The Law of a Fast Gun (15 page)

“DEEKUS,” JESSUP SAID. “DEEKUS, WAKE UP.”

It was still dark the next morning when Deekus opened his eyes to see Jessup standing over his bedroll.

“Something wrong, Major?”

“Get dressed,” Jessup said. “Then step over behind the chuck wagon. We need to talk.”

“All right, I’ll be right there.”

Jessup walked away then, disappearing in the predawn darkness as Deekus sat up on his blankets and pulled on his boots. A moment later Deekus left the other sleeping men and joined Jessup, who was leaning against the back of the chuck wagon.

“What’s up?” Deekus asked.

“Sergeant, do you ever think back to the war?” Jessup asked.

Deekus, Poke, and Carter had all served with Jessup during the war, and sometimes Jessup used that military form of address to the man who had been his first sergeant.

“Yes, sir, lots of times,” Deekus replied.

“Do you miss any of it?”

Deekus chuckled. “Well sir, I know it probably ain’t right to miss somethin’ like a war, but the truth is, I do miss it from time to time. We were one hell of a fightin’ unit, I’ll tell you that. Hell, if Lee had a whole army like the bunch you led, Major, the South would’ve won for sure.”

“You remember what I told you when the war was over?”

“Yes, sir, I remember it well,” Deekus said. “You told us that you was goin’ to buy a ranch and that we’d all three have jobs as long as we wanted one. And that’s exactly what you done.”

“I said it, I meant it, and I haven’t regretted it,” Jessup said. “Of all the men I’ve got working for me now, you are the most dependable.”

“Well, I appreciate you sayin’ that, Major,” Deekus said.

“That’s why I’m going to ask you to do a job for me. That is, if you are willing to do it.”

“Whatever you want, Major, I’ll do it,” Deekus said.

Jessup pointed in the direction of Braggadocio. “What do you think about that town?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t rightly know what you mean.”

“I mean the way they’ve treated us,” Jessup explained. “They watered our drinks, they overcharged us for the goods that we buy, they turned their back on us in the street. And in your case they just stood by and watched that piano player humiliate you.”

“He got the drop on me, Major,” Deekus said. “I mean I wasn’t expectin’ him to pull a gun on me for no reason at all. If he hadn’t had that gun, he would never have been able to do that.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t have. But he isn’t the only one to blame. In any decent town—any other town but Braggadocio—the sheriff or city marshal would not allow one of its citizens to use a gun for intimidation like that. And what angers me the most is that while they took away our
guns, they let the only people who have actually used them keep them.”

“Yeah, that don’t seem right to me neither,” Deekus said.

“You know, don’t you, that they have threatened to close down the loading pens if there is any more trouble?”

“I hadn’t heard that. But we’re leavin’ now, so there shouldn’t be any trouble.”

“I want there to be trouble.”

Deekus regarded Jessup with a confused look on his face, and Jessup chuckled. “What?”

“Let me explain it to you, my friend,” Jessup said. “I don’t intend to let a bunch of ribbon clerks and shopkeepers get away with what they have done. I think it is time we taught them a lesson.”

“But if they close the loading pens—” Deekus started.

“It will make no difference to us. We have already shipped our cattle,” Jessup said.

“Yes sir, but—”

“Thank about this, Deekus. If neither the Slash Diamond nor the Rocking T is able to ship their cows, we will get a premium price for the cows we have shipped.”

“How does that work?” Deekus asked.

“Don’t worry about how it works. The only thing that concerns you is the five hundred dollars that’s in it for you.”

“Five hundred dollars for me?” Deekus asked. “What five hundred dollars?”

“If you can arrange for Braggadocio to close their loading pens before the other two cattle companies can ship their herds, I will give you five hundred dollars.”

“Damn, that’s a lot of money,” Deekus said enthusiastically.

“We’re going to pull out at daybreak. After the job is done, you can join up with us on the trail. I’ll give you your five hundred dollars as soon as we get back to Cherry County.”

“The only thing is, what should I do?” Deekus asked. “I mean, how am I going to get the town to close the loading pens?”

“You’ve raided towns before, haven’t you, Sergeant?”

“Yes, sir, when we was at war I did.”

“We
are
at war,” Jessup replied. “It is the town people against the cattlemen.”

“Yes, sir, now that you mention it, I guess we are in kind of a war at that.”

“We aren’t in kind of a war, we are
in
a war,” Jessup corrected. “Now, Sergeant, if this was back during the war and I asked you to raid a town, what would be your plan?”

“Well, I guess I would gather up five or six good men, and then make a quick gallop through, shooting it up,” Deekus said. He slapped his thigh and laughed out loud. “Damn if I ain’t looking forward to this.”

“I wish I were going with you,” Jessup said. “But it wouldn’t do for me to be seen. And, if possible, don’t let anyone connect you to the Bar-J.”

“Don’t worry, Major, I’ll take charge of things.”

“I’m not at all worried, Sergeant. As I said, that’s why I chose you,” Jessup said.

Less than half an hour later Deekus and five other men were saddling their horses. When he saw Jessup watching them, he walked over to talk to him.

“Who do you have going with you?” Jessup asked.

“They’re all good men, Major,” Deekus said. “I have Carter, Tex, Cracker, Brandt, and Abe.”

“Abe’s a little young, isn’t he?”

“Abe woke up while I was talking to Cracker and said he wanted to go. I figured it would be better to bring him along rather than leave him back to talk to the others.”

“You did tell your men not to let anyone else know what is going on, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir. You said you didn’t want to connect the Bar-J with this, so I figured the fewer that knew, the better off we would be.”

“You figured correctly,” Jessup said. “Very well, Sergeant,
I’m leaving this in your hands. Make it count. We won’t have another chance.”

Deekus smiled. “You don’t worry none about that, Major. Mr. Townes and Mr. Evans might as well start movin’ their cows to another place right now, ’cause after we get through with this little foray, they sure as hell ain’t goin’ to ship ’em out of Braggadocio.”

“Deekus, you remember one of the tactics I used to drill into all of you during the war? What did I say was our best weapon?”

“Surprise,” Deekus said.

“Surprise,” Jessup said. “This is Sunday morning. The saloons are closed, and everyone thinks we are on our way back north. Whatever you do will meet with very little resistance. You will have your element of surprise.”

“Yes, sir,” Deekus said. “I was just thinkin’ that same thing.”

By the time Deekus returned to the remuda, all the others were mounted. Abe, who was holding the reins to Deekus’s horse, handed them over to him.

“Is everyone ready?” Deekus asked.

“We’re ready, Sergeant,” Carter said.

“Sergeant?” Abe asked.

“We was in the war together,” Carter said without any further explanation.

“Let’s ride out of camp very quietly,” Deekus said. “We don’t want a bunch of curious people wakin’ up to see what is goin’ on.”

Deekus led the small group until they were about half a mile out of town. There, he halted them and ordered them to dismount.

“We’ll rest here for a while,” Deekus said.

“Rest?” Abe said. “Why do we need to rest? I ain’t tired. Let’s do it.”

“We’ll do it when I say we’ll do it,” Deekus said.

“This don’t make no sense,” Abe said. “Why are we just waiting around?”

“Carter, you want to take care of your friend?” Deekus asked irritably.

“Abe, Sergeant Decker is in command.”

Abe laughed. “Decker? Deekus’s real name is Decker?”

“Do you know what it means when someone is in command?” Carter asked.

“It means he’s in charge,” Abe said.

“It means he is in charge, and everyone else shuts up and does what he is told. You’re the one who wanted to come along, so shut up and do what you are told.”

“All right, sure,” Abe said. “I didn’t mean nothin’.”

The men lay in the shade of a thicket of trees for most of the morning. They heard the bells of the church calling the people to service. About an hour later they heard the bells dismissing the service. Not until then did Deekus get to his feet.

“All right, men, ever’body take a piss,” Deekus said.

Abe laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Carter asked.

“I figure he’s in charge, but I didn’t know that meant he could tell us when to piss.”

“You ever been in battle, boy?” Carter asked as he began relieving himself.

“No.”

“You don’t ever want to go into battle without pissin’ first. Otherwise, you’ll wind up peein’ in your pants ever’ time.”

“Oh,” Abe said. Without further word he joined the others.

Before they mounted, Deekus ordered everyone to put on their dusters and tie kerchiefs around their faces.

“What’s this for?” Brandt asked.

“It’s so nobody will know who we are,” Deekus said.

“You think they ain’t goin’ to know we’re cowboys?” Brandt challenged.

“There’s near a hundred cowboys camped around the town,” Deekus explained. “They’re goin’ to know we’re cowboys, they just ain’t goin’ to know which ones we are.”

THERE WERE MORE PEOPLE IN CHURCH SUNDAY
morning than there had ever been at any time since Gideon McCall began his pastorate there. And as the parishioners filed out, nearly everyone commented on the music.

Lucy was sitting at the piano, while Gideon and Tamara were at the front door, saying good-bye to everyone. Lucy pushed a couple of the piano keys.

“C and A,” Hawke said.

“What is C and A?”

“Those are the sounds you made,” Hawke explained. He pointed to the keys on the piano, then to a piece of sheet music. “When you see this note on the paper, that means to play this note.”

“But there are a lot of notes on the paper,” Lucy said.

“And a lot on the piano. Look.” Hawke pointed to a bar of music, then played the bar.

“Oh! What fun that must be!” Lucy said.

“It is fun.”

“Would you teach me to play?”

Hawke hesitated for a moment. He had never taught anyone how to play the piano, but why not?

“All right,” he said. “I’ll teach you.”

Lucy squealed with delight and ran back to the front of the church, just as Tamara and Gideon were coming back in.

“Oh, Mama, Mr. Hawke is going to teach me to play the piano!” Lucy said excitedly.

“Well, how wonderful that will be,” Tamara replied with a broad smile.

Tamara and Lucy were wearing identical pink dresses, and Hawke commented on it.

“Tell me, Lucy, did you make those dresses for you and your mama?” he teased. “They’re just alike.”

Lucy laughed. “No, Mama made both dresses,” she said. “I can’t sew. I’m not old enough yet. But one day I will be old enough, won’t I, Mama?”

“Oh yes, dear. Why, I’ll bet you could make your own dress to wear when give your first piano recital.”

“They were all talking about the music, Hawke,” Gideon said. “Everyone who left the church talked about how good the music was. I don’t know but what I’m a little jealous. I have been at this church for two years now, but my sermons—brilliant though they may be,” he added with a self-deprecating chuckle, “have never drawn as many people as you have managed to draw with your music.”

“I’m sure it is curiosity,” Hawke said. “They have all come to see if I might suddenly start playing the ‘Gandy Dancers’ Ball’ or something.”

“Gideon,” Tamara scolded. “Don’t tease Mr. Hawke so. Whatever draws the people to church is fine. Now that they are here, it is up to you to keep them coming.”

“Oh, thanks,” Gideon said. “There’s nothing like putting a little pressure on me, is there?”

“You’ll do well, I’m sure you will,” Tamara said. She
kissed her husband on the cheek. “Now, don’t forget, Mrs. Rittenhouse has invited us down to her house for Sunday dinner. Lucy and I are going to walk there now to see if she needs anything.”

“Sunday dinner with Mrs. Rittenhouse. How wonderful,” Gideon groaned. “Shall I put on my hair shirt before I come down so that my penance is complete?”

“Oh, don’t carry on so. I’m sure it will be a lovely dinner,” Tamara said. She smiled at Hawke. “And, Mr. Hawke, I know that she would be very glad to set an extra place for you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. McCall, but I believe I will pass on this one,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to put anyone out.”

Gideon laughed out loud. “You don’t want to put anyone out? You are a lucky man, Hawke. That dodge will work for you. I don’t think it would work for me.”

“Oh! You men are awful,” Tamara said. “Gideon, darling, please don’t be late. I can do my Christian duty and exchange pleasant conversation with Mrs. Rittenhouse only for so long. I will need you there to help.”

“Ah-ha!” Gideon said, pointing at Tamara. “Admit it! It is as hard for you to be nice to that woman as it is for me.”

“I just know that the Lord has put her here for a purpose,” Tamara said.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. The Lord put her here to try my soul,” Gideon said.

Clucking and nodding her head, Tamara called out for her daughter. “Lucy?”

“I’m out here, Mama,” Lucy said, sticking her head in through the front door.

“Come, dear, we must go.”

“You have a fine family, Gideon,” Hawke said after Tamara and Lucy were gone.

“I am a very lucky man,” Gideon said.

“Sometimes I…” Hawke started, but didn’t finish the sentence.

“Sometimes you what?”

“I know that envy is wrong,” Hawke said. “But I envy someone like you, someone who has a family, a purpose, and a steady life. Of course, the envy is tempered by the fact that I know it will never be like that for me…that it can’t ever be.”

“Because you are looking for your soul?”

“Something like that.”

“Don’t give up,” Gideon said. “I was once where you are now.”

“Really?”

“I told you that I wasn’t born wearing a parson’s cloth. I was in the war,” Gideon said.

“I suspected as much. Your understanding of military tactics didn’t seem to jibe with you being a preacher.”

“And, like you, like many, I came away from the war scarred and dispirited. There were many trails to my future then, Hawke, and I could have taken any of them, including the outlaw trail. But I met Tamara, and my life changed.”

“Tamara convinced you to become a preacher?”

“She convinced me to go back to the pulpit.”

“Go back to the pulpit? You mean you were a preacher before the war?”

“Yes.”

“From some of the things I’ve heard you say, you seem to have learned the art of war quite well, for a preacher.”

“Before I was a preacher I was a regular army officer,” Gideon said. “I graduated from West Point a few years before the war started.”

“You were in West Point? Interesting. Last night Jessup told me he went to West Point. Did you know him?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“What do you mean, a manner of speaking?”

“His name wasn’t Jessup then.”

“Oh? What was it?”

Gideon shook his head. “If he thinks it is important to use a different name, I don’t feel it is my place to interfere.”

“I can understand that,” Hawke said. “I’ve run across many who, for reasons of their own, have changed their name.”

“I knew you would understand.”

“How did you get into the ministry from the army?”

“I resigned my commission even before the war, and went to seminary to become a Roman Catholic priest. Then the war started and I left the priesthood to take up arms against the country I had once sworn an oath of loyalty to. I wore the gray.” Gideon paused for a long moment before he continued. “I must tell you, Hawke, that violating that oath was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. My joining the Confederacy closed the doors on going back into the army, and I no longer felt as if I could perform the duties of a priest. I was a lost and wandering soul.”

“But you are no longer lost and wandering.”

“No, I’m not, thanks to Tamara,” Gideon answered. “She convinced me to go back into the ministry. Obviously, since we were to be married, I could no longer be a Catholic priest. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t serve God.”

Gideon took in the church with a wave of his hand. “So, here I am in a nondenominational church, serving the entire community.”

“I’ll give you this, Gideon. You have what writers would call a colorful background.”

“Perhaps no more colorful than yours,” Gideon said. “A classically trained pianist, a warrior, and now a traveling minstrel, playing saloon pianos for the unenlightened and unappreciative.”

“From time to time I will encounter someone who has a genuine appreciation for music,” Hawke said. “And those few bright, shining nuggets make it all worthwhile.”

“I can understand that,” Gideon said. “There are many who might not understand it, but believe me, I do.”

“How many in town know your background?” Hawke asked.

“Tamara knows. So does Bob Gary. I haven’t told anyone else.”

“Yes, well, the sentiments in this town are definitely pro-Union. I can understand your hesitancy to let your congregation know that you fought for the South.”

Gideon laughed. “The truth is, Hawke, in this heavily Protestant area, there are probably more who would be more put off by the fact that I was a Catholic priest than by the fact that I was a Confederate.”

“So, Bob Gary was in the war with you?” Hawke asked.

“Yes, he was.”

Hawke nodded. “That explains the odd friendship.”

“Odd? How, odd?”

“Well, you have to admit that a friendship between a minister and a saloon bartender is rather unusual.”

“Bob Gary saved my life, Hawke,” Gideon said. “More than once. And if it ever came to a choice of giving up my ministry or turning my back on Bob Gary, I would give up my ministry.”

“I don’t think you will ever have to make such a choice,” Hawke said. “But the fact that you would speaks more for your character than anything else I could imagine.”

Gideon put his hand on Hawke’s shoulder. “I knew you would understand that. You are a good man, Hawke. I pray that someday you will find the peace that you are looking for.”

Tamara and Lucy McCall were walking from the church to the home of Evelyn Rittenhouse. It was at the south end of town, on the same route that had been used to bring the cattle in over the previous two weeks. Because of that, Tamara and Lucy had to walk carefully to avoid soiling their dresses.

“Mama,” Lucy said as she lifted her skirt to step around one cow pod. “Why doesn’t Daddy like Mrs. Rittenhouse?”

“Why, darling, what makes you think Daddy doesn’t like her?”

“Because of the way he smiles—like this—whenever he
is talking about her.” Lucy put on a strained smile to demonstrate.

Tamara laughed. “Is that how Daddy looks?”

“Yes ma’am, just like this,” Lucy answered. She repeated the smile.

“Well, Mrs. Rittenhouse can be difficult at times, but Daddy likes her just fine. He likes all the members of our church.”

“Oh, Mama, look at those men,” Lucy said. “Why are they wearing slickers, it isn’t raining?”

Tamara gazed in the direction her daughter pointed and saw half a dozen riders approaching town. “Those aren’t slickers, dear, they are dusters.”

Lucy laughed. “Look, they’re wearing their kerchiefs tied across their faces too. Isn’t that funny, Mama?”

Tamara felt a growing sense of unease at seeing six men coming toward them, wearing dusters and with their faces covered up.

“There’s Marshal Truelove,” Tamara said, with a sense of relief that he was on the job. “He’ll find out what they are doing.”

Truelove stepped out into the road with his hand raised, but before he could say a word, several shots rang out and Truelove went down. Immediately afterward, the riders broke into a gallop.

“Mama!” Lucy shouted. “They shot the marshal!”

“Quick, get behind me,” Tamara said, but even as she tried to push Lucy behind her, she and her daughter went down under a fusillade of gunfire.

The riders galloped by them, the churning hooves kicking up dirt, mud, and manure that spattered their dresses.

Hawke had just left the church and was walking back to the saloon when he heard the shots. Reflexively, he reached for his pistol, but he wasn’t wearing one. Then he remembered that he’d left it in his room, thinking it would not be proper to
wear it to church. He watched as the duster-covered, masked riders galloped through the town, shooting indiscriminately.

“There’s the piano player!” someone shouted.

“Shoot the son of a bitch!” another yelled.

At least three of the galloping cowboys began shooting at Hawke, and he could hear the bullets whizzing by him. With no way to return fire, the only option left for him was to flee.

Hawke ran toward the display window in the front of Robison’s Hardware Store. He leaped into the window, covering his face with his arms as he crashed through the glass, then rolled across the shattered pieces of glass to get out of the way. Rising up to peer through the opening where the window had been, he saw two more citizens of the town go down under the hail of gunfire.

For a moment Hawke felt a sense of frustration over being unarmed, then he remembered that Robison’s sold firearms. Running to the back of the store, he grabbed a rifle, dumped a box of shells on the counter and, grabbing a few, began loading.

“Let’s go!” he heard a voice call from the street. “Let’s get out of here!”

Hawke had managed to get only two shells loaded into the tube, but he jacked one of them into the chamber and ran back to the front window, getting there just as the riders turned and started galloping back to the other end of town. He fired, and saw one of the men slump forward in his saddle. The wounded rider reeled a bit but didn’t fall from his horse.

Hawke jacked in a second shell and pulled the trigger, but this time the bullet misfired.

“Damnit!” he shouted in anger, and watched in frustrated rage as the riders got away.

Looking toward the south end of town, he saw two lumps of pink cloth lying in the street, and felt it in the pit of his stomach as he realized, instantly, what they represented.

“No!” he shouted in rage. “No!” He burst out of the store,
running toward Tamara and Lucy, and saw that Gideon was running toward them as well.

By the time Hawke reached them, Gideon was already there, on his knees, oblivious to the cow manure as he sobbed over the bodies of his wife and daughter.

“Deekus!” Tex called. “Deekus! Hold up!”

Deekus reined in his horse and the others stopped as well. One of the horses whickered, and all the horses were breathing hard.

“This ain’t no time to stop,” Deekus said. “What is it?”

“Abe’s in pretty bad shape,” Tex said. Abe was the only one who had been hit during their raid.

“How bad is it, Abe?” Deekus asked.

Abe’s face was ashen and it was all he could do to remain upright in his saddle.

“I…I don’t know,” Abe said, his words labored.

“He needs a doctor,” Tex said.

“A doctor?” Deekus said, scoffing. “So, what do you want to do, Tex? Do you want to just ride back into Braggadocio and tell the doc that Abe got shot while we was shootin’ up the town?”