Sidewinders

“I promise you, Mr. Ramsey, I’m not at a point where I need to rely on the generosity of Mr. Nicholson—or of you!” Martha shot back. “Tell your employer that I decline his . . . offer.” Her voice dripped with scorn on the final word.

“You’re certain?” Ramsey said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Ramsey shrugged and turned away. He was young, around twenty-five, with blond hair and a tall, lean body clothed in a gray tweed suit. He put on a narrow-brimmed hat that matched the suit and stepped past Bo, Scratch, and Chloride, regarding them now with definite curiosity. He didn’t ask them who they were, though, just nodded and said, “Gentlemen.” Then he paused in the doorway and added to Martha, “If you change your mind, Miss Sutton, I’m sure Mr. Nicholson will be happy to discuss the matter with you.”

“I won’t be changing my mind,” Martha snapped.

Ramsey smiled and went out, closing the door behind him. With a weary sigh, Martha sank into the chair behind the desk and looked up at her new visitors with a mixture of anger and resignation.

“What do you three want?” she asked. Then she looked more closely at Chloride and added, “You’re the Argosy driver who was held up yesterday, aren’t you?”

Chloride said, “Yes’m, I am. But I ain’t workin’ for Argosy no more, as of yesterday, too.”

Martha looked surprised. “Lawrence Nicholson fired you because you got held up? Or because you didn’t give your life for the Argosy Mining Company like the guards did?”

“I dunno, miss, he just told me I wasn’t workin’ for him no more.”

“So you’re looking for a job like these two?” Martha said as she nodded toward Bo and Scratch.

Bo said, “Actually, Miss Sutton, Chloride gave us a hand today when we rode out to see if we could pick up the trail of the Deadwood Devils.”

Martha sat up straighter and looked interested in spite of herself. “Did you have any luck?” she asked.

“If you call almost getting our hair parted with lead lucky,” Bo replied with a faint smile. “Four men ambushed us while we were looking around the place where the Argosy wagon was held up yesterday.”

“You don’t look like you’re hurt.”

“That really was lucky,” Bo said. Quickly, he explained what had happened when they were ambushed. “We tried to follow those men who shot at us,” he concluded, “but we lost the trail. The same thing happened when we backtracked the outlaws who attacked the Argosy gold wagon yesterday. Following a trail in rugged country like this is pretty hard.”

Martha looked at them solemnly. “When you said you were going to try to find the Deadwood Devils, you weren’t joking, were you?”

“We generally don’t, leastways not about the important things, miss,” Scratch said.

“I appreciate your efforts, and I’m certainly sorry your lives were in danger . . . but I’m afraid I can’t offer you any sort of compensation for what you’ve done.”

“We’re not asking for any,” Bo said. “We haven’t earned anything . . . yet.”

Martha frowned. “I don’t understand. Are you going to keep looking for the thieves?”

“Not exactly. I had another idea. You said you were having trouble finding anybody to bring your gold into town from the mine . . . ?”

“That’s right. All my drivers have quit, and no one wants to hire on as guards . . .” Martha’s eyebrows rose as she realized what Bo was suggesting. “Are you saying that the three of you want to volunteer?”

Chloride shuffled his feet. To keep the old-timer from saying anything about hoodoos, Bo replied quickly, “You need a driver and some guards, and we need jobs.”

Impatiently, Martha said, “I’ve told you, I can’t afford to pay wages.”

“But you said you’ve been feeding the fellas who work for you, and I reckon they have places to stay out at the mine.”

She shrugged. “That’s true. You’d work for room and board?”

“And the promise of back wages once you’ve got plenty of gold in the bank and the company is back on solid footing,” Bo said. He looked at his two companions. Scratch nodded and added, “That’s right, ma’am.” Chloride didn’t say anything, but at least he didn’t object.

Martha said, “It’s true I might be able to feed three more mouths, and there’s plenty of room in the bunkhouse out at the mine. But aren’t you afraid of the Devils? They’re liable to try to hold up the first shipment into town.”

“To tell you the truth, Miss Sutton,” Bo said, “we’re sort of counting on that.”

“You still want to find out who they are and where they’ve been hiding all the loot they’ve stolen, don’t you?”

Scratch said, “We don’t cotton to bein’ shot at. Makes us take things real personal-like.”

Bo nodded. “That’s true.”

“Well . . . I suppose we could give it a try. I don’t like the idea of you putting your lives at risk, but if I don’t get a shipment or two out pretty soon, the company can’t keep going.”

“Sounds like we’ve got a deal, then,” Bo said with a smile.

Martha stood up and extended her hand across the desk. “My father always shook on it whenever he made a deal.”