“The best trails are the Indian trails,” Con advised.
‘ationot many know of them. Indians traded back and forth across the country, traveling hundreds of miles … like the merchant caravans of the Middle Ages.” Now, I’d never heard about merchant caravans and wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by the Middle Ages, so I kept my mouth shut and listened.
‘llp in Minnesota they mine a soft red stone that is easily carved and smoothed. They call it pipestone. You will find that kind of stone among Indians all over the country.
“Shells, too. There are different types in different waters.
Most of them are classified. Men have devoted years to studying the various types of shells.” Con Judy, who rarely talked more than two or three sentences at a time, told me then of the trade trails left by ancient Indians.
“Ancient Indians? You mean different from the ones here now?” ‘allyes. Just as we have pushed them back, they pushed others before them. it’s happened all the way across the world, Shell, and you’ll see it happening right here.” “Then the best fighters end up by owning the country”…He chuckled.
‘ationot exactly, Shell. Let’s put it this way: the ones who wind up on top are usually those with the most efficient life style.” just what he meant by that I wasn’t sure, but before I could ask him he said, ‘We’d better get some sleep,” and pushed back from the table.
“And then I’ve got to find Heseltine,” I said. “It iset likely they’ll be traveling on a night like this, not with a girl, and all.” “They’ll hole up,” Con agreed.
He paid for our meal and we started for the door. I was studying about what he meant by life style, and I had just pushed open the door when I remembered my Winchester.
I’d left it lying across the table next to ours.
Turning sharply, I bumped Con hard and we both staggered and almost fell.
But we both heard the gun and we heard the bullet strike.
Had I not turned just as I did, I’d have been a dead man.
Behind us a light went out, then another, and there was darkness.
Neither of us moved. I was on one knee just inside the door, my heart pounding.
Scared? Well, I should reckon. It taken some time to get used to the idea that I’d been shot at.
A body thinks of such things, but thinking isn’t like the real thing.
Somebody out there had shot, and shot to kill, and he’d been shooting at me.
That takes some getting used to. In all that gunplay I’d practiced and all the gun battles I’d played out in my mind, there’d been nothing like this. That man out there was trying to kill me!
Kid Reese? Doc Sites? Or was it Heseltine?
“Stay right where you are, SheHave,” Con warned.
You want to know something? I wasn’t figuring on going no place a-tall.
Turning my head ever so slightly, I could see what he meant. The light from the window next door fell across the room, and anybody moving would surely be seen.
Whoever had done that shooting was good.
So we just set still while the moments passed. It seemed a long time.
My heart slowed down after a bit, and my hand got so sweaty on my gun butt that I moved to wipe it off on my britches.
“Give him time, Shell. Whoever he is, he’s standing in the rain yonder between the buildings. He’ll get tired of it before we will.” “I ain’t movin”,” I said, ,I’m fixin’ to spend the nightonly that gent over there don’t know that.” “You ever been shot at before, Shell?” .no, sir. Not really.
Had some Injuns one time who cut loose at the house. They were shootin”, all right, but not at nobody in particular. That gent yonder was mighty pa’ticular, I’m thinking.” So we waited. My rifle was close by, but I hesitated to reach for it, although I doubted if it was where it could be seen.
“Crawl around close to the wall, then through the kitchen door.
I’ll cover you.” After I started to crawl I could reach my rifle, so I latched onto it, and when I got into the kitchen I stood up in the dark doorway and looked out at the rainsodden street. I could see nothing but the slanting rain across the window.
Con crawled the other way and joined Me.
We heard the cook stirring, saw the glow of his cigar.
“You boys always pack trouble with you? Or is this here something” new?” “You got a back door?” “Yonder…. If you boys was figurin” on havin’ breakfast, there’s a good restaurant on the other side of town.” “You’ll never get rich sendin’ business away,” I said.
“We like your place.” “I might not get rich,” he said dryly, “but I’ll live a lot longer.
Well, come back if you’ve a mind to.
On’y, if you boys don’t mind I’ll stand my al’ Sharps alongside the door. If anybody shoots into my kitchen I’m going’ to shoot back.” “You don’t sound like a restaurant man.” Con Judy commented.
“Hell, I cooked for myself nigh onto twenty year, and for cow camps and the like. Seemed to me it was a sight easier than sweatin’ it out down in one of those mines.” At the back door we waited a minute and studied the layout. I reckoned the risk was mine so I stepped out first. But I’ll own to it … I was scared.
Con Judy followed and we slopped down the alley, circled back of a couple of buildings and went to the livery barn. We didn’t want to go hunting a place to sleep when the very place we found might be where our enemies had holed up, so we got our bedrolls and crawled into the haymow.
When we stretched out Con said, “Do you still have it in mind to hunt those boys down?” “I got it to do,” I replied. “I’m not anggdolls to get my head blowed off, but pa surely would have hung on, was it him. I can’t do any less.” “They’ll have divided it up by now.” ‘Maybe. But you got to think about that girl. She won’t want any divvying done, if she can help it. She wouldn’t want to see all that money getting away.” Another thing worried me. The jingle of money in my jeans was a disappearing sound. Those few dollars were about gone, even with riding the grub line part of the way, and spending careful. Leadville was a town where folks lived high, and money wouldn’t last long. I had no idea how Con was fixed, but it was enough that he shared trouble with me, without carrying the load of feeding both of us as well.
Lying there, hands behind my head, staring up into the dark and listening to the rain on the roof, I studied the situation I was in.
In most places there was no law that extended beyond the limits of a town, although county governments had been formed here and there where they had a sheriff who would chase criminals if he felt like it.
Jim Cook was, according to Con, making an effort to get marshals and sheriffs to work together against the bad ones.
But when it came right down to it I had no legal case against anybody.
They had found a lost horse, and even if two of them knew who the horse belonged to they could deny it, and I hadn’t any proof the horse and money was mine.
What lay between us was a simple matter of justice, and I was in no mood to let them steal the money of hard-working folks who trusted us.
Nor mine either, when it came to that.
Pa was dead, and had it not been for my fool bullheadedness and their stealing, he might still be alive.
Yet I did not want to get killed, and that bullet into the door jamb showed me they knew we were on their trail, and they were ready for us.
I studied about it, but came to no good conclusion.
Of course I was scared, but it wasn’t in me to quit. Well, maybe it was but not yet.
Toward the end, before I fell asleep, I got to thinking about Con Judy.
Why had he come with me? To see that I didn’t get my head blown off?
Because he was ready to drift, anyway? Because he dit like to see injustice done? Here I was riding partner with a man I hadn’t known at all.
About all I knew about him now was that I figured he had more education fl equals I’d ever have. But I was learning things from him.
When morning came and I was brushing off the hay I’d picked up during the night in the loft, I laid it out for Con. “I want that money back.