Chapter 5

They hadn't heard any more on the protection racket front, so Eddy decided to join Bill for the Saturday night rounds. They had just left The Gold Dust Saloon when they heard a crash of breaking glass up the street a ways. They ran toward the noise and found a man sitting in the space normally occupied by the display window. He looked at the two lawmen and mumbled, "Ifen ye gentlemensh will he'p me up, I'd appresh..." and fell over, dead drunk.

Bill and Eddy looked at each other and started laughing. The man's heavy workman's clothing had protected him from the broken glass, so he had only a few superficial scratches. They bent over to help the man to jail to sleep off his drunk when a bullet whizzed over Eddy's head. Eddy dropped all the way to the boardwalk and pulled Bill down with him. The "drunk" jumped up and ran away so fast that they knew that the man couldn't have been drunk—it was a trap! But a trap for which one?

Bill started to get up to chase the "drunk," but Eddy yelled at him to stay down. At that moment, another bullet plowed into the wood near Eddy's head. The shop doorway was recessed about 3 feet behind the display windows and Eddy pushed Bill toward that refuge while he wormed his way off the sidewalk into the gutter. Another bullet flew by and this time Eddy was able to catch a glimpse of the muzzle flash.

Eddy shouted to Bill, "THE BASTARD'S ACROSS THE STREET BEHIND THAT WATERING TROUGH!"

Bill responded, "I SEE HIM! YOU GET TO COVER! I'LL COVER YOU!"

Eddy crawled as fast as he could to hunker down behind another watering trough. A bullet buried itself in the trough Eddy was sheltering behind. Bill fired and there was a scream of rage and pain. About this time, there were spectators beginning to accumulate at both ends of the street and several had pulled their guns. Bill yelled, "PUT DOWN YOUR GUN! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! YOU'RE SURROUNDED! GIVE UP NOW!"

There was a shout of, "YOU'LL NEVER GET ME!" and the attacker jumped up to run away. This was all the spectators needed—several men started shooting and the running man was hit several times in the chest and head. He was dead before either Bill or Eddy could get to him. There was also a lot of broken glass from stray bullets, but nobody worried about that at the time. Luckily, none of the bystanders had been hit.

Bill went to fetch Mike and the undertaker while Eddy searched the dead man. All he found was a pocket watch and a pistol. The man didn't even have a spare pistol (you can't quickly reload a loose-powder pistol, so most professional assassins carried more than one). Eddy wondered, "Was this guy that sure of himself?"

Eddy stood up and turned to the crowd. He said, "THANKS FOR THE HELP, FOLKS! SHOW'S OVER! YOU CAN LEAVE NOW!"

Most of the spectators left, but one man walked up. "I know that man. He's Al Caldwell. A petty crook and grifter. But I don't know much more. He sometimes worked as a swamper at a saloon or hotel."

"Thanks for the information. That's more than I knew."

Mike, Bill and the undertaker arrived a short time later and threw Al's body into the buckboard. The undertaker drove off, after a nod of thanks to Eddy.

Mike grinned and said, "You're making Jed's month. He'd never had this much business from the city afore you showed up. Where're you finding so many poor souls to kill?"

"I don't know where they're coming from. I wish I did. But blame this one on the good people of Sacramento—they're the ones who fired the fatal shots."

"Are you sure that you were the target? Bill told me about the affair, and he claimed that none of the shots were aimed at him."

"Yeah, I figure this must be more of the protection scam. They must be getting tired of me interrupting their fun."

"You want the rest of the night off? You must be tired."

"Yeah, I would like to go home. Getting shot at really does tire me out!"

"OK, go ahead. You've earned the time off. We'll see you Sunday night."

Eddy went home and to bed. Martha knew that there must have been trouble for him to come home early, but she could get the whole story in the morning at breakfast. She had seen his whole body and there were no bullet holes or bloody spots, so she wasn't too worried.

The next morning at breakfast, Eddy explained to the family what had happened. They all went to church while he went back to sleep until they got home. After Sunday dinner, they all decided that a walk along the river would be pleasant, especially since it was late in the year and it might be the last decent day before the baby came. After what had happened the night before, all three men carried shotguns on their promenade and the women felt better for it.

The next few weeks were uneventful; the criminal gangs were quiet (for the Christmas season?). Eddy and Bill only had to deal with the usual drunks and barroom fights, so they had a fairly restful late November and all of December. Christmas was a joyous occasion in the Johnson household, but they did miss the sight of snow; though they did appreciate the lack of freezing cold they had been used to back east.

Martha did use ever opportunity to continue to stock up on her enjoyment of "wifely duties" while she still had the chance. Come January 1st, 1863, she was closing the door until after the baby came. Her midwife expected no complications, but Martha decided not to take any chances. Eddy wasn't happy with the effect, but was in agreement with the precaution. Eddy wanted the baby just as much as Martha did!

A week before the baby was due, Mary and Martha spent every moment with last minute preparations and modifications of those preparations. Finally, Eddy grabbed a sandwich and went to work early. Mike greeted him with a chuckle and a knowing look. Mike had three babies' worth of experience, so the knew what Eddy was going through at home.

Mike decided that this was as good a time as any to bring up a subject that he had wanted to discuss with Eddy, but had put off for one reason or another. Specifically, Mike was getting old enough that he wanted to retire and he needed to start training his replacement. Mike asked Eddy if he was interested in the job. For one thing, it paid $150 a month! Eddy's ears perked up at this information and asked to hear more.

Mike gave Eddy the full particulars of the job and Eddy said that he wanted it; however, what about Eddy's age?

"Eddy, everybody knows your age, but we have all been impressed at how well you have handled yourself in some rough situations. I've talked to the men of the City Council about this and they are all willing to give you a try at the job. So, if you are willing, I would like for you to take over as soon as we clear up the protection racket problem. That will be more than you and Bill can handle on your own, it will take all three of us to catch those bastards."

"Yes, Mike, I would love to take the job, but I sure will miss you. I just hope that I can do the job as well as you have."

"I know that you will do a good job, and we should have enough time for the proper training. We'll wait until the baby gets here, then I will take you around to meet the members of the City Council. Ah, here comes Bill and it's time for me to go home for supper. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

Bill greeted Eddy with, "It looks from you shit-eating grin that Mike discussed making you marshal. And I guess that you agreed to take the job."

"Yeah, he did and I did. How did you know about it?"

"Mike discussed the prospect with me a week ago. He wanted to know how I would feel about you being my boss, since you are 6 years younger than me. I told him that it was fine with me, and that I thought you would make a good marshal. Since you'd already saved my ass several times, I figured it was time to make it official."

"Thanks, Bill. You ARE a good friend! So, what do you say to us going to work?"

Bill couldn't resist dropping the word about Eddy in the first saloon they went in and the word spread faster than they could walk the route. By the third saloon, the bartender congratulated Eddy and by the fourth saloon there was a rowdy who wanted to make a local name for himself.

He drew his pistol and pointed it at Eddy as soon as he and Bill walked into the saloon. As soon as the rowdy yelled an insult at Eddy, all of the patrons scurried to get out of the line of fire.

Eddy spoke calmly, "Now put that pistol up and I'll buy you a beer. You know you can't win going against me. If nothing else, Bill, here, will blow you to tatters with his shotgun if you pull that trigger. So just you back off and we'll forget this happened."

"No way will I back off! I'm here to prove that I'm a better man than some two-bit kid who thinks he's man enough to be marshal of Sacramento."

Eddy started walking slowly toward the tough while saying soothing things, trying to get him to put up his gun. But the tough had forced himself into a corner with his words and knew that he would lose a mountain of face if he backed down now. The gunman was trapped in indecision, also. He didn't know what to do as Eddy got closer and closer to him. He didn't want to give in because of the way he would look to other people, but he was afraid to shoot because he believed that Bill would shoot him if he pulled the trigger.