APACHE SPRINGS WAS fairly quiet for the first time in days but even its tranquility was soon to be broken. The sound of horses hoofs pounding into the main street’s sand echoed along the long thoroughfare and drew the attention of the sweat sodden blacksmith.
Gus Thorson released the leg of the saddle horse he had just shod, tossed his tools aside and walked curiously away from his forge to the wide open barn doors. Even the heat of his forge could not compete with the temperature which greeted his massive frame as he saw the cowboy through the heat haze which simmered above the street sand. The burly blacksmith squinted hard toward the dazzling sun and watched the approaching rider.
The large muscular man wondered why Billy Rocco was in town at this time of day. He knew that the youngster should have been busy working with his fellow cowpunchers.
‘I wonder what that young buck is doing in town at this time of day,’ he muttered to himself as the sun started to make his gleaming arms fizzle as it started to fry his sweat. ‘But knowing Billy, he just snuck away when nobody was looking.’
Thorson wiped the sweat from his brow and studied the Double K cowboy as he neared the tall livery stable. The blacksmith had stepped from the relative cool interior of the shadows into the merciless heat of the sun and watched as the young horseman dragged back on his reins, stopped his quarter horse in its tracks and leapt to the ground before the large Thorson.
His grin caused the blacksmith to shake his head.
‘What in tarnation are you looking so darn smug about, Billy boy?’ Thorson asked the cowboy as he grabbed the dangling leathers and led the horse into the far cooler stable with Rocco at his side. The blacksmith tethered it close to a bucket of water and guided the cowboy toward his pot of coffee perched on the brick wall which enclosed the forges coals.
Few things amused the blacksmith but the mischievous Billy Rocco did. Maybe it was because the cowboy seemed to always be smiling that endeared him to most folks who knew him. It could have been because Billy would help anyone who needed his assistance or even the fact that he was an honest soul who was trustworthy.
The perpetual smile somehow beamed through the trail dust which covered Billy Rocco as he followed the far larger man deep into the livery stable. Thorson filled two tin cups with his strong black beverage and handed one to the cowboy.
Rocco accepted the tin cup of coffee and nodded his gratitude to the blacksmith. He sipped the powerful brew before sitting down on an upturned bucket close to the numerous horse stalls and watching as Thorson cradled his own cup in his large hand and eyed the youngster.
‘Answer me, Billy,’ he growled through the rising steam of the cup in his massive hand. ‘How come you’re always smiling, son? Don’t anything bother you?’
The cowboy shrugged.
‘Nope,’ Billy answered happily and honestly as he adjusted his leather chaps and took another mouthful of coffee. ‘Things ain’t so bad if you don’t fret about them, Gus. But I got me a real good reason to feel happy today though.’
Thorson waited for the cowboy to explain. Finally, he grew weary of waiting and kicked the youngsters dangling boot.
‘Which is?’ he snarled like a school teacher scolding a pupil to explain.
Billy Rocco chuckled and explained.
‘Them pretty gals that Moon brought here from Fort Hook have moved into the Double K, Gus,’ He said eagerly with a twinkle in his eyes. ‘Ken Majors is real taken with the girl’s guardian. I figure he’s got plans for him and her.’
Thorson lowered his cup from his lips.
‘You reckon old Ken has marriage on his mind?’ he gasped in a mix of amazement and admiring awe. ‘At his age? Shucks, that is something to smile about.’
Rocco nodded quickly. ‘Yep. He sure has marriage on his mind on his mind if I’m any judge. Ken’s smitten by that pretty lady and I don’t blame him. She sure is awful handsome.’
The blacksmith downed his coffee, swiftly lifted the coffee pot and refilled his tin cup. He could not believe his ears as Ken Majors, the Double K rancher, was a lot older than he himself was.
‘Well, I’ll be damned,’ Thorson muttered. ‘Is she an elderly lady like old Ken?’
Billy Rocco’s smile widened. He shook his head.
‘Nope. She’s about thirty or so by my reckoning,’ he sighed. ‘Too old for the likes of me but she sure is pretty. Not pretty like the dance hall girls in the Salty Sally or the Lucky Dice with lots of face paint, but mighty pretty all the same.’
Gus Thorson thought about the female and then about the cattle rancher. He sighed and secretly envied Ken Majors having a female to drool over. Then a thought occurred to the blacksmith as he blew the steam off the rim of his cup.
‘Moon never mentioned anything about him bringing females to Apache Springs,’ he said before taking another mouthful of the black beverage into his mouth and swallowing it. ‘Mind you, he don’t exactly talk a lot at the best of times.’
Rocco nodded in agreement. ‘That’s true, Gus. Moon tends to let his guns do all his talking for him. He left them in a covered wagon just outside Apache Springs as he and the troopers rode into town to check things out.’
The burly blacksmith stared hard at the cowboy and then lifted the coffee pot off the coals and refilled Rocco’s tin cup. He eyed the youngster as he topped up his own cup.
‘What happened after you and Moon left here and rode to the other end of town with them troopers, Billy boy?’ he asked curiously. ‘I asked Moon but he didn’t answer. I could hear a whole lot of shooting though. Was that you boys?’
‘Yep,’ Rocco nodded. ‘We rode into a bloodbath down the yonder end of town. Most of them soldier boys were killed but Moon dealt with the critters who killed them after they turned their guns on us. I never seen anyone that can kill the way that hombre kills. Nothing scares Moon.’
Thorson raised his bushy eyebrows as he vainly attempted to work out what had happened. He had heard a few rumors throughout the day but nothing had been confirmed.
‘What was going on I wonder?’ he reasoned.
‘Beats the hell out of me,’ Rocco said before grinning again. ‘All I know for sure is that Drew Bowen was killed by them varmints before we even got there.’
‘The banker is dead?’ Thorson gasped in surprise.
‘He sure is,’ Billy confirmed. ‘Whoever them gunmen were, they made sure that Drew Bowen got himself riddled with their bullets.’
The blacksmith pondered the statement. ‘I wonder why they killed him? I know that Bowen had a reputation of being a crook but I never figured that he had enemies that ornery.’
Billy sipped at the coffee. ‘The young girls that are now safe on the Double K have inherited Drew Bowen’s entire wealth, I’m told. Old Ken is gonna sort that out for them with his lawyers.’
Thorson raised his eyebrows even higher. ‘That’ll make them mighty rich girls, Billy.’
The cowboy nodded in agreement and then thought about the mysterious Uriah Moon for a few moments. He rubbed his neck and stared at the large liveryman.
‘I’m just thankful that Moon was with me when we turned into that street or I’d be as dead as them soldier boys,’ he said with a shiver.
Thorson stroked his unshaven jaw.
‘Uriah Moon sure is a mystery and no mistake, Billy,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘He kinda troubles though me as I don’t understand him. When Moon first showed up he told me that he was a vigilante but I ain’t so sure. I never heard of a vigilante that goes around helping folks the way he does.’
‘Me neither,’ Billy agreed.
The giant of a man moved a little closer to the cowboy and whispered. ‘I don’t even think he’s human like regular folks, Billy. The first time I set eyes on him was during that bad storm a few days ago. Moon just appeared. The most frightening sight I ever set eyes upon.’
Billy Rocco shrugged. ‘He’s human right enough, Gus. He’s also damn dangerous and mighty brave. I seen him square up to gunmen who were shooting at him and not even break sweat. Moon just aimed and fired and the varmints fell down dead.’
‘That don’t sound too normal to me, boy,’ Thorson fretted.
‘They say it takes all kinds,’ Billy grinned. ‘Maybe Moon is just a different kind of hombre to the ones we are used to in these parts.’
The cowboy’s words did not quite convince the blacksmith as he decided to change the subject.
‘You know the one thing that bothers me about that bearded critter, boy?’ Thorson sighed.
‘What would that be, Gus?’
‘For some damn reason I like him,’ The blacksmith admitted as he sipped his coffee. ‘I don’t know why exactly but I like him a lot. Whatever he says he is, I reckon there’s a lot more to Uriah Moon we might never discover, Billy.’
‘He is kinda likable,’ Billy Rocco agreed.
‘You like everybody, son.’ The blacksmith rested a massive hand on one of the numerous wooden uprights which made up the horse stalls and grinned at the youngster.
‘I don’t cotton to folks shooting at me,’ Billy quipped.
The blacksmith stared through the steam which rose from his cup at the youngster. He tilted his head and stared down at the cowboy.
‘Tell me, son. What on earth are you doing in town at this time of day, Billy?’ Thorson asked. ‘I’d have figured that you’d be back on the Double K chasing them young girls around the coral.’
Billy Rocco stood and placed his empty tin cup down beside the coffee pot and unbuckled his leathers chaps. He lay the chaps over his saddle horse and winked at the blacksmith impishly.
He rubbed his hands together.
‘I come to town to go visit the bargirls at the Lucky Dice, Gus,’ he whispered before moving back toward the barn doors with a spring in his step. ‘I’ll leave my horse here until I’m out of money and have to come back.’
The blacksmith looked at the young cowboy with more than a small dose of envy as Rocco made his way toward the dazzling sunlight beyond the tall barn doors.
‘Have yourself some fun, Billy,’ Thorson grunted.
Billy laughed. ‘I sure intend to do just that, Gus.’
Thorson watched the cowboy march out into the sunlight and then sat down and considered the strange character who kept appearing in the remote settlement.
Who was Uriah Moon really? He thought.
It was a question which defied answering.