make him stop…”
“Well, what do you know about that?” Matt said. “Just some would-be owlhoots with the bad luck to pick the judge as their first victim.”
“
Matt nodded toward the trail. “We can ask him. Here he comes.”
Sam turned to look, and saw the buggy rolling toward them. His attention was drawn back to the man beside him by a gasped plea.
“W-water! Can I have…some water?”
“Sure,” Sam said. It wouldn’t do any good, but at this point, it wouldn’t hurt anything either. He straightened and stepped over to his horse to untie the canteen from the saddle horn.
“Don’t bother,” Matt said.
“It won’t hurt anything to give him a drink—” Sam began.
“No, I mean, don’t bother. It’s too late.”
Sam looked again and saw the injured man’s eyes glazing over in death. He shrugged and left the canteen where it was.
A moment later the buggy rolled to a stop at the edge of the trail. The distinguished-looking gent at the reins asked in a deep voice, “Are all the brigands dead?”
“Yes, sir, they are,” Sam replied. “Would you be the judge who’s going to Arrowhead to preside over the trial of Joshua Shade?”
“I am. Judge Julius Stanfield, at your service, young man. I’m very fortunate that you and your friend came along just as those highwaymen jumped me.”
“Nothin’ lucky about it, Your Honor,” Matt said as he thumbed back his hat. “The sheriff in Arrowhead sent us out to meet you and escort you to the settlement. My name’s Matt Bodine. This other fella is Sam Two Wolves.”
Judge Stanfield’s rather bushy eyebrows rose in surprise. “Bodine and Two Wolves, eh?” he said. “I’ve heard of you. Always wondered if you two young hellions might appear before me in court someday.”
“Not us, Judge,” Sam said.
“We’re peaceable men,” Matt added dryly.
“Hmmph. Yes, I can see that,” Stanfield said. “Again, my thanks.” He pointed a gnarled finger at the dead hombre. “Did that man and his companions have any connection to Joshua Shade?”
“That’s what we figured at first, too,” Sam said. “But he claimed they were just trying to rob you, and since he knew he was dying, I don’t see what reason he would have had to lie about it.”
“Indeed. What are we going to do with the bodies?”
“Round up their horses and tie them over the saddles so we can take them back to Arrowhead, I reckon,” Matt said. “Either that or leave them for the buzzards and the wolves.”
“I think not,” Stanfield said. “Even miscreants such as these deserve proper burials.”
“Yeah. Let’s get busy, Sam.”
Within ten minutes, they had the four dead men strapped onto their saddles. Matt and Sam each led two of the horses with their grisly burdens as they followed the buggy toward Arrowhead.
“Miscreants,” Matt said under his breath. “You and the judge ought to get along fine, Sam. You talk the same language.”
“That of well-educated men, you mean?” Sam asked.
“No, I figure His Honor there savvies Cheyenne, too.” Matt chuckled. “Of course I meant he went to college, too.”
“You’re not as uneducated as you like to make out, Bodine.”
“Maybe not, but you’d never catch me at some faculty tea party neither.”
“Not that you’d ever be invited to such a gathering.”
“Thank the Good Lord for that.”
They continued bantering as they rode along, but that didn’t keep them from watching the landscape around them with keen, alert eyes. They weren’t out of danger yet, and they knew it.
In fact, the threat of Joshua Shade still hung over Arizona Territory, and it would continue to do so…
Until Shade himself dangled at the end of a hang-rope.
Chapter 16
It was just about the noon hour when Matt and Sam rode back into Arrowhead behind Judge Stanfield’s buggy. Matt eased his horse up alongside the vehicle and pointed out the squat, stone jail.
“That’s where Shade is,” he said.
“I’ll see Shade soon enough,” Stanfield said. “Where’s the courthouse?”
