Outside, he saw a young man nailing a poster onto the wall of the stagecoach depot.
WANTED
Matt Jensen
for MURDER and TRAIN ROBBERY
$5,000 REWARD DEAD or ALIVE
“Whoowee, wouldn’t I like to run across that fella?” someone said from behind Matt. Turning, he saw a short man with a gray beard and hair. The man spit out a stream of tobacco juice, then rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I don’t know,” Matt said. “If he’s a murderer, I’m not sure he’s the kind of person you would want to meet.”
“Sonny, for five thousand dollars, I’d take a chance. Would you be Mr. Cavanaugh?”
“Yes,” Matt said. Turning, he saw an older man with a head of white hair and a full, white beard.
“I’m Gabby Martin,” the bearded man said. “I’ll be drivin’ the stage today. I’m told you’ll be ridin’ alongside me.”
“Yes, I will, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all. It’s a six-hour trip to Purgatory, and it gets awful lonely up there by myself with nobody to talk to.” Gabby chuckled. “And it ain’t for nothin’ that they call me Gabby, if you get my meanin’.”
“I don’t mind a little conversation on a long trip,” Matt replied.
“Well, good for you, good for you,” Gabby said. “I reckon that’ll make this run just real pleasant.”
A few minutes later, a stagecoach drew up in front of the depot. The coach was weather-worn and the name on the door, MARICOPA COACH COMPANY, was so dim that it could scarcely be read.
Gabby chuckled. “I’ll be damn. I thought they had put this one in the barn forever,” he said. “I reckon, what with the railroad out ’n’ all, that Mr. Teasedale had to round up everything that rolls.”
The driver who had brought the stage around was a young man, and he set the brakes, then tied off the reins before he climbed down.
“Here you go, Mr. Martin,” the young man said. “It’s all ready for you.”
“Tell me, Johnny, do you think this old junk heap will make it all the way to Purgatory?” Gabby asked, only half- teasing.
“Oh, yes, sir, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble a’tall,” Johnny said. “You might remember that the right rear wheel had a flattened axle, but I packed it real good with a lot of grease. It should hold up just fine.”
Gabby stepped back to look at the wheel in question. A crown of black grease oozed out from the wheel hub. He grabbed the top of the wheel rim and pulled and pushed it a couple of times to examine the play in the wheel.
“If that wheel comes off on me, Johnny, when I get back here I’m goin’ to come down on you like flies on a cow turd.”
Johnny laughed. “Trust me, it’ll be fine.”
“Ha! The last time someone said ‘Trust me,’ she wound up givin’ me a case of the pox,” Gabby said. “But, I reckon I got no choice but to trust you.” He looked at Matt. “What do you say, sonny? You willin’ to take a chance?”
“I’m willing,” Matt replied.
“I figured you would be. But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say nothin’ to the other passengers about that wheel.”
“I won’t say a word,” Matt promised.
“All right, Johnny, let’s get the luggage loaded, then you can tell the folks in there we’re ready to go.”
The luggage was brought out onto the porch, then loaded into the boot, though there was so much that several pieces had to be put on the roof. Gabby and Johnny spent about five minutes loading and securing the luggage. Then Gabby climbed up into the driver’s seat.
“Come on up, sonny,” Gabby called down to Matt. “Soon as the others get loaded, we’ll get under way.”
The road ran parallel with the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, and about two hours after they left Sentinel, they passed the burnt-out, smashed, and strewn cars from the wreck. A huge, rail-mounted lifting crane was on the scene as a railroad work crew went about the business of repairing the railroad and cleaning up the mess.
“That must’ve been some wreck,” Gabby said.
“It was.”
Gabby looked over at Matt. “Was you in it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ll be. All this time we’ve been talkin’, and you ain’t said nothin’ about bein’ in the wreck.”
Matt laughed. “Gabby, if you’ll excuse me for saying so, all this time
Gabby laughed. “Well, I guess you got me on that one, sonny,” he said. “It weren’t for nothin’ that I come by
