Chapter 2

Two petty thieves were going through my pack from the mule. I didn't have anything in there of much great value, but most of my food for the expedition was contained in the pack. I would have shared if the men had simply asked, but outright theft was intolerable!

On top of everything else, the men had their backs turned to me, and that demonstrated an insulting amount of contempt for me. I was boiling mad when I stood up in front of my small tent. "All right, you bastards! Just what do you think you are doing?"

Both men swiveled to face me, and one said in a whiny voice, "Mister, we was hongry, an' we was lookin' fer a little grub from yer stash." While the first man was talking, the second man tried to sneak his gun from its holster. That was all of the additional provocation that I needed!

I shot the one who was trying to sneak out his gun, and I then shot the other man who also decided to draw his hogleg. All of the practice that I had done had made me an excellent shot, so I drilled both fools in the middle of the chest. Judging from the small amount of blood, both hearts stopped beating almost instantaneously. That was OK with me, as I was not into inducing undue pain if I could help it, even if these two thieves had really made me mad.

Humph! I figured that I could wait to daylight to examine the bodies, so I went back to bed after thanking the mule for calling me. He seemed to understand me and nodded his head in acknowledgment. I felt that I had dealt with the two thieves as they deserved, so I went back to sleep without delay. After all, I was tired after a hard day of searching for bad men.

The next morning, I took care of the necessary chores before I looked at the two dead intruders. Well, I'll be damned! Both of these galoots were depicted on my wanted posters. One was worth $35 and the other was good for $50. Hell, my excursion was getting off to a good start. If I could continue to be this lucky, I would have earned a tidy nest egg in very short order.

Now I had a decision to make which I had not previously considered. What was I going to do with the two bodies? I had to get a receipt from a marshal before they decomposed too much to be recognizable, so that put a time limit on how long I could keep them above ground, especially considering that the highest temperatures of the year were rapidly approaching. Furthermore, it was not practical to traipse through the woods while leading two horses burdened with dead men. Oh, hell, it looked like my only real choice was to return to town and turn in these two characters before I went after any more of their ilk.

Somewhat annoyed with the chore, but soothed by the thought of the money I would receive for them, I tied the bodies across their saddles and led them back to my friend, the marshal of Otto's Bend, Missouri. It was just as well that I started back when I did, since the two corpses were already beginning to stink. Of course, they stank anyway, since it was obvious that it had been many days since their last bath, but this was a more pervasive stink that was beginning to trouble my horses and mule. The marshal noticed the odor, too, but he was able to get close enough to make an identification of the bodies. Nevertheless, he did shoo me toward the undertaker with more vigor than I was sure was his habit.

By this time, I was convinced that the mule salesman had not lied to me, so I did not find it necessary to shoot him—a fact I appraised him of shortly after disposing of the corpses at the undertaker's. He was pleased to hear that, and actually offered to sell me another similar mule; however, I turned him down. I really did not know what I would do with two mules.

I spent the night in the hotel and took the opportunity for a bath, myself, even if it wasn't Saturday night. It was obvious that I smelled much better after my bath, because the saloon whores were much more attentive that evening. It was my first time, and I now had enough money, so I did avail myself of one of the ladies of the evening. It was a very pleasant interlude, but I did notice that she could have used a bath, herself!

After dallying with a woman and drinking a couple of beers, I was ready to sleep the sleep of the well satisfied. I managed to make it to my room in the hotel without too much bother and collapsed in the bed for the night. I barely woke up in time the next morning to get to breakfast in the restaurant.

The next day, I returned to the hunt for fugitives and spent the next six days in a futile search for more miscreants hiding in the woods. They were indeed hiding well, for I went through my supplies without finding any more of them, nor did they find me, for that matter. I could see, now, why this stretch of woods was so popular as a place to hide. By now, I was bored with my fruitless search, and was about ready to give up. But, then, my luck changed.

I was riding through a small river valley when I smelled a small whiff of smoke. It had the fragrant aroma of bacon and coffee tucked in among the more usual odors associated with a small fire. This was certainly worth investigating, and I thought that caution might be the order of the day.

I dismounted and hitched my horse to a convenient bush where he could reach both water and food, so I figured that he would be good for several hours, if it came to that. I took my rifle and water canteen with me, just in case of trouble. I was not expecting trouble, but I wanted to be ready in case it did show up.

I found the campfire within a few minutes and saw, sitting around it and enjoying a light lunch, five men who looked as hard as nails. I figured that this could be the mother lode of fugitives in this area, so I was very careful as I approached the camp more closely. I wanted to verify that these men were, indeed, some of the men on my wanted posters before I barged in on them with a cocked gun in hand. I didn't want to shoot any innocents, and I surely didn't want them to shoot me.

When I got close enough to see them clearly through my binoculars, I recognized four of the faces as being on my posters without a doubt, and the fifth face looked familiar, but I was not as sure of his value as a fugitive. I was satisfied that I had a veritable gold mine of rewards at hand, but I was not sure of the best way to approach the situation. This was the first time that I had ever faced this many potential enemies, and I was a bit timorous, though not frozen in fear.

The easiest thing to do, of course, would be to shoot them from cover without warning, but that did not seem sporting, some how. That, alone, demonstrated my foolish ignorance. I had no real grasp of the danger that I was in. The concept of giving an opponent a chance to fight back was fine in sports, but it had no place where lives were on the line. I would learn with experience, but I was not fully integrated into my chosen profession as yet. Therefore, I made a novice's mistake. "HELLO, THE CAMP! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! DROP YOUR GUNS AND RAISE YOUR HANDS!"

Well, that was hopefully the last time that I would make that stupid mistake! All five of the men could tell from my voice approximately where I was hiding. They dropped their sandwiches and coffee cups and dove for whatever shelter they could locate. Two of them drew pistols while they were still in motion, so they began to shoot in my general direction while they were still scurrying to what they hoped would be safety.

Naturally, I ducked as bullets started flying in my direction, and it was not long before all five men were shooting at me. They didn't know exactly where I was, but they would find out as soon as I fired my first shot. The powder smoke would give me away as surely as if I held up a sign. I wasn't hit by a bullet, but some of them did come close.