“It’s mighty cold out there,” Johnny said. “It’s gonna be even colder tonight.”
“Don’t rightly care. Whatever trouble you’re bringing, we don’t want it here.”
Thad said to the man with him, “Ain’t you from the general store? You went and got the constable?”
The man reared up with a defensive sort of pride. “We don’t want your kind here in this town.”
Thad was about to spout off at the man, but Johnny pushed a hand into Thad’s chest, as if to say, slow down.
Johnny gave a long look to the man from the general store, then said, “All right. We want no trouble. Let’s ride.”
36
A small deer stood shoulder deep in some tall junipers, and Johnny sat in the saddle and sighted in with his Colt rifle.
“That’s a long shot from here,” Matt said.
“I don’t care. I’m hungry and it’s almost nightfall.”
“But even if you can make the shot, there’s not enough wood around here for a campfire. And it’s gonna be mighty cold out here tonight with no shelter.”
“Quiet, Matt. I’m drawing a bead.”
Bravo held still. He often did when Johnny was about to make a shot. Bravo had a way of knowing what Johnny needed him to do. A sort of cooperative relationship a rider can develop with a good horse.
Johnny pulled the trigger, but the deer moved at the last moment and the bullet missed. The deer exploded way in a full sprint.
Johnny cocked the gun and brought it back it to his shoulder, but it was useless. The deer was zig-zagging from right to left as it ran, and then it was over the crest of a small, grassy hill and was gone from sight.
Johnny knew he wouldn’t get off a second shot, but had tried against the odds because he was too hungry not to.
They found a small, abandoned farm a few miles outside of town. The house was small, not much bigger than a tool shed. The walls were made of sod, and the roof was falling in. But the barn was in better shape. The boards were aging and had dry rot in places, and portions of the roof were missing. But at least it was shelter.
They decided to risk a fire, in a section of the barn where there was no longer any roof. They broke off some boards from what was left of the sod hut’s roof and used them to burn.
It grew dark, and the almost spring-like warmth of the day was long gone.
Joe sat cross-legged by the fire and wrapped his blankets around himself. Thad was pacing about with a load of impatience, blowing on his fingers and trying to stamp life into his feet.
Johnny filled his coffee kettle from his canteen and started fixing some coffee. His canteen was now empty, but he had seen a small stream out beyond the farm.
Matt was pacing about, too. He said, “What I wouldn’t give for a mug of rum, right now.”
Johnny said, “Coffee will have to do.”
Thad said to Joe, “How do the Injuns do it? How do they keep warm on nights like this?”
Johnny thought there was more than impatience in Thad’s voice. Sounded like he was working himself toward anger.
But Joe was as calm as ever. He said, “Cain’t speak for all Indians, but the Cheyenne wouldn’t let themselves get caught in this kind of situation. They wouldn’t be out riding around in weather like this. But if they had to, they’d be a lot better prepared. They’d have bearskins and smoked meat. Pouches full of nuts and dried berries.”
He shook his head, “Mm-boy, you spread a bear skin on the ground and sleep on it, with two more draped over you, and you’re toasty warm.”
“They wouldn’t be out riding around in the winter?” Thad was downright angry, and Johnny heard a challenge in Thad’s voice. “What if they were in our situation. Having to chase a murderer? And then lost his trail like we did?”
But Joe was unflappable. He said, “They wouldn’t be in our situation because they wouldn’t have been out in the woods without their weapons, like we were. A man took a shot at their father, and he wouldn’t have lived long.”
Johnny nodded. He agreed. He said, “If we had our guns that day, he wouldn’t even have gotten a shot off. I would have plugged him as soon as his gun came up. Pa would still be alive, and we wouldn’t be out here freezing.”
Thad turned on Johnny. “Oh, you think you’re so danged flashy with them guns. I’d like to see you in action. See how good you’d be with another gun actually aiming at you.”
Johnny stood up and looked him dead in the eye. “No you wouldn’t.”
Thad took a step toward him. “I don’t think you’re all that danged good. I don’t believe those stories. What do you think of that? I know how stories get made up just so you can sound good when you’re bragging to people.”
“I’m not like you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean. You think I’m a liar?”
“Everyone thinks you’re a liar.”
Thad took one more step toward him. “Take that back, or I’m gonna make you.”
Matt pushed his way in front of Thad and said, “Stop this now, before someone gets hurt.”
Joe was still sitting by the fire. He said, “This keeps up, someone’s gonna get killed. And it ain’t gonna be Johnny.”
Thad said, “Oh, you don’t think so?”
Matt gave Thad a shove backward. Not a hard one, but firmly, moving Thad back and away from Johnny.
Matt said, “We all have to stop this right now. Fighting amongst ourselves will only make things worse.”
Thad looked at Matt with fury in his eyes, then he turned to Joe. He found Joe wasn’t even looking at him. Joe was looking into the fire, or beyond the fire, in the distant way of his.
Thad turned away, maybe seeing the common sense in not challenging a gunfighter, or a mountain man who had lived among Indians.
Thad said, “Well, we can’t just stand around and starve and freeze to death.”
Matt said, “What would you have us do?”
Thad turned back to him. “Well, for one thing, if I was leading us, we wouldn’t be out here starving and freezing while that store back there in town is full of food.”
“He wouldn’t do business with us. He called the constable on us.”
“Don’t matter. That food back there is just waiting for the taking.”
Now Joe looked at him. “You talkin’ about stealin’?”
“No. I ain’t talking about stealing. I’m talking about borrowing.”
Matt gave a look to Johnny. Johnny shook his head and went back to making coffee.
Thad said, “We take only what we need. We keep an inventory of it. Once we’re working, or back East or wherever we’re going, we save up some money and send it to him.”
Johnny said, “It’s still stealing.”
“And just who appointed you leader, anyway? Matt’s the oldest among us.”
Johnny shrugged. The coffee grounds were in the water, and he pushed the kettle into the flames.
He said, “We’re gonna need more wood for the fire.”
Joe nodded. “We keep burnin’ wood at this rate, the boards from the house will be gone, and we’ll have to start usin’ boards from the barn. Then there won’t be any barn left for shelter.”
Thad said, “I say following you hasn’t done us a whole lot of good. I say we follow me, now.”
Matt shook his head. “It’s like Johnny said. Borrowing without permission is the same as stealing.”
“These are desperate times, Matt. We’ll pay him back. We’re not thieves. We don’t steal just for the sake of stealing. We only borrow without permission as a last resort.”
He glanced about at the remains of the old barn. “And this looks pretty desperate to me.”
Matt said, “Think about the irony of it. More than three months ago, Pa and Hector Drummond were both shot and killed by a man who broke into a mercantile. Now we’re considering doing the same thing.”
“I don’t care anything about irony,” Thad said. “What I care about is eating. And maybe
getting some more warm blankets.”
Joe said, “I can’t believe we’re even considerin’ this.”
Johnny looked from him to Matt. Matt said nothing, but Johnny could tell by the look in his eye that he reluctantly agreed with Thad. Cold and hunger can make a man do things he never would do otherwise.
Johnny knew it was wrong. But he knew they were going to do it. They were going to rob a store tonight.
37
Matt said, “So, what would you have us do? Kick in the front door and go in with guns out and bandanas over our faces, like desperadoes?”
Thad shook his head. “Nothing so outrageous. Just ride into town quiet-like. By the time we get there, it’ll be nigh onto midnight. That little farming town will be sound asleep. We just go in through a back door. Shouldn’t be all that hard to break the lock. Or we go in through a window. Then we help ourselves, but only to what we need. Then we’re gone. By the time the old coot opens up tomorrow and realizes some merchandise is gone, we’ll be miles away.”
“They’ll know it was us,” Matt said.
Thad shook his head. “They might suspect us, but they won’t have any real evidence of any kind.”
Joe said, “What if someone sees us?”
“Won’t nobody see us. Everyone in that little town will be asleep by the time we get there. We’ll move quiet. Break in quiet, take only what we need, and then we’ll be back out and on our horses and we’ll be away into the night.”
And so, with Thad in the lead, they headed back to the little farming town of Mansfield.
They rode in single file. Since Thad had campaigned for a leadership role and this whole thing was his idea, he was first in line. Matt was following. Then came Johnny, with Joe riding drag.
A quarter moon was in the sky, giving them enough light to ride by, as long as they held to the trail.
Johnny had a bad feeling about this whole venture. It seemed to him that stealing was stealing. He wondered what Pa would have thought about it.
He was starting to think maybe they should have left Thad back in Pennsylvania. And yet, as bad an idea as Johnny thought this venture was, he and Joe and Matt had agreed to it. Made them all as guilty as Thad.
They found what they had expected. The town of Mansfield had closed up for the night. The winter wind rattled window panes and door knobs.
The boys reined up behind the general store.
Johnny said, “If we’re gonna do this, let’s at least by smart about it.”
He swung out of the saddle and led Bravo into a dark alley. The other boys followed.
“I like it,” Thad said. “Keeps the horses out of the cold wind, and it’s harder to see them.”
“All right,” Johnny said. “You’re the leader of this robbery, so go ahead and lead.”
“It’s not a robbery,” Thad said.
Johnny wasn’t about to start arguing semantics. But the longer they stood and argued, the more likely it was someone could hear them. The people of the town were most likely inside, asleep in warm beds and safe from the cold, winter winds. But Johnny had chased enough outlaws when he rode for the Rangers to know most of them got themselves caught because of mistakes. Rash actions they did without thinking things through, or assumptions they shouldn’t have made.
Johnny said, “We should leave one of us behind with the horses.”
“I thought I was in charge,” Thad said.
“Just offering advice.”
Joe said, “I’ll stay with the horses. I ain’t in favor of this whole thing, anyway.”
“None of us is,” Matt said.
Thad tried the back door of the general store. It was locked. He then began trying windows. All were shut tight.
“Gonna have to break in,” Thad said. “Maybe find a rock or something to break through a window.”
Johnny shook his head. “You’re gonna get us all thrown in jail, you know that?”
“Well, what do you suggest?”
Johnny wrapped a bandana around his fist, and then made a light punch at the glass. The window didn’t budge. Then he hit a little harder. Then harder. The glass cracked, then one pane fell through. There was a tinkling sound as the glass shattered on the floor inside, but it was much quieter than breaking the window with a rock would have been.
The window was the kind that slid up rather than swung open. Johnny reached a hand through the broken glass and turned the lock, then he slid the sash up.
He looked to Thad and said, “You first. You’re the leader.”
Thad pushed his upper body through the window, until only his butt and legs were visible. Then with his feet kicking, he went the rest of the way in and landed on the floor. Sounded to Johnny like Thad attempted a head-first roll but landed harder than he had wanted to.
Matt was next, and then Johnny.
Matt said, “We need to find a light.”
Johnny looked out the window and to some buildings at the other side of the street. The feed store was directly across from the general store, and there was a second floor. Probably living quarters.
He said, “Any light in here will be visible from across the street.”
“No one’s awake at this hour,” Thad said.
“If we’re gonna do this, we have to go ahead like people are out there. Be extra careful.”
Matt said, “Err on the side of caution.”
“All right.” Thad started across the floor.
Matt said, “Be careful.”
As soon as he said it, Thad bumped into something in the darkness and glass shattered on the floor.
Johnny shook his head. He didn’t know if he was more embarrassed about being part of an operation like this, or being part of it with Thad.
Thad said, “We’ve got to risk a light.”
He pulled down the window shades, and then Johnny reluctantly struck a match.
A kerosene lamp was on the counter, so Johnny lifted the glass and applied the match to the wick. Soon a pale glow was coming from the lamp. Johnny kept it low, because he had never seen a shade fully cover a window. If he was to turn the lamp up enough, then small cracks of light would be visible from outside.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”
Johnny could see a brown bottle on the floor, the bottle now in pieces. The neck was still intact and the cork was in place. It was what Thad had knocked over. Looked to be some kind of liniment.
Matt followed his gaze and said, “That bottle is more merchandise for which we’re going to have to reimburse the owner.”
Johnny said to Thad, “You’re the leader. So, lead.”
“All right,” Thad said. “Let’s organize this a little. Matt, see if you can find some blankets. The rest of us will grab the canned goods. Maybe find an old sack and fill it.”
“What about someone to watch the door?”
Thad rolled his eyes. “No one is up and about at this hour.”
Matt said, “Remember, err on the side of caution.”
Thad was getting a little exasperated. “All right. I’ll watch the door. Johnny, grab the canned goods.”
Johnny found an empty grain sack and started grabbing cans from a shelf. He focused on food that would be easy to cook in a skillet over a campfire. Beans, mainly.
He heard Matt say, “Found some blankets. Thick, wool ones. I’ll grab one for each of us.”
Joe was at the back window. He said in a loud whisper, “Hurry up. How long you gonna be?”
“Just a few more minutes,” Johnny said.
He was focusing on the canned goods. He was paying no attention to what Thad was doing, until Thad said, “How do you get this thing open? It’s locked.”
Johnny found Thad not watching the door, but standing behind the cash register.
“Thad,” Johnny said. “We didn’t say anything about taking any money.”
“If it’s here, there’s no reason for us not to take some. We can reimburse the old goat later. Maybe we can ride
back to St. Louis, rent ourselves a room and get a hot bath.”
Johnny said to Matt, “I think he’s enjoying this too much.”
“Come on,” Joe said from the window. “Let’s get out of here.”
Matt had a bundle of blankets in his arms, and he went to the window and handed them out to Joe.
Matt said, “Roll these up and tie them to the back of our saddles.”
Johnny found some canned peas and string beans. Not the easiest things to cook without a pot, but Ma had always said you need your greens. He grabbed six cans of each and tossed them into the sack.
A gun went off behind them. Johnny turned, his right hand darting down for his own gun but instead brushing against the long coat that was in the way.
Thad was still by the register, and now had a pistol in his hand. Smoke was drifting from the barrel of the gun.
He slid out the register drawer. “Got it open.”
Johnny said, “Thad, are you crazy? That gunshot will wake up this whole town.”
Thad looked at Johnny with disbelief in his eyes. “Are you really afraid of these people? They’re just a bunch of sheep. Holier-than-thou hypocrites. They could have given us work. They asked for this. And that old marshal. He couldn’t stand up to any of us. If you’re even half as tough as you seem to want people to believe, you wouldn’t be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid. I just know right from wrong.”
Matt went to the front door and pushed the shade aside to look out.
“Someone’s coming,” he said.
Matt ran across the store to the counter and turned out the lamp, and then ducked down. Johnny crouched behind a display of cookware.
Thad was stuffing his coat pocket with cash. He didn’t duck until a key was pushed into the door.
A man stepped in, his shotgun in both hands. Twin barrels of what Johnny figured was probably buckshot.
Johnny could see the man’s outline in what little light made its way in from the moon outside, and he knew it was the constable.
The man said, “Don’t move, boys. I know who you are. I seen your horses and one of your men in the alley.”
Thad’s gun was still in his hand. He rose up from behind the counter and cocked the hammer back.
Johnny McCabe (The McCabes Book 6) Page 17
