tobacco juice at his feet. His gray beard is streaked with it. He wears rawhide chaps that are thick with mud, and his bandanna is stained with sweat. In answer to Roly, he grunts. He then begins to scan the stalls on either side of the barn, walking between the two rows with his spurs jingling, closely inspecting the horses that catch his interest.
“I showed you all the saddles I got,” Roly tells him. “If you’re interested in a horse, these belong to our guests. I don’t have any for sale at the moment. Only the two Indian ponies at the end there are for rent.”
This doesn’t stop the cowboy. He continues to check the occupied stalls.
“Listen, cowboy, I’m manager of this here stopping house and livery barn you’re standing in, and I don’t like strangers eyeing what belongs to my guests. Just what is it you’re looking for?”
“I’ll know it when I see it.”
He stops in front of West Coast Cody’s stall. Cody, normally of mild temperament, shies away. He balks and snorts at that cowboy and won’t let him come within ten feet of him.
“Where’d you get this one here?”
“Hey!” I drop what I’m doing and quickly run over to Cody. Roly is already at his stall. He shushes me with a look.
“This horse belongs to a guest. A Mr. J.D. Harper. A gentleman with distinguished taste.”
“I can see that. Perhaps you can tell me where I might find this Mr. J.D. Harper.” The cowboy’s mouth twists as he spits out the name like it’s left a bad taste.
Roly draws himself to his full height. He is a broad-chested man of not less than six feet with another two inches of black curls and a sturdy cowboy hat on top of all that. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Harper has retired. He is not feeling well and asked specifically not to be disturbed.”
The cowboy can see Roly is not about to budge. “Well, you give Mr. J.D. Harper a message for me. You tell him Mr. Richmond Longhurst of High River is going to want to talk to him.”
“I’ll pass it on. When the opportunity presents itself.”
The cowboy nods. We watch until he’s mounted his horse and is some ways down the trail.
“Charlie, where did you get West Coast Cody? You’ve got to tell me.”
“I can’t. All I can tell you is he was a gift.”
“Come with me. I want to show you something.”
I follow Roly into West Coast Cody’s stall. The horse is calm now, trusting us to inspect him. Roly strokes his head while he points to the brand on his left flank.
“Look here. Does this here look like the brand of the man who gave you the gift?”
I don’t know what to say. I had noticed the brand, but the truth of it is I hadn’t noticed if all of Willie’s horses had the same one. I shrug. “I wouldn’t know.”
Roly sighs. “Let’s just hope Mr. Longhurst doesn’t come looking for Cody himself.”
Mabel pays me fifty cents at the end of each day for my work, on top of providing me with room and board. I think she is most generous. I tell this to Roly as we finish the chores before closing the livery that night.
“Mabel has a big heart, and we’ve both been glad to have you helping out over these past couple of weeks.”
I start thinking about the nearly seven dollars in my rucksack. It’s more than I’ve had in my entire life. I then think about how I’ll be able to make that in only two days if I get on at one of the mines in the Crow’s Nest Pass.
“Do you think they’ll take me on at the mine?” I ask Roly.
Roly sets his pitchfork aside. He takes a long draw on his pipe before pulling it from his mouth. Since Olivia had accepted his marriage proposal, I’d noticed he now went about his work with an easier mind. “Well, you’re not much in size,” he tells me, “but you work twice as hard as most men. You’ve just got to get them to give you a chance to prove your worth, that’s all.”
I finish straightening the saddles the cowboy had tossed about as I determine that’s what I’m going to do. Three dollars a day is more money than I can imagine. If I can get on at the mine, I’ll easily save enough to go down to the land office in a year when I’m somewhere about eighteen.
On our way to the bunkhouse, Roly lights his pipe again and starts talking about me staying on for good. I could run the livery for Mabel after he and Olivia are married, and once they’ve moved to a place of their own, I could come visit for Sunday dinner and spend Christmas with them and their children.
“You already know everything you need to know about feeding and caring for horses. I can see you’ve had a fair amount of experience in the past. Mabel really likes you, Charlie. She likes the way you work and how fast you figure things out when you don’t already know them.”
I don’t tell him I had to get quick at it when I was at the Brooks in order to save my hide.
I consider what he’s said. “I don’t know, Roly. You and Mabel have been awfully good to me. And I’d like to have dinner with you on Sundays and Christmas with you and your children. But I need to put more distance between me and Buck Brooks. I’m sure to run into him again if I stay around here.”
“Won’t you at least think about it?”
I tell him I’ll think about it over the next few days. But it’s less than twelve hours later the decision is made for me.
I’m cleaning stalls in the livery just before noon when Roly comes tearing in. “Charlie, the cowboy’s back. And he’s got five men with him. I just spotted them coming down the trail. You’ve got to tell me right now—where’d you get West Coast Cody?”
There is no point keeping it a secret any longer. I’m not sure why I had anyway. I guess I suspected what Roly is about to tell me, and I’m embarrassed to admit it. “Willie Many Horses gave him to me.”
“Willie Many Horses!” If I’d said any other name, it couldn’t have got him more alarmed. “Charlie, he’s a notorious horse thief! How did you ever come about getting a horse from him? He pinches only prime stock. Sneaks them off right under a rancher’s nose. Nobody can figure out how he does it. No wonder they got a policeman with them.”
“They’ve got a policeman? Roly, I’ve got to go!” My nerves get me flying faster than a sparrow from a hawk. I tear out of the barn and into the bunkhouse to collect my rucksack. I stuff in my few belongings.
“You stay right there,” Roly calls after me. “I’ll talk to them first. You’ll have to give up Cody, but they won’t accuse you when they hear where he came from.”
I race back to where Roly stands next to Cody’s stall.
“Roly, you don’t understand. They’re not going to care about Cody once they know who I am. I don’t have a chance against Buck Brooks. I’ve got to go. I thank you for everything, and Mabel too.” I have a hard time not tearing up as I take a last look at Cody. I start for the door.
“Charlie!”
I turn around.
“If the Mounted Police really believed Buck Brooks, don’t you think they would have tracked you down by now? They’d have your description stuck in every post office and train station across the North-West Territories. They’d have their men scouring up and down these trails. I haven’t seen a one, and I’d never heard mention of you until that good-for-nothing came barreling through Mabel’s door.”
For a very quick second I think about what Roly has said. “That may be so. But I can’t take a chance by staying around. I’ve got no one to fight for me if there’s any doubt. Besides, even if they’re not thinking I’m a murderer, I’m still legally bound to work for Buck by the agreement of the Home. I’m a runaway, and I just can’t go back. It’s best I clear out of here altogether. That’s why I’m heading west.”
Roly can see there is no holding me back. Moving quickly, he begins saddling West Coast Cody. “Well, if I can’t stop you, you’re sure not going to make it all the way on foot. Not through the foothills and most certainly not through the Rocky Mountains.” After leading Cody from the stall, he passes me his reins. “Take him. Come on. You don’t have a chance without a horse. You get on him, and you take that buffalo trail out there behind the livery—follow it as far as it goes. It’s about an hour before it meets up with the trail from Pincher Creek. At that point you’ll be close to Bellevue, and just down the trail from that is Frank. Once you’re in town, you’ll blend in with all the other foreigners come to work in the mines. You tell the livery where you board Cody that you worked for Richmond Longhurst at one time. That’ll stop any questions.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Roly is sweating something awful. “I’m a partner to Willie Many Horses. Charlie, you got me a wife and you turned me into a low-down horse thief at the same time. You get going, now, do what I say. I’ll stall them by telling them J.D. Harper was feeling more himself and moved on, headed down to Montana. It’ll take them a few days to trace him to the cemetery where he lies next to my dad.”
Despite my desperateness, I laugh.
I step into the stirrup and swing up onto Cody’s back. Roly leads him to the door, where he peers into the yard. With all clear, he starts him off with a smack to his rump.