Soul of a Gunslinger

by Jim Cox

  Lefty hesitated. “Me and this young lady I have with me need a place to sleep for a couple nights. We ain’t married or nothing like that, but I know from my last pass through here that the hotel here in town ain’t fit for her to be sleeping in. Do you have a place we could bunk where it’s warm? I’ll be willing to pay you for it.”

  The old man smiled. “You can sleep in the livery by the stove if you want to. It’s the best place I have, and it’ll only cost you four-bits for the both of ‘ya. I make plenty on your four horses.” Lefty nodded his appreciation.

  Lefty led the horses beside the storage room in the middle of the alleyway, unloaded their gear and placed their saddles on the saddle rack. He removed the bedrolls and Star’s saddlebags with the seven bags of gold dust in it and rejoined the old timer and Suzan who were sitting close to the fire with coffee in hand. By the time Lefty had spread their bedrolls, the old man had his coffee poured, and a chair pulled up. After Lefty took the coffee and sat down, he asked, “What’s your handle? What do folks call ‘ya?”

  “Ma named me Bert when she pushed me out, and I’ve been known as that ever since,” the old man answered with a wide grin. Then he asked Suzan, “What might your name be, ma’am?” Suzan smiled and introduced herself.

  Lefty chimed in, “My name is Albert Newman, but folks call me Lefty.”

  “I know who you are,” Bert said. “You’re well known in these parts, Lefty the Gunslinger.”

  Suzan looked at Lefty and started to ask him something, but Lefty quickly brought-up another subject, “Does the café you directed me and Shorty to when we came through still serve good food, Bert?”

  “You bet. None better for miles around.”

  “Are we going to dine at a restaurant this evening, Lefty?” Lefty looked at Bert with raised eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders.

  “It ain’t nothing fancy, Suzan, but the food is good,” he answered.

  “I can’t go anywhere looking like this. Could you bring me my clothes bag and get me a pan of hot water, Lefty? I need to make myself look halfway presentable.”

  “You look fine. I’d suggest you take off Shorty’s hat and brush your hair a mite.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I wouldn’t go anywhere looking like this.” Then looking at Bert, she asked, “Do you have a private place where I can wash myself and put on suitable clothing?”

  It had been nearly an hour after Suzan was taken to a private area with a pan of hot water when she re-appeared with curls piled high and wearing a dark green, full-length dress with ruffles around the collar and down the front. Both men rose with penetrating eyes and broad smiles. “Ain’t she pretty, Bert?” Lefty said.

  “She’s the prettiest woman that’s ever been in these parts, and I’ve been here since the town was hatched. Be careful when you take her to the café. The men are likely to start a fight over her.”

  “You men are being silly,” Suzan said with a big smile. “I’m sure there have been many women in town much prettier than I.”

  »»•««

  The loud café talk became quiet. So quiet you could hear a pin drop when Suzan entered the café with Lefty following. It wasn’t normal café procedures, but a waiter quickly came forward and led them to a side table. Suzan’s eyes looked straight ahead as she walked to the table, but all other eyes in the café, which were men’s, stayed focused on her for a time, even after she was seated.

  “Every eye in here is on you, Suzan,” Lefty said for her ears only. “Does it bother you that you’re the main attraction with the men tonight?”

  “I haven’t noticed the men’s eyes on me. You must be imagining things, Lefty.”

  “And you’re telling a big whopper. You ain’t fooling me, Suzan. You saw the men staring at you, and you liked it.”

  Suzan smiled with raised eyebrows and said, “Let’s order… I’m starved.”

  The food and apple pie that topped off the meal was delicious. It had been an enjoyable evening with conversations about each other’s past, causing the time to slide by faster than either one wanted. By now a good share of the café’s customers had left. Their waiter was in the process of pouring them more coffee when Suzan stiffened with a firm face and beady eyes. “What’s wrong, Suzan? Why are you acting like that?”

  “Those two men who just came through the door were our guides. They’re the ones who stole my father’s money and my jewelry. As far as I’m concerned, they’re responsible for my father’s death.”

  Lefty was about to ask her a question, but before he got it voiced, Suzan jumped up and headed for the two men, shouting so loudly her voice echoed throughout the café in spite of the loud talking, “You two are responsible for my father’s death, and on top of that you robbed my father of his money and stole my jewelry. I demand you return the money and jewelry to me immediately.”

  When Suzan got face-to-face with the men, the tall one said, “We don’t know what you’re talking about. We ain’t ever laid eyes on ‘ya before.”

  “That’s a lie, and you know it. If this town had a sheriff, I’d press charges against you for murdering my father and robbing us.”

  “Well, there ain’t no sheriff in town, and besides, you’ve made up this whole story, trying to get money from us,” the tall man said.

  “Yaw,” the shorter man said, “You ain’t nothing but a floozy wearing those fancy clothes tramping around after men’s money. You need to go back to whoring for your money.” The man paused, looking at Suzan up and down, then continued, “I bet you’re good at it, too. What are you charging these days?” he said with a grin. Lefty walked up; his leather hammer safety was dangling.

  “You men have made a big mistake, talking to Miss Dempsey that way; calling her a liar and saying she’s a whore. I’d suggest you take back everything you’ve said and give her back her belongings before you find yourselves laying on this here sawdust floor.”

  “Stay out of this mister…she’s lying. We ain’t got her money. Who are you anyway?” the tall man said.

  “I’m a good friend of Miss Dempsey and you just made another mistake,” Lefty said. “If both of you ain’t said you’re sorry and give her back her money, there’ll be hell to pay.” Out the corner of his eye, Lefty saw the short man slip behind him. He also saw the folks leave their tables and crowd the east wall. He motioned for Suzan to follow them.

  When Lefty saw the tall man spread his feet a little and his hand easing toward his gun handle, he knew the man wasn’t going to say he was sorry, but he should have, because seconds later he was lying on the sawdust with a bullet hole in his forehead. The tall man had gone for his gun first, but it never cleared leather before he was falling. Lefty quickly turned to the shorter man behind him who looked set to draw when a shout sounded, “I wouldn’t challenge him mister; that’s Lefty Newman, the gunslinger.”

  It wasn’t long after the shooting until Lefty and Suzan were sitting by the fire at the livery. Suzan’s jewelry and her father’s money were in Lefty’s saddlebag with his seven bags of gold dust.

  “Thank you, Lefty. You protected me again. I’m eternally grateful,” she said rather unexpectedly.

  Lefty knew Suzan wanted to ask him about the shout in the café; that he was a gunslinger, but she was reluctant too, even though she deserved an answer. “I’m not a gunslinger like the man at the café said, Suzan. Folks call me that, but I ain’t one.”

  “How many men have you killed?” she asked.

  Lefty took a deep breath. “That was the ninth.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Two mornings after the shooting, Lefty and Suzan left Sutter’s Fort at first light, riding side-by-side with a pack-horse tethered behind each of them. Suzan was dressed in Shorty’s clothes again with his dilapidated hat pulled low. Their wool coat collars were up and buttoned, and they wore gloves. Puddles of water were frozen which meant the temperature was below freezing. They were riding due south along the American River, which they planned to follow until their
noon meal break. After eating, they would head southwest through rolling country for an hour or two before coming to the desert with flat, hoof deep sand and a temperature in the eighties or nineties.

  The four-day travel across the desert went fairly well since Lefty had been through this area before and was somewhat familiar with it. They normally ate their noon meal in wide open country without shade or a stream of some kind, but their evening stops were always among tree-lined streams where river grass was plentiful for the horses. Their food bags had been filled at Sutter’s Fort’s mercantile with an assortment of food, and Suzan, who was now doing the cooking, prepared delicious evening meals. The after-supper evenings were spent beside the campfire with cups in hand discussing their past and what they wanted their future to be like. They often-time sat quietly, observing the heavens in the clear California, October sky. The moon and the stars looked as if you could reach up and touch them; sometimes a star streaked across the sky. Occasionally, the songs of coyotes echoed in the distance.

  The winds were cold when they crossed the hills in late afternoon a few miles east of the San Francisco Bay. Their coats were back on with the collars up, and their hats were pulled low with the chin-straps tight. The horses were doing fine.

  When they came to a patch of trees with a nearby creek and plenty of grass for the horses, Lefty called it a day and stopped for the night. The normal camping procedures had taken place, and the two were sitting close to the fire holding coffee when Suzan spoke, “I want to thank you again for the help and protection you’ve given me, Lefty. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d be dead.”

  “I’m glad I came along at the right time. But I’m sorry thing have been a struggle these past couple of weeks. I wish I could have made them easier for you,” he said.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t know when I’ve felt more alive, or useful, than during the days I’ve spent with you. Until I was stranded in that cabin and you came along, my entire life had been lived without a worry or concern. The last two weeks might have been frightening a few times, but it was exciting and very heartwarming. You won’t understand this, but watching you accomplish the task of keeping us fed and somehow providing us with shelter which kept us from freezing was something I’ll never forget…it was amazing. Even learning to cook was thrilling for me; it was an undertaking I thought I’d never be subjected to. But as it turned out, it was extremely exciting for me. I even enjoyed cooking and eating the horse meat you brought to camp.” She smiled. “You didn’t know I had caught on to your elk meat fabrication, did you?”

  “When did you discover it was horse meat, Suzan?” he asked with a smile.

  “I think I figured it out within a couple of days, but I kept it to myself.” She was quiet for a few seconds and then smiled. “I even enjoy wearing these clothes of Shorty’s I have on. They make me look ridiculous, but to me, it’s fun to be different and look rather crude instead of always being formally dressed for appearance sake.”

  They sat quietly taking an occasional swallow. Lefty had refilled their cups and was returning to their log when he asked, “What are your plans, Suzan? I mean, what do you want to do, and where do you want to go, after things get settled down? We’ll go to Louise’s place as soon as we get to the Barbary Coast, and I’m sure you’ll be welcomed to stay there as long as you want, but you’re young and will want to find a place of your own.”

  “I had no idea what I was going to do until you retrieved Father’s money from those robbers. I haven’t counted it, but there should be close to ten-thousand dollars in those bundles. They might have spent some of the money, but it should be enough for me to sail back to Boston and live with Mother and grandfather; that is if I can find a gentleman to escort me. I’m told women shouldn’t travel on ships without a male companion.”

  “Is that what you want to do? Do you want to live in Boston?”

  She thought on his questions for a long minute. “I don’t have any other options, do I?” Lefty didn’t respond.

  By mid-afternoon the next day they had crossed the San Francisco Bay on a toll ship and was leading their horses on Bay Street along the Barbary Coast toward Louise’s houseboat. The street was jammed with the normal assortment of people who all seemed to be standing around with little to do.

  Lefty and Suzan were passing four crusty looking men when one called out, “Looks like you two just came in from the gold fields and might have some gold in those saddlebags. We’re gonna take it. If you don’t stir up a fuss, we might leave you a few nuggets.” Lefty continued walking, trying not to pay any attention to the intruders. However, as he passed by, one of the big thugs grabbed him from behind, encircling his arms around his body, locking Lefty’s arms along his sides. While this was happening, two of the other men started slugging him in the face and belly with their fists. Lefty heard Suzan scream and saw her being held by the fourth man before he blacked out and became unconscious.

  When Lefty woke, Suzan was wiping his face with a cold, wet cloth. He hurt all over, but mainly the hurt came from his ribs. When he fully got his wits about himself, he was lying on the street with a crowd of people standing around. All four horses were standing close by, but both saddlebags were missing. He pulled Suzan down and whispered into her ear, “Did they take the saddlebags?”

  “They took them both,” she whispered back. “They got all of our money; yours and mine. They left us without a cent.”

  “I’m sorry they got your money and jewelry. Maybe, I can get ‘em back when I get cured up a bit. But don’t worry about being out of money, Suzan. I left nearly four-thousand dollars with Hide when I left.”

  Suzan took-on a sheepish look. “They didn’t get my jewelry. I have it in these big pockets of Shorty’s trousers’. I didn’t put it in the saddlebags like you told me.”

  “What else have you been holding back on me, Suzan?”

  “That’s the only thing… I promise.”

  Suzan rose and asked two men if they would help get her friend to the Louise Hemming bakery. Both nodded and said they knew where it was located which was only a couple hundred yards away.

  “Hide, its Lefty and Shorty,” Louise call out when she answered the door. But when she took a closer look, she said, “You’re not Shorty; you’re a woman in Shorty’s clothes. And what-in-the-world has happened to Lefty? I hardly recognized him.”

  When Hide got to the front door, he and Louise took Lefty from the men who had helped get him there and assisted him through the bakery and into the living room where they laid him on the half bed. After tending to Lefty’s injuries and fixing him coffee, Suzan spent nearly an hour explaining, in a condensed form, why she was wearing Shorty clothes and gave a detailed account of the beating Lefty had taken.

  “I can tell you’ve had a formal upbringing, probably in a home of wealth, from the way you talk and present yourself, Suzan,” Louise said. “Why don’t you tell us about yourself; where you’re from, and why you’re in San Francisco?”

  Suzan didn’t leave out a thing. She explained about her grandfather’s fortune and the problem her father had as an employee with him, and of her parent’s marital problems that surfaced. She told of her ship voyage to the area with her father.

  Louise interrupted while she poured more coffee and then Suzan continued by telling how Lefty had found her in the cabin when she was dying of starvation. She told of her father’s probable death, and she told of Lefty rubbing life back into her when she fell into unconsciousness from being so cold. She told of them eating horse meat. She explained about the guides her father had hired and how they stole her father’s ten-thousand dollars and her jewelry, only to have Lefty kill one of the thief’s in a cafe to recover it.

  “Tell ‘em about you learning to cook and the ruckus you made when I made you wear Shorty’s clothes,” Lefty said through cut lips.

  “I thought you were asleep, Albert Newman,” Suzan said rather firmly. “You need to lay back and rest yourself. We can tell them about som
e of the other things that happened to us at a later time.” Louise looked at Hide with a raised eyebrow and a funny little smile.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The next several days went smoothly for the Louise household. The women hit it off great, and Suzan quickly got involved helping Louise with her pastry baking and customer sales. She always dressed nice in her Boston clothing, and she normally piled her hair on top of her head, accenting her height and long, graceful neck. Word soon got around about the pretty young woman selling pastries at the bakery, causing a substantial increase in sales. Suzan also helped with household chores and even prepared a lot of their meals.

  After a sales rush one morning, Louise and Suzan paused to take a coffee break, when Louise said, “I want to thank you for helping me, Suzan, but you don’t have to work as hard as you have been; you’re doing more than your share. Hide can work a bit more, and we could even ask Lefty to help if need be.”

  “I’m fine, Louise. I enjoy staying busy and making myself useful. I consider it a privilege.”

  “Are you happy, Suzan? Lefty told me you wanted to go back to Boston to be with your mother and grandfather. But I want you to be happy while you’re here with us.”

  “I’ve never been happier. I don’t know where Lefty came up with the notion I want to go back to Boston and live with my mother and grandfather. I simply said I didn’t have any other options in the long run. But with my money being stolen, I don’t even have that option now.”

  “I’m sure funds could be arranged for your travel back if you want to go, but you’re welcome to stay here. There are a lot of men passing through our bakery, and maybe, a nice young man will come along and get your attention. They’re not all uneducated and as crude as Lefty,” Louise said with a smile.

  Suzan jerked her head up and looked at Louise with beady eyes. “Lefty’s not uneducated, Louise; not in the least. He may not be able to read or write, but he’s very smart when it comes to doing what counts and living a good life. It’s not all about having money or fancy things, you know.” Louise nodded with a slight smile. Suzan continued, “And another thing, Lefty is not crude. He may not have proper diction or dress as fancy as the young men I was around in Boston. They were all self-centered, and the only thing that mattered to them was their personal wealth and notoriety. Lefty is not like them; he’s the kindest and most caring man I’ve ever been around, and that’s what counts.”