The Book
Chapter 10.Kitty watched as Matt was getting ready to leave the next morning. He gathered his boots from under the bed, and carefully fastened his belt.
"You sure you should be riding with that?" She indicated the dressing on his side.
"It'll be fine, someone has to go look for Doc."
He gathered his hat and his gun belt from the peg by the door, then leaned over to embrace her.
"Don't worry Kitty, Chester is coming with me, we should be back by evening."
He left, carefully closing the door behind him.
Chester already had the horses tacked up and ready to go when he arrived at the jail. They rode in silence for over an hour till they came to the place where the holdup had taken place. The stagecoach was still there where it had been abandoned – presumably the company would send someone out with a team of horses to retrieve it before long. He got down from the buckskin and walked around. He saw where they had buried the Shotgun and the bandit, and picked up a few bullet casings. Then he kept walking till he found the tracks left by the three men that had left the site. After a while they turned west and headed in the direction of the Finney place.
O0O0O0O0OThe cabin was just ahead of them and Matt saw smoke rising from the chimney. He pulled up about a hundred yards from the small building, and tied the horses in a grove of trees.
"I'm going to make my way around to the back and see what I can find out," he told Chester.
O0O0O0O0O0Inside the cabin Rye looks at the physician.
"Leave this to me Doc, maybe I can make up for what I have done." With that he takes his gun and walks through the door into the main room.
The physician listens.
"Jed, leave the doctor alone. He's a good man, you don't need to kill him. That's the law out there. Let's turn ourselves in, at least we will live."
"In prison maybe, what kind of life is that?"
"Better than dying at the end of a rope."
"You've been listening to his stories too much, Rye." Jed starts towards the bedroom door, but Rye stands in his way.
Doc can stand it no longer, he doesn't want to see any more death. He pushes through the door.
"What do you need me for Jed? There is no need for you two to fight. I'll do what you want."
The man goes towards the physician and grabs him round the neck
"You're my ticket out of here." He half drags the doctor with him to the door. Pushing the man in front of him he walks out onto the porch.
"Hey Lawman, show yourself or the old man gets it, throw your gun out and let me see you with your hands up."
"Don't do it Matt, he's not going to hurt me."
"I can't risk that Doc." Matt appears from behind a small patch of scrub, obediently throwing down his gun and raising his hands.
"That's good now get over here." Rye waved his gun towards the Marshal and indicated where he wanted him to stand. Then he yells over his shoulder, "You get out here Rye, we're leaving." He raises his gun aiming it at Matt but before he can fire a shot rings out and Jed falls to the ground. Rye is standing in the doorway, gun still in his hand.
"I couldn't let him do that."
Doc bends down to check on the man on the ground – he is dead from the single bullet Rye had fired.
The two men turn around to see Rye Willis sitting on the step to the porch with his head in his hands, gun thrown on the ground beside him.
"Are there anymore of them?" Matt asks Doc.
"No that's all."
"Come on down Chester," the Marshal calls towards his assistant.
Doc watches the man as he comes walking and hopping from their hiding place.
"You need to talk to Rye over there Matt, and there's a dead man inside. It's his brother. I'll go hitch up my buggy and find a shovel, looks like we've got a little burying to do."
Doc leaves and watches as Matt goes over and talks with the young man.
It's an hour later before they are ready to leave. Doc points to the small blood stain on Matt's shirt. "I think you should be riding in the buggy with me," he says. Matt doesn't argue because he figures it will give him time to talk about what went on these last few days. Riding up there in the buggy, he sees a leather bound book sticking out from the medical bag under the seat. Curiously he picks it up and looks at it.
"Isn't this the book you bought in Wichita, Doc? Must be almost a year ago."
"That's right."
"Did you read it?"
"I did."
Matt shakes his head. "So that's why you came all the way out here?"
Doc laughs to himself then slaps Matt across the shoulders.
"You wouldn't understand."
It is just getting dark as they pull into Dodge. Matt takes his canteen and rifle from the buckskin, and has Chester take the buggy and horses along to the livery. He turns to Rye Willis and points the way to the jail.
"Let's go," he says.
"Oh Matt," Doc calls after him, "when you get through at the jail, you need to come back here and let me look at that." Once more he points to the bloodstain on the Marshal's shirt.
Dillon gives him a look, "I mean it, Matt, or else I'll have Kitty bring you back later."
"I'll be there."
The prisoner gives him no problem during the short walk along Front Street. The Marshal locks him in one of the cells then returns the rifle to the rack in the front office and locks it in place. The coffee pot is cold so he gets the fire going and after a while pours some of the steaming liquid into two mugs and walks back to the cells with them.
He unlocks the door where Rye is lying on the cot.
"Here," he says "try this, then tell me what happened out there."
The prisoner gives him much the same account as Adams had done during their ride back to town. Dillon sits at his desk to write it in a report and about the time he finishes the last sentence and signs his name at the bottom of the page, Rye calls to him from the back.
"Marshal, do you think Doc would come see me tomorrow?"
"I can ask him. Anything else you need?"
"No, I'm fine."
He walks out of the cells and closes the door behind him. Soon Chester returns after taking care of the horses and Doc's buggy.
Matt takes his hat from the peg, "I'll see you in the morning," he tells his assistant as he leaves to make his rounds after which he plans to head to the Long Branch. At the last minute he remembers the doctor's threat and makes his way up the stairs to his office.
Doc is sitting at his desk reading a journal when he opens the door.
"I wondered if you'd show up," he says as he gets up from his chair.
"You didn't leave me much choice," the Marshal replies removing his shirt.
The physician looks at the two wounds. "I'll take these stitches out," he says indicating the shoulder. "This other incision needs a few more days, I don't think there's any infection, but it's irritated from rubbing on the waist band of your pants. I'll put a thicker dressing on it, that'll help. You can tell Kitty she did a good job taking care of things."
"Oh I already did that," Matt replies with a smirk.
Doc clears his throat and looks away, slightly embarrassed by the meaning behind his friend's words. He pretends to ignore him.
"Just come by and let me look at it in a couple of days, I'll remove those sutures then."
When Doc finishes applying the new dressing, Matt picks up his shirt. As he starts to put it back on he remembers his prisoners request.
"If you have time tomorrow, the boy wanted you to come see him at the jail."
"Oh did he say he was sick or something."
"No I don't think so, he just said he wanted to see you."
O0O0O0O0O0It was a good thirty minutes before he finally left the Doctor's office and headed towards the Long Branch. Looking over the batwing doors he could see her sitting at the back table alone. He smiled to himself and headed towards her. There is a beer already on the table waiting for him. They exchange quiet greetings and he sits down beside her, removes his hat and places it on the table next to him.
"You know Kitty I finally figured out why Doc took off, he wanted to read a book. Strange he could have done that right here in Dodge."
Men she thinks – or maybe this man in particular. She just smiles at him. "Yes Matt, just to read a book."
O0O0O0O0Next day Doc goes down to the jail to visit the boy.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes Doc, tell me how that story ended. Captain Nemo and Professor Aronnax, what happened to all of them?
"After the Nautilus fired its weapons, the strange vessel that had appeared over the horizon sunk to the depths with all hands on board. For Nemo it was some sort of revenge. For Aronnax and the others it was a horrible thing to watch so many lives being lost in such a terrible fashion. After it was over Nemo went crazy, the Nautilus headed north at an incredible speed till they came to the wild waters off the Scandinavian coast. They were headed towards a maelstrom, a huge terrifying whirlpool of the ocean that threatened to suck even the Nautilus down to the bottom of the sea, to its destruction. Aronnax and his friends managed to escape from the submarine and finally made it to dry land. They thought the Nautilus, its captain and crew must have all been destroyed, but never knew for sure. Maybe they are still out there, still wandering the oceans and discovering new worlds."
"Kinda like what is going to happen to me Doc. Maybe I should have died back there with Zander, but somehow here I am. He wanted me to go on, to try and put things right."
He hung his head and Doc's hand went out and patted his shoulder. Quietly he left. Somehow he hoped the young man would survive what was coming to him. He was not a bad boy, just got lead astray. Imprisoned on his own Nautilus by someone else's folly.
END