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“Duff MacCallister and Elmer Gleason will be comin’ through North Platte by train this Monday night. They are on their way to New York, but for reasons that I don’t need to go into, some people don’t want them to get to New York.”

  “Duff MacCallister? Wait a minute, you mean he ain’t dead?”

  “No, he ain’t dead. What made you think that?”

  Slocum thought of the gunfire he had heard on the road just north of Cheyenne, which he assumed at the time had killed MacCallister. He took a swallow of his beer then looked at Dixon with a meditative stare. “You got the money with you?”

  Dixon hesitated for a moment, then he nodded. “Yeah, I got it.”

  “Give it to me now. I plan to have a little fun between now and Monday.”

  “Grant, I hope you ain’t plannin’ on drinkin’ from now to Monday. You’re goin’ to have to be sober to get the job done.”

  “Who said anythin’ about drinkin’ from now to Monday?”

  “You did. You said you was plannin’ on havin’ fun between now ’n then.”

  “Yeah, well, Miss Maybelle’s House of Elegant Ladies ain’t exactly where you go just to drink.”

  Dixon smiled. “Well, yeah, I’ll give you the money now, ’n maybe you can introduce me to some o’ these elegant ladies.”

  * * *

  Guthrie Lumber and Supply furnished the wood, paint, shingles, windows, nails, et cetera, and friends, neighbors, and other businessmen of the city pitched in to help rebuild the office for the Chugwater Defender. When it was rebuilt, Charley Blanton rented a wagon from the livery to go to Cheyenne to pick up a new press and type. Because he was going to pick it up on the same Monday as Duff, Elmer, and Meagan were to leave, they all went together, making the trip down on Sunday.

  The four of them stayed in the Interocean Hotel that night and ate supper together in the hotel dining room.

  “Duff, when you get back home I’m going to want you to tell me everything you have learned,” Charley said. “If Jake Poindexter is pulling a fast one on his father, I want to know all about it.”

  “If it really is Jake Poindexter,” Elmer said.

  “What do you mean, if it really is Jake Poindexter? Why wouldn’t it be?” Charley asked. “And if it isn’t him, who is it? And where is Jake Poindexter?”

  “I don’t know,” Elmer said. “Dead, maybe. I may be wrong, but it’s just hard for me to believe that a good man like Cap’n Poindexter could sire a son like that no-account skunk that’s callin’ hisself Jake Poindexter. Besides which, this feller that’s callin’ hisself Jake Poindexter don’t look nothin’ like his pa.”

  “If it isn’t Jake Poindexter, how is it that he is getting so much support from the Poindexter Corporation? Dempster tells me there’s a little over one hundred thousand dollars on deposit for Jake Poindexter in the Chugwater Bank. It seems very unlikely that some charlatan would have access to that much money,” Charley said.

  “It’s like I said, I could be wrong. But I need to talk to Cap’n Poindexter to find out for sure. I’d be willin’ to bet that he don’t know ever’thing that’s goin’ on out here. Or if he does know, he don’t know that it’s causin’ people to suffer. I’m tellin’ you that Cap’n Poindexter just ain’t that kind of person.”

  “I hope you are right, Elmer,” Meagan said. “I’m like everyone else here. I want to see Chugwater get a railroad, but not if it is going to ruin the lives of so many of our people, so many of my friends.”

  “I promise you that having my newspaper office burned to the ground will not stop me from publishing as much information about the C and FL Railroad company as I am able to learn,” Charley said. “That’s why I want you to share with me what you may learn on your trip to New York. I am a firm believer that the more light you can shed on a subject, the better you will be able to deal with it.”

  “Will you have your paper up and running by the time we come back?” Duff asked.

  “Are you kidding? I’ve come here to pick up a new press. I’ll have my newspaper operating within a day after I return.”

  True to his promise, the very next day after Charley Blanton returned to Chugwater, he put out a special issue of his paper.

  Chugwater Defender Redux

  WHAT MAKES A PERSON GO INTO THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS? Is it because of some inherent nosiness? Is it because someone is basically a gossip, and publishing the latest information in a newspaper that will exponentially spread the gossip satisfies that need?

  Or is it, as I am prone to think, a basic love of people? This love of people drives one to share the latest news with everyone in order to make the lives of the readers fuller by providing them with a comprehensive understanding of what’s going on around them.

  I cannot remember when I didn’t want to be a newspaperman and, as a child, even before I learned to write, I would scribble the news on scraps of paper, then distribute my newspaper to my mother, grandmother, aunts, anyone I could find. I was bound to be a newspaperman and so I have become one.

  Now, however, I have learned something new. I have learned that there is a symbiotic relationship between the newspaper and its readers. When my office was destroyed by fire it was my friends, my readers, my partners in this news business who came to the fore and rebuilt the building. But, it wasn’t just the lumber, paint, and nails they provided. They provided love, not just for the newspaper but for their fellow citizens, those who read the paper and thus share in each other’s lives.

  I am humbled and eternally grateful, and I pledge to you that the reborn DEFENDER will be even more a part of the spirit of Chugwater.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Where are we going to do it?” Dixon asked.

  Clete Dixon and Grant Slocum were waiting in the Union Pacific depot in North Platte for the eastbound train, the one on which they had been told that Duff MacCallister and Elmer Gleason were passengers. It was lacking fifteen minutes of three o’clock in the morning, and according to the dispatcher the train was due to arrive at three.

  “It’s more ’n likely they’re sleepin’ right now ’n cause they’ll be in berths we won’t know where they’re at. But they’ll be comin’ to the dinin’ car for breakfast in the mornin’ ’n we’ll be keepin’ an eye open for ’em. Oncet we know just where it is that they’re at, why, we’ll be able to take care ’of em easy,” Slocum said.

  Using some of the expense money Dixon had brought with him, the two men had bought a roundtrip ticket to New York. If the opportunity presented itself, they would take care of them before the train reached New York. But if they weren’t able to do it on the train, Dixon had been given the name of someone in New York who would be able to help.

  “Here comes the train!” someone shouted, and the departing passengers, as well as those who were meeting arriving passengers, stepped out onto the platform to watch the train arrive.

  * * *

  Meagan was sleeping in the bottom berth, and when the train stopped, the cessation of motion and the sound of wheels rolling on the track caused her to awaken. She pulled the curtain aside just far enough to look outside and saw the boarding passengers.

  A couple of the passengers aroused her interest, and she pulled the curtain open a little more, but just as she did so, they stepped onto the car before she could get a closer look.

  Very soon the train started moving again, and she lay there, staring up into the darkness of her berth, thinking about the two men she had just seen, or who she thought she may have seen. She couldn’t put a name to either of the passengers, nor could she think of where she may have seen them before. But the more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed to her that they could possibly be anyone she knew. She had no idea where the train was right now, but she knew they were several hours east of Cheyenne, so what would be the likelihood of encountering anyone she knew this far from home?

  Still, she couldn’t get over the nagging feeling that she had seen at least one of the two men somewhere before.

 
She tried to concentrate on the faces of the boarding passengers, but it was dark on the boarding platform and her glimpse was too fleeting. Finally the motion of the train and sound of the steel wheels rolling on the steel track had a soothing effect and she drifted off to sleep again.

  * * *

  “I know it might sound silly,” Meagan said at breakfast the next morning, “but I thought I saw someone that I knew getting on the train last night.”

  Meagan, Duff, and Elmer were having breakfast in the dining car as they were passing through eastern Nebraska at a rate of forty miles every hour.

  “Who did you see?” Duff asked as he spread butter on his biscuit.

  “That’s just it. I don’t know the person I think I saw.”

  “Meagan, pardon me for sayin’ this, but that don’t make no sense a-tall,” Elmer said. “You think you saw someone you knew, but you don’t know ’im?”

  Meagan chuckled. “I said that it might sound silly. But last night, or maybe it was early in the morning, at one of the places where the train stopped, we took on some passengers. I just happened to look out the window and I saw him. Actually, there were two of them, but I only recognized one. Well, I didn’t exactly recognize him. Like I say, it’s just someone that I think I’ve seen before. And I may be totally wrong. After all, I just got a brief glimpse.”

  “Ships that pass in the night,” Duff said.

  “What are you talkin’ about?” Elmer asked. “We ain’t on no ship.”

  “It means a chance encounter without actually meeting,” Duff explained. “It’s from a poem by Longfellow.

  Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,

  Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;

  So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,

  Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

  “Oh, that’s beautiful,” Meagan said. “And yes, it was exactly like that.”

  “Well, if they got on the train you’re more ’n likely to see ’em agin. ’N iffen you do see ’em maybe you can figure out who they are,” Gleason proposed.

  “I suppose so,” Meagan said. “It’s just that . . .” she left her sentence unfinished.

  “What is it, lass? This is more than just trying to remember who they are, isn’t it?” Duff asked.

  “Yes. I can’t explain it, Duff. But I have such a sense of foreboding about the two men. I know it makes no sense at all. But I just can’t get rid of the feeling that, somehow, their presence represents danger to us.”

  “I’m nae one to discount feelings, for they have saved m’ life more than once. If you see them again, you’ll be for tellin’ me, will you now lass?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  * * *

  “They’re on the train, all right,” Dixon said. “I peeked in through the door to the dining car, ’n I seen ’em. The onliest thing is, there’s a woman with ’em.”

  “Yeah, well, that don’t make no never mind,” Slocum said. “She ain’t goin’ to be no trouble, ’n if she gets in the way, we’ll kill her, too.”

  “Are you goin’ to do it on the train?”

  “If I see the chance to do it, I will, but more ’n likely I’ll have to wait until I catch them off the train. We’ll be changin’ trains in Chicago ’n we’ll be there for a couple of hours before the next train leaves for New York. I expect I’ll get a chance to do it whilest we are in Chicago.”

  “All right. I expect we had better stay out of the way as much as we can whilest we’re on the train. Iffen one of ’em was to see me, they’d for sure recognize me,” Dixon said.

  “It’s more ’n likely that they won’t none of ’em know me,” Slocum said. “So I can keep an eye on ’em so’s they don’t get away from us.”

  * * *

  It was late in the afternoon of the following day when the train pulled into Union Station in Chicago. Here, they would have several hours between trains, and Meagan suggested they should see some of the city while they were there.

  After a short ride from the depot, they took a walk alongside the lake.

  “Isn’t it beautiful?” Meagan asked. “I wish we had water to look at back in Wyoming.”

  “Ha! I’ve seen enough water,” Elmer said. “When I come back onto the beach the last time, I got a length of hawser ’n hung it over my shoulder, ’n started walkin’ inland. Then when somebody seen it ’n ask me what it was, I figured I was far enough away from the ocean so as to be able to settle down.”

  Duff laughed. “Elmer, you have a bit of blarney about you. Are you for certain that you aren’t a bit Irish?”

  “What’s a hawser?” Meagan asked innocently.

  “Now, do you see what I’m talkin’ about?” Elmer asked with a cackling laugh. “I’m far enough away from the sea.”

  “A hawser is a very thick rope for to moor or tow a ship,” Duff explained.

  Just as they were approaching a rather large hedge row, a man stepped out in front of them. He was holding a pistol pointed at Duff. “Hello, MacCallister,” the man said in a low, mocking voice. “I’ll bet you never thought you would see me here, did you?”

  “I never expected to see you anywhere, as I’ve never seen you before. I don’t know who you are,” Duff said.

  “Duff, this is one of the two men I was telling you about. One of the two men I saw getting on the train, back in North Platte.”

  “I know who the sidewinder is,” Elmer said. “Miss Meagan, please excuse the language,” he added.

  “That’s all right, Elmer. I have a feeling he is a son of a bitch.”

  “My name is Slocum. Grant Slocum. Does that mean anythin’ to you?”

  “Aye, the name Slocum is known to me. That is, if you are talkin’ about the evil brigand who was hanged for murdering Mr. Gorman, his wife, ’n the wee ones. ’Tis a name of shame, ’n ’tis a wonder you would bandy it about so.”

  “Drury was my brother, and you kilt ’im,” Slocum said angrily.

  “Nae, I dinnae kill him. But I have no sorrow that he was made to pay for his crime.”

  “Well, you same as kilt ’im. You brought ’im in.”

  “Both of us brought ’im in, sonny,” Elmer said, his voice dripping with anger and challenge.

  “Yeah, ’n both of you are goin’ to pay for it, too, seein’ as I aim to kill both of you,” Slocum insisted.

  “What about me, Mr. Slocum?” Meagan asked. “Am I going to pay for it as well?”

  “You didn’t have nothin’ to do with it like these here two did.”

  “But if you kill them, won’t you have to kill me, as well? Surely you wouldn’t expect me to keep quiet about it, would you?”

  Slocum smiled, and the grotesque stretch of his mouth made his face look even more evil than before. “Well now, you’re pretty smart, ain’t you? You got it all figured out. Yeah, I reckon I will have to kill you too.”

  Elmer started drifting over to his left, opening up some distance between him and Duff and Meagan.

  “Where are you going?” Slocum demanded.

  “If you’re goin’ to commence a-shootin’ them two, I’d just as soon be out of the way so’s I don’t get hit by any of the bullets,” Elmer said.

  “What are you talkin’ about, you fool? I’m goin’ to kill all three of you.”

  Elmer took another few steps to his left, opening up an even greater distance between them. Duff realized then what Elmer was doing, and while Slocum was paying attention to Elmer, Duff was able to inch just a little closer.

  “Well, if you’re plannin’ on shootin’ all of us, I’d just as soon you shoot me first,” Elmer said. “I wouldn’t want to have to watch the lady gettin’ shot.”

  “All right. If that’s the way you want it, I’ll be glad to oblige,” Slocum said, and he raised the pistol, pointing it toward Elmer.

  By now, though, Elmer had opened up enough distance so that the gun, being pointed at Elmer, was at an angle of
at least sixty degrees from Duff. And that was all the advantage he needed.

  “Get down, lass,” Duff shouted loudly.

  When Duff shouted, Slocum’s reflexive action was to look back toward Duff. Unfortunately for Slocum his reflexive action was with his glance only, and not with the pistol. He was much slower in trying to bring the pistol to bear, and as it came around Duff grabbed Slocum’s gun hand, twisting it back toward himself.

  Slocum was already in the act of pulling the trigger, and the gun went off. The result of Duff’s application of force was that Slocum shot himself in the chest. He made a grunting sound, then fell.

  Meagan, who had dropped to the ground on Duff’s orders, was helped up by Elmer, who had come back to her. Duff was leaning over, checking Slocum’s condition.

  “Is he—?” Meagan started

  “Dead?” Duff asked before she could complete the question. “Aye, lass, he’s dead.”

  “So, what do we do now?” she asked.

  “I think we should go to the police,” Duff replied.

  “Why?” Elmer asked.

  “Because ’tis the right thing to do.”

  “No, it ain’t,” Elmer said, shaking his head. “You think the police would listen to our story then just let us go? No, they would keep us here while they investigated this ’n investigated that. We would miss our train today, ’n probably for the next two or three days. In the meantime, this Slocum feller would still be dead and the folks back home would still have to be dealin’ with a railroad that ain’t actually goin’ nowhere.”

  “I think Elmer is right,” Meagan said. “It isn’t as if we are running away from anything. All three of us are totally innocent. I think we should go, now.”

  “Aye, ’tis thinkin’ I am that the two of you are right. I think we have seen enough of the city, and should be getting back to the depot.”

  * * *

  “You know, ’tis queer to think that Slocum would be for following me all the way to Chicago to avenge his brother,” Duff said later that night as the train they were on headed for New York.