The Devil's Trail

by Robert J Conley

  “Listen, Jim,” I said. “Don’t get too settled in here. I’m fixing to ride around a little and see if I can’t find us a better spot. One with some water at least. I’ll be back.”

  Well, I didn’t get no argument out a Jim, and so I rid on out, and by and by I did actual come across a nice little stream, and by God, if there weren’t a pretty little antelope a-getting itself a drink there. Well, I kilt it right then, and I cut its throat and strung it up by its hind legs in a tree there. I built a little fire, and then I gutted that critter and cut it up some and spitted some meat over the fire. I even found a little ole plant what Zeb had showed me once what I didn’t remember what to call it, but you could pull it up and crush up its roots and boil it and get yourself something that tasted most nearly like coffee. The only thing was, I couldn’t figger out what we had with us to boil water in.

  Anyhow, I left that fresh meat a-cooking and rid back right quick to where I had left the others a-waiting.

  “Mount up and foller me,” I said. “I got water, and I got meat a-cooking.”

  Chapter 2

  The next morning we had a breakfast a antelope meat and water just like what we had et for supper the night before, and ole Jim, he reckoned that we could ride a few more miles yet before we was plumb outa his what-he-called jurisdiction. We rid on a-follering them tracks, and we still hadn’t even ketched a glimpse a them outlaws.

  “We have to go faster,” Throne said.

  “We’ll kill our horses,” I said.

  “Those outlaws are moving fast enough to stay well ahead of us,” Throne said, “and I haven’t seen a dead horse on the trail yet.”

  We rid on a ways with him a grumbling, and then we come to another little clump a trees beside a little watering hole. We rid on in there to take advantage a the place, and it was there where we found the answer to the pace them owlhoots was a-setting. The tracks was clear enough. Those bastards had stashed three extry horses in there, and whenever they come to that place, they had switched their saddles onto the fresh horses and then rid on out. The three woreout horses was there a-grazing and drinking water and such.

  “That does it, Lewis,” ole Chastain said. “We’ll never catch them now. Not before they’re out of my reach. We’ll have to turn back. I’ll send wires out all over the area. Maybe someone’ll pick them up for us.”

  “God damn it,” ole Throne said, and he tuck off his hat and throwed it real hard to the ground.

  “Jim?” I said.

  “What is it, Kid?”

  “What if I was to keep on after them? What would a judge say if I was to ketch up to them and bring them back to you? I ain’t got no jurisdiction, do I?”

  Throne give ole Jim a real anxious look.

  “Well,” Jim said, “you’d be acting like a bounty hunter. I don’t see any problem with that. But there’s three of them, Kid.”

  “I’ve tuck on worst odds,” I said.

  Then I reckon what ole Jim had said about bounty hunters had kindly stuck in ole Throne’s head, on accounta he said right away, “If you bring back the money, the bank will pay a reward.”

  “How much, you reckon?” I asked him.

  “Well, say five percent.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” I said.

  “Say they got off with, oh, ten thousand dollars,” Throne said. “Five percent of that would be five hundred.”

  “Five hunnerd for bringing back ten thousand?” I said. “It don’t hardly seem worth it. Hell, I might just as well go on back to Fosterville and then go on up in the mountains and find ole Zeb and sniff around for gold with him. I’d make me more than that real easy.”

  “All right, ten percent,” Throne said.

  “You heared him, Jim,” I said.

  “I heard him.”

  “Ten percent,” I said. “All right. You two can head on back, and I’ll keep after them. I’d suggest you rest your horses up a bit right here though afore you head back.”

  “What about you?” Throne asked me.

  “Hell,” I said, “I’m a taking these here three extry horses along with me. They’ll recover all right a riding along without no weight on their backs, and I’ll be able to switch off ever’ now and then. I’ll ketch them bastards, all right.”

  Well, it weren’t long afore I was a-riding along on the trail a the bank robbers on Ole Horse and a-leading me three extry horses. The trail was still clear enough, so I knowed they was ahead a me still. After a few miles, I stopped and tuck the saddle off a Ole Horse and throwed it on one a them others. I mounted right back up and kept a going. Come dark, I come on a little town just ahead a me. I rid on in.

  First thing I done, I found the stable and put up Ole Horse and them other three for the night. I went on ahead and paid the man in advance on accounta I didn’t have no idee what time a day or night I might decide to take on off again. Then I asked him if anyone had come in and stabled three hardrode horses lately. He said they hadn’t. I went a walking down the street and a looking at the horses what was tied there at the hitch rails. I didn’t see nothing suspicious, so I headed for the saloon. It was just the one.

  I went in and bellied up to the bar and ordered me a whiskey, and while I sipped at it, I looked over the crowd real good. I didn’t see no one suspicious nor no one what looked like the ones what I had saw ride outa Fosterville after they robbed the bank. I finished my whiskey, and I asked the barkeep there if he had saw three strangers a-riding through town during that very day.

  “Come to think of it,” he said, “there were three such earlier today.”

  “They leave on out a town?”

  He give a shrug. “I ain’t seen them for several hours,” he said.

  “If they was to stay the night here,” I said, “where might they find them a place to sleep?”

  “Right down at the end of the street,” he said. “Widow Sam’s Boarding House. It’s the only place in town.”

  I thanked the man kindly and walked out and on down to the widder’s boarding house. She come to the door and squinted out at me after I knocked, and I asked her had them three come in for rooms for the night. She said they ain’t, so it seemed that they had rid through, and they was still out on the trail out in front a me somewheres. I didn’t see no profit in trying to foller their tracks in the dark, so I went ahead and asked the widder if she had a room for me. She said she did, so I paid her, and she showed me my room. I crawled in the bed and went right to sleep. It had been a long day a hard riding, I can tell you.

  In the morning I bought myself a breakfast, and then I went into the little gen’ral store they had there in that one-horse town, and I bought me some supplies so that I’d be better prepared for a long trail ride. I made sure that I got me a coffee pot and some coffee, too. Then I got Ole Horse and them other three, and I headed out. I picked up the tracks a them bank robbers easy enough. I moved along pretty fast with four horses, and it was just a little bit after noon whenever I come to another little town. I was a-hoping that they mighta figgered they had rid far enough away from Fosterville that they could stop and rest a bit. I rid on in real easy-like.

  Real soon I seed the saloon, and it was right smack next door to the sheriff’s office of all things, so I stopped and tied my horses in front and started towards the saloon door, but just then I seed this character dressed like a real fancy dude cowboy a-ambling down the sidewalk, and he slowed up right there in front a the sheriff’s office. They was some dodgers posted there, and that was what got his interest. I watched him squint at them a bit, and then I seed him reach for one, and just as he ripped it off the wall, I kindly reckanized one a the pictures on it.

  “Hold on there a minute,” I said.

  The feller turned and looked me in the eyes, and he had a cold stare all right. His hair was real dark brown, just almost black, and his eyes was green. He had a smooth kinda baby face, roundish, and he was a wearing black mostly. His trousers and vest and boots and hat was all black, just only
his shirt were a kindly light blue color. He had two Colts strapped on, too, and they was a hanging in black leather holsters off a black leather belt.

  “You talking to me?” he said.

  “I don’t see no one else standing there,” I said. He weren’t a very big feller, but a course, he was bigger’n me. Most ever’one is. ’Cept a gal now and then.

  “All right,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’d kinda like to get me a look at that there dodger you tuck off the wall,” I said.

  He looked at it hisself, and then he give me a cold-eyed stare, and he said, “I don’t mind.” He handed me the dodger, and I sure enough reckanized the bastards. Well, I reckanized one for sure, him being the last to come outa the bank at Fosterville. I never did read too good, but I could read enough for that dodger. The Dawson Gang, it said. So that’s who I was after: the Dawson Gang. I had heared a little bit about them before. Then I seed that someone was offering five hunnerd apiece for the three a them bastards. That on top a my ten percent sounded pretty good. I give the man back the dodger.

  “Thanks,” I said, and I turned to head for the saloon door.

  “Hold on,” the man in black said. I stopped and looked back, and he come a-walking up aside a me. “Can I buy you a drink?”

  I was some suspicious, and I reckon I showed it, but I said, “Sure,” and me and him went on in together. We bellied up to the bar side by side, and he asked me, “Whiskey?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  The barkeep come over, and blackie, he said, “Two whiskies.”

  The barkeep come up with a bottle and two glasses, and before he could pour any whiskey out, the man in black stopped him. “We’ll take the bottle,” he said, and he paid for it and picked it up along with the glasses and headed over for a empty table. We set there across from each other. I watched him while he poured the drinks, and then he pushed one glass over to me and set the bottle right square in the middle a the table where either one of us could reach it whenever we tuck a mind to.

  “How come you to be so generous with a total stranger?” I asked him.

  “I’m curious,” he said.

  “What about?” I said.

  “Your interest in the Dawson Gang.”

  “I might be the same kinda curious on you,” I said.

  “In that case,” he said, “let’s introduce ourselves and then have a polite conversation. I’m Richard Cherry.”

  “They call me Kid Parmlee,” I said.

  “I’ve heard of you,” he said. “They call you a regular—”

  “Don’t say it,” I said, interrupting him. “I know what they call me, and I don’t keer for it none.”

  “I don’t blame you,” he said. He tuck a sip a his whiskey. “What’s your interest in the Dawsons?”

  “How about you tell me yours first?” I said. “It was you what set up this here palaver.”

  “All right,” he said. “I’m a bounty hunter. The Dawsons are worth five hundred each. I mean to get it. I’d hate to have a run-in with someone else who has the same idea.”

  “Well, I’ll tell you this much,” I said. “I never even knowed they had no reeward on their heads, but I have been a-tailing them for a spell.”

  Well, that left him hanging, I can tell you. He downed the rest a his whiskey and poured hisself another. “Do you mind telling me why you’ve been tailing them?” he asked.

  I never was one to give away too much information to no stranger, but he had bought the whiskey, and he had told me what he was up to. I thunk it over, and I couldn’t see no harm.

  “Them three robbed the bank over to Fosterville,” I said. “I joined up with the posse a-chasing them on accounta the sheriff there, ole Jim Chastain, is a friend a mine. Well, we come to the end a the line on accounta ole Jim’s jurisdiction, you know, but I told Jim I don’t have no jurisdiction, so I kept on after them.”

  “That’s it?” he asked.

  “Well, mostly,” I said.

  “You said they robbed the bank.”

  “That’s right.”

  “They get away with it? I mean, did they get out of town with money from the bank?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “They did. Ole Throne, he’s the bank president, he rid along with us till we come the end a Jim’s line. He was a-wanting that money back pretty bad.”

  “How bad?” Cherry asked me. Well, he had me in a corner. I had to tell him.

  “Ten percent,” I said.

  “Do you know how much they got away with?”

  “Ain’t got no idee,” I said.

  He drunk some more whiskey, and I did too, and in a minute he said, kindly musing-like, “Kid Parmlee.”

  “That’s me,” I said.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I’ve heard of you, all right. They say you’ve killed a good many men. How many is it?”

  I thunk about ole Paw a-counting, and then I thunk about that there Texas Ranger what had made me ashamed a keeping count. “I don’t rightly know,” I said. “That ain’t a decent kinda thing for a man to keep a count on. It’s a right smart number, though.”

  “I’ll bet it is,” he said. “Say, Kid, you still mean to go after the Dawsons?”

  “That’s the only reason I’m way out here in the middle a nowhere in this damn little one-horse town,” I said. “I’m a-going after them, all right. I promised ole Jim I would, and I don’t quit whenever I get onto something. I ain’t never yet.”

  “I was afraid of that,” he said. “Well, I mean to go after them, too.”

  “Listen here, Cherry,” I said.

  “Call me Dick,” he said.

  “Listen here, Dick,” I said, “I promised to bring back the bank money to Fosterville, and I mean to do that. You’d best not get in my way a the doing of it, neither. Not if you know what’s good for you. You know I’ve kilt me a mess a men, but you don’t know the worst of it.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’ve shot the ears offa a couple of them too.”

  “On purpose?”

  “Damn right.”

  “That’s good shooting,” he said. “I never tried it, but I don’t think I could do it. Likely I’d just put a hole in their heads.”

  “So what the hell do you say?”

  “I’m not backing off.”

  “Well, I ain’t neither,” I said. “Are we a going to have to shoot it out betwixt the two of as and all over them three worthless bastards?”

  “I hope not”

  “Well, like I said then, stay outa my way.”

  “Have another drink, Kid,” he said, and he went and poured it.

  “You ain’t a getting me drunk,” I said.

  “I mean to get me drunk,” he said. He poured his own glass full again and drunk it down right quick. I figgered that I could go on ahead and sip on another one if he was a-glugging it down like that. I tuck me a sip. It was good whiskey, but only I was a-meaning to get on back out on the trail. They was still about a half a day a riding time left.

  “Well, you just go right on and do that,” I said. “Me, I got places to go. Thanks for the drinks.”

  I stood right up then and started in to leave the saloon, but he come right after me. I was clean out onto the sidewalk, though, afore he ketched up to me. He put a hand on my shoulder and spun me around, and I come up with my Colt a tucked right under his chin. He kindly friz up and helt his hands out to his sides.

  “Whoa,” he said.

  I put my Colt away.

  “What do you want?” I said.

  “I got a proposition for you.”

  “I’m a-listening.”

  “Let’s team up. There’s three of them against one of you—or one of me. If we team up, it’ll be three to two. Much better odds. You agree?”

  “I agree that it’s better odds,” I said, not committing myself to nothing.

  “All right,” he said. “You’ve been after the Dawsons for ten percent of the bank money they stole, and you don’t
even know how much it is. Why, I’ve heard of bank robberies where a smart teller stuffed a bag full of one-dollar bills, and the robbers ran off with it not knowing about it till later. They had a big bag full of bills but not much money. I know that there’s fifteen hundred dollars on their heads. If we catch them together, we split the reward money and the ten percent from the bank. How’s that?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I wasn’t figgering on partnering up with no one. ’Specially not no stranger.”

  “I’m no stranger,” he said. “We drank whiskey together. And think of it this way. You didn’t even know about the reward. You still wouldn’t know about it except for me. You wouldn’t even know you were after the Dawson Gang if it hadn’t been for me. Come on. What do you say? It’s better than shooting it out.”

  Well, he had a good argument there. I had to admit that. He had did me a kinda inadvertent favor by going up to that there dodger and calling my attention to it. And two against three was a whole lot better than one against three. Then there was that extry fifteen hunnerd what I hadn’t even counted on, in fact, hadn’t knowed about. I thunk it through real quick-like. If I was to turn him down on his offer and go on by my own self after them Dawsons, why, it was pretty damn clear that he was a-going to do the same thing, and then whenever one or the both of us ketched them, there would almost for sure be a fight betwixt the two of us over which one was a-going to get the privilege a taking them in and claiming all the reewards.

  “Well, hell,” I said, sticking my right hand out for ole Cherry to take a-holt of, “I reckon I got myself a new pard.”

  Chapter 3

  Well, now, I was a-wanting to head right on out on the trail after them damn Dawsons, but my new pard, he weren’t in no such a hurry to get going. He had done had some drinks, and he was a wanting to have hisself some more, maybe go right on ahead and get hisself drunked up right smart. Now, I could understand that impulse sure enough, but I was awful anxious to get that bank money on back to Fosterville in order to show ole Sheriff Jim Chastain just how all fired serious I was at really being a good citizen and all. I told that to ole Dick Cherry, and then I added a kinda threat what I really thunk would work on him, being as how he had horned in on my game anyhow.