Trego, page 25
I read the wanted poster. Said he killed a fellow in a shoot out. Said his name was Harry Little Light. An Indian by the looks of his name. Looked like he was in somewhat of pickle, an Indian and wanted for murder. Most lawmen in the west wouldn’t think twice about gunning him down and ask questions later.
Klaas brought him out, he was also quite young, black long hair tied back, coal black eyes that were, if I could read them right, killing mad. Couldn’t blame him much, being cold cocked from the back without a yea or no.
I left him standing there, while I re-read the wanted poster. Hell, it even said dead or alive. These wanted poster’s that said that, were condemning them to death without even the benefit of trial. Like I said, most lawmen would just gun them down to save the hassle of feeding them.
I looked up at him, he wasn’t a Crow. I spoke to him in Blackfoot. He looked surprised. I asked him: “What happened back in Coulson?”
He simply said, “Her Father didn’t like me. He said, he didn’t want his daughter hanging around some dirty redskin. I worked for him in his feed store, his daughter would come in and flirt with me. I didn’t do anything to her, she wouldn’t leave me alone, it was some kind of a game to her.” He looked at the floor.
“So, how did he end up dead?”
“Some of the men in town were teasing him about his daughter being an Indian lover. He got so mad and started to beat me, I told him if he wanted to fight, we’d shoot it out, he lost.”
“So it was a fair fight?” Brie said.
He looked at her, surprised that she would speak, “Yes, it was. I even let him clear leather first. Everyone seen it was fair. But they still were going to hang me, I ran.”
I looked at Klaas, “Did anyone else see him come to town, that is beside Henry at the livery? Or did anyone beside us here know he was in jail?”
“No, I seen no reason to talk it about.” Klaas said. I took the wanted poster and threw it in the stove and lit a match to it. I looked up at him, “Do you want a job? We need a full time Jailer.”
He looked stunned. He nodded. “Hold up your right hand and I’ll swear you in.” He did so. After the words were said, I tossed him a badge. “Which guns were yours?” He pointed them out, I gave them to him. About that time, the four girls walked in, both Harry and Lafe gave them the once over. But Mary was the only one giving them the once over back, she was looking at Harry. If I remembered right Jane was sort of waiting for Sam Benbow to come back.
Klaas took Lafe in tow, to go see the school Marm. Jane and Mary hurried out to go try on their new clothes. Brie said, “As long as you have that drawer open with the badges, might as well swear the girls in.” I did so. We were now at full staff. “Harry, I said, pick out a cell that you like, fix it up to suit you, here’s your first month’s pay. I handed him a hundred dollars, “is that enough?” I asked. He nodded dumbly.
I asked Brie, “Reckon Margaret has enough extra food to feed the lot of us?”
“Sure, but don’t get used to eating there, we plan on having food at our place from now on, don’t we girls?”
“Alright, why don’t Janie and Melinda take Harry and go on over there, while you and I take a short tour around town, just to check the lay of the land since we have been gone.”
The first place we stopped was at Bayard Benoit’s saloon. He was glad to see us.
“I heard you were back, some of your inmates stopped by to eat. What can I get for you?” He said.
“Just a quick cup of coffee, we’re supposed to eat at the boarding house. By the way we have three more deputy’s. Janie and Melinda, they look just like Brie. But we have a new Jailer also, his name is Harry Little Light. He’s a Blackfoot. Thought I would tell you, so you can get it around town, so no one will be surprised when they see them.”
After some polite chit-chat, and filling him in on some things, we left to go to the mine office. John Derek was sitting at his desk when we walked in.
He jumped up and held his hand out, “Glad you’re back, things have been happening fast here lately. We’ve hit a new vein of ore, it looks rich. We’ve put on some new miners, we’re running two shifts.”
“Good,” Brie said, “just so you know we have the paper work all straitened out, I’m the legal owner of the mine. But let’s keep it quite. So has the stamp mill been working up to capacity?”
“Yes, we have the safe almost full, we might have to buy another one.” John said.
“Is anyone living in Evan’s house?”
“No, I’ve had a cleaning woman check it every day. Why, do you want to move in there?” John said.
“No, we’re moving into Old Lady McBeths house. Just keep it up, Sam Benbow will need a place to live when he gets back.” I said.
“You don’t think Evan Blythe is coming back?” John said.
“No, of course not. Even if he is still alive, he knows we would throw him in jail for murder if he ever came back here.” I said.
“And, John, would you get the books ready, I want to go over them in the next couple of days.” Brie said, just before we left.
“We had better let Uncle Lambert and Aunt Garnet know we are back, don’t you think?” I said.
“Sure, lets drop by for a second. Let them know we’ll be by after we eat supper. Of course they will want us to eat with them, but we’ll tell them to have pie and coffee for us after we make our evening rounds, all four of us.” Brie said.
Jie-Le opened the door to our knock. She hugged Brie. We had used the back door, just in case Uncle was cutting someone’s hair in the front. Garnet was overjoyed at our safe return. We gave them a thumb nail sketch of our trip, it would take us hours to tell them everything. We didn’t tell Jie-Le about Lei just yet.
We did tell them about our new deputy, Harry Little Light, they wanted to meet him. Garnet thought she might know his family. Brie asked Jie-Le how she liked living in Coolidge. “I like it fine, I stay inside most of the time. Sometimes at night I go out and walk around. I don’t want anyone to see me, they might tell.” She said.
“Isn’t it dangerous to be out at night, you might get assaulted.” Brie said.
“Someone tried, once. He not set saddle for a long time.” Jie-Le said with a giggle. We talked a little bit more, than left for the boarding house. Margaret had the kitchen table set for all of us. Of course Jane and Mary had to help serve the boarders, but that was just wrapping up, so they could come and join us.
Harry and Mary, didn’t eat much, too busy eyeing each other. Both Jane and Mary had pants on, just as tight as Janie’s and Melinda’s. Only thing they didn’t have the crossed six guns that the girls did. But they did have their knives, which were just as deadly as guns were.
As I was eating I got to thinking about all of the women that were in my life now. Here I spent the first half of my life with no women around, now all kinds of them. I liked this half of my life better. I think it’s the women who make the sun worth rising.
And not just for the sex, it was more, I think, because you never knew what they were going to do next. And besides that, they were beautiful to look at.
After supper, Harry offered to help with the dishes. I wonder why? The four of us went to make our rounds. We hadn’t been in the new saloon yet. You could hear the piano all of the way down the block. It was about nine at night, I wondered if the city council had passed any noise abatement laws yet.
As we stepped through the door, the girls went to either side and stood inconspicuous in the shadows. Brie and I walked to the bar, the bartender took one look and almost swallowed his teeth, and he wasn’t even wearing false teeth.
He stammered, “What’ll yo-you-you have?”
Brie said, “give me a shot of whisky with a beer chaser.” He looked at me, I shook my head No. When he set them up, Brie threw down the shot and took a sip of beer, then pushed the beer over to me. She tossed a dollar on the bar, she didn’t get any change. We both turned our backs to the bar, looking at the crowd. I held the beer in my left hand. Could of just as well been my right, I could use either gun. But since most people are right handed, I wanted them to know that I was prepared to use mine.
There must have been at least eight poker games going on at once. Plus roulette wheels whirring away. This was no amateur operation, it smacked of some of the places I had seen in the big cities. I looked at Brie and said, “Chicago?”
“Yes, I’m sure of it. I remember seeing one set up exactly this way in Chicago.”
In fact, you see that shotgun man on the high stool, he’s older now, but I’m sure I seen him in Chicago when I was just a little girl.”
“What were you doing in a place like this when you were a little girl?”
“The one in Chicago had a fancy restaurant off to one side, we went there to eat lots of times. I use to peek under the doors that separated the two.”
“Why do you think they moved in here?” I asked.
“I don’t know, surely the pickings aren’t that good here. But by the looks of the crowd, I could be mistaken. I don’t see any laws that are being broke, as of right now anyway.” Brie said.
“Well, what about what they tried to do to Lafe, should we just forget it?” I said.
“No, of course not. But they will try it again, probably next time they’ll just shoot the dissenter.” Brie said.
“But that’s closing the barn door after the horses are already out.” I said.
“Hey, I know what, lets just burn it down.” Brie said, with a twinkle in her eye.
“Shoot, I’ve already thought of that, but the rest of the town would probably burn down also. All of the buildings are made of dry wood.”
The bar girls were making their rounds pushing drinks, and maybe something else. “Hey, does this town have a law against prostitution?” I asked Brie, since she was on the city council.
“Nope, it doesn’t. Maybe we should have a meeting and pass one.”
“Do you think you would get enough votes?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think so. There are only a couple of us women on the council. Hey, did you know its against the law for women to vote in the United States?” Brie said.
“It is, why in the world is that so?” I asked, incredulously. It’s a good thing we’re not a state yet. The next time the council meets, let’s pass a law that all women in the township of Coolidge can vote, how’s that?” I said.
“Do you really think the men will go for that?” Brie said.
“Sure they will, I’ll see to it.” I said. The girls had got tired of just standing there, they came over by us. They got stares all of the way. They ranged along side of us, making sure their badges on their vests could be seen clearly.
A man dressed in a black broadcloth suit came out of an office in the back, he came toward us, “well,” he said, “I see the law in Coolidge is well represented here tonight, and might I say they are mighty pretty.”
I said, “Thank you, I have been called handsome before, but never pretty.” He turned red in the face.
“Uh, I didn’t mean you Marshal, I meant your deputy’s. My name is Hugh Longo and you are?” He said.
“My name is Trego.” I said, not holding my hand out. He blanched. I could see that he had heard of me. “So Mr. Hugh Longo, I don’t know why you moved into our fair village, but I assure you I will brook no breaking of the laws of Coolidge. Not even the law of common decency. I’ve already had one complaint about cheating at your card tables, if I get another one, you’re finished here, I will run you out of town on a rail.”
“Ah, Marshal, you are but one man and three small women, what can you do to me?” Brie took one step forward and grabbed his crotch. She started to twist, his knees gave out on him, the only thing holding him up was the hold Brie had on him. She relaxed her hand, he fell to the floor. He lay there groaning, Brie gave him a parting kick as we left. Janie and Melinda were beside themselves with glee.
“So, how was his package?” I asked with a smile.
“Middling, might do on a hot day, certainly not on a cold one.” Janie and Melinda broke up in a gale of laughter.
Janie said, after she stopped laughing, “I don’t understand why people like that run these kinds of business’s.”
“Well, one reason is one I heard given me by an old Sea Captain in a bar in San Francisco. And that is ‘Trade is much superior to piracy.’ Of course I asked why, in-between his swelling down tankards of rum, he finished by saying: ‘Cause me bucko, you can rob and kill a man only once, but you can cheat the fool many the time.’ So I suppose that’s as good a reason as any. Because there is no end to the supply of fools, just look at that bunch in there.”
Brie said, “I think the girls and I will go home, are you coming? Or are you going to finish your rounds?”
“I think I’ll go by Bayard’s and then check and make sure Harry is at the Jail for the night. I seen he has a thing for Mary, but I want to make sure he’s taking his job seriously.” I kissed Brie and we parted, them for our new home and me for the saloon.
I didn’t have to worry about them getting accosted by a drunk or pervert, because if they were, he would be pushing up daises right quick.
There was some difference between the two places. Here, most of tables were full, but with a different kind of crowd. These men were here to relax and play cards and drink some. It had more of a family atmosphere. As much as a saloon can have anyway. I went to the bar, “What’ll you have?” Bayard asked.
“I don’t know, do you have any milk?”
“Milk? Sure, why you got an ulcer or something?”
“No, we’ve been traveling a lot, I thought I would get a good nights sleep, coffee seems to keep me awake.” I said. He put a glass of milk on the bar. “So,” he said, “have you been over to the new saloon?”
“Yep, just came from there, met the owner, a Hugh Longo. Brie says they are from Chicago. I didn’t shake his hand, Brie shook him though.”
“Huh? Didn’t you forget the word ‘hand’ in that sentence?”
“Nope, she shook something a might lower, when we left he was laying on the floor groaning.”
“The hell you say? That wife of yours never fails to surprise me. You have a good one there Trego, you had better hang onto her.”
“I plan on it, but you know when you rope a filly, it pays to ease up on the rope a might, cause if you keep that loop too tight, you’re sure enough going to choke her.”
“Shoot, knowing your wife, if that rope was too tight, she sure enough would bite it off.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” I said, as I drank down the last of my milk and headed for the door. You know a person gets pretty complacent at times when everything seems to be going your way. That was me, as I stepped through the saloon door. I felt the bullet before I heard the sound of the shot. It caught me along the left side of my ribs, enough of a blow to knock me sideways, which I guess saved my life.
I was already drawing as I was falling, there were three of them, they were standing in the middle of the street, just waiting for me to come out. I felt my right gun recoil in my hand as my right knee hit the board walk.
I didn’t feel any pain, yet. But my left hand gun was a second behind my right one. Each shot counted. They couldn’t shoot for shit. Splinters were flying all around me. Two of them were down but still firing, I plugged the third in the middle of his forehead. Then something knocked me back against the wall of the saloon, I concentrated a little harder and finished the job.
I tried to get up, but my legs felt like they didn’t want to. So hell, if they didn’t want to, then neither did I.
The sun was shining through lace curtains. Heck fire, where did Brie get lace curtains? Was my first thought. Then I seen Melinda setting in a rocking chair beside the bed. She was reading a book.
“What are you reading?” I asked. She gasped then dropped the book, jumping up she yelled, “Brie! He’s awake!” Brie and Janie came running into the room. Brie fell on her knees beside me. “Honey, don’t try and get up, just lay there.” She said, cause I was trying to set up. I looked down at my chest, shoot, they had so many bandages on me, they were so heavy, that was why I couldn’t set up, thought I.
“But, I have to get up, we’ve got work to do. Did they get the street cleaned up? You should get those dead bodies out of the street before the town wakes up. Don’t want the children seeing all of that mess.”
“Don’t you worry about that none, its all taken care of.” Brie said, I laid quiet for awhile. Then said, “Hey, I just remembered one of those guys was that shotgun man from Hugh Longo’s place. He must have been behind all of that.”
“That’s all taken care of also.” Brie said.
“So soon? By the looks of the sun, its not even midmorning yet.”
“Tre` Honey, how long do you think you have been laying there?”
“Just since last night, right?”
“No, its been two weeks.”
“No, crap, how many times was I hit?”
“Five times, one along the left side of your ribs, one through your right shoulder, one each in each leg and if you will reach your left hand up and feel your head, you have a furrow along the right side of your head.”
“Heck, I didn’t think they could shoot for peanuts, but they must of hit me more than I thought. So If I’ve been laying here for two weeks, who’s been taking care of me, besides you three?”
“Well, Dr. Hoeffer has been in every day. Plus Jane and Mary, Garnet and Jie-Le. It’s been the seven of us women who have been giving you baths and all.” Brie said.
“Well, who’s been taking care of law and order?”
“Your Deputy’s, that’s who. Harry has been doing a good job. Plus I have been acting Marshal, with Janie and Melinda.
That’s why we needed some help from Jane and Mary and your Aunt and Jie-Le. They have all been taking shifts caring for you.”
