“All right, how about blue and regal?”
“Blue and regal might be all right if I were going to England to meet Tommy’s family. But I’m going to Chicago.”
“Then might I suggest red and daring?”
“Yes!” Kitty said. “Red and daring. I knew I could count on you.”
“Hmm, now, I know why you are going to Chicago,” Anna said.
“I’m going to sell horses.”
“But you are going to meet someone there, aren’t you?”
“No,” Kitty said. “Nobody except the army agent who will be buying the horses.”
“Kitty, you aren’t telling me everything,” Anna said. “If you aren’t meeting someone there, then why would you want a dress that is red and daring?”
Kitty smiled. “You didn’t ask me who I was going with,” she said.
“Why, Kitty Wellington. You have a beau, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Kitty said. “The only thing is, he doesn’t know it yet.”
Chapter Twenty-two
This was the first time Matt had been inside the Sand Spur since the fight with Poke Terrell and he wasn’t sure how he would be received. Any concerns he might have had were alleviated though when Charley, the bartender, smiled at him as he stepped up to the bar.
“Matt, it’s good to see you again,” Charley said.
“Hello, Charley,” Matt greeted.
Without being asked, Charley drew Matt a beer. “I say it’s good to see you again, but then, right now, it is good to see anyone besides these polecats,” he said, indicating a table where four similarly dressed men were sitting. Matt also saw that all of them were wearing star badges pinned to their shirts.
“They look like lawmen,” Matt said.
“Ha. If you ask me, outlaws is what they are. Oh, they wear their stars, and they call themselves lawmen, but believe me, they are nothing but outlaws. And they scare away my regular customers.”
“How many are there?”
“I don’t know exactly, I’ve never counted ’em. But I think someone said there are seventeen of ’em. At least, that’s how many came into town. They call themselves the Idaho Auxiliary Peace Officers’ Posse, and their leader is a fella by the name of Clay Sherman, only, he calls hisself
Matt took a swallow of his beer as he studied the men.
“Yeah, Marshal Sparks told me about them,” Matt said. “I think he said that Poke Terrell used to ride with them.”
“Yes, I heard that too,” Charley said. “Oh, damn, you don’t think they’ve come here after you to, uh…,” he started to ask, then he interrupted his comment in midsentence.
“You can finish the question,” Matt said. “It won’t bother me.”
“No, I mean, well, they got here yesterday and that’s near ’bout all the folks in town has been talkin’ about. And ever’ one is wonderin’ why they come here. Some of ’em has been wonderin’ if, maybe, they come here because of Poke Terrell. I mean him bein’ one of their own and all.”
“You are saying they may have come here to square things for Terrell?” Matt asked.
“Yeah, sort of like that, I reckon,” Charley said. “Of course, there don’t nobody who is in the posse that actually knows you, I don’t reckon. At least, not on sight. I mean they looked up when you come in, but didn’t none of ’em give any sign of recognizin’ you. So I don’t figure you’re in any particular danger for now. And for sure, there ain’t nobody in town goin’ to be pointin’ you out to them. But if I was you, I’d sort of stay out of sight until they’re gone. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Well now, that’s going to be a problem, Charley,” Matt said.
“What’s goin’ to be a problem?”
“I’ve never been one to be on the safe side,” Matt said. He took another swallow of his beer. “As a matter of fact, I think it might be a good idea if I went over there and introduced myself to them.”
“What? Matt, what in the hell are you talkin’ about? Why would you want to do a dumb fool stunt like that?” Charley asked.
“It doesn’t hurt to be friendly now, does it?”
Matt set his beer down on the bar, then walked over to the table.
“Good morning, gents,” he said.
The four men who had been engaged in a private conversation glanced toward him for just an instant, but no one returned his greeting. They went back to their private conversation.
“Not very friendly, are you?” Matt said.
He still did not get an answer.
