Chapter 3

“Josh, did you find out anything useful?”

“Naw, the bartender had a lot to say, but none of it was even slightly interesting.”

“Well, I talked to the whores and got a couple of interesting leads. There’s a road agent working the road between here and the county seat. He claims that there is a big reward out for him. I have no idea how much that might be, but it sure means that we have to be careful when we go to collect your bounties tomorrow.

“Not only that, there is a train robber expected to show up at the saloon sometime after 7:00 tonight. He also claims to have a big reward out for him. Again, I have no idea how much it might be, but I think that we might as well wait around for him to show up.

“Unfortunately, the whores didn’t know the name of either of these two galoots, but they were sure that they were not lying about the rewards. What do you think?”

“I do not know, Helen. I did not expect you to go with me tomorrow, but we will need to be careful. Ajax may be the key to handling the road agent. In any case, I will be happy to have your company. As for the other galoot, you are correct in wanting to be here to capture him if he does come in. I wish we knew their names so that we would know exactly who we were looking for. By the way, you were very wise to talk to the whores. I would never have thought of that, but they probably would never have told me what they said to you. Maybe that should be a regular part of our routine when we go into a saloon.”

I must say that I was surprised at how quickly Josh accepted my information, and I was very pleased to receive his praise over getting the information. In fact, am I falling in love with this guy? I never before felt this way over another man, either in the Marines or out.

We entered the next saloon, and I went through the same routine with the single saloon whore who was there. She accepted my statement that I was not any competition for her business, and I went with Josh to get a beer. This time, there was no Mexican beer, so we settled for a mug of the local stuff at 2¢ each. God, was that stuff awful! However, I was able to drink it, and it actually was not as bad as some of the beer I have drunk around the world.

I went over to talk to the whore while Josh talked to the bartender. As before, the whore was somewhat reluctant to talk to me, but I finally broke through and got quite a bit of information from her. However, there was nothing that we could use, but I wished her a profitable day and left when Josh did. “Dammit, I came up empty with the bartender. Did you get anything useful?”

“No, I hope that we can do better at the next saloon.” We entered, and I went through the same routine with these saloon whores. They backed off a little quicker than they did in the first two saloons. Maybe I was perfecting my story. As usual, we got Mexican beers, and Josh talked to the bartender while I talked to the whores.

I didn’t get anything useful, but this time Josh got a little more information on the train robber. He was Jeb Moreland, and the reward was $75. That was useful information because we could look him up among the posters we had and get a look at his face. That should make him easy to recognize. The bartender hadn’t seen him, but he had heard about Moreland from another customer. That reward certainly made Moreland worth going after.

We went through all of this at the fourth saloon, and neither Josh nor I got any useful information. We went back to that restaurant we had previously visited and had an excellent supper. This time, for safety, we drank coffee rather than beer. We wanted to be sure to have all of our faculties at the top of our game because we expected shooting tonight.

We were back at the Double-Eagle Saloon at close to 6:30 that evening. There was no guarantee when Moreland would show up, so we wanted to be there in plenty of time so that we would not miss him. That was a good thing, because we saw Moreland walking down the stairs from the whores’ rooms upstairs. The whore I had talked to earlier was with him.

We had been sitting in chairs against the wall near the saloon’s front door so that we would not be likely to miss Moreland as he entered or left the saloon. He left the whore, and she went to try to promote some more business. Moreland went to the bar and ordered whiskey. He dropped a dollar on the bar and picked up his drink.

By previous agreement, Josh went to accost Moreland while I backed him up from where I was sitting. I had a good view of the entire bar, so I could cover Josh pretty much no matter what happened. Josh walked up to Moreland and waited until he was swallowing his whiskey. Josh drew his pistol and said, “Jeb Moreland, I am a bounty hunter, and I am arresting you. Come quietly and no one will be hurt.”

Uh-oh, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man next to Moreland draw his pistol and cock the hammer. He started to swing the gun toward Josh, and that was too much for me to ignore. I drew my revolver and shouted, “LOOK OUT, JOSH!” At the same time, I fired a shot into the back of the man who had drawn his pistol. At the same time, Josh fired a bullet into Moreland’s belly. Moreland dropped to the floor beside the other galoot. Moreland was not dead, so Josh shot him again in the chest. This was enough. Moreland was not dead, yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Josh turned to the bartender and said, “Please send your swamper to fetch the marshal.”

The bartender did so, and the swamper returned with the marshal much sooner than anybody expected. The marshal happened to be walking toward the saloon at the start of his regular evening rounds, so he was very close when the shooting started. Josh told him what had happened, and the marshal ruled it as self defense. The marshal agreed to write up a receipt for Moreland, but nobody recognized the other galoot.

We three went back to the marshal’s office where we went through his stack of recent wanted posters. Ah, there he was: John Maztek. He was worth $30, so the marshal wrote a receipt for him, too. Wow, this had been a very profitable day! We had been through the pockets of both men and found nearly $50 in gold and silver coins. We would get more when we sold their other possessions. It was nights like this that really made bounty hunting worth the effort.

I wasn’t sure how we were going to split the night’s earnings, but I would leave that to Josh. I had found Moreland, but Josh was the one who had shot him, so I was not sure of the niceties in splitting the full take. Oh, well, I was sure that we could work out something equitable.

We found the galoots’ horses and tack in the same livery stable where our horses and Ajax were spending the night. The owner bought the horses, tack, and guns from us in a package deal that netted $47.25, a sum I was quite happy with, especially since it included the stable’s charge against the animals.

By this time, we were tired, so we headed back to the hotel.

We went up to our room, and that was when I realized that I did not have any sort of night clothes to wear. I didn’t even have a bra, though I did have my panties. Now what was I going to do?

It had been several days since I’d had a bath, so I decided to take advantage of the bathtub offered by the hotel. Oh, hell, I went back to the desk and asked what was the routine for taking a bath. Having gotten that business straightened out and paying the 10¢ surcharge, I was handed two towels and a wash cloth. There was supposed to be a bar of soap in the bathroom. I was also advised that since I was a woman, I should have my husband wait with me in the bathroom while I bathed or else take a gun with me. There had been cases when men broke into the bathroom when they knew that a woman was alone in there.

I thanked the clerk for the information and headed back upstairs. I told Josh what I had learned and asked him if he also wanted to bathe tonight. I was used to coed bathing from my Marine days, so it did not bother me for him to be there while I washed. Josh looked at me kind of funny and decided to join me in the tub.

I had made a preliminary recon of the bathroom and found a handy peg beside the tub where one could hang his gunbelt so that his pistol would be handy. Okay, I was going to make use of that convenience. Josh went down to the clerk, paid his 10¢, and picked up his towel. We went together to the bathroom. I explained that I expected us both to be in the tub at the same time so that we would have plenty of hot water. That seemed to catch Josh by surprise, but he agreed to go along with my wild idea.

I stripped down to my panties, and Josh was fascinated by them. He had never heard of such apparel. Most women went bare in the summer because of the heat and wore pantaloons in the winter for warmth. The pantaloons were essentially leggings that went from the ankle to the crotch and were held in place by cloth ties. In no case was the pussy or the anus covered. I just explained that panties were what the women of my home wore and dropped the conversation after that. Josh was satisfied by my explanation.

He stripped, and I saw that he was not wearing any underwear at all, but that was the custom for men in the summer. What did strike him as peculiar was that I did not have any pussy hair. Again, I said that women of my home usually shaved in that area, and he did not push that conversation. I had a nearly perfect “camel toe” and was proud of it. I never had a man complain over it.

The first thing I did after filling the tub was to wash my panties and hang them over a convenient rail to dry while we bathed. We climbed into the very large tub and began to wash ourselves. I asked Josh if he would like to have me wash his back, and he jumped at the opportunity. From the way he acted, this was the first time the anyone had done this for him, and he luxuriated in the operation.

However, the situation changed when I asked him to wash my back. I noticed immediately that his cock got fully hard at that suggestion and he stared at my crotch when I turned around in the tub so that he could easily get to my back. His washing technique was not up to what I had received from some other male partners, but I was sure that my back was clean by the time he finished.

By this time the water was cooling off. I said, “Josh, let’s go back to our room. I’m ready for bed. How about you?”