Sam Bass (23 page)

“What's the celebration?” Jackson asked.

“Why, man, it's the Fourth of July!”

So we got down, and Sam introduced us around as cattlemen from Wise County.

“Wise?” the farmer said. “Ain't that up in Sam Bass country?”

“That's right.”

“They caught that boy yet?”

“Not that I heared,” Sam said.

The man handed us hunks of watermelon and said, “Well, he'll make another strike soon. I don't give a damn how many trains he robs, just so he lets the citizens alone.”

“From what I've heared,” Sam said, “I don't reckon he bothers nobody but them Yankee railroads.”

We set under the trees with the farmer and several other men that I taken to be brothers and sons and talked cattle and ate watermelon. There must've been two dozen kids around the place, running races and playing tag, and a bunch of women on the porch that giggled and talked in low voices except when they was hollering at the kids. It was a pleasant afternoon. Jackson beat four of the young men in a watermelon seed spitting contest, and him and Sam laid aside their weapons and coats and rassled some of the kids, taking on three or four of them at a time. I didn't see how they could do it, having ate as much as they did, but they laughed and hollered as much as the kids. Towards sundown some of the kin loaded their younguns and wives into their wagons and taken off, but some was going to spend the night. “I ain't got no room in the house,” the farmer told us, “but you're welcome to spread your blankets under the trees. It's going to be a hot night, anyhow.”

We accepted, and he brought out the whiskey jug and passed it around amongst the men that was left. Before he taken his first swig he raised the jug and said, “Well, here's to the Republic. I wish to God she was the Confederacy.”

We all said, “Amen!” and then drunk a while and had supper and talked cattle and politics some more. Then the farmer and the other men invited us to stay for breakfast in the morning and went inside. While we was spreading our blankets, Sam said, “I hope them kids knows someday that they was rassling with Sam Bass hisself.”

The river had dropped some, and Sam and Jackson offered to help the ferryman fix his cable. They set out in a skiff and pulled the cable across the river and tied it on the other bank. Then the ferryman carried us and our horses across. “You boys has been so nice I'll just charge you half the fare,” he said.

“Why, you old robber!” Sam said. “You ought to let us ride free!”

The ferryman grinned and said, “Well, son, even robbers has to make a living.”

And Sam said, “You're right, old man,” and he paid him.

The sun was so hot and the air so steamy it was hard to breathe, and flies was everywhere. They drove me crazy, and the horses, too. It wasn't no day for traveling. But there was a nervousness in Sam's manner. He was looking to make a strike, and looking hard. I knowed I had to get a message to the Rangers soon, for my belly told me Sam wouldn't back down from killing somebody now if he was crossed, and maybe all of us would be killed, too.

We hadn't went far when this dude on a mule come up to us at a crossroads. He was wearing a fancy brocade vest, kind of gold in color, and a black string necktie. His coat and shirt was frayed, and the vest was dirty, and his pantaloons was patched in several spots. His mule was a poor, spavined thing. The man rode bareback, and his legs hung a considerable ways toward the ground. He give us a friendly smile. “Good morning, gentlemen,” he said. “Headed for Ennis?”

“Yep,” Jackson said.

“So am I. Mind if I accompany you?” And he fell in beside Jackson and stuck his hand out and said, “Claudius Parker, schoolteacher.”

Jackson introduced hisself as Frank Allen and give some names for the rest of us. “Where you teaching at?” he asked.

“Well, I happen to be between appointments now,” Parker said in a prissy voice. “But I'll have a school by fall. That's why I'm going to Ennis.”

“Does teaching pay good?” Jackson asked.

“Oh, no,” Parker said. “Barely enough to keep me and Achilles alive.”

“Achilles?”

“My mule, Mr. Allen. Poor beast. He's weak in more than the heel, I'm afraid.”

“So you taken his name from Homer,” Jackson said.

Parker looked at him in surprise. “Do you know The
Iliad
, Mr. Allen?”

“Why, yes,” Jackson said kind of proud. “Matter of fact, I happen to have The
Odyssey
on me.” He unbuckled a saddlebag and pulled out a little book and handed it to the teacher. Parker looked at it and made gasping noises like a woman about to faint, and him and Jackson commenced the goddamndest conversation I ever heard. They went on and on about one-eyed monsters and women that turns men into hogs and all sorts of outlandish things. I thought the sun had taken hold of them, and Sam and Barnes looked at Jackson like he was a lunatic. But Jackson and Claudius Parker didn't pay no mind. They rattled on and on, passing the book back and forth between them. Parker even started talking in tongues, and Jackson acted like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Nothing wears on you like somebody talking about something you don't understand, and finally Sam couldn't take it no more. Next time we come to a crossroads he stopped and said, “Well, Mr. Parker, we got to go down this road and look at some cows, so I guess we part company here.”

Parker looked disappointed. “Oh,” he said. He closed the book and handed it to Jackson. “It's been a rare pleasure, Mr. Allen. A rare pleasure.”

“Same here,” Jackson said.

“Well, gentlemen.” Parker tipped his hat and kicked the old mule so hard that dust rose out of his hide. The broke-down old thing hustled hisself into a trot that was painful to watch, and we turned down the other road.

“Christ, Frank!” Sam said.

“There ain't nothing wrong with book-learning, Sam. And old Claudius has got plenty up under his hat.”

“Yeah, plenty of slop,” Sam said. Then he laughed. “I wonder what old Claudius would say if he knowed he was riding with Sam Bass.”

We camped about a mile above Ennis, and Sam and me went to town to look around. We got us a fancy dinner at the hotel, then taken our ease, walking up and down the streets, looking at the stores and offices. We stopped into one of the stores and was looking at a fancy cartridge belt. “What do you think of it?” Sam asked.

“It's a fine belt,” I said.

“All right, I'll buy it for you. To make up for the hard time we give you back there.”

I said, “Aw, that's all right. You was just nervous.”

“Well, we was wrong about you, and I feel bad about it, so take the belt. A present between friends.”

So I agreed. He also bought hisself a nice pair of little saddle-pockets made out of cashmere goatskin. “Ain't they pretty?” he said. “Just right to carry money in.”

We found the bank and went in, and Sam stepped up to the teller's cage and cashed a five-dollar bill. When we was back on the sidewalk he said, “There ain't no use trying that one. The bannisters is too high. We'd be killed before we could get behind them.”

“Well, where now?”

“Waco,” he said.

Jackson and me rode into Waco and got shaved, then went to a hotel to eat. We done these things nearly every time we come to a town now, for we was a long way from Denton County, and the boys ain't seen a posse in almost a month. They enjoyed walking around in the open and not worrying about somebody recognizing them and taking shots at them. They was having a good time being just ordinary people.

While we was eating, Jackson smiled at me and said, “Jim, are you going to betray us, or not?”

His question, coming right out of the blue, scared the hell out of me. I knowed if Jackson didn't trust me no more, I was dead. I said, “Frank, it pains me that you ask that. I thought you knowed me better. No, I ain't going to betray you. I joined up with you boys in truth.”

Jackson kept on smiling. He said, “Well, I believe you, but I think you joined up with the losing side. If I was in your boots I'd go back to Tyler and throw myself on the mercy of the court. You got a family and you got land and you got money, and you ain't done no robberies yet. Even if you was to spend some time in jail you'd be better off than us. We're going to get killed. I know that.”

“How do you know?”

“I've knowed it since Salt Creek,” he said. “When I seen how many Rangers was against us and I seen Arkansas fall, I knowed that's what's going to happen to all of us. It's that or the rope anyhow, and my preference is Arkansas's way. I wish I was you. I'd be riding for Tyler now.”

“Well, I'll think on it,” I said.

“You're running out of thinking time. We're going to do something soon. We got to, because we're just about broke. We might do it right here in Waco, and if we do, then the law's going to be on us again. And once them Rangers comes after us, you're sunk with the rest of us.”

I said, “Why don't you get out, too?”

His smile turned kind of sad. “I got no place to go that's better than where I am. I've went too far to turn back now, and Eph and me… Well, we've been through too much to split now. I wouldn't know what to do without the little son of a bitch, and he wouldn't be nothing without me.” He looked at the white china dishes on the table and the crystal lamp hanging from the ceiling and said, “This is putting on a heap of style for highwaymen, ain't it?”

“It's getting up a little,” I replied, and I knowed we was through talking about anything that mattered. I felt lower than a snake's belly. Being trusted by Jackson made me feel worse than not being trusted by Sam and Barnes, and it was hard to look him in the eye during the rest of the meal. I was glad when he pulled out that tinkling watch of his and said, “Well, it's time we done our duty.”

We strolled around Waco real casual. It was the biggest town we'd been in during our travels, and it was pure pleasure seeing the pretty, well-dressed women and several fine horses and carriages mingled in amongst the farmers and the mule wagons. We found out there was three banks, and Jackson decided he'd check them all before we returned to camp. He'd go in and change a bill and look the place over while I waited on the sidewalk. I kept trying to think of a way to get away from him and send a telegram to Major Jones, but I couldn't think of no way without Jackson asking questions and getting suspicious. I didn't have nothing to tell the major nohow, except where we was. We still didn't have no plan.

When Jackson come out of the third bank, the Savings Bank, he was excited. “If we mean business, this is the place to commence,” he said. “They got piles of greenbacks and gold just laying on a big table in there, and the bannister's low. We can get it easy as pie.”

“I don't know,” I said. “All these banks is in the middle of town, and we'd have a lot of town to ride through to make our getaway. We'd have plenty of chances to get ourselves killed.”

“I don't think there'll be no trouble,” he said. “We'll map us a getaway ahead of time.”

His enthusiasm scared me. If Sam decided to tap a bank in Waco, the deed would be did before I could get a message off, and certainly before the Rangers could get to us. And I knowed if Jackson was in favor of the idea, Sam probably would be, too. On the way back to camp I tried to persuade Jackson that Waco was too dangerous. He listened polite, but just said, “We'll let Eph decide.”

He give Sam a real excited report, and Sam's eyes lit up when he heared about the piles of money in the Savings Bank. But I tried again. “Frank's too excited over what he seen there,” I said. “We'd have a devil of a time getting out of that town. Maybe you better go up and have a look yourself.”

Next morning Sam and Jackson went to town, and I was stuck in camp with Barnes looking daggers at me. Sam come back as excited as Jackson. “Boys, we've struck gold if we work it right,” he said.

He sent Jackson and me back to buy coffee and bread. While he was busy with that, I sneaked to the post office and bought some paper and envelopes and stamps and stuck them in my pocket. Later, as we rode through the streets, I pointed out all the danger spots I could find, places where our run could be cut off, places where we would be exposed to fire.

Jackson didn't buy none of it. “Hell, Jim,” he said, “we'll take that bank easy as a drink of water. If you're sticking with us, you got to know there's a mite of danger in our business. But we'll scare this town so bad they won't know what's up till we've took the money and gone.” I didn't say nothing, and Jackson said, “If you're going to strike for Tyler, now's the time. It might be your last chance.”

I wondered what would happen if I was to turn and start. Would he just watch me go? Would he shoot me in the back like Barnes would? I wasn't about to try, and I made no answer.

When I started to tell Sam about the dangers in the town, he interrupted me. “Hell, Jim! We can take that bank easy. Hell! Don't get scared. I'll get you some easy money in a few days, as soon as little Jenny rests up for the run.”

There wasn't no use talking anymore, so I shut up and got very serious, staring into the fire. “Jim, hold your head up,” Sam told me. “Keep in good spirits. Old Eph's going to get you some money.”

Sam and Jackson and Barnes was in good spirits, all right, and we had a deal to drink. They was still laughing and carrying on when we rolled into our blankets.

So you could've knocked me over with a feather the next morning at breakfast. Sam turned to me and said, “Well, Jim, if you think there's too much danger in Waco, we won't hit it. We'll go wherever you say.”

Jackson and Barnes went on eating, so I knowed they already knowed, and I become suspicious. Why had they changed their minds? But I said, “Well, I'm glad, boys. I was afraid you all would be hard-headed and run us into danger and get us killed. So we'll go down to Round Rock and pull the Williamson County Bank.”