I do not own The Big Valley nor any of the original Barkley characters. For The Sake of His Comrades Chapter Seven Scene Thirteen
Thanks to my Beta Reader though all mistakes are my own.
"Can't travel on an empty stomach," she handed him his breakfast before getting her own, "at least, I don't like to."
Neither one talked as they ate their breakfast, listened to the birds singing and enjoyed the bright lights that appeared over the horizon as the sun finally decided to throw its light down upon the earth. Nick looked at Dixie, she wore a troubled expression on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked as he drank the coffee she handed him.
She shrugged her shoulders, "Been wondering if I should change the name I'm using, I don't want Macklin to get wind of exactly whose looking for hiim. I've about decided I don't need to worry about it though. He won't have any reason to think I'm after him so it won't be like my name will make him to do anything out of the ordinary."
Nick sat straight up. Hers may not give the man a warning, but his sure would. "You may not have to worry about it, but I do. I think I best change my last name."
She looked at him in surprise for a split second then started nodding her head, "Yeah, you might."
After thinking on it ofr a bit, Nick looked at her, "Think I'll use the last name of Alderson. With the general dead, they'll have no reason to connect the name to me." It was one small thing he could think of to show his respect for the dead general.
Dixie smiled, "I'm sure the general would not argue with that one."
After another moment of silence Nick asked, "Did the war turn Macklin and his men bad, or were they like that before?" He'd seen bad men change into decent human beings, and good ones go bad; then again, some men didn't seem to change at all. Oh, he knew they did, they just hid it better. At least, that was his guess.
She shrugged her shoulders, "Don't ask me about Curtis and Donnely; they hadn't lived that long in Mayville when the war broke out. Macklin, on the other hand, was born and raised there. No," she sighed, "He didn't start turning bad until his father died when he was seventeen. I think he would have came to his senses, given time, but the war broke out. He let that, and the grief for his father, eat him up and destroy him."
Mostly out of curiosity, Nick asked, "How long have you known what Macklin was up to?"
Dixie sighed, "Not until I began hearing various sheriffs talking about him, by that time Mr. Little and his sons were moving around a lot. I realize now I wondered at that time if they were doing the same thing, but I would never admit it," she looked him in the eye, she wanted him to know she was telling the truth, "until the day I found that book. It's been weighing on my mind ever since. When Mr. Little brought you in it forced me to decide what side I was on, his or the law's."
Nick thought on the book she'd shown him, along with the names that had been written down and crossed out. He sighed, in between the Littles, and Macklin and his men, nineteen good men were dead. How on earth could men like Henry and Macklin live with themselves?
They didn't see any use to sit around and talk anymore; after all, the longer they talked, the longer Macklin and his men had to get away. He stood up, and went to roll up the bedrolls. Dixie put out the fire, and cleaned up around the fire pit.
Scene Fourteen
It was almost noon when they came upon an old deserted cabin; at least, it looked abandoned. "Maybe..." Dixie started to talk only to have a bullet whiz by her. She flew off her horse and behind some trees, making sure her horse went with her; Nick did the same.
"That's a rather unfriendly way to let a body know the place ain't empty, and not big enough for company," Nick poked his head out from behind the tree, that is, he poked it out just far enough to see the cabin. He could see someone near the window, but couldn't make him out. "We don't mean anyone any harm!" he called out, "Just lookin' for a place to rest up a bit!" he called out.
"Yer lyin'! Ya been following me back like the others before ya! They wanted to take me back and so do you, only I ain't a goin'!" a man's voice rang out, "Now git, befer I shoot ya fer reals!"
"Take him back?" Dixie looked at Nick in surprise, "Want to bet a price is on his head? I mean, why act like that, and say those things, if there isn't."
"If that is the case, wonder what he'll do when he finds out I went into bounty hunting? " Nick grinned, and started chuckling. Maybe it was the fact he'd been forced to watch his former commander hang, maybe it was because the last thing he'd seen in his family's eyes was pure pain and fear, or maybe he was just flat out tired and feeling ornery. Whatever it was, he called out, "Go ahead and shoot away! Bounty on you is good whether you're dead or alive!" Okay, he didn't really know if the man was wanted that bad, but he figured it was a safe bet.
Dixie grinned; she liked the man's style. Neither one was surprised when the man started firing again. Nick was more than happy to replace the man's used up bullets. When the man stopped shooting they waited awhile to see if the man would start shooting again.
"Think you got him?" Dixie asked, wondering if the man was really dead, wounded, or if he was just waiting.
"I don't know," Nick slipped behind her, then said, "I'm heading for the back, "here," he removed the pistol she had in her saddlebag, "This won't do you any good in there. Cover me." Dixie started shooting, but there was no need, no more shots from the place rang out as Nick ran for the cabin. When Nick appeared on the deck, Dixie stepped out from behind the tree.
"He's dead," Nick pointed toward the window, "It wasn't even one of my bullets, piece of sharp glass pierced his heart." After finding a blanket, Nick rolled the man up in it, and secured him on top of his horse. Good thing Gardnerville wasn't that far away, he could get rid of the wanted man there.