Chapter 2

I figured that I could wait a day before collecting my reward, so I dressed in my usual woman's clothes and spent some time cleaning the house and other household chores. I was just finishing up when a woman came to the door carrying a boy about 7 years old. This was Mrs. Simmons and her son, Jeffery.

She asked to see Pa; she had not heard about the murder. I told her Pa was dead, so she would have to travel to Trinity to see a regular doctor. Mrs. Simmons started to cry and said, "I can't do that. Jeffery fell out of a tree an' broke his arm pretty bad. See? The bone's pokin' out of the skin. He can't wait to see no doctor. I know ya he'ped yer Pa lots of times, kin ya do sumpthin' ta he'p my precious boy?"

I looked at the boy, closely, for the first time and saw the end of the bone poking from his upper arm. That had to hurt like hell; no wonder the boy had fainted! I said, "Mrs. Simmons, you know that I'm no doctor, but I can see that Jeffery is in serious trouble. I'll try to set the break and fix the wound if you really want to take a chance on me, but you have to know who you're asking to do it."

"I'll shore take a chance on ya! My precious Jeffery has ta have he'p right now!"

I held the door open, and she carried her son into the treatment room. There was still some boiled water left from the earlier dish washing, so I was able to use that to wash the blood and dirt from the boy's arm. I then went through the procedures that I had seen Pa use many times to set compound fractures. Jeffery was spared the intense pain caused by fixing his arm simply because he had never recovered from his faint. Mrs. Simmons needed some treatment, too, so I used the last of the hot water to fix us come coffee. She perked up with the coffee and recovered fully by the time Jeffery woke up. He still hurt and was crying, but both of us knew that he was going to recover. I gave him some willow bark tea to help him with the pain. Mrs. Simmons paid me Pa's usual fee for setting broken bones, $1, and left with the promise that she would tell all her friends of what good work I had done on her son. Maybe I had a second job, after all, and a good cover for my alter ego of Jake Esposito.

I figured that I had a lot of good practical training in medicine from all of the times that I had helped Pa with his patients. Pa had accumulated a lot of medical books, too, so I was sure that I could get a lot of the finer details that I had missed by reading those books. Certainly, I would be as well trained as most doctors in Texas at the time. I decided to put up a sign in front of the house to the effect that I would see patients on Wednesdays and Fridays, or by appointment.

Since this was Wednesday, I decided to stay around the house in case I got another patient. While I was waiting, I began studying Gray's Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical. The edition I had was published in 1860, so I knew that it was pretty well up to date. When I got tired of studying, I went through the inventory of medical items and found that I needed some more chloroform. I would order it tomorrow on my way to Trinity to collect my bounty on the road agent.

Now that I was going to use my own house as a hideout for Jake Esposito, I had to make a few preparations. I decided to get another horse so that I would have one to use as Amy Horton and a different one to use as Jake Esposito, just in case somebody happened to make the connection between the person and the horse. I could make the purchase in Trinity, and nobody in Willow Run would even know about the second horse if I was careful.

The barn butted up against an alley behind the house and had a door opening onto that alley. I could go in and out that way as Jake Esposito and use the front entrance as Amy Horton. It dawned on me that I could confuse things even further by exclusively using the buckboard as Amy, and this would be more convenient from the front entrance. It looked like things would work out nicely.

The next morning, I left for Trinity via the back entrance to the barn, and I was sure that nobody saw me do so. I was a bit amused as I left my house, as I was sure that I looked the part of a true desperado. My two guns, white dress shirt, and Top Hat fit the style of such a person. I was really pleased with my disguise as I rode to Trinity; I even tipped my hat to all the ladies I passed.

I went to the courthouse as soon as I arrived in town so that I could get through with my business before the clerk left for lunch. There was no problem with collecting the bounty as soon as I displayed my receipt from the marshal in Willow Run. His handwriting was recognized, and I was in and out of the courthouse in short order.

After lunch, I went to three livery stables before I found the horse I wanted. He was a medium sized sorrel gelding who was young enough to give me many years of service, should I need them. He had absolutely no unusual or distinguishing features which would make him easy to recognize—just what I wanted. Naturally, he was named Red, and I let that name stick; of course, the horse didn't care what I called him. While I was there, I bought a full set of tack, equally unremarkable. By the time I was done, I was out of cash, and it was a good thing that I had already eaten.

I rode Red home with my other horse on a lead rope. As I got near home, damned if I didn't meet another road agent. Was he surprised when he pointed his gun at me, and I started laughing. "What's so God damned funny?" he asked.

I said, "I was held up at almost this identical place two nights ago. I don't have any money left, an' I thought that was funny."

He said, "I'll jus' take yer hosses, then. Git down."

This was exactly the opening I needed. He had to back off a little to give me room to dismount, so, when my foot hit the ground, I was facing my horse, and I was able to pull my LeMat, which he hadn't noticed in its shoulder holster. I was so close to him that I didn't bother with the shotgun, but just blasted away with the regular pistol part of the gun. My first shot entered his side just below his ribs and continued up into his heart. It was a lucky shot that killed him with the first bullet, but, luck or not, he was as dead as I needed him to be.

His face was not on my wanted list, so I just stripped him of his valuables and the $34.27 he had in his pockets. The poor guy must not have been a very successful bandit, since he didn't have a money belt. I took his horse, but I left his body lying in the bushes. There was no point in taking him into town to the marshal if he wasn't on a wanted poster. That's 2 bandits in 3 days—I wondered if I could make a living just with my encounters with road agents. I sure could if this rate kept up!

I went home and put all three horses in my barn. I entered through the alley, and I was sure that I had not been seen. Tomorrow was an office day, so I'd have to wait until Saturday to sell the road agent's horse and tack. Dammit, I was going to need more feed for the horses at the rate I was going.

I got a good price for the horse and tack on Saturday, and I got $15 for the pistol and gunbelt. I kept the bowie knife and the hideout derringer, which I hid in my left boot. I visited the saloons, working on my tolerance for beer, though I did cheat by trying Mexican beer. Compared to the American stuff, it tasted good, but 12 cents for a mug of beer was too much! I was going to have to force myself to learn to drink American beer at 3 cents a mug.

The second saloon I visited gave me a surprise. Three of the men I was hunting were there being their obnoxious selves. Mad as I was at them, I was not fool enough to take on all three at one time. Apparently, I had come in just after they did, because the crowd thinned out real fast while I was there. Pretty soon, there were only a few men left in the saloon, 4 were playing poker and 2 were standing at the bar, besides the 3 I was stalking who were standing at the bar knocking back shots of rotgut about as fast as the bartender could pour them.

I had hoped to catch one alone by staying around and keeping an eye on them. After a while, one of the men did wander out to the jakes, but he was back before I could plan anything. I was sitting at a table nursing my beer and watching them, when I was spotted in the bar mirror. The men talked among themselves for a couple of minutes, then one of them came over my way. He said, "I saw ya spying on us. What cha want, ya stupid galoot."