Slip Gun (23 page)

‘
Alive?’ demanded the shorter man worriedly.

‘
Just
about. He’s unconscious, or was when Frith left Billings. Two of
his side-kicks stayed behind to see if the bastard can tell
anything when he recovers. They’ll be down here by Monday or
Tuesday and, way I heard it, Smith’s going to have them appointed
as deputies. Frith reckoned they’re real good.’

‘
And
they’ll be here by Monday?’

‘
Or
Tuesday. Losing Hardy, Moxley, the Sheppeys and the others leaves
us hellish short-handed. Can we get more help?’

‘
I
don’t know. If not, we may have to change cur plans.’

‘
In
what way?’ asked the taller man.

‘
There’s not time to go into it now,’ replied the other.
‘We’ve been stood here together as long as’s safe.’

‘
Yeah,’
agreed the taller of the pair. ‘I’ll meet up with you tonight, if
I’ve learned anything. Or tomorrow at the same time, be around the
livery barn.’

Turning on his heel, the taller
man strolled off in the direction of the river. With a similar
attitude of nonchalance, his companion stood for a short time
looking at the poster. Then
the small man glanced in a calculating manner
after the other and hurried away in the opposite
direction.

Although Smith had hoped for a
lengthy discussion with Wil, and to have her answer some of the
questions which troubled him, the chance did not arise. Almost as
soon as he had been called in and informed that Frith had accepted
the mayor
’s
offer, Ryall’s assistant knocked and entered. One of the bank’s
most influential depositors had arrived, asking for an urgent
interview. Apologizing, Wil had asked the Texan and Frith to excuse
her and promised that she would be available for a conference after
lunch.

Leaving the bank, Smith had
decided that he would take his saddle to be repaired. Requesting
that Frith should attend to things at the office, he had gone to
the Simple Hotel and collected it. According to the desk-clerk, the
saddler
’s
shop was on Shivers Street, across the river. So Smith set off in
that direction.

Approaching the river, Smith saw
Ryall crossing the upper of the three bridges which connected the
twin parts of the town. A startled, almost guilty expression
flickered across the teller
’s face at the sight of the marshal and he hurried
by without doing more than nod a greeting.

‘
Hey,
Marshal Smith!’ yelled a voice.

Going across the bridge, Smith met Jeffreys
on the southern bank. The young man wore his suit, a Stetson and
town boots, but had on a gunbelt carrying a Colt Civilian Model
Peacemaker in a fast draw holster.

‘
Something up?’ Smith inquired.

‘
No. I
went to collect a couple of badges from deputies who live up this
end of town. Tal Ottaway’s gone for the others.’

At that moment, the crack of shots rang out;
first one, then two more in rapid succession, followed by the
scream of a man in agony. Jeffreys spun around and drew his Colt
with both speed and capable efficiency.

‘
Down
by the livery barn!’ the young man snapped.

‘
Let’s
go!’ Smith barked, having removed his glove and fetched out his
Colt.

Guided by Jeffreys, Smith ran in
the direction of the disturbance. The two peace officers went
around to the rear of the
livery barn. Pushing through the small knot of
onlookers, they went to where Ottaway, still holding his smoking
revolver, knelt by a still figure.

‘
What
happened?’ Smith asked, holstering his Colt.

‘
I’m
damned if I know,’ Ottaway answered and he seemed to be struggling
to conceal anger, or some other violent emotion. ‘I’d come by this
way to see if you or Ric was with your hosses and Di—that
son-of-a-bitch threw lead at me.’

‘
You
know him?’ Jeffrey inquired, staring down at the two holes in the
figure’s forehead.

‘
His
name’s Dilkes,’ Ottaway replied. ‘I’ve seen him around
town.’

‘
I’ve
done more than that,’ Smith said quietly. ‘He’s the
hombre
who was with the
Sheppeys when they tried to kill me.’

‘
Thing
is,
Miss Jeffreys,’ Smith said, as he and his deputies sat with
the lady mayor at the table in the room where the two ranchers had
met the representatives of the Grange. ‘Since you hired us, Ric,
Ottaway and me’ve each had somebody try to kill us.’

‘
You,
Mr. Frith?’ Wil said, turning to the burly man.

‘
Up in
Billings,’ Frith agreed and explained the circumstances.

‘
And
the Sheppey brothers tried to kill you in the Happy Bull, Mr.
Smith,’ Wil went on. ‘Then it wasn’t just because of their old
grudge?’

‘
I
never thought it was, ma’am,’ Smith declared. ‘You see, three other
fellers tried it at Gilpin’s way station.’

‘
Who
were they?’

‘
A
gambling man and two more
pistoleros?’

‘
The
gambler who visited me at the bank?’

‘
Why’d
you think that, ma’am?’ Smith demanded.

‘
Lily
gave me a warning, indirectly, that you might be interested in
him,’ Wil explained. ‘He came to see me to ask about opening a
gambling concession during the fair.’

‘
If
that feller I dropped was with the Sheppeys, they’re all tied in to
the gambling man,’ Ottaway commented.

‘
I’d
say that’s likely,’ Frith admitted dryly. ‘Somebody doesn’t want us
as your special police force, Miss Jeffreys. And I, for one, ‘d
like to know who.’

‘
And
why,’ Smith drawled.

‘
What
do you think, Mr. Smith?’ Wil inquired.

‘
I’m
da—don’t know, ma’am,’ the Texan replied. ‘There’s some’s’d say
Lily Shivers would make a good one for “who”.’

‘
Why
should she want to stop you gentlemen arriving?’

‘
What
happened yesterday between you and her could answer
that.’

‘
I
don’t think so, Mr. Smith. Lily had what she regarded as a personal
grudge against me. All her escapades have been directed my way, not
at the town. She’d even had that sign destroyed when she saw how
P—how people regarded it. Widow’s Creek is Lily’s home and she’s a
shrewd enough businesswoman to see the advantages a successful fair
will bring.’

‘
You
trust her, then, ma’am?’ Frith asked.

‘
I’m
inclined that way,’ Wil agreed.

‘
Would
the ranchers, Woodstole and Hopkirk, try to stop us, figuring we’d
been hired by the nesters?’ Frith went on.

‘
That’s
most unlikely. Poo—Mr. Woodstole has been working with me to
organize the fair and it was he who suggested hiring Mr.
Smith.’

‘
Woodstole!’ Smith ejaculated. ‘Now I remember. Her name was
something—Woodstole afore she married Captain Fog.’

‘
Beagrave-Woodstole,’ Wil supplied. ‘She’s Poona’s
cousin.’

‘
Who
put up the rest of us, ma’am?’ Frith put in.

‘
I
hired Mr. Ottaway,’ Wil explained. ‘In fact, it was meeting him
which gave me the idea of bringing in gunfighters—I hope the term
doesn’t offend you?’

‘
We’ve
all been called worse,’ Smith drawled. ‘How about the
others?’

‘
I’d
heard Mr. Frith’s name mentioned and knew that he was running the
marshal’s office in Billings. So I sent for him. Mr. Ottaway
recommended Seaborn Tragg and Frank Straw.’

‘
Could
be the Free Land crowd didn’t want us around,’ Ottaway remarked.
‘If they aim to stir up fuss, it’d be easier and safer against
Caster’s deputies than us.’

‘
Why
would they want to do it?’ Wil asked.

‘
To rub
the Grange’s face in the dirt,’ Smith suggested. ‘Show the farmers
that the Free Land crowd are more concerned with their interests
than the Grange are. A play like that’d be their way.’

‘
Disrupting the fair would embarrass the Grange,’ Wil
agreed. ‘It would also stir up trouble between the cowhands, who’re
looking forward to a week’s celebrations and the
farmers.’

‘
Yes’m,’ Smith drawled. Then it’d be the usual story back
East. Drunken cowhands terrorizing the community and abusing the
poor, hard-working, God-fearing homesteaders.’

‘
I’ll
concede that the Free Land Society would be capable of acting as
you suggest,’ Wil said. ‘But do you think that’s what is behind the
attempts on your lives?’

‘
Would
they be able to learn who you’d sent for, or who’d accepted?’ Smith
wanted to know.

‘
I
never kept the fact that I was hoping to hire you gentlemen a
secret,’ Wil replied. ‘If they’d planned their campaign well in
advance, they could have found out, I suppose.’

A knock on the main door prevented Smith
from raising the matter of the jewelry. It opened and Marshal
Caster entered.

‘
Wax!’
he said. ‘I thought you should know. The Jones brothers’re back and
down at the Busted Plough.’

‘
So?’
Smith asked.

‘
There’s still a warrant on them for slow-elking,’
^ix
Caster elaborated. ‘We didn’t send it
after them. But it’ll have to be served now they’re back. And
fast.’

‘
How
come?’ Frith asked.

‘
Some
of the C Lazy P boys’re in town,’ Caster explained. ‘If they hear
the Joneses’re back, it’ll be the same as throwing a lit match into
a keg of black powder.’

‘
That’s
for sure,’ Jeffreys agreed. ‘The hands were riled when Poona
wouldn’t let them fetch them back after they’d run out.’

‘
Let’s
go, boys!’ Smith snapped. ‘Where’s the warrant, Bert?’

‘
In the
office safe,’ Caster replied. ‘Come on, I’ll find it for
you.’

Without wasting more time in
discussion, Smith led the other men from the room. On reaching the
marshal
’s
office, Caster went to the safe and opened it. Smith crossed to the
wall rack and took down his rifle, which he had brought from the
hotel that morning.

‘
Get
loaded for bear,’ the Texan told his deputies. Frith and Ottaway
selected twin-barreled shotguns, but Jeffreys stood by the desk.
‘You too, Stan.’

‘
But—!’
the young man began, making a gesture towards his holstered
Colt.

‘
I
don’t want trouble taking them,’ Smith went on.

‘
Then
why take the shotguns?’ Jeffreys asked.

‘
That’s
to make sure we don’t have any,’ Smith explained.

‘
Here’s
the warrant,’ Caster announced, joining Smith and handing over a
legal document. ‘If you need any help—’

‘
I
reckon we can handle it, Bert,’ Smith replied. This’s the kind of
thing Miss Jeffreys hired us to do.’

Caster nodded in gratitude.
While he would have performed his duty, arresting the Jones
brothers might have antagonized the other farmers. If it did under
the present circumstances, their antipathy would be directed
against Wil Jeffreys
’ imported peace officers and not at Caster and his
men.

With the warrant in his hip-pocket and rifle
under his arm, Smith led the deputies, each carrying a shotgun, out
of the town hall. Following them out, Caster nodded again, with
satisfaction. Clearly Smith knew his way around the town, for he
was taking the most direct route to the Busted Plough saloon.

Making his way across the river,
Smith wondered if they might be going to face the reason for the
attempts on their lives. Smith and Caster had been unable to trace
the Sheppey brothers
’ companion after his escape from the Happy Bull. So he
could have been hidden in town, or maybe left on foot. There were
farms within easy walking distance where he and the Sheppeys might
have hidden while awaiting their chance to kill Smith.

Nor, if he knew anything about
their kind, would the Free Land Society
’s organizers hesitate to use
violence to achieve their ends. If they planned agitation and
incidents to disrupt the county fair and gain publicity for their
schemes, they would not hesitate about trying to kill anybody who
stood in their way.