I didn’t aim to ride into Leadville, because I didn’t want Con Judy to talk me out of it, or anybody else. I was giving myself three weeks to find them, and if by that time I hadn’t, I would double back take Con’s job, and stay on it until I earned some money.
Vashti was there to say good-bye, although she di.t hold with my going. She said it, and then turned her back on me and walked away. I was looking after her, thinking I should say something I hadn’t said, when Lander stepped up close.
“Boy, Con is probably right, and Vash, too. Me, I lived with redskins too long. I figure you got it to do, so I’ll tell you this: When they pulled out they were headed for the Frying Pan country, and they’d teamed up with two more outlaws, Burns King and Pit Burnett.” Burnett I’d seen a couple of times in Leadville. He had been a hanger-on around State Street, and had been pointed out as a gunman, a mine guard, and a trouble hunter. King I knew nothing about, and said so.
‘VeHave,” Lander Owen said drily, “when he was hangin” around Prescott there were a lot of holdups in Black Canyon. He drifted up Nevada way and there were a couple up there. I don’t know anything, but it seems to me.
It seemed to me, too. Heseltine was not learning up with any other outlaws because he wanted company, but because he had something in mind.
And what about the money? Was that all gone? I felt my stomach kind of turn over at the thought.
Now I knew what I was going to do. I was going to ride up Frying Pan way, and then I was going to cross over and find out the nearest stage route. And I was going to get me a job riding shotgun. If they wanted to hold up a stage, I would be there waiting for them.
I’d ride shotgun for free, if it had to be.
“When they came hunting I’d be sitting right up on top, ready for them.
The man at the stage station was named Rollins. He looked up at me from under a green eyeshade, then sat back in his swivel chair. He was a man of forty-odd, already a little gray around the temples, but he had a capable way about him.
His eyes were blue and steady, and he studied me a moment before he answered me. “You want to ride shotgun? What makes you think we need a shotgun guard?” “Bob Heseltine and Kid Reese are headed this way.
They’ve got Pit Burnett and Burns King with them.” ‘Oh? Heseltine, is it? You wouldn’t be Shell Tucker, would you?” ‘I would.” I was surprised. ‘How did you know that?” “There’s been talk.” He leaned forward in his chair and shuffled the papers in front of him.
He seemed to be considering my application for the job.
‘allyou realize, of course, that the shotgun guard will be the one they’re looking for first? Theyd blast you off the top before you could lift a finger.” “I’ve thought about that. I had an idea I’d ride inside.
haven’t had a guard, so it’s likely they would You’ll be e the JIL’S settled back again.
“All right What do you want to do?” ‘Have the job, stay out of sight, and make one run over the route to sort of get the lay of the land.
I’d like to talk to your drivers, toe Rollins shook his head. ‘ationo, thaes too risky. One of them might say something. I’ll tell you what I’ll do.
We have a bed in the back of the station here. We can fix you up there, you can eat and sleep there, and you can talk to Tobin Dixie.
He’s our smartest driver, and very likely he’s the one you’ll have. He knows every inch of the route, knows it the way you know the shape of your face.” That night, sitting on the edge of a cot in the back room at the stage station, I listened to Dixie. He was a small, wiry man with sandy hair, lean jaws constantly busy with Navy plug, and shrewd, careful eyes. Right off, I liked him. There was something about him that told you he’d stand with you.
‘It ain’t so easy, Tucker. The first ten mile is open country, right out in the sagebrush.
There’s no cover, none a-tall, and no place to hide a horse … not even room to hide your hat.
“Then the road goes uphill for three, four mile. Winding road, lots of cover. There’s one big gray boulder that’s been used by half a dozen holdup men. Sticks right out into the road.
‘After that it’s all downhill, right to the next station.
There’s lots of brush and boulders, but the stage is movin” too fast to stop it easy. Only one holdup man tried that stretch, and the stage just ran off and left him standing there.” We talked quite a spell, and when Tobin Dbde had gone I stretched out on the bed, put my hands behind my head and began to study on what I’d heard.
A logical place would be on the slow upgrade, but that didn’t seem what Heseltine would do. Maybe on top? I thought about that, but didn’t like it eitberThe thing was, I was going to have to guess rightIf I didn’t, I could get myself shot … and probably would anyway.
On the downhill side the stage would be rolling too fast but suppose, for some reason, it wasn’t?
Suppose for some reason it had to go slow?
The more I studied on it the more nely it seemed, if it could be worked. But how could a man slow down a stage without being on it? If one of them did ride the stage they would see me, and I would see them before they ever left town. It didn’t seem a very sure possibility.
A boulder or a log in the road? No, the driver would know right away something was wrong, and would el there turn around, if there was room, or go around the obstacle, or get shaped up to fight.
Bob Heseltine was no fool, and he wouldn’t choose a place where they were likely to be ready for him. All the way up that slow, winding hill they would be set for trouble, and when they slowed at the top to take a breather, they would be sitting with their guns ready.
On the long ride downhill they would be relaxed, feeling the danger was over. The question was, how could the stage be slowed down without its being a warning.
Tobin Dixie had gone over the road for me thoroughly, but there’s nothing like seeing a trail for yourself. So I had that to do, if I could do it without being seen.
At the same time, holed up as I was, I had a chance to study the situation. I did- not want to kill anybody, and particularly I didn’t want to kill either Reese or Heseltine. I wanted my money back, and I was sure they hadn’t spent all the money as yet … they hadn’t had time.
It seemed likely they had some idea in mind that called for more money than they had. Instead of just whooping it up in saloons, they must have an idea of going somewhere else and starting something else that required more money; or maybe they wanted to go to the elegant hotels back east or on the coast and really live it up. I decided Ruby Shaw might be wanting just that and from all I’d heard Ruby was a girl who got what she wanted … up to a point.
There was no other reason that I could see for them to start on the outlaw trail again so soon. Not with money in their pockets that the law couldn’t touch them for.
One of them would come to town to scout around, and no doubt they also had somebody in town already who knew when the stage would be carrying money.
Did that somebody know about me? I had to chance it that he didn’t, and make sure he didn’t learn anything about me. which meant I had to stay holed up.
There was a peekhole in the wall where a man could see what went on in the office, and there was a window that looked out on the street.
The building next door cut off the view, but sitting by that window a man could watch folks pass for a few yards on this side of the street, and several times that distance across the way.
About noon on the second day a man walked up the street and leaned against the awning pole and began to build a cigarette. He was a lean, swarthy man I had not seen before. He looked like any cowpoke, except that his boots were polished, he wore fancy Mexican spurs, and his outfit looked a mite better than most cowhands could afford.