The first thing that was brought out of the kitchen was a glistening ham. It was set it in front of Matt.
“I thought you might enjoy carving,” Kitty said. “As you did that day, so long ago.”
Matt picked up the carving knife and fork, then smiled as he sliced into the ham.
“You are talking about the ham the ladies of the Methodist Church gave us,” he said.
“Yes. I’m glad you remember.”
“There are some things you never forget,” Matt said, as he lay a generous piece of ham on Kitty’s plate.
When Cooter and Mole reached the bottom of the canyon, they went right to the river where they sat on the bank and stuck their feet into the water.
“Damn, this hurts more’n it did when we was walkin’,” Mole said.
“Quit your bitchin’, Mole,” Cooter said. “The water is what’s makin’ it hurt now, but after a minute you’ll feel better.”
“Logan said this was goin’ to be easy,” Mole said. “Now he’s lyin’ up there dead, and we near ’bout walked our feet off.”
“What are you complainin’ about?” Cooter asked. “At least you’re still alive. And we still got the ten dollars Logan give us.”
“Cooter, when you looked Logan’s pockets, did he have anything else on him?” Mole asked.
“I told you, all he had was ten dollars, same as us.”
“The way I figure it, that ten dollars he had should belong to both of us,” Mole said.
“It does. Only I can’t give it to you now.”
“Why not?”
“What do you want me to do? Tear the bill into two pieces?”
“Oh, no, I reckon not.”
“Soon as we get into town I’ll get change and we can divide the money up.”
“Yeah,” Mole said, smiling broadly. “Hey, you know what I’m goin’ to do? I’m goin’ to get myself a real cafe supper, a bottle of whiskey I don’t have to share, and a woman with that five dollars. That’ll still leave me the ten dollars I got in the first place.”
“Nine dollars and fifty cents,” Cooter said. “Don’t forget, we put our money together to buy a bottle of whiskey.”
“Yeah, well, that’s still enough to do ever’ thing I said and have some money left over,” Mole said.
Cooter pulled his feet out of the water and rubbed them for a moment. “I don’t know about you, but I intend to find my boots and pistol, then go back into town. I don’t plan to be out here after dark.”
“Hey, I reckon this pistol Logan loaned to me is mine, now,” Mole said.
“You might as well keep his horse too, seein’ as you got to turn the one you’re ridin’ back into the livery.”
“You don’t mind if I take the horse?” Mole asked.
“No, I got one, you don’t.”
“That’s real good of you, Cooter.”
Chapter Eleven
“And what did you say your name was?” Poke asked the man who was standing nervously before him, rolling his hat in his hands.
“My real name is Cotter,” the man said. “But folks has always called me Cooter.”
“Cooter?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell me, Cooter, how do you know that Sam Logan is dead.”
“’Cause I seen him get hisself that way,” Cooter said. “This feller Jensen, he had us all dead to rights. Made us throw our guns and our shoes over the edge of the canyon. Only Logan, he didn’t throw all his guns down. Turned out he had him another’n, and what he done is, he drawed that gun against Matt Jensen. That was about as big a mistake as you could make, ’cause Jensen shot him down, dead.”
“Where is Logan’s body?”
“As far as I know, it’s still a’ lyin’ up on top of Bruneau Canyon,” Cooter said. “What with no horses, and no boots neither, me and Mole wasn’t able to bring him back home.”
“What were you doing up on top of Bruneau Canyon?” Terrell asked.
Cooter’s eyes widened. “Why, don’t you know? I figured we was up there, workin’ for you. I mean Logan never told us that, but that’s what I figured. That’s what Jensen figured too, only I didn’t tell Jensen nothin’ except that Logan give us ten dollars apiece to—uh—take care of Jensen and the other feller that was with him.”
“What do you think he meant by ‘take care of’?”
