Matt Jensen, The Last Mountain Man

by William W. Johnstone

  “Doesn’t look to me as if I have any choice, unless you want to start treating a bunch of kids for gunshot wounds,” Matt said. “And he might even kill the next one.”

  The doctor sighed. “You are right,” he said. “I guess you’ve got to do it.”

  Matt smiled. “I was sort of hoping someone would talk me out of it,” he said in an attempt at a joke. No one laughed.

  Matt looked back at Cole. “Any of your family still at the school?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir, my sister is,” Cole answered.

  “I hope your sister knows what a brave young man you are,” Matt said.

  Matt pushed through the batwing doors and walked outside. He started up the street toward the school, which was at the far end of the street from the saloon.

  As soon as Matt left the saloon, several other patrons left as well, and they started running up the boardwalks along either side of the street, spreading the word.

  “There’s going to be a shoot-out!”

  “Boone has called Matt Jensen out!”

  “Boone and Jensen are meetin’ head to head!”

  The crowd of onlookers grew larger as Matt walked toward the school, though the spectators were all very careful to stay well back from the street.

  “Boone!” Matt shouted. “Angus Boone!”

  All eyes were on the school building at the far end of the street.

  “Boone, it’s Matt Jensen. You asked for me. Here I am!”

  The front door of the schoolhouse opened, and Boone stepped out onto the front stoop. He stood there for a moment, then started walking toward Matt.

  “Well,” Boone said. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Jensen. I didn’t think you would face me.”

  “You were shooting kids,” Matt replied. “I didn’t have much choice.”

  Boone chuckled. “Yeah, I thought that might get your attention.”

  “I have a question,” Matt said.

  “Go ahead and ask,” Boone replied. “I wouldn’t want to see a man die without getting his curiosity satisfied.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why are you calling me out?” Matt asked. “Surely you aren’t just trying to satisfy yourself that you are faster than I am.”

  “That question never crossed my mind,” Boone replied. “I know I’m faster than you.”

  “Then why this?”

  “You are looking for a man named Clyde Payson, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Mr. Payson is paying me one thousand dollars to make sure you go away.”

  Matt whistled. “A thousand dollars?”

  “A thousand dollars,” Boone said.

  “That’s a lot of money. He must be running scared.”

  “I reckon you could say that he is running scared,” Boone said. “You seem pretty determined to kill him. And from what I’ve heard, you have already taken care of several people he has sent out to stop you.”

  “That’s right.”

  “And to think that it’s all going to come to an end right here on Front Street in the little town of Salcedo,” Boone said.

  Matt had been watching Boone very closely, all the while monitoring half-a-dozen different things: the tone of his voice, the rhythm of his breathing, the look in his eyes, and the set of his shoulders. As a result, he was aware the instant Boone started his draw.

  Matt started his draw at the same instant, and he had his pistol out and the hammer back by the time Boone had his own gun out. Matt pulled the trigger an instant before Boone, hitting Boone in the chest as Boone pulled the trigger on his gun.

  Boone’s shot went into the dirt. He tried to raise his gun hand for a second shot, but suddenly found that his arm weighed several hundred pounds. He dropped his gun into the dirt, slapped both hands over the wound, then sank to his knees.

  “Who would have believed it?” he said aloud. He coughed, and his lips were spattered with blood. “Who would have . . . ?” He fell forward, facedown, into the street.

  “Son of a bitch!” someone said loudly. “Did you see that? Son of a bitch!”

  Matt stood over Boone’s body for a long moment, making certain that he was dead, then kicking Boone’s gun away. He returned his pistol to his holster and walked back to the saloon, trailed by half the town. He was followed into the saloon as well; then the tension broke as everyone started shouting at once, ordering drinks and giving eyewitness reports on what they had seen to other eyewitnesses who had seen the same thing.

  “Where’s the boy?” Matt asked the bartender. “Where’s Cole?”

  “The doc took him home,” the bartender replied.

  “Is he going to be all right?”

  “The doc said he thought he would be.”

  “Good.”

  “I didn’t think you could do it,” the bartender said. “I seen it all through the window. I sure didn’t think you could do it.”

  The bartender put a beer in front of Matt. “It’s on the house,” he said.

  “Thanks,” Matt said, lifting the beer to his lips.

  “Dolores Mountains,” the bartender said.

  “What?”

  “You’re lookin’ for Clyde Payson?”

  “Yes.”

  “He has a cabin up in the Dolores Mountains, about ten miles east of here. Just follow Disappointment Creek until it ends. His cabin is the only one there.”

  “You are sure he’s there?”

  The bartender nodded. “Yes, I’m sure,” he said. “He and Garvey hired our bouncer as a bodyguard.”

  “A bodyguard?”

  “Yes. He has two bodyguards actually. Ben, who worked here as a bouncer, and a fella by the name of Elmer Gleeson. Gleeson used to be a deputy sheriff till he got hisself fired for stealin’.”

  “Gleeson sounds like Payson’s kind of man,” Matt said.

  “Yeah, well, Ben ain’t no better. I fired Ben for stealin’ from drunks.”

  “I appreciate you telling me where to find him,” Matt said.

  “If I hadn’t seen the way you handled Boone, I never would’ve told you. But I figure you might just be the kind who could handle Payson and his bodyguards. And if it turns out that you can’t, well, just don’t let him find out I’m the one who told you.”

  “He won’t find out,” Matt promised.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Ben Rogers and Elmer Gleeson were standing at the last bend in the creek when they saw the rider approaching.

  “Who’s that comin’?” Gleeson asked, cocking the rifle and lifting it to his shoulder.

  “No, no, hold your fire,” Ben said. “That’s Lew. He’s bringin’ us provisions.”

  Gleeson nodded and lowered his rifle. They watched Lew as he rode in. He nodded to them, then proceeded on up to the little cabin that was some fifty yards back from where the lookouts were stationed.

  Garvey opened the door to the cabin and let Lew in. Payson was lying on one of the bunks with his hands laced behind his head.

  “Did you bring whiskey and vittles?” Payson asked.

  “Yeah, it’s all in this rucksack,” Lew said.

  “How much?”

  “Twenty dollars?”

  “Twenty dollars?” Payson said angrily, sitting up quickly. “What do you mean twenty dollars? You can’t have more’n five dollars worth of goods in that sack.”

  “Five dollars in town, twenty dollars out here,” Lew said.

  “When this is all over, there’s goin’ to be some settlin’ up done,” Payson said. “You understand me? There’s goin’ to be some settlin’ up.”

  “Yeah, I understand you,” Lew said.

  “What’s happenin’ with Boone and Jensen?” Payson asked. “Have you heard anything?”

  “ No.”

  “You will soon,” Payson said.

  “And once Boone kills Jensen, we’ll be taking care of people who tried to cheat us,” Garvey said, glaring at Lew.

  “You want the vittles and
whiskey or not?” Lew asked.

  “I asked you to bring ’em out here, didn’t I?”

  “Twenty dollars,” Lew said again.

  “Give him twenty dollars, Garvey,” Payson said.

  “We ain’t got hardly any money left,” Garvey complained.

  “Give him twenty dollars,” Payson said again. “Right now, we got no other choice.” He pointed to Lew. “I will remember this,” he said.

  Lew took the twenty dollars, then remounted and started out of the little valley. Ben and Gleeson waved at him as he passed, and he stopped to speak to them.

  “You boys here protecting Payson, are you?” he asked.

  “No, we’re just out here fishing,” Ben answered, and Gleeson chuckled.

  “Well, you can tease if you like, but I’d sure as hell never put my life on the line for any son of a bitch like Payson.”

  “Ha! We’re just here to collect the money is all,” Gleeson said. “Haven’t you heard? Boone is goin’ after this Matt Jensen fella. Once Boone gets done with him, our job will be over.”

  “Once Boone gets done with him, huh?” Lew said. He laughed.

  “What is it? What are you laughing about?”

  “Matt Jensen killed Boone in a shoot-out this morning.”

  “What? Impossible! I don’t believe it. Who told you that?”

  “Nobody told me,” Lew said. “I seen it myself. They faced each other on the street, Boone went for his gun first, and Jensen still beat him. Killed him with one shot.”

  “What the hell? What kind of man is this Matt Jensen?” Ben asked.

  “He’s not the kind you want to mess with,” Lew said. “Especially for some son of a bitch like Payson.”

  “You know what, Gleeson, he’s right,” Ben said. “What are we doing out here?”

  “We can’t leave now, we haven’t been paid yet,” Gleeson replied.

  “What good is the money going to do us if we’re dead?” Ben asked. “And even if he don’t kill us, he’ll kill Payson. How are we going to collect from a dead man?”

  Gleeson looked back toward the cabin, then over toward the horses. He nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  From his position on a hill, looking down at the head of Disappointment Creek, Matt watched the brief confab between Lew, Ben, and Gleeson. Then he saw Ben and Gleeson go over to their horses, mount them, and ride away with Lew. That left the cabin undefended, except for whoever was inside.

  “Jerky and hardtack,” Garvey complained. “We paid twenty dollars for jerky and hardtack.”

  “It’ll keep us from starvin’ to death,” Payson said. “And we won’t have to be here much longer. I figure Boone is going to kill Jensen pretty soon now; then it’ll all be over.”

  “What if Jensen kills Boone?”

  Payson laughed. “Are you joking? There’s not a man alive who could kill Boone.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s good for us now,” Garvey said. “But what are we going to do when Boone comes after us wantin’ his thousand dollars?”

  “I’ve got a thousand dollars,” Payson said.

  “What? Where did you get a thousand dollars?”

  “You remember the bank we robbed back in Cedar Creek?”

  “Yes, of course I remember.”

  “I held a thousand dollars back from the split.”

  “What? You mean you cheated the rest of us?” Garvey said angrily.

  “Hold on, hold on there!” Payson said, holding up his hand. “I held it back for an emergency,” he said. “This is an emergency. If I didn’t have the money, Boone would kill us both.”

  Garvey paused for a moment, then he nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “Damn right I’m right.” Payson took a strip of jerky, then cut it lengthwise into two pieces. “Take this out to Ben and Gleeson.”

  Nodding, Garvey took the two strips of dried meat, then started up the creek bank toward the bend where the two guards had been posted. When he didn’t find them where he expected them to be, he looked around for a moment, then called out to them.

  “Ben! Gleeson! I’ve got your lunch here!” he shouted. “Ben! Gleeson! Where are you? Why aren’t you where you are supposed to be?”

  “They’ve run out on you, Garvey!” Matt called.

  “What? Who’s there?”

  Matt stood up on the rock, then looked down at Garvey.

  “You know who I am,” Matt said. “I’ve changed a little since the last time you saw me, but you know who I am.”

  “No!” Garvey shouted in terror. He turned and started running back toward the cabin. “He’s here! He’s here!” he shouted. “Payson, he’s here! Matt Jensen is here!”

  Matt climbed down from the hill, then walked, almost casually, toward the cabin. He heard the glass break, then saw a rifle stick out through the window. The rifle barked, and a bullet whizzed by. Matt jumped down behind a rock outcropping.

  Matt fired at the cabin a couple of times. Then he followed a ravine that took him around behind the cabin. He heard periodic firing coming from the cabin, and realized that they were still shooting at the rock where he had been.

  When he reached the back of the cabin, he crept up to the back door. There were no windows back here, so he knew he couldn’t be seen.

  “What happened to the son of a bitch?” he heard one voice ask. “Where did he go?”

  “He’s still behind that rock,” the other voice answered.

  “How come he ain’t showed hisself?”

  “He’s waitin’ for us.”

  “Yeah? Well, the son of a bitch can wait till hell freezes over. We got enough vittles and water to wait him out.”

  “We just goin’ to stay here?”

  “You want to go out, you go out. I’m just going to stay here. Hell, there’s two of us, and only one of him. We can take turns sleeping, he can’t. We got the advantage.”

  “Yeah,” the other voice said. “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll just wait him out.”

  Matt jumped up to grab the eaves that protruded just over the door. Then, using them as the pivot point, he swung out, then back in, bending his legs at the knees as he did so. He thrust his legs forward, and kicked the door open.

  “What the hell!” Payson shouted, turning around.

  “Drop it!” Matt said, pointing his gun at the two men. “Both of you!”

  Payson dropped his gun and Garvey followed suit.

  “Now what?” Payson asked. “Are you going to shoot us?”

  “I had planned on it,” Matt replied. “But shooting you is too good for you. I think I’d rather take you back and watch you hang.”

  “It’s a long way back,” Payson said. “Do you expect us to just go along quietly?”

  “Whether you go quietly or not, it makes no difference to me,” Matt said.

  “It makes no difference, huh?” Payson said. “Well, maybe there’s something you haven’t thought about. You’ve got to sleep sometime. What makes you think we won’t run away?”

  “Good question,” Matt said.

  Suddenly, and totally unexpectedly, Matt fired two shots, hitting each man in the knee. They cried out in shock and pain, and started hobbling around.

  “You crazy sonofabitch, you shot us in the knee!” Payson said.

  “Yeah, I did,” Matt answered calmly. “Let’s get going now.”

  County Courthouse, Cedar Creek, Colorado

  “Here ye, hear ye, hear ye! The sentencing is about to be announced. All rise for the Honorable Felix J. Crane, pre-sidin’,” the bailiff shouted. “Everybody stand respectful.”

  The Honorable Felix J. Crane came out of a back room. After taking his seat at the bench, he adjusted the glasses on the end of his nose, then cleared his throat.

  “Would the bailiff please bring the accused before the bench?”

  The bailiff, who was leaning against the side wall, spat a quid of tobacco into the brass spittoon, then walk
ed over to the table where the defendants, Clyde Payson and Garvey Laird, sat next to their court-appointed lawyer.

  “Get up, you two,” he growled. “Present yourself before the judge.”

  Payson and Garvey were handcuffed, and had shackles on their ankles. They limped up to stand, as best they could on busted knees, in front of the judge.

  “You two have been tried by a jury of your peers, and found guilty of the murders of Miss Margaret Miller, a beloved teacher of our children, as well as little Holly McGee, one of her students. For these two murders, you are sentenced to hang by your neck until you are dead,” Judge Crane said. He cleared his throat, then looked over at Matt Jensen, who was present in the courtroom.

  “Mr. Jensen, I regret that we could not find these two despicable creatures guilty of the murder of your family. While I have no doubt as to your veracity, the court has only your account of the incident, and that account is your memory from when you were nine years old. However, though we could not find them guilty for that particular crime, I hope you can find some comfort in knowing that these two men will hang. And they will hang because you have brought them to justice.”

  “I am satisfied, Your Honor,” Matt said. He looked at Payson and Garvey. “You two will be dead,” he said. “And dead is dead.”

  “You go to hell, Matt Jensen!” Payson shouted. “Do you hear me? You go to hell!”

  “Silence that man!” Judge Crane said, banging his gavel.

  The bailiff signaled two deputies, and they stepped up quickly to gag Payson.

  “It is interesting that you would mention hell, Mr. Payson,” Judge Crane said. “Because, although I do not have the power to sentence you to hell, I will soon be passing you on to a higher judge who does have that power. And there is no doubt in my mind but that you will suffer eternal torment for the misery you have caused others during your stay on earth.

  “This court is adjourned.”

  As Matt rode away from Cedar Creek, he felt a sense of closing the book on the part of his life that he had shared with his mother, father, and sister.

  “Pa,” he said, speaking aloud. “I hope you know that I meant no disrespect to you by droppin’ your name and takin’ up the name of Jensen. Finding the son of a bitch that killed you, Ma, and Cassie gives me some rest now, and I hope it does for you as well.”