Evan had never been in quite this situation before. He knew Sam had, many times, but most of the gunplay Evan had been involved with had either been in saloons and gambling houses, or long distance, like the telegraph office incident. He’d never faced a man this way before.
Hell of a time to try.
“Be ready,” Jube said.
“Shhh.”
“Just be ready—”
“I’m ready,” Sam said, “no, be quiet’there!”
They saw a streak of brown as a big cougar came shooting out of the cave. He leaped into the air in panic, trying to get down to the ground as quickly as possible.
Sam fired, and the bullet struck the cat while it was in the air, jerked it as if it were a puppet on a string, and dropped it to the ground, dead.
“You got it!” Jubal said, excitedly. “Just like Pa, huh?”
“Yeah,” Sam said, feeling oddly proud of himself, “just like Pa.”
Evan heard the shot and knew that he had no chance. He had just touched his gun when he felt the bullet punch him in the chest. His entire body went numb and he stood for a moment transfixed, wondering if Coffin would fire again.
He didn’t have to.
“Evan!” Serena screamed. She avoided her father’s grasp and ran out into the street, falling to her knees by Evan McCall.
“Evan,” she said, lifting his head into her lap, but it was too late for any last words.
Evan McCall was dead.
She felt hands on her shoulder; her father was lifting her to her feet.
“Come on, Serena,” Miller said, “come inside.”
“All right,” the sheriff called, “some of you men lift the body and carry it to the undertaker’s.”
Miller had gotten Serena up onto the boardwalk when she suddenly whirled around. She didn’t have to look for Coffin, he was still standing in the same spot.
“You’re a dead man, Coffin!” she shouted. “When Sam McCall comes back you’re a dead man, I promise you that.”
Coffin looked at Serena and although he spoke in a low voice, everyone heard what he said.
“One of us is, I promise you that, ma’am.”
Sam and Jubal waited for the brush to burn out and for the smoke to clear. It took nearly forty minutes for that, because there wasn’t much of a breeze to help it along.
“All right,” Sam said, “let’s go in.”
“I hope there’s not another cat in there,” Jubal said as they climbed up to the lair.
“If there is,” Sam said, “the smoke killed it for sure.”
As it turned out there were three more cats inside, all cubs. Apparently, they had been too young to escape and the smoke had killed them.
“Damn,” Sam said when he saw them.
“Couldn’t be helped, Sam,” Jubal said. “We didn’t know they was there.”
“Yeah,” Sam said, “yeah.”
Jubal was carrying a makeshift torch they had fashioned from a branch they’d found nearby and now Sam lit it with a lucifer stick match, striking the match on his thumbnail.
“Let’s look around,” he said.
They each took one side of the lair, which was so low that they had to crouch down and, eventually, get down to their knees.
“I don’t see anything…” Jubal complained.
“Look for cracks in the wall,” Sam said, running one of his hands over the wall while he held the torch in the other.
“Wait a minute,” Jubal said, “wait—bring that torch closer.”
Sam turned and joined his brother, holding the torch as high as the ceiling would allow. The ceiling was so low they could feel the heat of the flames.
Sam watched as Jubal tried to work his hand into a good sized crack.
“There’s something here,” he said, “but I can’t seem to—wait, wait, I’ve got it—” He pulled something from the crack and said, “I’ve got it!”
“Let’s look at it outside,” Sam said, and started backing out.
When they got outside Sam dropped the torch and reached for the item in Jubal’s hand. It was some sort of a leather case, the kind his father used to keep letters in.
“Open it,” Jubal said.
Sam opened it. There were no letters inside, but there was one piece of paper which had begun to yellow around the edges. He took it out and saw the handwriting on it.
“It’s Pa’s writing,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
Sam held the letter so Jubal could look at it and they both saw the word “Pa” signed at the bottom.
“We’ve got it,” Jubal said, “but what’s it say?”
“I’ll read it out loud,” Sam said, and proceeded to do so.
After Sam read the letter they mounted up and headed back to town hell bent for leather. They wanted Evan to hear what was in this letter, and then they would all decide exactly what they were going to do about it.
Part Four
Siege
Chapter Twenty
When Sam and Jubal returned to Vengeance Creek they could feel that something had happened while they were gone. There were still people standing in groups along the street. When Sam and Jubal passed, people suspended their conversations to stare at them.
“What the hell happened here while we were gone?” Jubal asked.
“I don’t know,” Sam said, looking back at some of the people, “but I aim to find out. Come on. We’ll leave the horses in front of Dude’s store and find Evan.”
They rode over to Dude Miller’s general store and tied their horses to a post. As they approached the store Sam suddenly stopped short.
“That’s funny,” he said. “He closed early.” It was only three P.M., and Miller usually kept his store open at least another three hours.
“You don’t suppose he got beat up again, do you?” Jubal asked.
“We’d better check the house.”
They remounted and rode to the house. When they dismounted they didn’t bother tying off their horses. They mounted the porch and Sam found that the door was unlocked. They exchanged glances and then hurried inside.
They heard Serena crying as soon as they entered, and then saw her and Dude sitting on the sofa. Dude had his arm around Serena. Sam couldn’t see her face. If any of Burkett’s men had hurt her…
“What’s going on?” Jubal asked. “What’s happening?”
Both Miller and Serena turned to face them, and Sam was taken aback by the look of pure horror on Serena’s
