the Empty Land (1969) (12 page)

They were silent then, and after a while, Coburn took out his pipe. "You're right, Dandy," he said. I'm too touchy.
I've
seen it building up in me, but I sleep with a gun, I eat with a gun in my lap, I never take a step without one. I never go to sleep at night that I don't expect to wake up shooting. And I almost never sleep in the same place twice ... not if I can help it."

'I know," Burke said. And he did know. He had seen it In Matt, and in others, too. It was easier to give the advice than to carry it out. Once you've lived that life, once you've had it to think about, you never quite lose the feeling.

It was like hunting Apaches, or traveling in Apache country, and Matt Coburn had lived that life too. You learned never to sleep soundly, no matter how tired you were. You learned to cook your food, put out your fire, and move on a few miles before settling down for the night. You learned to look for shadows where shadows should not be, to watch for the out-of-the-way thing, to expect the unexpected.

The day passed, and a long night, and then another day. The trails were dusty, the passengers tired, and short-tempered.

While the horses rested at the top of a steep grade, the passengers got down to stretch their legs. The
country
was wide open in all directions. Dandy Burke checked his harness and the horses, then bit off a chew of tobacco.

Matt Coburn found himself standing beside Madge Healy. 'Where are we going to stop, Mater she asked. "I mean, so we can rest a littler "In Eureka," he said.

"It's a lively place. I played the opera house there. And I played it a few years before that when the stage was four planks laid over some barrels."

"Why did you quit"

"I just got tired of it, Matt. I wanted a home so bad! cried myself to sleep many a night I used to hide money the miners threw to me, and whenever my aunt found it, she'd whip me. But! still did it.

"Once, when I was only fifteen, I grubstaked a prospector I met in Austin. Everybody was turning him down ... I heard them and felt sorry for him. I grubstaked him with just thirty dollars I'd held out, and later I sent him forty more."

"Did you ever see him again?"

She smiled. "That
prospector's
name was Charley Ramona," she said quietly. "He struck it pretty good, sold out, bought stock in the Denver & Rio Grande, and made a mint of money."

"How did you make out?"

She looked up at Matt. "I own half of it," she said, smiling at him. 'Willard & Kingsbury don't know that, Matt When they picked a fight with me they thought I was just a little girl with a fluttery head. I didn't ask for the fight, but I'll own them before
I'm
through, Matt, and that's the first boast lever made,! think?'

"Serve them right But you be careful. Willard is me= enough,-but I know Kingsbury he's worse."

They stood close together, watching the shadows creeping over the
land." Matt
, what about Pike Sides?" Madge asked suddenly. "Do you know him?"

"Enough."

"Can he be trusted? I mean, will he sell out?"

"No. Once you've hired him, he's your man, but don't make a mistake, Madge. Pike is a whip that can be cracked to make people move, but don't ever let him get a-hold of the handle."

"Thanks, Matt. And thanks again for back there. It was you who stopped them. They'd have killed me, Matt. I know they would have. Bob Longer was the one who would have done it as if it was an accident."

He looked surprised.

"Yes, I knew Longer was hired to do just that. Dolan didn't know anything about that. It was purely Longer." Now the stage started again, picked up its dust cloud, and rolled west. When they came to Eureka they found it was lively and wide open. There were a hundred and twenty-five saloons, fifteen tent shows, and twenty-five gambling houses, all of them going strong.

Matt was tired. Every muscle sagged with weariness, and his eyes were red-rimmed from staring at the bright, sunlit land. When he swung down from the stage at the Colonnade Hotel, Pike was already helping Madge Healy to the ground.

"Pike?"

The gunman turned his eyes upon him. *They'll be in town," Matt said. "'They still want her, and they want those papers."

"Thanks," Pike said shortly. "You handle your business, an' I'll handle mine."

"That's all right, Pike," Madge said. I value Mr. Coburn's suggestions. What is it, Matt?"

He stepped closer, so only she and Pike could hear. "Get a room, then move into a different one. They'll come hunting, you can bet on it"

"All right, Matt." She looked up at him, her face partly in the shadow. One hand touched his sleeve. "Thanks."

Dandy Burke helped Matt lower the gold box to the ground. Together they carried it inside and took a room on the ground floor, back of the office.

"Go ahead and eat," Burke said. "I'll hold the fort. Bring me a sandwich and some coffee when you come back. You tap twice very light, then once hard. I'll open up then if it's your voice."

Matt handed Burke the shotgun and stepped outside, closing the door. He stood still and glanced in each direction along the corridor. Atone end was the door to the lobby of the hotel; at the other end of the passage was a door that opened onto an alley. He walked back to it, listened, and then opened the door and, after a glance, stepped out.

After studying the street with care, he walked down to a small restaurant, where he took a table in the back. Seated with his back to the wall, and facing the door, he ate a good meal.

When he left he walked through the kitchen and used the back door to get out. He stopped by several of the saloons, merely glancing in over the doors, and then going on. With the quick skill of a man who had been marshal of more than one town, be was able to assay at a glance the people inside the saloons.

As he went along the street, he almost automatically scanned the brands on the horses, and studied the rigs and their contents. Any town marshal worth his salt could in a few minutes detect the presence of strangers, of long riders, or drifters, even in a town that was strange to him.

Matt knew Eureka from past experience, and the men who were here, like those who were now in Confusion, had been known to him in other camps, either by name or reputation. And each one bore the stamp of his kind, whether he realized it or not.

Matt was looking for potential trouble, and he found it. In the fourth saloon he saw Harry Meadows leaning against the bar. He walked in and stopped alongside Meadows. Buy a drink, Harry," Matt said.

"Co ahead. It's your money." And Meadows straightened a little as he spoke, to stand taller beside the taller man. He turned, leaning one elbow on the bar. "You had you some grief."

"Was that you up on the rock?" Matt asked evenly. "Uh-huh." Meadows picked up his drink "I had me a Winchester, too."

"I figured you did. rd never worry about you, Harry. Not that way. You're just not the type."

Harry Meadows, who was honest with himself, was not sure just what this meant, but he was pleased. "Who was it down there?" he asked. "Bob Longer?"

"Yeah."

"He's been leadin' up to it." Meadows turned his glass, tracing a ring on the bar. "You goin' all the way to Carson with it?"

"Uh-huh. Pike Sides, too. He's riding shotgun for Madge Healy."

Meadows was puzzled. "Madge? The kid actress? That dancer?"

"Yeah, only she isn't a kid any longer, and she has enemies. Her enemies are Willard & Kingsbury."

"She's in trouble, then." Meadows was silent for a few minutes, and then he said, "Matt, I always liked that kid. She gave a lot of entertainment where there wasn't anybody else, and she'd dance until she dropped if the boys asked for it. And you've always been a square-shooter."

"What are you getting at?"

& Kingsbury. They've been hiring. I don't know what the deal is, but a couple of my boys have been approached. They want men who aren't afraid of a fight, a dirty fight. Ike Fletcher has been hiring for them."

Ike Fletcher was a claim-jumper, a dangerous man in any kind of a fight. If he was hiring men, the chances were it was some kind of a mine fight.

"Where are they going?"

"I don't know, but my guess would be Confusion. One of my boys doesn't want to go to Arizona. He's wanted there, and in Colorado too. When he told them that they said he wouldn't have to worry. He wouldn't be traveling far."

Matt finished his drink. He had been in the saloon about as long as he ever allowed himself to be in one. "Harry, I've got to drift." He put his glass down. "I hope I don't see you again for a while."

Meadows grinned. "Now, that ain't a threat, is it, Matt?"

"You know better. Fact is, the way I think about you, I wouldn't like to look over a gun at you."

"You won't get the chance, Matt, not even for that hundred thousand you're carrying. If anybody bothers you, remember this: it won't be me."

Matt turned, gave a quick glance around the room and went out, looking neither to right nor left. Only a fool goes looking for trouble, and his life had brought him more than enough, and knowing how to recognize possible trouble meant 'mowing how to avoid it. Even to meet the glance of some men was an invitation to trouble, for to them it was a challenge to which they must respond.

This watchfulness in Matt was no new thing, but it was something that had been growing in him with the realization that not only had he enemies, but that being a known gunfighter made him fair game for anyone. He knew that men who killed gunfighters or gunmen, no matter what the conditions, were rarely punished for it. Back at the hotel, Matt entered by the front door, and went along to get several sandwiches, a pot of coffee, and cups. With these he went back to the room and rapped at the door with the arranged signal.

Dandy Burke was seated in a chair tilted against the wall facing the door. The shotgun was across his knees. "Figured you'd forgotten me,' he grumbled. "It seemed a long time."

"I saw Harry Meadows. He won't bother
us." Burke
looked up sharply. "I didn't hear any shootin'.* "We talked, that was all. Meadows wants to win. That's why he's still around. The man never took an unnecessary chance in his life. Too many crooks think things are going to be just the way they would like them to be. He'll take the stage some day when there's less money on it, and no guard or somebody else than me or Eugene Blair. Nobody wants to deal with Blair."

'I drove with him a couple of times."

Burke ate, and then stretched out on the cot. Almost at once he was asleep. Matt tilted back in his chair, and kept the room dark. He finished the coffee, ate the sandwich Burke had left, and after that he took off his boots and coat. He was hanging up his coat when he heard somebody try the knob.

"Go ahead," he said quietly, "if you feel lucky." The floor creaked, and there was silence. Prospecting, he thought just somebody prospecting a little.

Chapter
11

At Austin they were Joined by Hank Weber, and the coach rolled on, with Weber driving and Burke sleeping inside. Thunder rolled, rains lashed the coach, flash floods ripped the trail asunder, but somehow the drivers found a way around and the coach kept moving. Through it all, Matt Coburn rode the top, sleeping when stops were made if it was possible, but always alert. They reached Carson City and the gold was delivered. Madge Healy got down from the stage, Pike Sides standing near.

"Matt," she said, 'can I ride back with your He looked at her, his eyes red-rimmed and weary. "You know you can. And if you have trouble here you send for me."

"I'll handle any trouble," Pike cut in. "She won't need anybody else."

"The offer stands," Matt responded.

I'll remember," Madge said. Her eyes were soft as she looked at him. "'Thanks, Matt. I don't have many friends."

"You will have. You were loyal to that old man, the one who got your papers back. Loyalty brings friends, Madge."

He stood there on the street, a lonely man,
watching her
go. Tucker Dolan joined him. "I'm out of a job," he said wryly. "They didn't like the way it was handled." `They should try it themselves," Matt said. "Have you heard anything about them hiring fighters?"

Dolan gave him a quick glance. "It's trouble, Matt, real trouble. They didn't want me. I guess I wasn't bloody enough, but they've hired Kendrick and some others. I'd say they've got fifteen tough men."

"Do you know why?"

"No . . . they don't tell us anything. All I know is that Madge Healy is the center of it. Did you know she was in the mining game?"

"Up to her pretty ears," Matt replied.

"Then she'd better get out of it. They'll eat her alive." "Don't bet on it." Matt looked hard at Dolan. "Are you going back to Confusion? If you do, stick around a few days. I may have a deal for you. I may need a tough man who can stand still for trouble, and who doesn't go off half-cocked."

Matt slept that afternoon and through most of the night. When he woke before daybreak the town was quiet. A light tapping came at the door.

Madge Healy stood there when he opened it. She stepped in quickly. "Put on your pants, Matt. You look like the devil in those long johns."