by John Hansen
At the cabin, things had taken a turn for the worse for Josh and Lester. The cabin had windows on the east, west, and north sides, with the south side being the only blind side. And so with some harassing fire from Hollis on the east side where the door was and on the north occasionally, he was able to keep Josh and Lester confined to the cabin while Jake built a large fire against the south wall of the cabin. It wasn’t long after this fire was rolling up flame lengths of eight to ten feet and the logs of the cabin’s back wall were clearly on fire that Jake decided to add the final touches to his pyrotechnic handiwork. He had to skirt wide of the cabin out of view in the trees to where they had tied their horses. In his saddlebag he had a long-neck whiskey bottle that contained moonshine that would burn a blue flame. It made for a powerful good drunk and he really hated to part with it, but he reckoned it was for a good cause. And so after he had maneuvered back around to the south side of the cabin, he tore a piece of his shirt off and soaked it with some of the shine. He then inserted it into the mouth of the bottle. After making eye contact with Hollis and a few hand signals, Jake then touched the wick in the bottle to the flames at the back of the cabin, and then staying as close as he could to the east wall, he ran forward while Hollis provided cover fire and hurled the flaming bottle through the window. It apparently hit the stove as breaking glass could be heard, and then frantic shouts from Josh and Lester.
“Hey Tex, can ya hear me?” shouted Hollis.
Josh and Lester were working frantically to smother the flames created by the moonshine torch. Between that morning’s leftover coffee and a blanket, they were able to douse most of the flames but the larger problem, the back wall and now part of the roof, was a lost cause. Maybe it was time to bargain with Hollis. And so Josh said: “Waddaya want, Hollis?”
“Things ain’t lookin’ too good for ya. Thought maybe we could strike a deal.”
Josh knew that Hollis was totally untrustworthy, but he had no choice but to play along. “How’s that?” hollered Josh.
“Simple,” shouted Hollis. “You and the old man come on out. You tell me where the gold is that you stole from Leroy and Edgar and I’ll let all of ya ride outa here.”
Josh knew that would never happen, but they couldn’t stay in the cabin much longer. The smoke was so thick that both he and Lester had dropped to the floor to breathe the air there. It wouldn’t be long until the flames would become a factor. His best bet was to try and leverage some advantage from the fact that Hollis still believed that he knew where Seth’s gold was. To come out guns ablazing against two well-concealed shooters would likely get him and Lester killed. Sarah, he hoped, would be able to escape out the tunnel. Josh looked over at Lester, who lay face down on the cabin floor across the room. He had a bandana tied around his face, as did Josh, to help filter the smoke from his nose and mouth.
“Whaddaya think, Lester?” Lester’s eyes were telling; as might be expected there was anger and frustration radiating from them. “I can spit farther than I’d trust either of them two vermin,” he said spitefully, “but I don’t see as where we got much choice. The sonsabitches pretty much got us.”
“I reckon you’re right,” said Josh bitterly. “Ya’ll ready?”
“Yeah, let’s do it,” replied Lester. “Least I won’t die like some damned fricasseed squirrel.”
Josh nodded at Lester and then he got to his knees. “Hey, Hollis,” he shouted.
“Yeah.”
“We’re comin’ out.”
“Throw your guns out first and then come out with your hands up,” commanded Hollis.
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” shouted Josh.
“It is now,” interjected Jake. “We ain’t stupid.”
Josh had assumed that Hollis would demand that they come out unarmed, but he figured it was worth a try to keep their weapons. He knew it was pointless to argue with him, especially with time not being on his side. Josh looked over at Lester. He was getting to his feet. Josh did the same and moved to the door. “Alright, Hollis,” he shouted as he opened the door about a foot. “We’ll do it your way,” and then Josh tossed out his rifle followed by his pistol.
Hollis and Jake watched the guns land in the dirt about twenty feet in front of the cabin. Both of them had nervous smiles on their faces but they were smug, almost joyful, in getting the upper hand on Josh and Lester. “That’s good, Tex,” shouted Hollis, “now come on out with your hands in the air, and no sudden moves or I’ll shoot your ass deader ‘n’ a skunk in a trash heap.”
Josh pushed the cabin door open and then slowly stepped outside. He was perfectly framed in the doorway and he half expected for them to shoot him down, but instead Hollis yelled: “Alright, step to the side and let’s have the old man toss his guns out.”
There was a long pause and then finally Lester’s guns came tumbling through the air and landed in the pine needles and dirt beyond Josh. Hollis and Jake remained partially concealed, one behind a big rock and the other behind a tree, until Lester stepped from the cabin. Not until then did they step into plain view and begin walking towards Josh and Lester with their rifles trained upon them. Both of them wore cruel expressions.
“I don’t like the looks of this,” said Lester to Josh in a low voice.
“Me neither,” said Josh quietly. And then he shouted at Hollis: “Remember, Hollis, a deal is a deal.”
“Ya know, Tex,” said Hollis, who was now within about twenty feet of Josh and Lester. “I kinda figured on the way up here that ya was tellin’ me the straight of it about Leroy and Edgar’s gold. But I thought I’d set you and Edgar down together and compare stories whilst I was lookin’ ya both in the face just to be sure, but you had to go and kill Edgar so that ain’t an option anymore. So, to tell ya the truth I just ain’t got much use for either you or the old man.”
“I believe they aim to kill us,” said Lester glancing over at Josh.
Hollis and Jake both laughed. “You catch on pretty fast,” said Jake. “So which one of ya wants to go first?”
The roar of Lester’s old twelve-gauge caught them all by surprise, but probably Jake most of all as its mass of buckshot hit him in the belly and nearly cut him in two. Peripherally, Hollis saw the smoke coming from the branches of a juniper tree about forty feet to his right. Instinctively, he turned in this direction and fired his Sharps rifle from the hip. He was in the process of levering in a second round when the shotgun roared again and he was slammed to the ground by a load of buckshot in his chest.
Josh and Lester looked at one another as if lightning had struck in their midst. Their sense of relief was nearly overwhelming, but paled in comparison to the emotions that Sarah was feeling at having just killed two men. Josh and Lester were nearly to the juniper tree when Sarah emerged from behind it. She was crying quietly but her whole body seemed to be trembling. Josh gently took the shotgun from her and handed it to Lester. Sarah collapsed against Josh’s chest and Josh put his arms around her. They all stood there in silence for a moment and then Josh said: “It’ll get better in time.”
Sarah didn’t move from Josh’s embrace. “Right now I just need for you to hold me.”
“I’m gonna go look for Rufus,” said Lester sadly.
Josh nodded as Lester turned and slowly walked away. Sarah continued to cry quietly, her head resting against Josh’s chest, not wanting to look beyond him and at the grotesqueness of the two dead men sprawled in the dirt. The image of the two men was bad enough, but knowing that she was responsible for it made it almost unbearable. She felt as if her mind was about to explode with the revulsion of it. And then, as if God knew that they’d all been put to the test that day and were in need of an emotional lift, one was provided: it was the unmistakable bark of Rufus. Sarah stepped back from Josh and turned uphill. Rufus was limping from a wound on his left front shoulder, but he was wagging his tail and making his way towards them. Instantly, Josh hollered for Lester as he and Sarah rushed towards Rufus. It was a joyful reunion with lots of li
cks, tail wagging, and pets. As they all sat on the ground near Rufus, they were now enveloped by the smoke from the burning cabin. It occurred to Josh that the wickedness of Bear Creek had finally come home to roost with the deaths of Hollis and his deputies. But for him the country around there would always be tainted by everything that had gone on. He’d done what he could to avenge Seth’s death; it was time to move on. He had one last obligation, and that was to turn in his badge to Judge Higgins.
Chapter Twenty-Six
They were a banged-up bunch, both physically and mentally, but they had one another. And so the little caravan set out about midmorning the next day from Lester’s still smoldering cabin, with Josh riding Thunder and Lester driving his team of mules pulling the freight wagon. Sarah rode her horse and Rufus lay on the wagon seat next to Lester. The preceding night had been one of mixed emotions for all of them. Josh felt responsible for everything that had happened. If it hadn’t been for him, Hollis and his men would never have come to Lester’s. The scene there now would be one of peace and quiet instead of the smoke that still hung in the air and the pall of death that lingered over the fresh graves. It was a place that would never be the same, not even in memory; violence and wickedness had a way of doing that—destroying good memories. It was time to move on in search of a place where good memories would last.
It was shaping up to be a hot day. For some time now they had moved along at a pace that was comfortable for the mules and pretty much in silence, each of them processing yesterday’s events in their own way. Josh and Sarah were riding next to one another and within easy shouting distance of Lester and Rufus, who were directly in front of them. Josh could see the troubled look on Sarah’s face. He knew what was on her mind. They’d talked well into the night before falling asleep in one another’s arms. But things like this weighed heavy on a person’s mind, and the only solace to be had was that over time, the load would get lighter. On the front end of this process, however, there was little comfort, and so Sarah said pretty much out of the blue: “You know, Josh, since coming to this godforsaken place I’ve had to sell my body just to be able to eat and have a roof over my head. And now I’ve had to kill two men to save the people that I care most about in this world. It doesn’t seem fair.”
Josh had mostly exhausted all of his “make-it-better words” last night. But in the past he had been where Sarah was at, and so at the risk of plowing the same ground, he said: “Sarah, you came to this Bear Creek country when it was just flat out a bad place to be. The both of us did. And like it or not, if you’re gonna be a survivor you’re gonna have to do some unpleasant things. The way I look at it, you’ve had more ‘n’ your share a muddy water comin’ down the crik, but I got a feeling it’s gonna clear up for ya’ll.” Josh paused and looking directly into her eyes, he winked at her and said: “We’ll just make it happen.”
Josh’s words brought a slight smile to Sarah’s face. “I hope you’re right,” she said.
“If I was a bettin’ man, I’d put money on it,” replied Josh. And then he extended his left hand to Sarah. She grasped it with her right, and for a moment they held hands before Josh squeezed her hand and said: “I’ll be back in a minute. I need to talk to Lester.” And with that Josh prodded Thunder into a trot and caught up with Lester.
“Hey, Lester, how ya farin’?” said Josh as he reined Thunder to a walk alongside the wagon.
“Well sir, I’d be doin’ a mite better if the damned badgers would quit diggin’ holes in the road.”
Josh laughed politely and then said, “Yes sir, they appear to be workin’ Sundays on that job.”
Lester leaned forward and spit a stream of tobacco juice down in front of the wagon and behind the mules. Some of the juice splattered on the wagon’s tongue on top of tobacco stains from past trips. Sensing that Josh wanted to talk, Lester said: “What’s on your mind?”
“Well, I been thinkin’ ‘bout something that Ma there at the café in town told me about that Edgar fella. She said he come into the café early one morning with charcoal smudges all over and smellin’ like smoke. This woulda been back about the time he lit out with the gold from Seth’s claim. She never told me this until just a coupla nights past when she helped me bust outa Hollis’ caboose.”
“OK, so you’re thinkin’ he went to where there’d been a fire,” interjected Lester.
“Yes sir, I am,” replied Josh.
“That could be a lotta places,”
“It could,” said Josh, “but I’m thinkin’ I may have it narrowed down to one.”
“How so?”
“Well sir, based on what Ma told me, after his run-in with me, Edgar must have hightailed it straight back to Bear Creek to get protection from Hollis. And if ya think about it, there’s an old lightning strike up that little no-name draw about two miles outside of town. It kinda makes sense that Edgar could’ve gone up there to hide the gold on his way back to town. He then lies to Hollis about me takin’ the gold so he doesn’t have to split it with him. He probably figured that if he got Hollis to take care of me, that he could go back and work the claim and never have to share this little nest egg that he stashed.”
Lester moved the reins of the mules to one side and spit another stream of tobacco juice. “You might be on to something,” he said. “I know the burn you’re talkin’ ‘bout. Lightning started it last summer but then a hard rain come and put it out. It ain’t no bigger than your average-size garden. Ya thinkin’ a pokin’ around in it?”
“I reckon it couldn’t hurt none,” replied Josh.
“Alridey then, we’ll just do that,” said Lester.
It was going on five o’clock in the afternoon when they came to the no-name draw. It was only a few hundred yards off of the road. As they proceeded to the burn, Josh’s confidence that this was a wise decision soared. There in the soft soil were the hoofprints of a horse that appeared to have lost a shoe, just as Edgar’s had. The trio continued on, following the tracks to a burned tree where the horse had apparently been tied. From there the boot tracks in the soft ash led them to the big hollowed-out ponderosa lying on its side. Josh couldn’t help but smile. Edgar had left a trail that a blind man could follow. It didn’t make any sense, but then thinking back on that day when Edgar had made good his escape from Seth’s claim and the amount of time that it would’ve taken him to get to this burn, it would’ve been close to dark when he got here. Couple that with the fact that Edgar had decided to double-cross Hollis and that he was probably looking over his shoulder, wondering when the deputy marshal was going to catch up, he was most likely not paying attention in the growing darkness to the obvious nature of the tracks that he was leaving. He no doubt wanted to stash the gold as quickly as possible and get into Bear Creek and the protection of Hollis. Add the darkness to Edgar’s fear and it became more logical to Josh how Edgar had done such a foolish thing. And so it wasn’t long after getting a fairly liberal coating of charcoal that Josh had the saddlebags with the gold in hand. As he looked down at the gold, there was no joy—if anything he felt sadness, but relief too. He could now leave this Bear Creek country knowing that he had avenged his friend’s death. The gold seemed inconsequential given the fact that it had come with such a heavy price. Josh would get a check for it and send it to Seth’s parents. It would in no way make up for the loss of their son. There was nothing that could do that, but they would hopefully have memories of better times and be able to take solace in those. That’s generally all the living ever had. Josh’s debt to Seth for having saved his life was paid in full. He could now move on to that ranch in the Salmon River country with a good woman and a new friend.
