Incident at Broomville
Disclaimer: I own nothing but fond memories of the show and Rowdy Yates.
RAWHIDERAWHIDERAWHIDE
Rowdy Yates stood at the bar of the First Class saloon in the waste water town of Broomville and looked appreciatively at the small brunette saloon girl making her way around the bar room. Though he was only supposed to be in town long enough to help Wishbone gather supplies, he didn't figure it would hurt to take a few extra minutes to drink a beer or two.
Wishbone, of course, disagreed until Rowdy offered to buy his beer for him. Wish looked down for a minute and then shrugged. "Guess one beer couldn't hurt." He mumbled.
Grinning, Rowdy slapped him on the shoulder and the two headed to the nearest saloon and ordered beers. "Nice place." Rowdy observed as he and Wishbone took a swallow of their lukewarm beer.
"It is if you like watered down whiskey and stale beer." Wishbone grumbled. Taking another sip of his beer, he wrinkled his brow and sat the half full mug back down on the bar. "Come on, Rowdy, let's go." He urged. "We've got our supplies and Mr. Favor's gonna be lookin' for us to get back before dark. I still have to fix some supper, you know."
As pretty as the brunette was and cool the saloon, Rowdy sighed as he too sat his beer down. Wish was right and he knew it. Besides, the brunette was busy now, he noted, watching her lead a dusty cowboy upstairs. "Alright, let's go."
Rowdy pushed away from the bar and the two men exited the saloon. Wish climbed up into the seat of the wagon as Rowdy claimed his horse and mounted it, leading the way out of town. Neither man noted that the back flap of the wagon was in disarray and not as neatly tied down, as it was when they left it.
Not much was said between the two men as they rode. Not much needed to be said. They'd accomplished the task set before them and if they hurried, they'd make it back to camp before too long, in time for Wish, who with Mushy's help, would prepare dinner for the crew while Rowdy checked in with Mr. Favor. They expected no problems and encountered none, until much later. It was then they encountered a very big problem indeed.
"Mr. Favor." Rowdy nodded at Gil Favor, the trail boss, as he rode up close to him and dismounted.
"Rowdy." Gil returned. "You get everything we needed?"
"Sure did." Rowdy nodded. "I, uh, checked in at the post office like you asked but there wasn't anything there for you."
Gil nodded resignedly. "Well, I didn't really expect anything but I didn't figure it'd hurt to check. We'll be close to Kingston in about a week, we'll check there."
"I hope so." Rowdy agreed. "It'd be nice to know we've got a guaranteed payday when we get to Dodge."
"Yeah, but I'm not too worried." Gil shrugged. "They'll be other brokers there if we can get there early enough."
"Well, that shouldn't be too much of a problem." Rowdy said assuredly. "I can't think of anything that would slow us down."
As he and Gil Favor talked, neither man noticed the back flap of the supply wagon move ever so slightly and one blue eye peer out at the men around the camp.
TBC