When the three men whirled around, they saw Matt holding his pistol leveled on them.
“Nice day, isn’t it?” Matt asked.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” The man who asked was bald-headed, and had a full mustache.
“Funny you would ask that question, because I was about to ask you the same thing.”
“We wasn’t doing nothing,” the bald-headed man said.
“Really? Because it looked to me like you were waiting for the stagecoach to come around so you could rob it.”
“We wasn’t doin’ no such thing.”
“I don’t believe you. I’m a passenger on that stagecoach, and I wouldn’t want to get held up or anything, so here is what we are going to do. You,” he said, pointing to the only one of the three who was wearing a hat. “I want you to use your hat as a bag, and I want you to put your gun in there, then collect the guns from the other two, and bring all of them over here to me.”
“Why would we want to do that?”
“Because I’ll kill you if you don’t,” Matt said, easily.
“Do it, Carter,” the bald man said.
Carter put his own pistol in the hat, collected the other two pistols, then walked over to put them down where Matt told them to.
“There they are,” Carter said.
“Good man. Now the three of you just walk over there and have a seat for a while,” Matt said.
When the three responded, Matt picked up the hat with the pistols, then walked out into the road just as the coach came around the turn. He waved at the driver, and Ed started pulling back on the reins, bringing the stage to a halt.
“I’ll be damned,” Ed said, looking toward the three men who were sitting on the side of the road. “Hello there, Carter, Hodge, Decker. How are you boys doing?” He laughed.
“You know these men, Ed?” Matt asked.
“Oh, I should say that I do,” Ed replied. “They’ve done held me up twice. I guess it would have been three times if you hadn’t stopped them.”
“Hey, where you goin’ with our guns?” the bald-headed one asked. “Them guns cost money and you’re stealin’ ’em.”
“I’m not stealing them,” Matt said. “I tell you what. I’ll leave them with the marshal in Sussex.”
“There ain’t nothin’ right about you doin’ somethin’ like that,” one of the would-be robbers said.
“Ha,” Ed said. “Since when did you boys worry ’bout what’s right?”
“I hope you can find your horses,” Matt said as he stepped back into the coach. “If not, you are going to have a very long walk.”
Chapter Fourteen
When the carriage carrying Moreton and Clara Frewen came into town to meet the stagecoach from Medicine Bow, they saw Teasdale’s coach there as well. Teasdale was standing alongside his coach with his arms folded across his chest.
“I wonder what William is doing here,” Frewen said as their driver pulled to a stop.
“Is Margaret with him?” Clara asked. “Maybe they have come to meet Jennie.”
“I don’t know,” Frewen said. “I’ll walk over there and see. If he is, I’ll lift my hat. If I don’t lift my hat, she isn’t there.”
“All right,” Clara said, remaining in the carriage as Frewen stepped down.
“Hello, William,” Frewen said.
“Moreton,” Teasdale replied.
“Are you meeting someone on the stage?”
“No. I just thought as long as I was in town, I would meet it and see if there is any mail for me.”
“Margaret didn’t come with you, did she? Clara is over in the carriage and wanted to know.”
“No, she’s at home.”
Frewen turned toward Clara and shook his head.
“What brings you here?” Teasdale asked.
“Don’t you remember? We told you that Clara’s sister Jennie and her son are coming to visit us.”
“Oh, yes, I do remember. Well, I hope they have a very pleasant visit.”
“I intend to make certain their visit is pleasant. They should be on this coach. And I’m sure they are, or I would have gotten a telegram from Mr. Jensen informing me that they aren’t.”
“Jensen? Isn’t that the gunfighter you hired? You mean you sent the gunfighter to escort your sister-in-law and
