The Night of the Floundering Female
Chapter 1
A Meeting of Travellers
(In which we meet a new character, and a couple of old ones, and the boys go to bed.)
Miss Rebekah Sweetman caught the eye of the gentleman sitting across from her in the coach. He and his companion had joined the journey at the last stop.
"Excuse me Sir, I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you pay less money for your clothes because they're smaller?"
The tiny man chuckled. "In truth, miss, they cost me extra."
"That seems unfair."
"It's because they have to be specially made for me, there being not a lot of call for outfits in my size."
"That still seems unfair to me; they must use no more than half the amount of fabric that goes into a regular suit."
"It's very kind of you to express a feeling of injustice on my part, but I am a man of ample means."
"Oh well, that's alright then. And who is the beautiful lady sitting next to you?"
"Allow me to introduce my dear wife, Antoinette," the small man said with a proud smile.
"Pleased to meet you, Mrs..."
"Loveless," the lady supplied, and her husband gave her a warning look.
"I see no harm in telling this young lady," Antoinette said.
"You're right, my dear," her husband agreed. After all, one never knew what use a new acquaintance might be.
"Why shouldn't you tell me your name?"
"There are those who would like to hurt my husband and myself, Miss..er.."
"Rebekah Sweetman," the young lady replied. "Why would anyone want to harm either of you?" She was puzzled.
"It does seem dreadful, doesn't it? My husband is a doctor, a noble healer, one who has himself endured a life of pain and humiliation and yet he is persecuted and never has a moment of peace or a feeling of safety."
"But who is it doing this to you?"
"Two misguided agents in the pay of the Treasury Department," the Doctor said. "Just because I once, through no fault of my own, found myself on the wrong side of the law, when attempting to right an injustice done to me, they will not leave me alone. They are convinced I'm some sort of evil mastermind." He chuckled at the absurdity of it.
"What you? I find that hard to believe. Oh dear, this is where I alight." Miss Sweetman added, hearing the shout of the coach driver, announcing their arrival in Coleville. "It's been a pleasure to talk to you. I wish there was time to hear more."
"Thank you. Maybe we will meet again," Mrs Loveless said. "Where will you be staying?"
"I shall look for the cheapest boarding house in Coleville," Miss Sweetman replied. "Unlike you, I am not a person of ample means."
The door was wrenched open and Miss Sweetman took a step forward, missed the step and stumbled sideways, knocking over the man standing there.
"Whoops," she said, remaining cheerfully restrained.
The man, whom she had knocked over, swiped at his dusty clothing with his hat and let forth a string of abuse.
Miss Sweetman chose to ignore this; she was used to it. She merely waved to her new acquaintances, as her luggage was thrown down onto the dirt road and the coach departed.
'Poor dear man,' she thought to herself, remembering the diminutive traveller. She wondered what the injustice had been, that he should suffer so for trying to put it right, and her face took on a look well-known to her friends and family.
ooooooooooo0ooooooooooo
James West and Artemus Gordon got down from their horses and looked around them.
"So this is Ventura Springs," Jim said, taking in the saloon, the general store and the blacksmith's forge. Apart from the jail, that was about it. If they wanted to contact Washington, they would have to travel to the telegraph office in the next town, but that was all right by them because they had no intention of doing anything that would involve work.
"Seems all right to me," Artie said. "It feels great to be on leave, with no particular place to go."
"As long as we meet up with the Wanderer in Denver in three week's time," Jim reminded him.
They had been given four weeks' leave and decided to hit the trail for two of them, in Wyoming, where their last assignment had left them, with the goal of having no goal at all, just meandering around small towns, and sleeping out in the open if there wasn't one near. They were happy taking in the beauty of their surroundings away from the dangers of their chosen profession, though Artie knew that it was against Jim's nature to be far from some kind of action. Because of that, they had stopped off at a ranch, where Jim had spent a day breaking horses. Artie had enjoyed watching his friend at work, displaying the strength and skill involved. Jim had broken in his own beloved stallion and it was something he liked to do. Artie was happy to leave such back-breaking work to others. He was glad to see that, tired and sore though he was, Jim was starting to really relax.
"It's getting dark; I'll take the horses to the livery stable," Jim said, indicating the building next to the smithy. "You find us a room at the saloon. One will do; it's only for one night.
Artie nodded, removed his saddle bags and threw them over one shoulder. "See you later," he said, and entered the saloon.
There were only a handful of patrons and the bartender stared at Artie as he approached. It was obvious they weren't used to strangers in town.
"I'd like a room for me and my friend," Artie said.
"You can have number four, at the top of the stairs." He handed Artie a key. "That'll be a dollar," he said. Artie blinked but handed the money over; it had better include breakfast.
The hotel room was no worse than most and better than some. Artie threw his saddle bags on a chair and then went back downstairs to meet up with Jim.
The two friends drank a couple of whiskeys and ate roast beef sandwiches. It was then time to call it a day and they went to their room with the intention of leaving early in the morning.
ooooooooooo0ooooooooooo
Jim woke up in the middle of the night and prodded Artie in the ribs.
"Did you hear that?" Jim asked.
"What?" Artie responded blearily. Before he even had time to turn over, Jim was at the window and looking out onto the plot of land at the rear of the saloon. "There's someone out there," he said. A shot rang out and Jim let out a grunt before falling to the floor.
ooooooooooo0ooooooooooo