Dead Before Sundown

Hopkins glared at him. “You took so damn long gettin’ me fixed up, I ought to not tell you.”

“You’d better think twice about that,” Frank cautioned him. “We can always take you back to Skagway and let the folks there deal with you.”

Hopkins frowned. He knew good and well how the citizens of Skagway would deal with him. It would involve a rope and a gallows.

“Y’understand, I don’t know exactly where Joe is. But I know where we were going, and I’d bet that derby of mine he’s headed there right now, the dirty bastard. Runnin’ out and leavin’ me like that.”

“Keep talking,” Frank said.

Salty still had his Remington in his hand. His thumb rested on the hammer, ready to pull it back.

“Calgary,” Hopkins said. “We were gonna cut across the mountains to Calgary. Joe said he knew some fellas there we could throw in with.”

Frank had heard of the Canadian city but had never been there. Calgary was on the other side of the Rockies, at the edge of the Great Plains that extended from Canada down through the United States. Located not far north of Montana, it was a cowtown, Frank had heard, as wild in its early days as Abilene or Dodge City had been.

The formation of the North West Mounted Police had tamed Calgary and the rest of western Canada, at least to a certain extent. But Frank was sure there were still plenty of lawless men in the region, so Hopkins was probably right. He and Joe Palmer would have been able to find some new partners, or set up some illegal operation of their own.

Especially with the money they had stolen from Salty and the other citizens of Skagway to finance them.

The old-timer said, “We got to go after him, Frank. I worked hard for that dinero. I thought I’d never see it again.”

“We’ll talk about that,” Frank promised. “Right now we need to figure out what to do with Hopkins and that other fella.” He turned to Handlesman. “Do you know if there’s any law hereabouts?”

“There might be some Mounties on patrol around here,” the second mate said. “On the other hand, there might not be. The closest garrison is down at Vancouver.”

“Do you think Captain Beswick could be persuaded to take Hopkins to Seattle and turn him over to the authorities there?”

Handlesman rubbed his heavy jaw as he frowned in thought. “I don’t know. This is Canada. The Jupiter‘s an American ship.”

“It was an American that Hopkins was trying to kill,” Frank said with a nod toward Salty. “Anyway, Hopkins is wanted in Alaska, and that’s an American territory. He’s probably got warrants out for him in Colorado and other places, too. That’s where Soapy Smith and his bunch were before they went north to Alaska.”

“I suppose it can’t hurt to ask him,” Handlesman said. “What about the other fella?”

Frank shook his head. “I don’t even know his name. We’ll leave him here. He probably has friends who’ll take care of him.”

“What about us?” Salty asked. “We’re goin’ after Palmer, ain’t we?”

“We’ll talk about that back on the ship,” Frank said.

“What were you thinking, sneaking off like that?” Meg asked Salty with a scolding tone in her voice as if she was his mother, rather than young enough to be his granddaughter.

“Aw, shoot, I don’t know,” Salty replied. His leathery old face wore a hangdog expression. “I heard music, and it sounded like folks was havin’ fun. And I hadn’t had a drink in so long…. I wasn’t gonna go off on a bender, I can promise you that. Them days is over.”

Frank wasn’t completely sure they were, but he and Meg couldn’t watch Salty all the time. Sooner or later the old-timer had to be responsible for his own actions.

The three of them were in Meg’s cabin on the Jupiter. She had been waiting for them on deck when they got back to the ship. Handlesman had already told her that Frank and Salty were all right, when he came to get the doctor for the two wounded men.

Yeah Mow Hopkins was locked up in the Jupiter’s tiny brig. Captain Beswick had agreed, reluctantly, to deliver him to the law when the ship reached Seattle.

The question now was, what were Frank and Salty going to do?

“I’m sure sorry for all the trouble I caused,” Salty went on, “but if I hadn’t snuck ashore and gone to that saloon, I wouldn’t have spotted those two varmints. It was just pure-dee luck. Either that, or an omen tellin’ us to go after Palmer and get my dang money back.”

“We’d have to track him across the Rocky Mountains,” Frank pointed out. “That’s mighty rugged country. We might not be able to catch up to him until we got to Calgary.”

“I don’t care how long it takes.” Salty glared determinedly. “I’ll go after the dang skalleyhooter by myself if I have to, by grab!”

Frank chuckled. “Take it easy. I never said I wouldn’t go with you. I’m just saying it’s liable to be a hard chase.”

“I’m up to it,” Salty insisted. “I’ve traipsed hell-west and crosswise all over the frontier in my time. I can ride all night and fight all day if’n I have to.”

Frank didn’t doubt it. Salty might be old, but he was tough as whang leather. Sort of like Frank himself.

“We’ll have to get some horses and pack animals,” Meg put in.

Frank and Salty both turned to look at her. “What makes you think you’re goin’?” Salty asked.

“I figured you’d stay on the ship and go on to Seattle,” Frank added. “You can wait for us there.”