The Next Morning Dodge City
Kitty was waiting when Doc came down from his office not long after dawn. She had his carriage ready to go.
"Kitty, what if Festus is on his way back and we miss him?"
"I told Newly where Matt headed. He'll tell Festus."
"Good, let's get going."
They had no trouble finding the house. It was the only one for miles around. They stopped in front and heard some strange howling noises coming from inside. They quickly got down, knocked on the door and walked in without waiting for an answer. Festus was sitting on a chair howling and his cousin was doing something to his arm.
Festus looked up, "You ole scudder, how did you know? I was jus tryin to get my fool cousin here to go get ya."
Hezekiah looked annoyed, "I told him he don't need no doctor. I can fix a broke arm."
Doc moved in and took over, "What happened?"
Hezehiah stepped aside and gave a little laugh "The fool fell off a the roof."
Festus answered angrily, "I didn't just fall off. You was a shakin that ladder so much I didn't even make it all the ways up to the roof. I'd be up there right now fixin it if you had the sense to do a simple thing like hold a ladder still."
Doc suppressed a smile, "Now, now arguing won't help. Fact is this arm is broken and I'm going to have to set it and put it in a sling. When we get back to Dodge I'll make a cast for it. Better give Festus a drink of whiskey, it's going to hurt some."
As Festus was getting his arm set he said, "Doc, Miss Kitty if you didn't know my arm was broke, why'd ya come out here?"
Doc looked at Kitty briefly, "Well Matt rode out yesterday morning to find Luke Ronniger. It seems the young fool was going to meet up with Gideon Barker. The thing is Matt wasn't feeling so great and we thought you maybe could catch up with him and see if he needed a hand. Now with this arm being broken, that's out of the question."
"Don't be silly Doc. I'll go after Matthew broke arm or no if ya think Matthew needs my help."
"No you won't Festus. I have to get a cast on this arm. Then, even if you could ride, and you can't, you'd be riding awfully slow, and even if you caught up, you might be the one needing help, and that won't do Matt any good."
Kitty sighed, "Doc's right Festus. Let's head back to Dodge."
That Morning Luke and Gideon Barker
Luke and Gideon broke camp in the early morning and were riding and talking for a short time when Gideon pulled his horse to a stop. "Hey look there." He pointed at two horses that were tied to a tree. "Let's go have us some fun." He rode over to the horses and Luke followed.
Gideon dismounted, "Kid, I'll bet the owners of these horses are down at the bottom of this hill fishing. Let's search through the saddlebags and see what's worth taking. Ha, ha then – get this – we'll untie the horses and give them each a good whack to run them off. The owners will have to chase them down. Pretty funny right kid?"
Gideon proceeded to go through one of the saddlebags. Luke remained on his horse.
Gideon looked up and said, "Kid, come on. Get in the spirit of things. Those two men were fools to leave their horses up here like this. We're just teaching them to be more careful, so they don't make that mistake again."
Luke was unsure, but it didn't sound like such a bad thing to do, so he dismounted and started to go through the other saddlebag.
They found a couple of coins, which Gideon put in his pocket. Searching further they found some coffee which they also took. Then Gideon untied the horses, smacked each on the rump and laughed as they trotted off. "Just think of the surprise those cowboys will get when they come up here. Picture them looking around, and scratching their heads." Gideon gave a funny imitation of what he thought that would look like – scratching his head and staggering around looking this way and that, with his mouth hanging open.
Luke found himself laughing and thinking that taking a couple of coins and some coffee beans was harmless enough. It's not like they stole the horses. They were just having some fun.
Gideon laughed again, "That's the spirit. Let's go kid. We got things to do."
That Morning Matt
Matt had slept fitfully, and woke up feeling no better. He didn't think the powders he took the night before helped much, but they probably didn't hurt either, so he mixed the rest into water and drank. He made some coffee and downed a cup. It didn't make him feel better, in fact it upset his stomach a little, but at least he felt a little more awake. He continued his search.
After a short time he reached the spot where Luke and Gideon had released the cowboy's horses. It was about an hour after they had ridden away. Two cowboys, holding horses by the reins, waved him over.
He rode over, "You, boys have a problem?"
"We do Marshall. While we were fishing, our horses were set loose. It took us an hour to find them and now we find that a couple of dollars and some coffee were taken from our saddlebags. We know it's not much, but that ain't the point – we just don't like being messed with. Anyways, when we came up the hill earlier and saw our horses were gone, we also saw two fellows heading west. They might be the culprits."
"Thanks boys. I'll catch up with them.
.
TBC
