The thing was, the whole place went quiet. Even the wind quit. After all that ruckus, there was no noise, no movement except for the swinging body up there, and no talk. Them T-Bar men just stared at the judge. Even Crayfish just stared. I wondered what was going through their heads. Every last one of them was engaged in murdering a district judge of the Territory. A judge who knew something, and who had stopped an execution, only to trigger his own. He just swayed up there, limp and twisting slowly. The spectators didn’t move neither. It was too much to absorb, so they just stared. There was no law in Doubtful. There was no justice, no decency, no safety.
I was mad at myself because I couldn’t get in there and make it quit. But I didn’t, and now it was too late, and I was still pinned in that entryway.
And the sheriff office and jailhouse stood unguarded.
I edged out, heading toward my office. I had other lives in my care. I heard a shout behind me, and a couple of pistol shots sailed by, but nothing came close, so I just kept on going, my hurt ribs pretty near torturing me, along with a mess of bruises. But I was going to get back there and defend that boy, defend that boy with my life if it came to that.
I made it back all right. The T-Bar men didn’t try to catch up. They probably thought they could tear the place apart any time they chose.
There wasn’t a soul in my office, and the jail door was still locked. I closed and barred the front door, laid out some scatterguns on my desk, and a box of shells, and drank a tumbler of water since I was parched. There was blood on my shirt and arms, but I didn’t know whether it was mine or someone else’s.
I thought maybe I had a few moments, so I unlocked the jail door and headed in there.
It was real quiet. Old Man Bragg stared at me. The boy was simply lying on his iron cot and waiting for the end. The sadness was so thick I could feel it chill my heart.
I unlocked the cell door and swung it wide. The kid glanced at me and lay quiet. I didn’t know what time it was; it might seem like eleven to him.
“King,” I said. “It’s not gonna happen. You’re free to go.”
He stared at me.
“You’re free, boy. No noose.”
The young man closed his eyes. “Don’t try to make it easy for me,” he said.
He didn’t get the message. I dug around in my shirt. The stay was folded in there, so I pulled it out. It was bent some from all that fighting.
“Read,” I said.
He eyed it, and the paper dropped to the floor. I picked it up and stuffed it at him. He took it and read.
“It’s just some legal stuff,” he said.
“Get up, get washed. I need you. We’re in trouble. You’ll need to defend yourself, maybe.”
He stared at me like I was nuts.
Now his father, Admiral Bragg, was up and rattling the cage. “What’s this? What’s this?”
I thought about letting him out, but he would do some damnfool thing, like trying to shoot me.
“I’ll tell you later,” I said.
“Let me out, damn you.”
The kid was dazed. I pretty near shoved him out of the jail and locked up behind him.
“You’re free. Judge Nippers heard some evidence of what really happened. You were knocked out with some stuff, and Crayfish borrowed your gun. There’s a lot more, but we got trouble. You can vamoose if you want, and if them T-Bar men don’t kill you. They’re coming. You’re free, but I need you.”
He stared at me.
“Take this scattergun, boy. You may need it,” I said.
He hesitantly lifted the shotgun, wondering whether I’d shoot him, I guess, and stood there in the middle of the office, freed but not knowing it, and neither of us knew what would come through that door.
THIRTY-THREE
I sure get itchy behind walls, forted up. Sooner or later someone’s gonna bust in or starve me out. And this was going to be soon, since it was me against fifteen, twenty T-Bar men ready to tear the place apart and drag the kid to the gallows. I had only moments before that bunch quit staring at Judge Nippers dangling out there on the courthouse square, and started coming for the next ones, namely the Bragg kid and me.
“King, we’re going to get out of here. You hear? I’ll unlock your pa. I’m going out with my scattergun and I’m turning left and heading straight for the courthouse. After a moment, you and your pa slip out and turn right and get out of sight fast. You’re on your own. Try to hook up with your sister and your Anchor Ranch men. That’s all I can do.”
King, he still was trying to get all this straight. Minutes before, he was waiting to be hanged. But he nodded.
I plunged into the jail and unlocked his pa.
“Get out of here. King will tell you where to go,” I said.
“Are you giving me orders?” Admiral Bragg snapped. “You haven’t even fed me. I’ll hang you from the nearest street lamp.”
