Chancy (1968) (21 page)

Caxton Kelsey was up. Bloody and staggering, he was on his feet, lining his pistol at me as I lay there. Rolling over, I came to one knee and fired into him. His bullet hit the top of my shoulder, and I felt the sharp, angry burn of it. Then I fired again.

He stood an instant, the gun dangling from his fingers, then he sat down abruptly, staring at nothing. And then he simply lay down and rolled over.

Crouching there, I held my rifle ready, watching him. In a moment, using the rifle for a crutch, I pushed myself to my feet and took a step to the edge of the walk, where I sat down hard, gripping the rifle, still watching Kelsey.

People began to appear on the street, and Handy Corbin was suddenly pushing through them. He crossed the street to me.

"You got him! By the Lord Harry, you got him! They were offerin' ten-to-one odds and no takers that he'd gun you down!"

"What about Prince?" I asked.

Handy Corbin shrugged, and looked away uncomfortably. "You got to understand that, boss," he said, almost apologetically. "He was one of our own, and it was up to me to do. We're good folks, mostly, and we aim to do right. LaSalle was no good--right from the start there was something cross-grained about him. He was forever a-tryin' to lead us boys into trouble. Two, three times as he was growin' up pa got him out of trouble, but it seemed like he got wilder and meaner.

"Then a neighbor of ours sold some sheep, and LaSalle met him on the road and LaSalle had a bottle. The two of them got to drinkin', and first thing you know that neighbor woke up with a thick head and his money gone. LaSalle, he began spendin' down at the corners, and we knew what must have happened. That man braced him with it, and LaSalle shot him. Didn't kill him, but hurt him bad, and then LaSalle, he taken out.

"Next thing we knew he was off buffalo huntin', but he spent more time huntin' buffalo hunters than buffalo. He sold a team of grays in Cherry Creek, Colorado, that had belonged to a couple of brothers working out of Abilene. Somebody recognized the horses, and later the bodies were found. LaSalle, he became an outlaw. He went from that to killin' for hire, and we figured we'd turned loose a mad wolf on the country, and it was up to us to slow him down. Pa, he saddled up and rode off to have a talk with him.

"LaSalle, he laughed at pa. Said he was a sanctimonious old fool, and told him to go on back home whilst he was able. Pa wasn't about to take that off no man, and he told LaSalle to take off his guns, because he was sure enough goin' to whup him. Pa stripped off his guns, and then LaSalle drew one of his and shot pa. He shot him in the knee, and he fell, and when he tried to get up, he shot him in the other. He cussed pa out, then killed him. So I've been huntin' him ever since, and teachin' myself to be fast enough to beat him."

Me, I was beginning to get the reaction now, the letdown that comes after. I didn't want to talk, I wanted to get in somewhere off the street. Corbin helped me down to the Doc's office, where Bob Tarlton was a-pacing the floor. He'd heard the shooting--in fact, it woke him from a nap he was taking. The Doc was there and wouldn't let him go out on the street.

It felt good just to stretch out on that table, for I was all in. That was one time I'd not have given a plugged nickel for Otis Tom Chancy's possibilities, and nobody knew better than me how lucky I'd been.

As it was, I'd caught a slug through the shoulder that missed the bone. I had a deep furrow across the top of the shoulder, and at least two bullet burns I didn't even recall getting. I'd lost some blood and a whole lot of steam.

But the thing that worried me now was Kit. There was no sign of her, but she might be hunting me right then.

"Handy," I said, "you go down to the hotel and find Miss Dunvegan. Tell her I'm all right."

The Doc looked around. "She was around here earlier, Chancy. She had that cowhand of yours, Jumper Cogan. She was hunting the marshal."

The marshal?Where had he been, anyway? Was he like some of those cowtown marshals who preferred to see trouble shoot itself out? Some of them never lifted a hand, as long as the town's citizens were left alone.

Well, I started to get up and the Doc pushed me down. "You lie still. You may not be shot up as bad as I expected, but you've lost a lot of blood and you're weaker than a cat."

Tarlton got up. "I'll go with him, Otis. You rest easy now. Who did you say the girl was?"

"Her name is Kitty Dunvegan, and she's pretty as all get out. Come noontime tomorrow, we're getting married."

"We'll find her then," Tarlton said. "But I know June Cogan, and if she's with him she'll be all right."

Chapter
15

They left me alone there, with the lamp wick turned low, lying up in bed with a lot of weakness and some pain, and a mighty wish to be up and doing that faded as tiredness set in.

It seemed as if I'd been going at top pace as long as I could recall, and there was nothing for it but to rest now.

It worried me that Kit Dunvegan was in that wild western town, maybe alone and without protection. I should have known they bred them strong in Tennessee, for Kit was a girl with a mind of her own, and ideas of her own.

Finally I put a hand above the lamp chimney and blew out the light. I could smell the smoldering wick for a few minutes, and then I must have slept, for when I opened my eyes again, Kit was sitting there in a chair beside the bed reading a book, and it was clear daylight beyond the curtains.

For several minutes I said nothing, just enjoying the look of her there, sitting so prim and still, turning the leaves of her book. Looking back, I could scarcely recall when last a woman had sat at my bedside, and then it was ma, when I was a sick boy.

She turned her head and met my eyes, and for a moment we looked at each other, not speaking, and then she jumped up. "The doctor said you were to have some hot broth when you woke up."

"Where were you? I was worried."

She ran her hands down her apron, smoothing it. "I went to see Queenie Gates."

"Youwhat ?"

"I really didn't think she was all that pretty ... hard-looking, sort of."

"You went to see that she-cat? Don't you realize you could have been hurt?"

"By her?" She looked disdainful. "I could handle her. But I took the marshal along, and Juniper Cogan. I wanted some witnesses."

"To what?"

"To a deposition. If we were going to bring charges against you for shooting that man back in the Nation, we had to have evidence, didn't we? Naturally, if he was my uncle I'd want you punished, wouldn't I?"

"You told her that?"

"Well ... I implied it. It wasn't actually said. But we had to have her sworn account of the gun battle, and she was very anxious to give us all the information she had. How he was armed and all, but you shot him without giving him a chance."

"That's not true."

"Of course, we had her describe the weapon ... we wanted that for evidence, you know, because you were in possession of the gun. She described the ivory-handled gun in detail. Swore to her evidence, and June and the marshal witnessed it."

What could I say to that? While I was busy stalking Andy Miller, she was making her own plans and carrying them out.

"Where were you when the shooting started?" I asked.

"In her room ... at the door, in fact. We were just leaving."

Kit went to the other room and returned with the broth. Then she went on with her story.

"Queenie said, 'You needn't have bothered. Chancy won't live to see prison. Kelsey will kill him.'

"I couldn't resist telling her then, so I said, 'Otis Tom won't die that easy, Mrs. Gates. You'll see. I've known him since I was a little girl.' "

"Well, you should have seen her face. She caught up the empty water pitcher and threw it at me, but Mr. Cogan jerked the door shut just in time. I'm afraid she was very angry."

Bob Tarlton came in about then. He was up and about, although looking mighty thin. "Juniper Cogan and Handy went out to the herd," he said. "We're starting them north in the morning, if that's all right with you."

"Sure. I'll be up--"

"Not you ... us. The doctor says I can ride part of the day for a while, if I rest in the wagon. You won't be up to it for several days yet, and we sort of figured you and Kit might want to honeymoon down to Denver or somewhere."

Now, who could argue against a setup like that? Not me, at least.

Kit, she wasn't doing any arguing either.