Brides of the West-Part One

by Hestand, Rita

  But the second morning at the cabin Callie turned to look at him and she was crying.

  "What…what's wrong?" He asked coming toward her.

  "I miss Sam…why haven't we heard from your brothers?"

  "I don't know. I've been wondering myself. I asked them to check on the Dugan's, and then Lou and Sam. I don't know what else could have happened in between." Gil needed to reassure her. Still, nothing he could say that would calm her fears right now.

  Problem was, he was worried too.

  "I'm going to set those traps out now…"

  "But if your brothers show up…they could get caught in them…" Callie warned him.

  Gil rubbed his forehead. "You're right. I guess that wasn't a good idea anyway. I'll have to think of something else."

  "Have you got guns and ammunition if they find us?" she asked.

  "Yeah, two rifles, and a couple of hand guns. Plenty of bullets for all of them. This place is built strong. It will take a lot of bullets to get us here."

  Callie was shaking, "You know…for the first time in my life…I'm scared."

  "Hey…" he came toward her again and took her into his arms and hugged her. "It is all going to be all right. They have no idea where you are."

  "That's part of what scares me." She cried and pulled away to look into his eyes. "I'm strangely worried about the Dugan's. I'm not sure why. If they go to our cabin, they won't find us. Then they are going to start digging for some answers. Someone else could get hurt and all because of me…"

  "Honey…don't do this. At times like this you gotta have faith."

  She pulled away and went to sit down in a chair. "I have plenty of faith, but that doesn't stop people from dying. I'll bet Mrs. Boggs is dead by now. I couldn't stop that, and I prayed to God every day that I could. I couldn't bring Pa back and I prayed every day that he would return and tell us it was all a big mistake and he was sorry. He didn't come back. I haven't given up on God; I think he's given up on me."

  "No he hasn't." Gil rushed to say as he sat down beside her and took her hand in his. "He's here with us right now. He knows our troubles. He won't forsake us. That's how I can be so confident about it."

  "Well I'm glad you can. I can't." She cried.

  "We are going to make it out of this fine. We just have to use our heads and be ready for anything."

  "Well you use your head; I’m going out for a walk. I've been cooped up here for too long. I'm going crazy." She yelled.

  "Fine I'll go with you." He followed her out.

  "I don't want you to come with me." She raged.

  "Too bad, get used to it. You are stuck with me." He informed her.

  He grabbed the gun on the way out.

  She wasn't using her head. However, he understood what she was going through. He thought his brothers might come up here by now and maybe he was a little too anxious too. It had only been two days.

  He calculated that Joe probably knew Callie was somehow involved by now and that he had checked her cabin. What he didn't know for sure is where he'd go from there.

  He didn't figure he'd go to town and take a chance that Lou knew nothing about things yet. But where would Joe start looking.

  They walked to the barn and as they walked inside, he grabbed Callie's arm.

  "Callie, I want you to think. Where would they start looking for you?"

  Callie turned around with a puzzled look on her face. "I'm not sure."

  "Think about it a minute. Have you told them any routine you do? Have you told them where you go, who you see, anything?"

  She thought about it then raised her eyes to him. "I told them I visited an aunt…but surely they wouldn't go there?"

  "No, not right away they wouldn't. Maybe later, unless they give up looking altogether and just head out somewhere."

  "I wish you could get a hold of Lou." She murmured.

  "Me too."

  "Do you think we should leave here?" She asked.

  "No…it's the only point of contact we have with Lou or anyone else. We can't leave. We have to wait. But you need to keep thinking. Try to think if you dropped any names around them. Or where they might logically look for you." He suggested.

  "I thought they would follow the tracks of the wagon." She said.

  "If they could pick the tracks up, but it's rained several times since then. I don't think they will find it. If they could see the tracks, they would head straight for my place."

  "Oh my God. I never thought of that. What if they destroy it?" Callie looked suddenly upset.

  "Hey, I can rebuild…" He smiled.

  "But it's really a beautiful place, Gil. And you've done so much work on it." She shook her head and cried.

  "It's just a house."

  "It's your home."

  "Callie…I…"

  But a stranger who suddenly walked into the barn from nowhere interrupted Gil. It was a big black man and he had the look of desperation on his face as he stared at them.

  "Excuse me…didn't mean to interrupt. But I saw your smoke wondered if you folks could put me up for the night." He asked.

  "Who are you?" Gil demanded his gun in his hand.

  "I'm Demus. That's my name, Demus. I been walking these hills for days, trying to find a place to eat and shelter. Saw your shack and thought you might help me. All I need is a little food, and a little rest and I'll be on my way."

  Gil studied the man, other than being a black man he looked like any other. He had dirty clothes on and he had no gun, so Gil saw no immediate threat to them.

  "I guess we could feed you. But we only have one bed right now. You'd have to sleep on the floor."

  Callie reached for Gil's arm.

  "It's alright honey; he's just hungry and tired. Let's go inside and get acquainted." Gil offered.

  "Thanks mister…ma'am." He nodded at them.

  Gil walked beside the man, trying to figure out what a stranger was doing in these parts, obviously without a horse and not knowing where he was going.

  In the cabin Callie cooked them supper and sat down on an old keg at the table beside Gil to listen to Demus and his story.

  "This is good, real good." Demus smiled at them.

  "My wife's a good cook, isn't she?" Gil asked, not daring to glance at Callie to deny it.

  "Right good, I'd say. Haven't had gravy like this in a long time." Demus smiled.

  "Tell me Demus, how come you're out in the woods alone, with no horse." Gil asked, twisting his head in question. He obviously didn't feel threatened for he left his gun by the door.

  "It do look funny, don't it?" Demus smiled. "Well, I guess I could tell you that I'm lost, my horse throwed me, or I took a wrong turn. But the truth is…I've escaped from the county jail."

  He said it so matter-of-factly that Gil couldn't do anything but shake his head.

  "Is this some kind of joke?" Gil asked.

  "No sir. I was supposed to hang the other day. Well, they took me up the stairs to hang me, but when they pulled the trigger for the rope, it broke. I guess I was too heavy for it. They took me back to jail to figure out what to do with me. I ain't sure they could hang a man twice for the same thing. But they were trying to figure out a way. So I figured out a way to escape, and here I am. Bold as brass I guess."

  He saw the alarm on their faces and he laughed. "You got nothing to worry over. I didn't kill nobody."

  Gil still couldn't believe it.

  "Now you gonna lock me up and find the Sheriff?" He asked.

  Gil shook his head. "No, I'd like to hear more…"

  Callie was staring at the both of them, stunned.

  Demus took one look at her and smiled. "No need for you to worry ma'am. I am innocent. I didn't kill nobody. They just caught me with the gun in my hands and thought I had. I just couldn't stay around and let them think I could kill someone like that."

  "Who did they think you killed?"

  "A mister Dugan and his daughter. But I just stumbled onto them, like I have you. I was hu
ngry, hot, and tired and I stopped to rest. I saw the place and the smoke coming from the chimney and thought maybe that they could spare me some food. So I knocked on the door, but nobody answered. I opened it and called out, still nobody answered. So I went in, and that's when I found them. They weren't alive though when I got there. They was already dead. And the foreman too."

  "Oh my God!" Callie put her hand over her mouth. Tears flooded down her cheeks. "You killed them?" She shrieked.

  "No…ma'am. Like I said, they was already dead when I got there. There was a gun on the floor, I picked it up and I was holding it when these men walked in and arrested me. They didn't even bother to ask my name or why I done it or anything. They just slung them cuffs on my wrists and threw me up against a wall and told me I was going to hang tomorrow."

  "What kind of gun?" Gil asked.

  "Six shooter, a colt with a white handle."

  "Joe's?" Callie shrieked.

  "Joe? Who is Joe?" Demus asked them.

  "He's the one that killed them, I guess." Gil shook his head. "It looks as though you've been at the wrong place at the wrong time."

  "Y-You know who killed them?" Demus asked his eyes widening is surprise.

  "We know." Gil answered. "We can't be sure which one did the actual shooting, but we know…"

  "Then will you go back with me and straighten this out? Because I got a wife and four kids to feed at home and at this rate, I'll never get back to them. And they needs me."

  Gil shook his head at the man. "I'm sorry, we can't. This is a line shack, and we are hiding out here. You are welcome to stay here, but…I got to warn you if you do, it could get mighty hot in here any time now. You see the same man that committed that murder, is after us."

  Demus looked from one to the other. "I couldn't be that unlucky…twice."

  "It's the truth. However, you have a choice, stay here and see this through with us, and maybe we can clear your name. But you leave, we can't do anything for you, but you will be alive…It's your choice."

  "How many are we talking about?" Demus asked.

  "Four or five." Gil said.

  "Then I'll stay, if you got a rifle for me."

  "I got one." Gil assured him.

  "Then I'll stay. And you'll talk to the law for me?" Demus asked.

  "I sure will Demus. Be glad to."

  Callie had been so busy listening to his story she hadn't had time to assimilate what it all meant. However, as it settled on her mind, she began to cry.

  Gil took her in his arms.

  Demus studied them a minute. "You knew the man and girl that was killed?"

  "Yeah, we did. Good people."

  "I'm sorry I carried such bad news for you then. But it's the truth. This just happened two days ago. Two days is all it took. Two days, and I was arrested, sent to a court and sentenced to hang the same day. They wanted my neck stretched bad. It was either that or let the townsfolk hang me. But you can clear my name?"

  "Yes, I can." Gil nodded and took Callie to the bed where he laid her down. He tried to reassure her.

  "So many…killed, because of me?" She asked.

  "No honey, not because of you. When they found Mr. Boggs dead, they had to assume that Dugan could have shot him. For trespassing if nothing else. So obviously, they went after him. That's all there was to it."

  "And they killed Sally?" She cried, hiding her face in the pillow. "Why her? She's an innocent."

  "I don't begin to understand why one man kills another, let alone a woman. But it happens. Maybe she was trying to protect her father." Gil furnished some explanation to calm her down.

  "That sounds like something Sally would do. She adored her father."

  Demus got up and came toward them; he stooped over the bed and shook his head. "No…not exactly, she was dead alright, but it looked as though she fell on the fireplace and hit her head. That's what killed her."

  "And the foreman?" Gil frowned.

  "Yes sir. He was on the back porch slumped against the doorframe. He'd been shot."

  "My God…" Gil was as stunned as Callie was. "Where did the Sheriff take you?"

  "To Pecos…"

  "How did they know about what happened there?"

  "From what I heard, some cowhand that worked on the Dugan place came riding up to tell the Sheriff, said the Sheriff over in Hard Knocks wasn't there and that he'd have to take care of it himself. So he did. He took it to the law in Pecos. That Sheriff proceeded to ride out there and check the story out. That's when they found me starin' at the bodies like some fool. I heard all of this later after they arrested me. I didn't understand why they arrested me at the time, but I'm a black man, and you don't ask questions when the law comes to take you away. You understand. But sittin' in that jail cell, I heard me plenty."

  Gil had so many questions, but he didn't want to upset Demus. He'd be patient and find out as much as he could about everything slowly. Meantime he had to console Callie. Somehow.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Back in Hard Knocks Sam enjoyed learning how a café was actually run. Each place he'd been the last few days had taught him something. He'd learned from the bottom up of course and under the protective eye of Jo or Mr. Phelps.

  He washed dishes. He cut up vegetables for Jo, and washed them. He even set out plates on the tables with knives and forks before Jo opened the café.

  Then as Jo tended to everyone outside in the dining area, he added up receipts for her and kept a sum for her.

  Sam had no time to worry about things, and all the bad things faded from his memories, he was so engrossed in helping Miss Jo. Somehow, he shut out the worry over Callie, assuring himself that Gil would take care of her.

  At the end of the first day, Jo was smiling because he was still doing sums for her and just as eager as though he'd just started.

  "You do a pretty big business, don't you Miss Jo?" Sam asked.

  "It's reasonable I guess." Jo smiled.

  "How come you aren't married?" Sam asked out of the blue.

  "Well, that isn't a proper question to ask a lady Sam, but I will tell you. I may soon find myself married, if I don't watch it."

  "Really, is it Sheriff Lou?" Sam asked.

  Blushing Jo twisted her head, "How did you know?"

  "I see the way he looks at you. But why did you wait so long?" Sam asked.

  "Well, when you are older, I guess it takes a while to work things out the way you want them to. It hasn't happened yet. So don't go spreading it around, alright?"

  "I wouldn't. My sister Callie, I think she's sweet on Gil. And I know he's sweet on her. I think they will get married. When everything gets straightened out." Sam said wisely.

  "You see a lot for a young man your age." Jo noted. "But only time itself will tell."

  "I hope Callie and Gil do get married. He'd be good to her and I wouldn't have to worry about her so much." Sam said.

  "You worry about her?"

  "Oh sure. I mean…Callie is one of those people you have to worry about. She does things, without consequence to herself and then she's in trouble. You see, the best I can figure is, she wants to help the world. If someone is sick, she goes to them right away to help. She doesn't think about risks or anything like being careful. She just goes. If someone needs help, she'll give them anything she has to help them. Like my Ma used to be. But…a girl can get all confused about things because of it. You know I have heard the rumors that people have spread that she's Joe Boggs girl. But they aren't true. She only went over to their house all the time for Mrs. Boggs sake. They were friends. Good friends. And Mrs. Boggs, she helped Callie become a woman. Callie needed that on an account of she had no Ma or anyone else to guide her. So I never really minded her going over, only, Joe…he's mean and rough and he scares me a little. I'm afraid for her because of him."

  Jo came up to Sam, and put a hand on his arm. "Don't you fret. Everything is going to work out fine. You must trust in the Lord, Sam."

  "Yes ma'am. I been doin' that for
a lot of years now. Since we don't go to church anymore, I just sort of talk to him every now and then myself. Makes me feel better, you know."

  "Yes Sam, I know."

  "Do you think Lou and Gil will catch Joe and his gang?"

  "I know they will." Jo nodded.

  "When it's all over I guess me and Callie will go home. But…this has given me a chance to see a lot of different things. Things I wouldn't know anything about if all this hadn't happened."

  "When you got to town with the money, and you couldn't find Lou, what did you do?"

  "I saw Walter Cobb come to the Sheriff's office, and I talked to him, but you know, there's just something I don't like about him. I don't trust him. So I took the money to Mr. Phelps myself at the bank. He was sure glad to get it all back too. He let me help around the bank some and took me home and I spent the night with him. They are good people."

  "You were wise. And you know." Jo looked at him for a minute. "I don't trust Walter either…"

  Sam smiled.

  "Mr. Phelps offered me a job any time over at the bank, because I brought the money to him, and then he let me work around there, in the back rooms. He said he trusted me. And that in his business that was important. Then you showed me stuff here. I wouldn't have ever gotten to do these things if all this hadn't happened. It's given me a lot to think about. It gives me some options. You see, I'm getting old enough to work now and I want to pull my weight. Callie's been taking care of us for so long. Now I want to help. I'll be taking on a job before long." Sam decided.

  "Well you are a very enterprising young man." Jo smiled.

  "Thanks." Sam smiled. "Can we eat; I'm getting pretty tired now."

  "Sure, let's have some stew." Jo encouraged.

  "Sounds great. You make the best stew." Sam laughed.

  Suddenly the bell on the café rang out front and Jo cautioned Sam to stay in the back. Precious growled in his throat, but Sam shushed him. But when Jo went out front, he cracked the door.

  It was Harley, and he had a gun pulled. Sam's eyes widened with fear. He didn't know what to do, and Miss Jo was in trouble.