12
Foss figured that if they were followed, which was likely, Cain and the others would expect them to head north to Springtown. That would be the first direction in which pursuers would try to pick up a trail. If Shorty had done a good job wiping out their tracks out of town, it would be a while before anyone would think of looking west, especially for a wagon. Now and then, Foss had Millicent stop the wagon, and they got out to wipe out their trail. Then he had an even better idea. He had Millicent turn north for a few miles, as if they had headed west to fool any trackers, then turned back toward Springtown. After a few miles of this, they tied heavy brush onto the back of the wagon to wipe out the tracks as they were made. Then they turned back west.
Foss thought that he had come up with every way possible to throw off any pursuit that might be coming. Even so, he occasionally looked back to see if anyone might be following. He was certain that they would try. He knew too much on those three respectable citizens, and he also had a charge to file on a fourth, Gordon Slick. They would try to eliminate him. Of that, he was certain.
And Millicent was in danger, too. As she had pointed out to him, it made sense to think that the criminals would surmise that Foss had confided in her. They would therefore think that she knew all that he knew. She would have to be gotten rid of, too, in order to assure their own safety. Foss thought about the upstanding citizens of Whizbang that he had been working for all these years, and he asked himself if those years had all been wasted. What kind of people had he been protecting? How had they been using the law to their own advantage? How had they been using him as their tool?
Slick hurried to find Sammy Cain. He found him at work in his gunsmith shop. When Slick rushed in the door, Cain looked up from his work and saw that Slick was agitated about something. He laid aside the Merwin and Hulbert Company revolver he was working on and stood up.
“Sammy,” Slick said, “we got a problem.”
“What is it?” Cain asked.
“Amos Foss is gone,” Slick said, “and that Millicent gal is with him.”
“Gone?” Cain said. “Where the hell did they go?”
“Damned if I know,” said Slick, “but I heard folks grumbling about Millicent’s Eatery being locked up tight this morning, so I went over there to investigate. I banged around front and back and never got no answer, so I busted in the back door. There ain’t no sign of neither one of them anywhere in town.”
“Goddamn it,” Cain said.
“You know what that means, don’t you?” said Slick. “Amos arrested you and Doby and Chunk. Then I shot him. He could report all that to the county sheriff or a U.S. marshal, and we could have all kinds of law on our ass.”
“I know. I know,” Cain said. “Damn it to hell. Get all the boys together and let’s find them.”
“Looks to me like they headed out west,” Murf Richie said. “Someone tried to wipe out the tracks, and almost done it too, but looky here. A wagon headed west.”
“How do we know they was in a wagon?” Slick asked.
“It just makes sense,” said Richie. “With Amos’s shoulder stove up the way it is. And they packed out their clothes and stuff.”
“But why would they head west?” Cain asked. “If they’re going to the law, they’d have to head north to Springtown.”
“This here wagon headed west,” Richie said, “and we never seen no other sign of anyone leaving town last night.”
“All right, shit, let’s go,” Cain said, and the six riders rode hard on the trail west out of Whizbang. They rode hard until they lost the trail. Then they had to slow down and search for it again. This happened to them several times, but still they rode west. About noon, they saw where the wagon had turned north.
“Goddamn it!” Cain shouted. “I was right all along. They’re headed for Springtown. Come on. Maybe we can head them off.”
The six riders turned northwest to try to get ahead of their prey somewhere along the road from Whizbang to Springtown.
Slocum sat up the second day, in spite of Halley’s protests. Now and then he got up to walk around. The wound in his back still caused him some pain, and he was stiff all over, but he figured the fastest way to get back in shape was to start doing everything he could do. The way Slocum thought, the only thing laying around did for a man was to make him stiff and useless. He walked to the outhouse when he needed to go, and he got up to sit at the table for his meals. He cleaned his Colt and his Winchester. Toward the afternoon, he even walked out to the far pen in the brush where Halley had secreted his Appaloosa, and he gave the big stallion a rubdown.
“You sure as hell saved my ass, old partner,” he said.
When he went back into the house, Halley was scowling at him. “You don’t take it easy, you’re going to overdo it,” she said. “Then you might be flat on your back for a good long spell.”
“I’ll be all right,” he said. “Hell, I’m taking it easy. All I’m doing is walking around a little bit.”
“Sit down and have some coffee,” she said. She put the cup of steaming black liquid on the table and he sat there.
“Thanks,” he said.
“I got to ride out and check on some cows,” she said. “Can I trust you to behave yourself while I’m gone?”
“I won’t do a damn thing but maybe get up to pour myself some more coffee now and then,” he said.
“You promise me?” she asked.
“I might smoke a cigar,” he said. “Got them right here in my pocket. Matches, too.”
“All right,” she said. She put an empty tin can on the table for him to use as an ashtray. “I’ll get back here fast as I can.”
The right back-end corner of the wagon took a sudden drop and a hard bounce, and the shock of its landing sent shards of pain shooting through Amos Foss’s body. Millicent fought the horses with the reins and managed to get them stopped and calmed.
“What happened?” she asked.
Foss turned to look. He saw the wheel spinning off to the right.
“We lost a wheel,” he said.
“Oh, no,” she said.
They both climbed down, Foss slowly and painfully. Then they walked back to inspect the axle. “Can it be fixed?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “If the wheel’s all right.”
He turned to walk after the wheel, and then he bent to pick it up with his left hand. As he straightened, he winced with pain.
“Here,” Millicent said, “let me have that.”
She took the wheel away from him and rolled it back to the wagon. Foss followed her.
“The only problem is,” he said, “we have to lift the wagon in order to get the wheel back on. I don’t think I can do it.”
“Well, I can try,” she said.
“If you can lift it,” he said, “maybe I can get the wheel on with my left hand.”
Millicent backed up to the tailgate of the wagon. She bent her knees and took hold of the wagon with both hands. Then she strained to straighten her legs. She got it up a little, but not nearly enough. She dropped it again.
“It’s no use,” Foss said.
“Wait,” she said. “I’ll try again.”
Foss moved in beside her and tried to help her out using only his left hand, but the pain that shot through his body was too much for him. He had to give it up. Millicent kept straining. She had the wagon lifted a few inches, and Foss happened to notice something underneath.
“Let it down,” he said.
She did. Then she stood panting for breath.
“What’s wrong?” she asked him.
“It’s no use,” he said. “The axle’s broke underneath. We’ll have to unhitch the horses and try to ride them.”
“What about all our things?” she asked.
“We’ll pack what we can on the horses with us,” he said. “We’d best do that while they’re still hitched.”
Working together, they managed to pack everything they had brought onto the backs of the two horses and still leave room to mount them. They unhitched one horse, led it to the side of the wagon, and tied it there. Then they did the same with the second horse. Millicent and Foss then climbed into the wagon. She watched while Foss managed to step out of the wagon bed and mount the horse. Then she untied it and handed him the line.
“You all right?” she asked.
“I’ll make it,” he said.
Millicent moved across the wagon bed to mount the other horse. She climbed on its back, then reached down to untie it. Then she turned it to face west. “Well,” she said, “are we ready to go?”
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Foss said.
They started riding. Foss didn’t say anything, but he knew that the going would be slow and the bareback riding would be rough on their legs and asses. He looked at Millicent with a worried expression.
“I should never have let you get involved in this mess,” he said.
“Never mind that kind of talk,” she said. “I’m in it, and that’s all there is to it. We’re in it together.”
“But I don’t even know where we’re going,” he said.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “There’s something out there somewhere.”
Halley was riding along a low ridge and looking down into the valley below. She stopped. There was a broken-down wagon. There were no horses and no human beings in sight. She rode down to inspect the scene, and soon discovered that a wheel had come off, and when the comer of the wagon fell, the axle had broken. There was nothing in the wagon bed. Whoever had been driving must have loaded his goods on the back of one horse and taken the other to ride. She wondered why anyone would be out in this country with a wagon anyhow. She decided to follow the prints of the horses. Whoever it was might be in trouble.
She was riding the little roan mare, and it was fleet of foot, so it didn’t take her long to catch up with the two riders on the draft horses. As she rode up behind them, they both turned to see who was coming. Foss and Millicent relaxed when they saw that the rider was a woman. They stopped and allowed Halley to ride up easy beside them.
“Howdy, folks,” Halley said. “I saw your wagon back there and figured someone might be in a little trouble.”
“Oh, well, thank you,” said Millicent. “I don’t know how you could help though. The axle broke on our wagon, so all we can do is ride these horses.”
“What are you doing way out here alone?” Foss asked.
“I ain’t way out nowhere,” Halley said. “I just live a few miles over thataway. Say, you’ve been hurt.”
“He’s been shot,” said Millicent.
“Seems to be a lot of that going around,” Halley said. “Who shot you?”
“I was the town marshal of Whizbang,” Foss said. “I arrested three men, and one of their friends shot me. Right after that the town council fired me.”
“For trying to arrest someone?” Halley said.
“They were members of the town council,” said Foss.
“Say,” Halley said, “I went to Whizbang once. It was some time ago, but when I think on it, I recognize you. Yeah. You were the local law all right. I recollect it now. And you, you got a eating place there, don’t you?”
“I did,” said Millicent. “I left it behind.”
“If you don’t think I’m being too nosey,” Halley said, “did your problem with those men have anything to do with a little ruckus stirred up by a man name of Slocum?”
“It did,” said Foss.
“How do you know about that?” asked Millicent.
“Why don’t you two come home with me,” Halley said. “I’ll tell you all about it while we ride. You can rest up at the house, and if you’re still of a mind to ride on, maybe I can trade you a couple of good riding horses for these nags you’re on. Get you some saddles, too. And we’ll get a good meal in you. That ought to help your dispositions some.”
“Thank you,” said Millicent.
“It sure sounds inviting,” Foss said.
Slocum heard the riders coming, and he picked up his Colt. He’d rather have taken up the Winchester, but he wasn’t at all sure he could handle it. He moved quickly to the window, pangs running through his body in answer to the hasty movements. He winced with the pain, but he sidled up to the window and looked out. He saw three riders coming. He thumbed back the hammer and waited. Soon, though, he eased the hammer back down. He recognized Halley. A moment later, he saw who she was bringing with her: Millicent and Amos Foss. What the hell, he thought. He put the Colt back in the holster and stepped out onto the porch. When the riders were close enough to hear, he asked, “What the hell brings you two out here?”
“You were right all along, Slocum,” Foss was saying.
They were seated at the table in Halley’s cabin and had just finished a big meal. Millicent had poured refills of coffee all around.
“There’s no way to handle that bunch but to go in shooting,” Foss continued.
“How’d they come to shoot you?” Slocum asked.
“I got your story confirmed,” Foss said. “At least enough of it to arrest the last three men with. The bartender at the saloon saw seven men leave to ride out to your camp. He gave me their names. It matched what you had told me, so I arrested the last three of them. They had three new men with them, though, and it was one of them that drew down on me and shot me.”
“And then the six of them came at me at my little camp,” Slocum said. “Well, they got us both crippled up now. They can relax a spell, I guess.
“Hell,” said Foss, “they think you’re dead.”
Slocum grinned. “That’s even better,” he said. “Soon as I’ve healed up a bit, I’ll just ghost right in on them.”
“You’re going back?” Millicent said.
“I ain’t done yet,” said Slocum. “Yeah. I mean to go back and finish what I started.”
“If I’m fit for it by the time you are,” said Foss, “I’d like to go with you.”
“That’s all right with me,” said Slocum. “But you take the three new ones. Leave the others to me.”
“I think you’re both crazy,” Millicent said. She stood up and flounced away from the table. Halley was about to go outside. “Where are you going?” Millicent asked.
“Got to feed my critters,” said Halley.
“Can I help?” said Millicent.
She followed Halley outside, leaving Slocum and Foss sitting alone together at the table. Slocum took two cigars out of his pocket and offered one to Foss. Foss accepted, and Slocum struck a match on the underside of the table. He held it out for Foss, and when Foss had his smoke going, Slocum lit his own. He flicked out the match and dropped it in the tin can.
“You know who all these men are,” he said. “You know where they live?”
“Yeah,” said Foss. “I know where they live.”
“Do any of them live close to each other?” Slocum asked.
“No,” Foss said. “Not really.”
“They got folks living with them?” asked Slocum.
“Alf Badger’s got a wife,” Foss said. “Murf Richie’s got a wife and a couple of kids. Gordon Slick works out on the Crooked S spread, so he lives there with a bunch of cowhands. The rest of them are bachelors and live alone.”
“That’s good,” Slocum said. “What I’d like to do is to get you to draw a map to show me where each one lives. Then we can plan our moves.”
“It’ll be a while before we’re fit to make any moves,” said Foss.
“But we can take that time to get ready,” Slocum said. “Say, how’d Millicent come to be with you out here anyhow?”
“Oh,” said Foss. “Well, I, uh, I had been with her, uh, visiting, and then when I got shot, she took me to her place to tend me. When I got fired, she went over to the office to get my things for me. So when I decided that I’d better get out of town, she said that they might come after her. They might think that I’d told her everything I know, so she wouldn’t be safe. That’s when I agreed to let her come along.”
“Are you and she, uh—”
“We kind of talked about it a little,” said Foss, blushing a bit. “We haven’t yet actually—well, I haven’t yet actually asked her. Things just started happening too fast.”
“Yeah,” said Slocum. “They sure did.”
