THE TRAIN PULLED into Cheyenne late that night. When Buck Halliday made inquiries at the depot, he was told;
“Only man buyin’ cattle these days is Homer Spring, and Homer ain’t thet particular about brands.”
“Sounds like my man.”
Halliday had taken two steps along the platform when a man came out of the shadows and said;
“Over here, Luke.”
Halliday propped and said;
“Luke’s dead, Horden. So are Rosen and Goode.”
Clay Horden squinted through the darkness, then his eyebrows rose and his lips thinned.
“I’ll be damned ... Halliday!”
“Been a long ride, Horden.”
Horden ducked back behind the wall of the building and grabbed for his gun at the same time. Halliday’s gun flashed into his hand and his single shot splintered wood from the corner of the wall. Then Horden stepped out, his gun belching flame, his face distorted and his breath hissing through his gritted teeth.
Halliday stood his ground as the bullets tugged at his clothing, grim testimony of Horden’s panic. Then he coolly punched off a second shot. Horden staggered from the wall, lifted his gun and tried to fire again but he lacked the strength to pull the trigger. Then he fell flat on his face.
Halliday walked across to him, turned him over with his boot and stared down into his pain-filled eyes as blood pumped through his fingers.
“I should have k-killed you the first night you r-rode into camp,” Horden gasped.
“You made another mistake, too,” Halliday told him.
“Like h-hell I did. You were my o-only m-mistake.”
Halliday was about to say that Horden wasn’t good enough to win Ella Beebe’s hand, but the man was beyond hearing ...
“Some story,” the sheriff said, holding up a piece of paper. “And I believe it. It’s payment for five hundred head sold to Homer Spring.”
“At the right price, too,” Halliday said.
The sheriff clicked his fingers as a tubby man stepped into the room. He introduced him as Homer Spring, then added;
“Guess all we’ve got to change is the name of the seller, Homer. What do you think?”
“We can do that, Sheriff.”
“We?” Halliday said.
“Me an’ Homer are partners. Pay the man, Homer.”
“You buy from anybody, Sheriff?”
The law shrugged. “Only if the cattle’re worth the money.”
Homer wrote out another note and handed it to Halliday, then told him he could cash it at the bank. Halliday left them and walked uptown to where he had left his sorrel.
He found the bank, went inside and approached a clerk at a gleaming counter. The clerk inspected the note, nodded and counted out the money in bills of large denominations, which he packed into a canvas bag. As he handed the bag across he said; “With the compliments of the bank.”
Halliday stuffed the bag into his saddlebag and led the sorrel along the street. Then he mounted up and rode out.
He arrived in Pebble Ridge and went straight to the rooming house, booking himself into a room. After taking the key from the lobby attendant, he handed him the canvas bag of money and asked him to take it to the medic’s cottage and hand it to Ella Beebe. Then he walked up the stairs, unlocked his room, kicked off his boots and dropped onto the bed.
He was about to drop off to sleep when he heard his door squeak open. He grabbed his gun and looked up to see Ella standing in the doorway and looking down at him.
“Something I can do for you, ma’am?” Halliday said.
Ella’s lips tightened and she turned around and went back out into the passageway. He heard her cuss, then she came back into the room, closed the door and looked down at him again. “Must you always be so insufferable?”
“I’ve had a couple hard days and need some sleep,” he said. “What do you want?”
Ella just stood there for a moment, then said;
“My father wanted me to tell you how grateful he is for your help. So am I.”
“Think nothing of it,” Halliday said, putting his gun away and turning to face the wall.
Ella scoffed at his ungrateful attitude but came toward the bed, and said;
“My father is going to be all right. So are Hal and Jim. They also wanted me to say that they’re worried about you.”
“Tell them I’m all right, too,” Halliday said.
“I suggested to my father that we should pay you. You traveled a lot of miles and put up with a lot of trouble because of us. What would you consider to be just recompense?”
Halliday turned over to face her, then patted the spot on the bed next to him.
“My name’s Beebe, not Partridge, Mr. Halliday!”
“If you were a Partridge, I wouldn’t have to ask.”
“You think I’m that keen to get into your bed?”
“It’s what you’ve wanted for a long time, isn’t it?”
“No, it certainly isn’t! But I do want to know why you did so much for us?”
Halliday reached out and took her hand, then after a brief moment of resistance, Ella sat next to him on the bed.
“I did it for Jim and Lee,” Halliday said. “And you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“Why, when I was so rude to you and so intolerable?”
“And wrong,” Halliday added.
Ella bit her lip then nodded. “Yes, I was wrong.”
Halliday drew her to him and slowly the anger left her. After they kissed, she pulled back.
“I’m not like the Partridge girls.”
“Glad to hear it,” Halliday told her.
He pulled her back against him and kissed her again, and this time Ella made no attempt to break free. On the contrary, she returned his kisses eagerly.
“You’ll never think I am, will you, Buck?”
Halliday put a finger to her lips and smiled.
“Never. But I’ll be leaving in the mornin’ and you have a ranch to run and a good man to nurse back to health. Along with that, you have Hal and young Jim to look after, too.”
Ella nestled her head on his chest and said;
“There’s nothing I can do to make you stay?”
“No.”
“And you plan to leave in the morning?”
“At first light.”
“Then I promise there’ll be no sleep for you tonight ...”