* * *
“Damn!” Shamrock said aloud. “I woulda never thought anyone could beat Bodine!”
Suddenly Shamrock grew frightened. Duff MacCallister had killed Bodine, now he might be coming for him. Unless he could use the girl.
“Come here, girl, we’re goin’ . . .” Shamrock stopped in midsentence. The girl wasn’t there. “Where the hell did you go?”
Looking back out through the window, he saw the girl running toward the woman who owned the dress shop. They embraced in the middle of the street. How the hell did she get away?
The back door. Yes, she left through the back door, and Shamrock would do the same thing.
Hurrying to the back door, he tried to open it, but found it locked.
“Harris!”
The shout came from the street.
Hurrying back to the window he saw, not only Duff MacCallister, but Deputy Logan.
“Harris, come out with your hands up!” Deputy Logan called.
Shamrock opened the front door, then tossed his gun out into the street.
“I’m comin’ out!” he called. “I’m comin’ out with m’ hands up!”
* * *
Jeb Jaco had watched the gunfight from the boardwalk just in front of the Wild Hog Saloon. He was shocked by what he had seen, not only because he didn’t think Bodine could be beaten, but because he had never seen anything as fast as the Scotsman’s draw.
And now he was watching Shamrock walking down the street with his hands up.
Houser would need to be told.
Chapter Thirty-four
“Bodine is dead, ’n they got your brother in jail,” Jaco told Houser.
“How was Bodine killed?”
“MacCallister kilt ’im. I’m tellin’ you the truth, Mr. Houser, I’ve seen some fast gunmen in my days, but I ain’t never seen nothin’ like MacCallister. I never even seen ’im draw. He was just standin’ there one moment ’n the next moment the gun was in his hand.”
“Is my brother injured?”
“No, he ain’t hurt none. He’s just in jail, is all.”
“Thank you, Mr. Jaco.”
“You want me ’n the others to go into town ’n break him out of jail?” Jaco asked.
“No, that wouldn’t be prudent. We will need to take some other approach. Let me think about it.”
* * *
“Harris is in jail,” Cooper told Turley.
Turley smiled. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s where the son of a bitch belongs. What happened? How did he wind up in jail?”
“From what I heard in town, he ’n a feller named Bodine took that girl that works for the lady that runs the dress shop prisoner and . . .”
“Mary Ellen? Is she all right?” Turley asked anxiously.
“Yeah, that’s right, I forgot you’re kind of sweet on her. Don’t worry, she’s fine.” Cooper laughed. “You know what she did? Harris was holdin’ her in the dress shop where she works, but somehow she got out through the back door, then she locked it, ’n that trapped the son of a bitch inside. After that it was easy for Deputy Logan to arrest ’im for holdin’ her like he done.”
Turley smiled. “Yeah, I can see Mary Ellen doing something like that.”
“Will this do for you Mr. Houser?”
=A PROCLAMATION=
of the GOVERNOR OF WYOMING
$10, 000 REWARD
Dead or Alive
DUFF MACCALLISTER
for MURDER and CATTLE RUSTLING
Houser was in the office of the Hawk Springs Herald, a newspaper in the nearby town of Hawk Springs, and he examined the printer’s proof the editor of the paper had handed him.
“Yes, Mr. Denman, that will do quite nicely, thank you,” Houser replied.
“I’ve never met Mr. MacCallister,” Denman said. “But I know he’s a big cattleman over near Chugwater.”
“Yes,” Houser replied. “And now we know how he acquired his wealth.”
“I must say that I’ve never heard anything bad about him.”
“He managed to hide it quite well for some time,” Houser said. “But Governor Morgan, and Governor Hale before him, had long been suspicious of Duff MacCallister. That’s why I was appointed a special deputy by the governor. Now I have the evidence I need to make the arrest.”
“What I don’t understand is, if you know where he is, why do you need a reward poster?”
“Oh, MacCallister is quite the wily one. If he gets word that we are onto him, he might well make good his escape. If so, I’ll have these ready.”
* * *
In the bunkhouse at Twin Peaks that night, Turley was awakened by a conversation going on between the deputies.
“First thing we’re goin’ to do,” Jaco said, “is go out to the Pine Flats ’n take about a hunnert o’ them cows we stoled ’n move ’em over to Sky Meadow.”
Even though Jaco thought he was speaking in a harsh whisper, Turley was able to overhear every word that was spoken.
“Why are we goin’ to do that? Hell, we was the one that stoled the cattle, ’n we’re s’posed to be gettin’ some money for them cows. Why are we goin’ to give ’em away like that?” Pete asked.
“We ain’t actual givin’ ’em away, we’re just movin’ ’em over there so’s it looks like MacCallister is the one that stoled them.”
“So we’re goin’ to accuse MacCallister of stealin’? Who’s goin’ to do that? Didn’t you say he was the fastest man you ever seen?”
“We won’t have to arrest him. All we have to do is kill ’im. ’N we’ll most likely have some help with that,” Jaco said.
“Have help? Help from who?”
“From anyone who wants the ten-thousand-dollar reward.”
“What reward?”
“This one,” Jaco said.
“Damn!” Pete said. “You mean there’s actual dodgers out on MacCallister?”
“Yeah. Now, come on, we got to get them cows moved before it gets daylight.”
* * *
Moving the stolen cows onto Sky Meadow wasn’t the only nefarious act that the deputies did during the night. When the residents of Chugwater awakened the next morning, they were surprised to see a sudden plethora of wanted posters.
“Duff MacCallister murderin’ and stealin’?” Duke
