Three.
Building up the fire appeared to bring some sense of comfort to MacReedy, who, wrapped in a blanket, was taking small shaky sips from Ezra's hip flask. The sun was slowly creeping over the landscape, and casting pale light across the still surroundings.
Ezra was squatting beside the dead body, taking in the bulky man's appearance, unkempt, unshaven and with long black greasy locks. The gambler wrinkled his nose, not an attractive prospect.
"You know..." began Danielson from over Ezra's shoulder. Ezra rolled his eyes, hoping he didn't have to find out.
"...That looks an awful lot like Lars Brannigan,"
Ezra turned to look at him slowly,
"And may I enquire as to who Lars Brannigan is?"
Danielson shrugged and scratched at the back of his head,
"He hangs round with Tom Hannlin, Jay Greyson and the Ross brothers,"
Ezra blinked once more, willing the slow farmer to reveal more,
"The Ross brothers?" he asked eventually, receiving no continuation from Danielson. He got a nod in response,
"Yeah, Abe and Adam Ross. Used to be a real big powerful family round these parts. Their grandpa used to own all the land round here, 'cluding ours..." he indicated himself and MacReedy, "...course, they lost it all to their pa's gamblin'. He never was very good,"
Ezra turned back to the body,
"Can you think of any reason that these men might have been shooting at you or Mr. MacReedy?"
Danielson gave another non-committal shrug,
"Well, come to think of it, them Ross brothers came by few months back and told me an' MacReedy to give 'em back their land. Course, we said no, ours by rights see. They wasn't too happy 'bout it though,"
Ezra nodded grimly,
"Did you not fear that your defiance would have repercussions?"
Danielson shrugged again, and Ezra tried to keep calm,
"Well, you see them wantin' the land back got me and MacReedy arguing over our boundaries...so we just sorta forgot about 'em,"
Ezra sighed and threw his eyes to the heavens as he moved forward to check the man's pockets, which were largely empty. There was one thing that caught Ezra's interest however, a crumpled telegram, calling the man, who it confirmed was Brannigan, back to town. As Ezra read the short message, his eyes widened, and he turned to the perplexed farmer standing beside him,
"Mr. Danielson, do you know of any areas of potential wealth on either yours or Mr. MacReedy's land?"
Danielson frowned,
"Whatcha mean?"
Ezra squinted up at him as the sun crept up further over the horizon,
"Gold Mr. Danielson. Do you know anything about gold?"
Danielson shook his head vigorously,
"No. No, nothing. Why?"
Ezra held out the telegram,
"Well, according to that, the Ross brothers do, and that's why they want their land back. Seems they drafted in our Mr. Brannigan to help them in their endeavours."
Danielson put a hand to his head, his eyes wide in amazement,
"Well I'll be -,"
MacReedy, seated by the fire looked up at the sight of his arch nemesis speechless, and frowned in confusion.
"What's happening?"
Ezra, abandoning the body, leapt nimbly over the rocks to reacquisition his flask,
"It would appear Mr. MacReedy..." he stopped to quell his own amazement with a swig of drink, "...that the Ross brothers and their accomplices believe that there is a small fortune in gold buried somewhere on yours or Mr. Danielson's land. And it would appear that they are resorting to desperate measures in order to get the land back."
MacReedy's mouth fell open, and Ezra let him snatch back the flask and take a swig of his own, coughing as he gulped it down. Ezra let him splutter, taking back the flask and securing the lid.
"Precisely."
Danielson appeared behind them,
"What happens if they show up again?"
Ezra sat back with a sigh,
"Then we engage in a battle of wits and skill," he replied casually. Danielson frowned,
"We shoot 'em?"
Ezra sighed,
"Exactly Mr. Danielson,"
Beside him, MacReedy quaked,
"What about me?"
Danielson snorted,
"Shoot you too,"
Ezra ignored the last comment and turned to the quivering man,
"Have you brought a firearm with you Mr. MacReedy?"
MacReedy shook his head,
"No,"
Heaving himself to his feet with a sigh, Ezra wandered over to where Brannigan's body was lying, and picked up the dead man's gun, pulling MacReedy to his feet and handing it to him.
MacReedy let it hang limply, watching it with fear.
"It's not going to bite you Mr. MacReedy, hold it properly,"
Reluctantly, MacReedy changed it so that it sat fairly comfortably in his hand, even if it proved too heavy to do single-handedly.
Ezra nodded,
"Good. Now, Mr. Danielson, if you would be so kind as to place a small rock over there," he gestured with his own gun and Danielson complied. Almost instantly, Ezra fired, watching as the rock fell to the ground with a thud as the bullet thumped against it.
MacReedy jumped and Ezra lowered the weapon.
"Aim and fire Mr. MacReedy. It's really that simple."
MacReedy swallowed and nodded dumbly, and Ezra smiled. Holstering his own gun, he began to pace towards the rock in order to re-position it for the weedy farmer. However, he hadn't moved more than ten feet away when suddenly there was a gunshot, and a bullet thudded into the ground not an inch from his heel. He froze dead and listened as the silence returned.
Somewhere in the background there was a gulp of fear, and Ezra turned ever so slowly to meet the gaze of the embarrassed farmer, whose arm was hanging fairly limply by his side, the barrel of the gun, pointed at Ezra's feet, gently smoking.
Without a word, Ezra turned and walked back towards MacReedy, turning away the gun as soon as he was close enough so that were it to go off again, it would not be pointing near anyone. MacReedy let him do so without a protest.
Ezra's voice when he spoke was low and sounded fairly worn,
"Mr. MacReedy, may I be so bold as to make a suggestion?"
MacReedy swallowed and nodded eagerly, and so Ezra continued,
"May I suggest that you place that particular firearm in your saddlebag and do not attempt to touch it for the remainder of the journey?"
MacReedy nodded quickly, and Ezra smiled thinly,
"Good. Now gentlemen, let's prepare to leave."
As Ezra moved off towards his bedroll, still spread across the ground, he heard Danielson turn angrily to his neighbour.
"You numbskull! You nearly killed the law! What you think the judge'd say 'bout that? You do that again and I really will shoot you!"
Ezra sighed.
Never again would he accept any job from Chris. However 'easy' it was.
oooooooooooooooooo
Well, another part! Hope you liked it, and that you feel for poor old Ezra.
Ok, place your bets folks...who thinks he'll make it back in one piece and without incident?...Well, you'll find out next chapter!...Mwaahaahaa!