Day of Reckoning Page 23

  “It better not be bad news then,” Elmer said as he reached for the document. “On account of if it is bad news after you tellin’ me it ain’t, why, I’m just liable to jerk you down offen o’ that horse ’n tan your hide good.”

  That was one of the longest sentences Elmer had ever uttered, and he was still gasping for breath as he ripped open the envelope to read the message.

  “I’ll be damn. It’s from Duff,” Elmer said.

  “What does Xinshng MacCallister say?” Wang asked.

  “He wants us to tell him about what happened out here with them three galoots who come a-lookin’ for ’im. Only, this part I don’t understand.”

  “What is it that you do not understand?”

  “He wants me to send the telegram to Medicine Show in Howell.”

  “Medicine Show?”

  “That’s what it says. Send it to Medicine Show in Howell.”

  Howell

  Duff had made arrangements for their horses to go on ahead of them by train to Rock Creek, which wasn’t the next stop on the railroad but far enough down to keep the horses always ahead of them. He also arranged to board the mules, and now he was back at the medicine wagon, getting it well set up for the show. The brake was set, the wheels were chocked, and Duff had tied it down. Meagan and Ina Claire were inside the wagon changing into their costumes for tonight’s show, and Duff finished with all the chores he needed to accomplish before tonight’s presentation. He saw someone coming toward him and recognized him as the same telegrapher who had handled the message for him this morning. Grinning, he started toward him.

  “Would that message be for me?” Duff asked, though he knew full well that it would have to be for him, or the telegrapher would have sent his copy boy.

  THREE MEN CAME TO RANCH LOOKING

  FOR YOU STOP WHEN YOU WERE NOT

  THERE THEY WERE GOING TO KILL WANG

  AND ME STOP WE KILLED THEM STOP

  “Damn,” Duff said after he showed the telegram to Meagan and Ina Claire. “I dinnae think about Elmer and Wang when I started this crusade. I just figured they would be safe at the ranch.”

  “Apparently they are safe enough,” Meagan said. “They handled these three men, didn’t they?”

  Duff laughed. “Aye, lass, that they did.”

  “You need to get into costume soon,” Meagan suggested.

  “I’ll do so now.”

  Meagan breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she would not have to fight him to get him into costume.

  Chapter Thirty

  The medicine wagon was parked at the end of the main street and was the object of attention to some forty or fifty people. Those who were assembled represented at least one-fourth of the small town’s population. They were gathered for the show more than any “miracle elixir” because entertainment in any fashion was scarce. At this particular moment, Duff and Ina Claire were performing a number on the pipes and drum.

  Duff was not wearing kilts as he performed, thinking that to be so uniformed for what was essentially a medicine show would be degrading to the attire of the Black Watch. Instead, he was wearing the costume that Meagan had made for him, red and white, vertical-striped pants, and a blue jacket with stars across the shoulders. For their part, Meagan and Ina Claire were wearing dresses that wouldn’t be out of place on those women who plied their profession to tease men into buying drinks in the saloons, and because both were particularly appealing, their costumes added to the overall attraction of the show.

  When Duff and Ina Claire finished their number to the applause of those gathered, Duff put his pipes down and turned to address the crowd.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, ’n would ye be for castin’ yer eyes toward m’ beautiful assistant,” Duff began his spiel, exaggerating his brogue and pointing to Meagan. “Sure ’n this bonny lass will be moving amongst ye, selling these marvelous bottles of Malcolm Campbell’s Heather Extract. ’Tis brewed on the moors of Scotland from a secret formula, known only to m’ kinsmen. And ’tis absolutely guaranteed to cure you of sore throat, rheumatism, sciatica, lumbago, contracted muscles, and toothaches. For the men, it will restore the vim and vigor of youth. For women it will ease those bearing-down feelings, rejuvenate the spirit, and give you the energy you need to face every day. And it will do all this m’ friends for the price of one quarter.”

  “Why hell, mister, I’d pay more’n that just to see you ’n that pretty young girl of your’n play music together,” someone from the crowd called.

  “Thank you, sir. We’ll be playing more music for you in just a few minutes, but first, we must take the time to allow my assistant to make this miracle cure available to all of you,” Duff replied.

  “What the hell, Jonesy, you ain’t sayin’ you actually enjoyed that caterwaulin’, are you? Hell the squealin’ of a stuck pig sounds better,” another said, responding to Jonesy’s remark.

  “I’ll be for grantin’ ye that the bagpipe isn’t for everyone,” Duff said. “’Tis true that to appreciate the music o’ the pipes, one must have a certain degree of sophisticated taste.”

  “Sophisticated taste? What does that mean?”

  “I’ll tell you what it means, Deekus. It means you’re too dumb to appreciate it,” Jonesy said, and all the others laughed at the expense of the wise guy.

  “Look at that feller up there,” Deekus said, pointing toward Duff. “He looks like a damn clown, all dressed up like that.”

  “Oh, for cryin’ out loud, Deekus. Shut up, ’n let the rest of us enjoy the show these folks are puttin’ on, will you? There didn’t nobody force you to come here today.” This comment came from one of the other men who had gathered for the medicine show.

  Meagan, carrying a tray filled with bottles of Campbell’s Heather Extract, began moving through the crowd then, dispensing smiles and friendly conversation.

  “Hey, lady, do I get anything extry iffen I buy two o’ them bottles of medicine?” Deekus asked.

  “Of course you do, sir,” Meagan replied.

  “I do? Well then, I’ll just have me a couple of bottles of that snake oil you’re a-sellin’.”

  “Here you go, sir. That’ll be fifty cents, a quarter apiece,” Meagan said sweetly. She took the money, then turned away.

  “Wait a minute!” Deekus called. “I thought you said I’d get something extry iffen I bought two bottles.”

  “Why, you did, sir. You got an extra bottle of the elixir,” Meagan said, her smile masking any irritation she was experiencing from the man’s complaint.

  “Yeah, well what I actual expected was somethin’ like this.” Deekus reached down and grabbed a handful of flesh on Meagan’s well-shaped derriere. Meagan whirled around and slapped him hard.

  “There you go, Deekus,” Jonesy said, laughing. “You got your extry.”

  The others laughed as well.

  Suddenly Deekus had a knife in his hand, and he began waving it around. “Now,” he said. “I aim to cut the top off this here girlie’s dress so’s we can all get us a good look at her—”

  “Deekus, put that knife away! You got no call to go actin’ or even talkin’ like that. We got ladies and children in this crowd,” Jonesy said.

  “What are you doin’ with that knife anyway?” another asked.

  “I aim to do just what I said I was goin’ to do. I aim to get me a good look. Now, ever’one back out o’ my way.”

  Deekus turned toward the others and made several, wide sweeping motions with his hand. The women in the crowd let out little squeals of alarm, and everyone backed away, opening up a wide circle occupied only by Deekus and Meagan.

  “Now, girly,” Deekus said, turning back toward Meagan. “Me ’n you got some—”

  Whatever Deekus intended to say was left unsaid because it was interrupted by the loud bark of a gunshot. The knife Deekus was holding flew away, and Deekus let out a sharp sound of shock and gave a look of surprise as he grabbed his hand.

  “What the hell!” he said, and looked back
toward the stage, which was actually just the braced tailgate of the medicine show wagon. There he saw Duff holding a smoking pistol.

  “Would you be for goin’ about your business, sir, ’n leavin’ m’ assistant alone so she can tend to hers?” Duff said.

  “I’d listen to the medicine man if I was you, Deekus,” Jonesy said. “He coulda just as easy put that bullet in your head as shoot that knife outta your hand. And by damn there wouldn’t be nobody here that would blame ’im if he did do that.”

  “Go ahead,” Deekus replied quietly, the tone of his voice showing contrition. “I was just foolin’ aroun’; I wasn’t really goin’ to do nothin’.”

  The crowd returned, and once again, Meagan began moving through them, selling the bottles of “medicine.” After selling thirty-three bottles of the medicine, Duff and Ina Claire played one more number for the crowd. Afterward, Duff closed both the awning and tailgate to his wagon just as he heard footsteps approach.

  “I heard what happened here today with Deekus McCoy,” someone said.

  Turning, Duff saw that it Deputy Thurman Burns.

  “If the young lady wishes to press charges, I’ll take care of it.”

  “There’s nae need for that,” Duff said. “The lad got just a bit rambunctious is all. No one was hurt.”

  “Except McCoy’s pride,” Burns replied. “They tell me you made quite a shot, shooting the knife from his hand as you did.”

  “The shot was nae that difficult,” Duff said. “Twenty feet, maybe.”

  “Still, to be able to shoot a knife from someone’s hand at twenty feet, or even ten feet, is very good shooting. How is it that a medicine peddler can shoot that good?”

  “I’ve been thinking about putting some trick shooting into my show,” Duff explained.

  Burns nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I can see how that might be. Well, if the lady don’t want me to do nothin’ about Deekus McCoy, I’ll just let it be. It was good to have you stop by today. From what I’ve heard you folks gave the town a good show, ’n like I said, after Art Whitworth gettin’ kilt like he done, this was just what was needed to cheer ’em again.”

  “’Tis a good town ye have here, Deputy, ’n except for that one man, ’twas a foine crowd who came to see us.”

  “And you handled him well,” Burns said. The deputy extended his hand. “You folks have a good journey to wherever you go from here, ’n if you come back through, you’ll be more than welcome.”

  “Thank you, Deputy.”

  * * *

  Less than an hour later they were driving out of town, no longer in costume but wearing the jeans and shirts that had become their everyday clothing. The three of them were sitting together on the front seat, and the gaudily painted wagon was heading west paralleling the railroad tracks.

  Ninety percent of the towns and settlements of the territory of Wyoming were on or within less than a day’s ride from the railroad, which meant if they were able to find Callahan and the others, they would most likely do so by following the railroad. To that end, Duff arranged for their horses to always be waiting for them in a stable in the next town just ahead of them. He did that by paying passage for the horses and shipping them ahead by train.

  They were southeast of the town of Lookout, and adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad line, when Duff called the mule team to a halt.

  “This looks like as good a place as any for our bivouac,” Duff said.

  “We’re sort of on a hill,” Meagan said. “I think we would be more comfortable down there on the flat.”

  “Aye, ’twould be more comfortable, until the rain comes,” Duff said.

  “Rain? What rain?”

  “Give it time, lass, ’twill be raining before midnight, ye can mark my words on that.”

  “You want to sleep in the wagon with us tonight?” Meagan invited.

  “’Twould be too crowded for comfort, and there is nae need. I’ve enough canvas t’ make m’self a wee hoose under the wagon, ’n come the rain, I’ll be as snug as a bug.”

  “Do you think we’re ever going to find those men this way?” Ina Claire asked.

  “Aye, lass, we’ll find them, because they will be visible and we will be invisible.”

  “Invisible?” Ina Claire laughed. “We’re riding around in a bright red and gold wagon, and we stand in the street wearing red, white, and blue costumes, playing the pipes and drum, and you say we are invisible?”

  “Let me ask ye this, lass. If those four blaggards rode by us while we were set up in town, would you recognize them?” Duff asked.

  “Yes, I would absolutely recognize them,” Ina Claire said.

  “Aye, I expect you would. But now tell me this. If you ’n I were doing our pipes ’n drum, do you think they would recognize you?”

  “Well, if they were out in the audience watching they . . .” Ina Claire stopped in mid-sentence and smiled, broadly. “I would be invisible because they wouldn’t expect me to be part of a medicine show.”

  “What about the man who had a story posted in the newspaper, vowing to find them and bring them to justice?” Duff asked. “Would they for believing that such a man would be dressed in red, white, and blue, and selling snake oil?”

  Ina Claire laughed out loud. “They wouldn’t even see you, because you would be invisible.”

  “Tell me,” Meagan said. “Do invisible people eat? Because this invisible person is hungry.”

  “Aye, ’twould be a good idea to eat our supper now, then get set in for the night,” Duff said. “I want to be in a dry place before the rain starts.”

  “What makes you think it’s going to rain?” Meagan asked. “There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when the sun went down.”

  “I can smell it,” Duff said, laying his finger alongside his nose.

  “You can smell when rain is coming?” Ina Claire asked, surprised at his comment.

  “Honey, you have to understand,” Meagan said. “Duff is a Scotsman, and they would have us believe that a Scotsman is possessed of marvelous talents, far beyond that of we mere mortals.”

  “It will rain,” Duff said.

  * * *

  Duff’s prediction of rain came true shortly after all three had gone to bed, Meagan and Ina Claire in the wagon and Duff under the wagon. He had stretched a rather large canvas out from the top of the wagon and tied the mules to the back so that when the rain started, they would be sheltered as much as possible. He had also dug a drainage canal around the wagon, and he hung canvas from the two long sides of the wagon as well as a sheet behind the front wheels, and another sheet just forward of the back wheels. Those four “walls” he tucked under the canvas ground cover, and as a result of all his preparation, even when the rain started he stayed dry.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  A few miles farther north and west on the Union Pacific Railroad

  Callahan had decided that the best place to hold up the train would be exactly halfway between the towns of Miser and Rock Creek. There were several advantages to this location. Both Miser and Rock Creek were so small that the only law was a single marshal in either town, and neither would have the authority nor the inclination to put together a posse, especially to recover someone else’s money. And the money the train would be carrying was a shipment between two large banks, having nothing to do with the tiny railroad towns of Miser or Rock Creek.

  Still another advantage of this location, and no small advantage, was the proximity of not only mountains but a stream that would cover their tracks as they withdrew. They didn’t plan on staying in the mountains long. Sixty thousand dollars was an enormous amount of money, enough that they could leave Wyoming Territory and go anywhere they wanted.

  “St. Louis,” Morris insisted. “I’m goin’ to St. Louis ’n become a riverboat gambler. After this, I’ll have enough money to do that.”

  All the others put in their choice as to where they would go, and Callahan wanted to go to San Francisco.

  “I want to go to
Ozark, Alabama,” Cooper said.

  “I’ve never heard of that place. Where is it?” Manning asked.

  “It’s in Alabama.”

  “Oh.”

  The four men had been caught in the rain during the night and were made miserable by it, as the water ran in sheets down their ponchos, and even with the slickers, the men were soaked to the bone. The rain had stopped, but they were still wet and uncomfortable.

  They had come in the middle of the night because they didn’t want to take a chance on anyone seeing what they were doing. What they did during the night was remove one of the lengths of rail from the track.

  “It’ll be goin’ lickety-split when it comes through here, won’t it?” Manning asked.

  “Yeah, that’s why we need to be as far away from the track as we can get, because when it hits that missing rail, there’s going to be one hell of a crash,” Callahan said.

  “How many you think are liable to get kilt in the wreck?” Morris asked.

  “What the hell do you care? Grown tender hearted, have you?” Callahan asked.

  “No, I was just wonderin’ is all.”

  “I tell you what, Morris, if you’re all that curious, you can stay back ’n count the dead, while me ’n the rest of the boys will ride off ’n count the money,” Cooper said with a laugh.

  “Hah!” Morris replied. “I ain’t that curious. Fact is, I ain’t curious at all. I was just curious about it, is all.”

  Callahan and the others laughed at Morris’s convoluted statement.

  “Tell me how much one-fourth of sixty thousand dollars is again?” Manning asked.

  “Fifteen thousand dollars,” Callahan replied.

  “Whooeee, I never knowed there was that much money in the whole world. Hey, Callahan, you can cipher real good, how long would we have to cowboy to get that much money?”

  “Oh, I’d say about thirty years,” Callahan said.

  The other three laughed out loud.