Chapter 11

Stand by Me

"I have some things I need to do in Laramie today," Slim told Jess as they watched the morning stage roll away. "You want to tag along?"

"I don't know Slim," Jess shrugged, his hesitancy hinging on his last stop in town when he'd taken Kyle Templeton in for his bounty. Slim had not yet heard that part of the story and he wasn't sure going into town would make the telling any easier.

"Come on," Slim poked Jess in the arm as he teased, "it's not like we're going to go tear the town apart."

"All right," Jess conceded, hoping that Slim's words wouldn't become a reality.

During the ride to town, Jess debated on whether to tell Slim the whole truth about Kyle Templeton and his bounty, but the longer he put it off, the closer they were to Laramie and once they rode onto the main street, it was too late. There weren't many people that turned to look at them as they rode in, and Jess hoped it would stay that way for the duration they'd be in town. He'd seen men with bad reputations stir up a town before, and didn't like the idea of being the target if this one wouldn't be any different.

"Hey, Jess," Slim began as he pulled his horse to a stop by Mort Cory's office, "I need to go talk to the sheriff. If you'd like, you can come in too."

"Nah," Jess shook his head as he looked around town, grateful no one seemed to be noticing his presence, or if they did, weren't doing anything about it. "I'll wait around out here for you."

"You sure?" Slim prodded but didn't wait for Jess to repeat his answer as he continued. "Mort's a good man, wise and trustworthy at his job. He had the best teacher growing up as his Pa was also a lawman. Unfortunately off and on this last year Mort's had to take extra trips to Denver as his Pa's been ailing and we've had to have some fill ins as sheriff, although good men, none have been able to fill Mort's boots completely. I think you'd like him…"

"Some other time, Slim."

"That's fine," Slim patted his horse on the neck. "Be out in a few minutes."

"Mort?" Slim called as he opened the office door when he didn't see Mort in sight.

"In here, Slim," Mort's voice came from the cells as he had just delivered Kyle Templeton's noon meal to the outlaw. "I'll be right out."

"Mort, I'd like to apologize for the way I acted the other day," Slim sat down across from Mort. "It's a long story, but it doesn't excuse my conduct."

"I'd sure like to hear that story, Slim," Mort felt relief that Slim was back to his normal demeanor. "You and that Harper fellow sure did cause a stir in this town these last few days. Since you're back to smiling, I'd imagine that Harper's gone now?"

"No," Slim shook his head. "In fact he rode into town with me today."

"He did?" Mort craned his head to look outside but didn't see anything amiss. Harper being around had the potential to make the townspeople furious, since that day he'd left he'd had everyone from the banker to the barkeep and from the town gossip to the town drunk up in arms about his recent tirade. "I thought for sure you'd sent him packing by now."

"I might have thought about that a time or two," Slim said regretfully, "but not anymore, he saved Andy's life."

"Is that the story you wanted to tell?" Mort asked, fully interested in what Slim had to share.

"Yes," Slim answered. "Andy was captured and held for ransom. I didn't dare tell you as they threatened to kill him if I went to the law. While I was here in jail, Jess and Jonesy rescued Andy. It was a five thousand dollar ransom note. I didn't have that kind of money, that's why I tore into Mr. Bender at the bank like I did when he refused. But Jess somehow tricked the outlaws into thinking he'd paid them. Then just before a shootout with them, he saved Andy."

Mort stood up abruptly and walked to the cell door and looked intently at Kyle Templeton through the small window in the door, the price on his head flashing before his eyes. Five thousand reasons was what Harper had mentioned. And none of them for me. The reality of what really was behind Harper's motivation for bringing in Templeton hit Mort like he'd ran into a brick wall. The man was far more honorable than he'd first thought.

"The way I felt about Jess when you jailed me was unmerited," Slim continued even though he felt puzzled at Mort's sudden change as he watched the sheriff seemingly stare at nothing. "I apologized to him and now you, so my conscience feels much relief. The only thing left I have to do is pay Mr. Bender. Did he ever give you an amount for the damages?"

"Huh?" Mort realized he hadn't been fully listening and as he turned back towards Slim, his attention became diverted to something going on outside. What he had been afraid of with Jess Harper in town appeared to be about to happen.

Slim followed Mort's gaze and stood up abruptly as he saw Jess standing alone in the middle of the street with a crowd of angry men gathering not far away. It looked as if the townspeople were joining forces to run Jess out of town and it also looked as if Jess was going to let them.

"What are they doing?" Slim couldn't understand what was happening. "They act like they all hate Jess. But why when they don't even know him?"

"It's because they don't exactly approve of his kind," Mort put his hand on his gun, hoping he wouldn't have to use it on any of the people of his town.

"What kind is that?" Slim asked in astonishment as he watched his friends and neighbors congregate in the street. "They've never acted like this to a gunfighter or drifter before."

"They do towards notorious bounty hunters," Mort turned his head to look at Slim.

"Jess isn't a bounty hunter," Slim said quickly in Jess' defense but soon his head whipped around to look at the closed door that led to the cells as the truth of the entire situation exploded in his mind. Kyle Templeton was worth five thousand and now every word he'd said about the nameless bounty hunter that had brought him in suddenly made sense. Jess was that man. And he knew the reason why.

"You understand now?" Mort asked as he watched Slim's face take on a different hue as realization hit him square between the eyes.

"Whatever Jess did, he did it for Andy," Slim narrowed his eyes at the growing crowd that started to thicken, "and for me."

Slim walked past Mort and out onto the street. His long legs strode in purposeful strides as he made his way to stand in front of Jess. He took a deep breath as his presence stopped the advancement of the townspeople. He didn't know what was going to happen next, but if his stature wasn't enough, he was ready for whatever the people wanted to throw at him, even if it was bullets.

"We have no argument with you, Sherman," someone in the middle of the crowd shouted.

"You have one with me if you have one with Jess," Slim said with an icy edge to his voice.

"What's he to you?" There were too many men clustered together to pick out who was yelling and there wasn't just one voice either. Two more men echoed the same question and there were a couple of comments that would have made some cringe, but Slim stood his ground despite the verbal onslaught as they threw out words describing Jess in many undesirable adjectives.

"Jess Harper's my friend," Slim said in firm truthfulness. "You can call him anything you want, but there isn't a shred of truth in what you say. What I call him is genuine and you'll have to go through me if you want him."

Jess looked at Slim as if he'd laid eyes on him for the very first time. Here was a man unlike any other that he'd met before. Too often a so called friend would run in adversity or pretend they didn't know him when push came to shove, but what Slim was doing, willing to face this town he called home, his longtime friends and neighbors, made an admiration form in his middle that would have rivaled the emotions Andy held in regards for his newly found hero and friend.

"That'll be enough," Mort said as he walked in between Slim and the group of men while he clutched a rifle in his hands. "I don't want any fighting, so why don't you all go back to your homes and cool off."

Despite Mort's command and the fact that most of Laramie held him in high esteem as their sheriff, no one moved. Every man facing Slim and Jess bore their eyes into the two men, practically ignoring the fact that Mort stood between them, ready to shoot if anyone got the notion of fulfilling their threats.

"I'm going to give one more order," Mort first looked at the mob then to Slim and Jess. "Get off the street, and don't make me have to shoot the first person that disobeys me."

There were two men, aged eighteen and twenty, rapscallions that had been Mort's guests more than once at his jail that were sneaking through the crowd. One held a stout board and another started to remove his gun from its holster and with a look of cruel mischief, the one with the gun waved it towards Mort to get his attention while the one with the board brought the heavy plank down hard over Mort's head, dropping the lawman to the ground out cold.

Slim flinched as Mort landed, but right now he had to keep his feet planted where they were. Slim knew that Mort was strong and it would take more than a good whack to keep him down for long and he also knew if he knelt by Mort to make sure he was all right it would make the path wide open for the men of the town to attack Jess. He had already made the decision to stand his ground for Jess, and he wasn't going to back down now.

"Now we can fight!" The one that had struck Mort burst into a cackle, bringing Slim's full attention back to the men in front of him. "We don't have to do a thing though, if this bounty monster just leaves town! What do you say, Sherman?"

"Slim," Jess said only loud enough for Slim to hear, "you don't have to stand up for me like this. I can leave…"

"No, you're not going anywhere," Slim interrupted Jess, turning to look him in the eyes and continued, "I'll stand by you just as I know you'd stand by me."

There was no hesitation from Jess as he took the step that separated them and stood beside Slim, "you're right there. I would stand by you."

"We're in this together," Slim whispered to Jess before turning his full attention back to the angry men in front of them.

"You make your mind up yet, Sherman? It's a simple solution. He leaves, or we fight.""

"Then you'll get a fight, because Jess isn't going anywhere. Neither am I."

No one could remember who threw the first punch. Someone that was watching from the store window was certain though that it was between two of the men in the crowd, and not the leaders that lunged towards Slim and Jess, but whoever it was, and however it was, it began a street brawl to be remembered for years to come. A few men with less enthusiasm for fist fights immediately bowed out, while one older man that knew his best fighting days were in the past, took compassion on Mort and pulled him from the dirty road.

Hands grabbed for Slim and Jess at nearly the same instant but the two friend's hands moved faster. Fist meeting face put the opposition on the ground one after the other. As many punches that Slim and Jess received, it appeared to every onlooker that the two dealt twice as many more. When a group of men tried to gang up on Jess, Slim was there to haul men off of his back and when a different group ascended roughly on Slim, Jess stoutly removed them from his shoulders.

The fight wasn't just every man against Slim and Jess, but several in the group who already had a previous grudge against another found the perfect opportunity to engage in battle as smaller disputes broke out, spreading farther up and down Laramie's streets.

There was only once when someone dared to draw a gun at Slim and Jess but with a flash of his hand, Jess bounced a bullet off the offending gun, sending the weapon roughly into the dirt that kept every remaining hand balled into a fist for fighting instead of in a grip around a gun for shooting.

As the fight began to wane, with defeated men losing necessary stamina, the numbers fighting Slim and Jess dwindled rapidly. With a forceful jab from Slim that sent a man careening into another to take two out at once and a sharp backhanded slap from Jess that dropped the man he hit with force, with no one else jumping into the middle of the fray to try their hand at the two still standing, the fight was over.

"Looks like we do better fighting alongside each other," Slim said with deep intakes of breath between most of his words, "than when we're fighting against each other. What does that tell you?"

"That we ain't nothing but troublemakers," Jess smiled despite the pain that it caused on his face.

"What else?" Slim prompted as he wiped some blood from his chin.

"We make a good team," Jess said the words Slim was looking for.

"And what do you do when you find a good team of horses that perform well in any situation?

"You keep them together, because they do better together."

"Exactly," Slim put his arm around Jess and Jess quickly put his arm around Slim which became more of an attempt to hold each other up as fatigue from the fight began to take its toll than in a brotherly embrace that any onlooker might have defined. "Let's go home."

"Hold it," Mort was coming to his feet, shaking his head trying to clear the foggy sensation of his brain. "You're not going anywhere just yet."

Slim and Jess exchanged looks. For a moment they'd forgotten about Mort, but by the penetrating glare coming from Mort's eyes, it was clear that despite the ache in his head, he hadn't forgotten a thing.

"Look at what you did to my town!" Mort motioned with his hand that swept from one side of the street to the other revealing scattered conscious and unconscious bodies, windows broken, crates, barrels and other objects that hadn't been nailed down strewn across boardwalks and the street. From where they stood it didn't appear anything had remained undamaged.

"I'm sorry, Mort," Slim apologized quickly.

"Sorry doesn't put this town back together again," Mort said with exasperation as he rubbed the back of his head. "Or my head."

"We didn't do that," Slim kicked the board that lay near his feet that had struck Mort.

"I have a good guess who dropped that board on top of me, and believe me, he and his no account buddy will find themselves back in my jail. But who else needs to go? Everyone!"

"Excuse me, Sheriff," Jess stepped closer to Mort. "I feel responsible for this ruckus, and since you know I sort of have a package full of money that I don't really want or need, I'll offer it to the town to put everything we broke back together. I reckon the one that whacked you over the head deserves to be jailed, but I take no offense at anyone here who threw punches at me, so I'd be obliged if you'd not throw the whole lot of us in jail."

Mort eyed Jess carefully, somehow sensing the words he was speaking he truthfully meant. It wasn't difficult to see the remorse on Slim's face and since Mort knew he couldn't jail the entire town, he had to make a decision and what Jess had offered seemed right. Besides, this was also a step in the right direction for the town to quickly forget their animosity towards Jess. With no charges pressed and when the true story about Andy's ransom and Kyle Templeton's bounty would circulate, there wouldn't be any bad blood spreading in his town about its newest member.

"Seeing that you're both sorry," Mort began, his eyes going from Jess then to Slim then back to Jess again, "and that you do have the money to pay for the damages, I suppose I can let you go with that. But let me tell you boys something, if you're planning on becoming best pals and plan on reveling in Laramie from time to time, don't start anymore fights or I'll lock you both up and toss the keys into the blacksmith's forge!"

"You're right, Slim," Jess said with a smile.

"About what, Jess?"

"I do like your sheriff."

Mort couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face at this young man. He had several reasons to dislike him, but there was something about him that latched out and took a hold of him. He was brave, honorable and trustworthy, but he was also tenacious, stubborn and hotheaded. All of those things made the type of man that Mort was drawn to, because some of the words could describe himself, which made him come to his own conclusion.

"I'm afraid to admit it, but I think I like you too," Mort shook Jess' hand with much enthusiasm. "I look forward to getting to know you better. But right now, both of you, go home!"