born. Sometimes men are born who just can't abide one another from the time they meet ... don't make no rhyme nor reason, but it's so.'
'They are proud men.'
'Tom's gone killer, Tyrel, don't you ever forget that. It infects some men like rabies, and they keep on killing until somebody kills them.'
We stood there, not talking for awhile, each of us busy with his own thoughts.
What would Dru be doing about now? Rising at home, and planning her day, bathing, combing her long dark hair, having breakfast.
Turning away I went inside and started looking over the day's roundup of mail.
This morning there was a letter from Tell, my oldest brother. Tell was in Virginia City, Montana, and was planning to come down and see us. Ma would be pleased, mighty pleased. It had been a sorry time since we had seen Tell.
There was a letter from that girl, too. The one we had sent the money we found in that burned wagon ... she was coming west and wanted to meet us. The letter had been forwarded from Santa Fe where it had been for weeks ... by this time she must be out here, or almost here. It gave me an odd feeling to get that letter on this morning, thinking back to the trouble it had caused.
Cap came in from outside and I said, 'I'm going to have coffee with Dru. You hold the fort, will you?'
'You do that, boy. You just do that.'
Folks were beginning to crowd the streets now, and some were hanging out hunting and flags. Here and there a few rigs stood along the street, all with picnic baskets in the back. There were big, rawboned men in the Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and women in fresh-washed ginghams and sunbonnets. Little boys ran and played in the streets, and their mothers scolded and called after them while little girls, starched and ribboned, looked on enviously and disdainfully.
It was good to be alive. Everything seemed to move slow today, everything seemed to take its time ... was this the way a man felt on his last day? Was it to be my last day?
When I knocked on the door Dru answered it herself. Beyond the welcome I could see the worry.
'How's about a poor drifter begging a cup of coffee, ma'am? I was just passin' through and the place had a kindly look.'
'Come in, Tye. You don't have to knock.'
'Big day in town. Biggest crowd I ever saw. Why, I've seen folks from Santa Fe ... as far as Raton or Durango.'
The maid brought in the coffee and we sat at the breakfast table looking out the low-silled window over the town and the hillside and we sat talking for awhile and at last I got up and she came with me to the door. She put her hand on my sleeve. 'Stay here, Tye ... don't go.'
'Got to ... busy day today.'
Folks were crowded along the street and there were wagons drawn up where the speaking was to be--with many people taking their places early so they could be close enough to hear. When I got down to the office Orrin was there in his black frock coat and string tie. He grinned at me, but beyond the grin his eyes were serious.
'You get up there and talk,' I said, 'you're the speaker of this family.'
Me, I stayed at the office. Cap was out and around, nosing after news like a smart old coon dog looking up trails in the dust or the berry patches. There was no sign of Tom Sunday, and around the jail everything was quiet. Nor was Jonathan Pritts anywhere in sight. My guards were restless, most of them men with families who wanted to be with them on a big day like this.
Ma and the boys came in about noon, Ma riding in the buckboard with Joe driving.
Ollie had held a place for them where Ma could hear the speaking, and it would be the first time she had ever heard Orrin make a speech. Folks were mighty impressed with speechmaking those days, and a man who could talk right up and make his words sound like something, well, he rated mighty high up there. He was a big man.
That day I was wearing black broadcloth pants down over my boots, a style just then coming in, and I had on a gray shirt with a black string tie and a black, braided Spanish-style jacket and a black hat. My gun was on, and I was carrying a spare tucked into my waistband out of sight under my jacket.
About noon Caribou Brown rode into town with Doubleout Sam. Shea saw them ride in and reported to me at once and I went down to the saloon where they had bellied up to the bar.
'All right, boys. Finish your drink and ride out.'
They turned around on me, the both of them, but they knew me pretty well by then. 'You're a hard man,' Brown said. 'Can't a man stay around for the fun?'
'Sorry.'
They had their drinks but they didn't like it and when they finished them I was standing right there. 'If you boys start right now you can make Vegas,' I told them. 'You'll have trouble if you think you can stay. I'll throw you both in jail and you'll be there next month at this time.'
'On what charge?' Sam didn't like it.
'Loitering, obstructing justice, interfering with an officer, peddling without a license ... I'll think of something.'
'Oh, damn you!'Brown said. 'Come on, Sam ... let's ride.'
They started for the door.
'Boys?'
They turned. 'Don't circle around. I've got some deputies who are mighty concerned about the town today. You're known men and if you come back they'll be shooting on sight.'
They rode out of town and I was glad to see them go. Both were known trouble makers of the old Settlement crowd and they had been in several shootings.
The streets began to grow empty as folks drifted toward the speechmaking and the band concert, which was going full blast. Going slow along the walks the streets were so empty the sound of my heels was loud. When I reached the adobe where Fetterson was held, I stopped by. Shea was on guard there.
'Hello, Fett,' I said.
He got up and came to the bars. 'That right? That they shot into my cell? Into a dummy?'
'What did you expect? You can hang him, Fetterson, and he knows that. He's got to do something ... or run!'
Fetterson rubbed his jaw. The man looked worried. 'How does a man get into these things?' he asked suddenly. 'Damn it, I played square with him.'
'He's wrong, Fett. He cares nothing for you except in so far as you are useful and when your usefulness is ended, so's his interest. You're too good a man to be wasted, Fett ... you're loyal to a man who does not understand loyalty.'
'Maybe ... maybe.'
He listened to the band, which was playing My Darling Nelly Gray. 'Sounds like a good time,' he said wistfully.
'I've got to go,' I said, 'the speaking starts in a few minutes.'
He was still standing by the bars when I went out. Shea got up and walked outside with me. 'Are you expecting trouble?'
'At any minute.'
'All right,' he cradled the shotgun in his arms, 'I just don't want to miss all the fun.'
From the gathering place beyond the buildings I could hear Ollie introducing somebody. Pausing, I listened. It was the speaker from Santa Fe--the one who preceded Orrin--and I could hear his rolling tones, although he was too far away to distinguish more than a word or two, and when it happened, it happened so suddenly that I was taken by surprise.
They came into the street below the jail and they came suddenly and they were on foot. Obviously they had been hidden during the night in the houses of some of the citizens, and there were eight of. Them and they had rifles. Everyone of them was a familiar face, all were from the old Settlement crowd, and they had me dead to rights.
They were near the jail and there was a man inside. There were probably two men inside. Up the street behind me Shea could do little unless I gave him room, but I had to be where I could do the most damage.
