Chapter 10

I had to think about just how I was going to take out the three galoots I was tied up with. They all knew where I was, so there was no chance of sneaking up on them. I was probably a better shot than any of them, but that doesn't always count for much in this kind of fight. My big problem was being shot by one while I was concentrating on another one. My first order of business was to shift to another tree before they surrounded this one.

I slipped back until I was well away from my previous tree and moved sideways to my left a couple of trees. I had a slight advantage in that all of my opponents were bigger than me, so they would have more of a problem slipping unnoticed among the trees and brush. I was not sure about all of the men, but I was certain that one of them was still behind the same tree that he had used when they first shot at me. I carefully and slowly worked my way a little farther to the left and looked for the one I though that I had pegged. Ah, there he was. I could see a little bit of a hip and butt cheek sticking out from the tree where I expected him to be. If I could hit that hip, he would be disabled for the time needed to get the others.

I was still holding the rebuilt Walker, so I leaned it against the tree trunk and carefully lined it up on the exposed hip. Just as I started to squeeze off the shot, he moved. But I got lucky! He moved in such a way that he exposed more, not less, of his hip. The bullet hit was precisely where I needed for it to be. It snagged just enough of the bone to make it tumble and twist, tearing up flesh and muscle as it tore through to the air. The result was a broken bone with shredded flesh surrounding the wound--very painful and totally incapacitating.

Two down and two to go, not bad for only two shots fired! I took a moment to reload; now I knew I had a winner in the cartridge firing pistols. I went ahead and loaded all of the chambers of the cylinder; I now had 6 shots available when my advisories only knew of 3. I was getting to like this gun more and more.

Time to move, again. I shifted more to my left, 4 trees this time; I didn't want to establish a pattern that they could catch me on. I thought I saw movement in the brush, so I fired at it, more to shake up the other guys and get them to make a mistake than to hit one of them. The scream I heard told me that I had been unreasonably lucky again. I had no idea where I had hit the man, but it had to be in some place that made an impression.

When I moved this time, I went to my right. Again, I didn't want to set up a pattern. I was about to stop at a new tree when a bullet whizzed past my cheek. Was I getting careless, or was my luck fading. Either way, I figured that it was time to end this farce before I picked up a serious wound. I snapped off a shot toward the powder smoke from that last shot and heard some cussing. A moment later, I heard the sound of running, followed by the sound of galloping hooves. The last man must have run away.

I called out, "HEY, JOE, DID YA HEAR THAT? IT SOUNDED TA ME LIKE ONE OF THEM GALOOTS JUST TOOK OFF!"

"YEAH. HOW MANY DID YA GIT?"

"I THINK I GOT THREE! GIVE ME A MINUTE TO CHECK!" I went to the locations of the last two I shot at, I knew the fate of the first one. The one shot in the ass was dead, he must have bled to death from a severed artery. I could check later.

The scream came from one who had been shot in the kidney. He probably wouldn't last another half hour, though he wasn't dead yet. I shouted, "THEY'RE DEAD OR DYING! COME ON OVER!"

"I CAN'T! I'VE GOT A BUSTED LEG! I BROKE IT WHEN I STEPPED IN A HOLE TRYING TA GIT AWAY FROM THEIR BULLETS!"

"OK, SIT TIGHT! I'LL BE THERE IN A MINUTE!"

I made sure that none of the three galoots were going to cause trouble before I went over to see what I could do to help Joe Wilson. "Here, let me look at that leg. I know some medicine ... Yep, it's a clean break. It'll hurt, but I kin set it, ifen ya want me ta."

"Yeah, I'd be much obliged ifen ya would set it. I need to git inta Willow Run soon as I kin."

"OK, let me git some wood fer a splint. I'll be right back" I cut a couple of saplings for the splints and cut the sleeves from the shirt of one of the dead men. It only took a few minutes to set the broken leg, and I was able to help Joe onto his horse. Luckily, Joe was strong and his horse was patient, so that job wasn't nearly as difficult as it might have been. Joe said that he was headed for the jail in Willow Run, so I told him that I would go by the doctor and send her to see about him at the jail.

I looked at the three dead men and saw that they were from the crew that had been with Elliot in the saloon a few nights ago. That left Pinky Jones as the last member of the "Federal Militia" to be hunted down.

I hurried home and changed into my doctoring clothes. I hitched up the buckboard and drove to the jail. I was trying to put as much separation between Dr. Horton and Jake Esposito as I could. Man, this dual personality thing could get complicated! I arrived only minutes after Joe Wilson. He was already in the jail talking to the marshal. I went in, and the marshal introduced Joe to me. I asked him to let me look at his broken leg. I could tell that he was in a lot of pain, though he would not admit it. It took a lot of argument to convince him that he should come by my office and let me put a cast on his leg before he did it some permanent injury.

We went in to see Elliot, which was why Joe had come to Willow Run. My guess had been correct about the reason for the dual reward structure. Joe questioned Elliot about the stolen payroll, but didn't get anything useful from the conversation. Elliot claimed that he had long since spent the money on high living and getting his gang started. Joe kept up the questioning until Elliot finally collapsed from fatigue. I told Joe that he was not likely to get anything more from Elliot, so Joe agreed to come home with me so that I could work on his leg.

Joe rode with me in the buckboard; he was just too tired to climb back on his horse. On the way, Joe asked me how long before Elliot could stand trial. I told him that I didn't think that Elliot would ever be able to travel. If there were a trial, it would have to be held in Willow Run. I also said that I expected Elliot to die of his wounds in a few weeks, so there was not much point in pushing for a trial. Elliot said that the situation looked that way to him, and he would write a letter to Federal Judge Hughes in Austin to that effect.

We got to my home, and Lupe and I helped Joe into my surgery where I worked on his leg. Lupe acted as a nurse and helped me get a cast put on Joe's leg before he ruined it. The only other place Joe had to go was to the hotel, so I invited him to stay with us for a few days, and he gratefully accepted. I had several extra bedrooms and plenty of room for his horse in the stable, so there was no difficulty making him comfortable. As it turned out, Jake disappeared for a few days while Amy spent time socializing with her guest. I had to admit that it was nice having a man around for company. Nevertheless, I was anxious to get back on the trail of Pinky Jones.

I asked Joe how he had come to be attacked by the gang, and he said that it was a simple robbery attempt that they had bungled. I told him that they were the remnants of the gang calling themselves the Federal Militia. He assured me that there was no such organization as the "Federal Militia," and they were just a bunch of bandits with an outsized idea of their own importance. We both figured that the gang was now moribund with only Pinky Jones still around.