Son Of a Wanted Man (1984) (19 page)

"Ben was wrong. Wrong from the start, and even as a small boy, I knew it." "So?" "He was all I had. I'd no place else to go, and he was kind. I'll say that for him. He was always kind." Sunlight lay white upon the empty street at Toadstool Canyon when Mike Bastian rode into the lower end of town, his rifle across his saddle.

Beside him was Dru Ragan .

Juliana had stayed behind at the Ragan ranch, but Dru refused. Ben Curry was her father and she was going to him, regardless, outlaw camp or not. Besides, she would be returning with Mike beside her. If Dave Lenaker had arrived, Mike thought, the town was quiet enough for it. No horses stood at the hitching rails, and the door of the saloon gaped wide.

Something fluttered in the light wind, and Mike's eyes flickered. Torn cloth on a dead man's shirt, a-man he did not know. He walked his horse up the silent street, and the hoof falls were loud in the stillness. A man's hand and wrist lay across a windowsill. A pistol lay on the ground beneath it. There was blood on the stoop of another house. "There's been a fight," Mike said softly, "and a bad one. Better get yourself set for the worst." At the mess hall a man lay sprawled in the doorway. They drew up at the foot of the stone steps and Mike helped her down. "Stay a little behind me, if you must come." Up the steps, across the wide veranda, and into the huge living room. Shocked, they stopped in their
tracks
.

Five men sat about a table, playing cards. A coffeepot bubbled on the stove.

Doe Sawyer, Roundy, Garlin, and Colley were there, Garlin's head was bandaged, and Colley had one leg stretched out stiff and straight, as did Ben Curry, who was on the sofa. All were smiling.

Dru ran to her father and dropped on her knees beside him. "Oh,
Dad!
We were so scared!" "What happened?" Mike demanded. "Did Dave Lenaker get here?" "He surely did, but what do you think? It was Rigger Molina who got him! The Rigger got to Weaver and discovered Perrin had double-crossed him before he ever made an attempt on the train. When he found out that Perrin had lied about the number of guards on the treasure train he simply rode back.

"When he found that Ben was crippled and Perrin had run out, with Lenaker coming, he waited for Lenaker himself!

"He was wonderful,
Mike!
I never saw anything like
it!
He paced the veranda like a bear in a cage, muttering and waiting for Lenaker. "Leave you in the lurch, will they? I'll show 'em! Lenaker thinks you're gettin" old, does he?"' "They shot it out in the street down there, and Lenaker beat him to the draw. He put two bullets into Rigger, but he wouldn't go down. He just stood there spraddle-legged in the street and shot until both guns were empty.

"Lenaker must have hit him at least five times but when Lenaker himself went down Molina went over and spat in his face. "That's for a double-Grosser!" he said. Mike, he was
magnificent!
" "They fooled me, Mike," Roundy said. "I saw trouble cumin' and figured I'd better get to old Ben.

I never figured on them slippin' in behind and grabbin you.

"Then I heard Lenaker was cumin'. I knew him and I was afraid of what he would do, so I headed down the trail to meet him. Mike, I never killed a man in my life except some Blackfeet that attacked us when I was livin with the Crows, but I was sure aimin' to kill Lenaker. "Then Lenaker
come
in by the old creek trail, and him and his boys went after Ben and the gold he was supposed to have." "Doc was here," Garlin said, "an' Colley.

Roundy slipped through and joined us. Oh, it was some fight while it lasted. We got scratched up some, but nothin' to what they got." Briefly, Mike Bastian described his fight with Kerb Perrin and the pursuit of Ducrow.

"They've pulled out," Roundy said, "all that's alive." "The only man who ever fooled me was Rigger Molina," Ben Curry said. "I never guessed he was that loyal, but he took that fight when I was in no shape to, and soaked up lead like a sponge soaks water." Doc Sawyer idly shuffled the cards. "Ben," he said, "I think we should move out, as soon as you're able to ride. I think we should all move out." Ben Curry looked up at Dru. "Now you know.

Your old man's an outlaw. I never wanted you to know, and I planned to get shut of this whole outfit and live out my days with your ma, over there on the V-Bar." "Why don't you?" Dru asked.

"Funny," Ben said, "I never figured it would get this big, never at all. One thing just follered another until it got too big to let go of." "It was over, Ben. You held men together who did not like being held. You made things work. Now some of them will slip away and probably disappear just like you can." "You shuffle them cards any more, Doc," Garlin said, "and I'll get worried what you're doin' to that deck.

Set up an' deal." Mike and Dru walked outside and looked down over Toadstool Canyon. There were no lights in the town where dead men lay, sprawled in their last moments. Inside they heard argument. "He's a fine lad, Ben, and well educated, if I do say so who taught him all he knows. was "All he knows!" Roundy exploded. "Book larnin' is all well an' good but where would that gal be tonight if n I hadn't taught him to read sign an' foller a trail? I ask you, where would she be?"

On the wide veranda, with the stars brushed by the dark fingertips of the pines, Mike said to Dru, "I can read sign, all right, but I'm no hand at reading the trail to a woman's heart. You will have to help me, Dru." She laughed, resting a hand on his arm. "Mike, you've been blazing that trail ever since we met in Weaved You need no help at all!" She turned him to face her. "Mike, I love this country! Every bit of its red rock canyons, its green cedars, the pines, the distance .

. . all of
it!
Why don't we get some cattle and go back to Peach Meadow Canyon? "Why don't we build a cabin, plant some more peaches, and start a place of our own? You said you could make a better trail better than the one we used." From inside Garlin was saying, "Monson an" Clatt?

Wherever they went, we'll hear of them soon
enough!
" "That Clatt," Ben commented, "he was one I was going to drop. Liked to brag too
much!
He wanted to tell around the saloons what a tough man he was. He wasn't content with my kind of operation, wanted to be pointed out as a bad man and an outlaw." "The trouble with that," Garlin remarked, "is that the law listens, too." He glanced at Ben Curry. "He favored that bank back over the mountains. He always did think well of that job." Curry glanced at his cards. He would keep what he had. He looked over them at Garlin. "I was calling it off. The old marshal, Riggin was his name, he got himself killed, and that rancher where we left the horses, Borden Chantry was his name, he took over as marshal." He watched Doc draw two cards. Three of a kind, maybe? "There at their wagon I drank coffee with Chantry. I looked across my cup at him and I knew then he was one man I wanted no part o* When he became marshal I decided I'd just forget that job. Not that I didn't think back to it every now and again, but it always came up as a bad bet." . "Come daylight," Doc said casually as he laid down three nines and took the pot, "we should ride out of here. If somebody happened by there'd be explanations."

He stacked his winnings in neat piles. "I'm glad it's over, Ben. You an' me, we're the past. Those youngsters outside there, they are tomorrow." Ben hitched himself into a more comfortable position. "You're right, of course. All of us, you, me, Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, Bill Hickok, we've lived out our time in a world we never made. "Take Billy now, I knew him as a youngster. Not a bad kid, but in Lincoln County them days you took sides. You had to. Billy took the right side, too. Tunstall and Maqueen were good men, and then of the whole two hundred or so involved in that fight Billy was the only one ever brought to trial." Garlin, gathering the cards, suddenly stopped. On the back of a nine of spades there was a small fingernail scratch. Quickly he ran through the deck.

There was another on the nine of diamonds, a third on the nine of hearts. "
Doc!
" he yelled.

"Damn you for a four-eyed pirate! You--Ben chuckled and hitched himself around to get his foot on the floor. "Gar, you ought to know Doe by now. With him it ain't the money, it's the winning. How many times has he staked you?" Garlin shrugged, smiling.

"Nevertheless-was Out in the dark a coyote pleaded plaintively to the silent stars, and Ben heaved himself to his feet, leaning on the heavy cane. On the porch, nearing the low stone wall, Mike Bastian stood with Dru. He stood staring for a minute, then muttered, "Well, why not?" He looked down the dark and empty street. Tomorrow it would be alone with its ghosts. "Garlin?" Mike called out. "See that Rig Molina gets a proper marker, will you? Say He was a good mare. And carve it in stone."

The End