Chapter 2

I changed my mind and headed for the hotel first. Jane opened the door when I knocked and I gave her the news about my recent employment and asked she and Suzy to pack everything back up since I'd have to find us a house to stay in while we were here.

Back on the street I walked over to the biggest saloon in town and walked in to take a look. I saw the mayor sitting in on a poker game and walked over to stand beside him. I guess it was my lucky day as far as law enforcement went since the dealer at the table was dealing a new hand and I could hear him dealing seconds right away. As soon as he finished I pulled my Colt again and leveled it at the dealer's head.

"You'd better practice up a little on your cheating Bud, I could hear you dealing seconds when I walked in the door," I said.

He started to stand up but I let him have a taste of my Colt's barrell on the forehead and it set him right back down.

"Nobody calls me a cheater," he shouted.

"I'm the brand new Marshal in town and I just called you a cheater. The only question now is what you're going to do about it." I said.

It was easy to see he needed to practice his gun handling too. When he reached for his revolver he was painfully slow. I shot him in his right shoullder joint while he was still trying to get his weapon out and then shot him in the other one just for luck. I had the other players turn their cards over and it was about what I expected. All the hands were good ones but the dealer's was best by far.

I walked back outside and waved for one of the deputies to come over. When he made it I sent him for the doctor and returned to the card game. I had the other men there split up the dealers money off the table while I went through his pockets. I took his money, revolver, watch, and a diamond ring along with another ring which had a small mirror set in it instead of a stone.

The other players were asking about how he was cheating then and I explained about hearing him deal off the bottom and how he used the ring mirror to look at the bottom card. The game broke up then and the mayor hung around to talk to me.

I asked him about a house for rent or sale around town, explaining about needing a place for my wife and daughter to live. He told me the dealer had just won a nice place just outside of town and that he'd see it came to me for my excellent service.

He and his wife just moved into it last week and the previous owner has taken off toward Independence Missouri to head west.

"I will leave the task of telling his wife the news to you." he told me.

I headed back to the office, told Jock, the oldest deputy to take care of locking up the dealer after the doctor finished with him and then went to the hotel to check Jane and Suzy out and help carry their things to the wagon. Once I had them in it I tied my horse onto the back and drove it to my new office. I led them inside and introduced them to my remaining deputy.

Charlie, the deputy was happy to tell me how to find my new place and I was glad enough until he told about the poor young thing we'd be putting out. I wanted to strangle him over that but bit my tongue.

Charlie made up for his faux pax by finding a couple of chairs so Jane and Suzy could sit down. When I had them settled I headed back to the saloon to see what was keeping Jock, the Doctor, and the wounded dealer.

I'd no sooner walked into the saloon than a gun went off, Jock cursed loudly, and another gun went off. The scene of the confusion was the same table where the poker game had been.

Jock had been standing over the Doctor while he worked on the dealer and apparently said dealer's left arm hadn't been as disabled as I'd thought. Somehow he managed to get hold of the Doctor's sidearm and he had fired a shot at Jock. It only grazed Jock's thigh, but it had pissed him completely off and he'd drawn and fired in reaction.

The Doctor, Doc Johnson, was now working on Jock's thigh since his services were no longer needed on the dealer. Jock's shot had put and end to that since his bullet placement had been right between the dealer's eyes.

Jock was still cussing a blue streak but I consoled him by pointing out he'd at least settled the dealer's hash without the bother of a trial and had saved the state the cost of keeping him in prison.

I left Jock in the Doctor's hands and headed back to my office. I told Charlie to relax and told what had happened to the expected prisoner.

Meanwhile I took Jane and Suzy to the wagon and headed out to our new home.

We found the place with no trouble and it was a surprise. The house was much bigger than I'd expected and there was also a large barn and two substantial outbuildings.

I helloed the house and was even more surprised by the vision who came out to greet us. She was a blonde little dreamboat and it was only now I realized I'd have to tell her what became of her husband.

Sally was as pleased as pie to meet us and I decided to hit her with the bad news while Jane and Suzy were still near by. She took it much better than I'd have expected and seemed more distressed by losing the house than she did about the death of her husband.

I let Jane and Suzy go into the house with her and headed directly to the barn to look around. I was stunned when I entered. There was a full blown Connestoga wagon inside it and twelve big strong mules besides three great looking bay mares of the obvious Steel Dust persuasion. There was also the biggest Jack I'd ever seen. I knew it was Sacrilege but the first thought I had was of three mules with asses as wide as a barn door I'd surely have if I bred the Jack to the Steeldust mares.

Closer inspection of the Connestoga showed me a barrel of corn meal, one of flour, and another of pinto beans. The wagon was partially stocked for a trip west already. I was looking around at the firearms and ammunition stored in it too when I heard Jane calling to me.

I'd just announced my location and promptly unassed the wagon when Jane gave me the news.

"You need to go into the house and propose to your next new wife, Sally." Jane told me without preamble.

"But I already have a wife and its you." I said, and I'll admit it sounded lame, even to me.

Jane was not impressed with my logic.

"Silly, you can have more than one wife. Look at the Mormans, they have lots. It'll be even more acceptable out west. Since the war is over, there are a lot more women than men running around loose." Jane said.

"Besides, as you stated I'm your wife now and I'd welcome a new face in our family." she said, bringing my arguments to a close.

We headed back into th house and it was surprising to me when Jane and Suzy made themselves scarce and left Sally and I alone.

Broaching the subject wasn't easy for me but Sally said something that left me an opening. She mentioned her husband had intended to pack them up into the Connestoga wagon and head west within a couple of months.