Chapter 4

The next morning men were waiting with horses to be shod before I even walked toward the general store for something to eat. I started the fire in the forge and headed off for breakfast, telling them I'd be back directly.

I finished my sausage and bread, except for the treat for the old dog, on my way back. I'd just pulled a piece of steel stock out of the fire when two gents rode up saying they'd come for the horses belonging to the Martin place.

"I sent them all out there yesterday and Mr Martin paid the boy for them," Bill said.

"We didn't come for those horses. We came for the ones the smith stole when he murdered the four men in the inn and after he killed the overseer," one of them said, while the other one pointed a crossbow at me.

I don't know what got into the old hound dog, old Skinny, but he jumped up and bit the one holding the crossbow, and it made the horse jump. Of course he triggered the crossbow when it happened and of course it made a killing wound in the stable dust.

The other one pulled his sword then. Amazingly he took a swing at the dog, but only creased his back. I had set my bow near my sword this morning and I proceeded to show the two tough guys how much more handy it was to be able to nock an arrow and let fly - of course it was much faster than cocking a crossbow.

I nailed the first one who'd pointed his crossbow at me right in the Adams apple, since he looked like he'd have another bolt ready in half an hour or so. The other one, the one who'd taken a swing at the dog, got an arrow in the upper arm of the one he was trying to raise his sword again with. Then I went to work on him.

Trying to kill the dog had pissed me right off. I put a hand under his right foot and lifted for all I was worth. He went flying off the horse and landed face first in the dirt. I rared back and kicked him square in the balls next, and then turned him over onto his back.

"If you'd'a fought like a decent man I'd just kill you now and your pain would be over, but no, you had to come sneaking up on me and worse yet, you tried to kill my dog. Your riding days are over unless you can hire someone to help you on a horse.

I took his own sword and cut a hand off, then I grabbed the tongs and took a red-hot piece of iron out of the forge and cauterized the wound. Next thing I replaced the iron in the forge, cut off his other hand and repeated the procedure. For luck I kicked him in the balls again, then I stripped off everything he was wearing and went to the other one, who was safely dead by now, and took everything off him too.

I took a break from shoeing then and went through their pockets. I unsaddled the horses afterwards and led them into a couple of stalls and put the tack in the storage room.

All in all I was making a good living on the men from the Martin place. I had two more pretty good swords, two nice crossbows and nearly three dozen quarrels. There were also a few assorted hide out knives for good measure and some pocket change. Last of all I ripped my arrow out of the handless one's upper arm.

"Now, get your ass away from here before I decide to cut your feet off too. You're making a nuisance of yourself with all that whining. This is a respectable business and you're scaring off the customers," I told the one I'd dehanded.

Some people just can't listen to good advice. He kept his caterwauling up so bad I took the red hot metal out of the forge again and applied it liberally to his naked ass. He finally got the hint, got to his feet, and took off running.

Before I could get back to shoeing Bill came up.

"You must take your horses and run. When he gets back to Mr Martins place they will send more men and they will be trying to kill you this time," Bill said, and I was touched over his concern.

"In case you ain't noticed, Bill, they been trying to kill me all along and they ain't been able to get the job done. Besides, I'm going to clean Mr Martin's plow by and by, and it's easier on me to thin his band of thieves down a few at a time," I told him, whispering so the men standing around with horses to be shod wouldn't hear.

Dear old Bill. Of course he couldn't take a hint and keep quiet about things. He opened his mouth and I'm sure he was going to damn near scream out what he said next. I clamped my hand across his mouth and picked him up by his shirtfront with my other hand, taking him back into the tack room.

"Are you just stupid, Bill, or are you trying to get you and me both killed? Keep your voice down when you're talking to me about my business. Better yet, you call me in here if you want to talk to me again.

"Martin is the reason I'm in town in the first place, and I mean to kill him within a few days. Now, I'm going to go back out there and take care of our customers and their horses. You're going to settle your nerves and then come out and stand around trying to look busy. Why don't you do something useful and keep a watch on the road from Martin's place?" I said, and I sat him down on a saddle to let him get hold of himself.

It seemed the more horses I put shoes on the easier it got. Even with the interruption I did twelve that day, and still had time to get back to the inn for supper before full dark. The same little gal I'd been tipping a pinch a night brought me the stew again. I ate six bowls at this sitting and even though it was still all I could eat for the one price I paid the innkeeper double this time.

The general store was still open when I headed back to sleep in Bill's barn so I went in and bought a whole summer sausage for the dog this time. I could have probably come out without his help, but I didn't have to bother, and he did get a small cut on his back.

The hound was wagging his tail when I came up and he wagged it faster after I gave him his due. He wasn't so happy while I tended to his cut, but at least it didn't need any stitching up. He did howl a little when I put some of the horse liniment on it for safety's sake, but he still came over to sleep beside me when I lay down.

I wasn't so lonesome I needed a dog for company, but I had made some enemies in this town, even if I only let the one without hands live. The dog seemed to like my company and I'd already seen he'd be good for at least a warning if someone came snooping around at night.

When I woke the next morning I began to wonder where all the damned shoeless horses were coming from. Wherever - there were twelve men with horses waiting for me when I woke up. It must have been a long time since Bill had a decent farrier working at his place.

I started the fire in the forge, put the metal in to heat, and headed out for the general store. This morning I bought two summer sausages and bread.

"Working at the livery stable must have perked up your appetite," the lady who was running the place said.

"Well, it has for a fact, but one of those is for that old hound dog. It helped me out yesterday and I like to keep my friends close to me," I said, paid, and left - all the while she just looked at me like I was crazy.

While I was trimming the feet of the first three or four horses I realized why I was getting faster at shoeing. It was in the hoof trimming and not the shoeing. Oh, I could form the shoes faster now all right, but mostly I was doing a better and faster job of trimming their feet.

I was just finishing up on the fifth horse this morning when I heard Bill make a little noise. I looked at him and he held up four fingers and nodded his head toward the road to Martin's place.

My customers were a hell of a lot smarter than Bill, and when I picked up my bow and quiver and knelt behind the next horse in line they didn't do a thing but move back away from the action spot just a little.

Sure enough four men came riding around the corner of Bill's livery barn then and one of them yelled.

"Where's that murdering smith? We've come to settle his hash."

I let him know where I was with an arrow from under the horse's belly. I had a lucky shot and put it in his left eye and he lost his seat aboard his horse at once. I shot two others before they even saw where I was hiding and then I stepped out behind the horse and finished the last one while he was trying to settle his horse and shoot me with his crossbow at the same time.

I didn't bother torturing any of them this time. After all, none of them had pestered my dog. I just went over and cut their throats to make sure they were dead. I did lose two arrows in the deal though.

The one I put in the first one's eye socket came out when I pulled it all right, but the arrowhead stayed inside. One of the other men had fallen on the shaft sticking out of his throat and broken it. I made out though by saving the arrowhead off that one. I'd be able to put it on the other shaft and only lose the one arrow.

I didn't let on to any of the men who had horses for me to shoe, but this was my last day of this kind of work, for a while anyway. I had more weapons, saddles, and horses than the law allowed by now anyway, and I was losing money staying in one place shoeing horses. I didn't let on because I didn't want the word getting out.

I kept my routine up and finished with today's crop by two hours before sunset. I hurried on down to the inn for supper and then headed back to the barn to get a little sleep. Of course I had to stop by the general store for the dog's supper. I was growing fond of old Skinny by now.

One thing I'd noticed in town the last few days was the way people went to bed when the sun went down. Oh, you could usually see a light on in a few houses, but they all went out by about nine o'clock at the latest. I hoped the same was true for the Martin place.