"Heyes, that shot last night...I'm not even sore this morning," Kid told his partner as they walked out to the barn to saddle their horses.
"Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones, I'd like to have a word with you," Leland Billings called from the porch of his home.
Heyes and Curry turned and headed up to the house.
"What can we do for you, Mr. Billings?" Heyes aked.
"Please, come in. We'll have some coffee. I'd like to know exactly what went on in the bunkhouse last night."
Heyes and Curry exchanged glances but followed Mr. Billings into the house and down the hall to the kitchen.
"Please have a seat," Billings said and went to the stove to get them all some coffee.
"Mr. Jones explained his...bouts of breathing difficulties..." Mr. Billings said as he set three cups on the table and filled each one with coffee before sitting down himself.
"The doctor calls it Asthma," Kid explained.
"And you had a flare up last night."
Kid nodded.
"I was told the whiskey had been replaced with tea."
"That's right," Heyes replied.
"And you told the men what would happen if you ever caught someone doing that again?"
"That whiskey is medicine to Thaddeus. It makes him breathe easier when these attacks happen," Heyes explained.
"I understand the importance of the whiskey to Mr. Jones. I thought it might be...safer stored here in the house, though. Certainly waking me would be quicker than going for the doctor."
"Yes, Sir. I'd appreciate that, Sir," Kid replied.
"I also understand the doctor would like to see you in his office."
Kid looked at Heyes questioningly. He wasn't aware of the doctor saying that. Heyes looked at Kid and nodded.
"He said the next time we're in town, he'd like to talk to you about treatment options again," Heyes explained, more to Kid than to Mr. Billings.
"I suspect you would like to replace your whiskey supply, and I'm guessing the talk with the doctor might be important. I'm giving the both of you the day off to go in to town to get your business settled up."
"Oh, well, thank you, Sir," Kid said. "But it isn't necessary."
"I wouldn't want you to have another episode and not have a remedy close by," Mr. Billings replied.
Kid nodded. "Yes, Sir."
Kid was unusually quiet when riding in to town and Heyes suspected that had to do with the pending conversation with the doctor.
"You know, we're half way through the summer, Kid."
"Uh-uh."
"And we're still planning on Mexico, right?"
"Uh? Oh, right."
"You do still want to go to Mexico, Kid?"
Kid nodded. "The last few weeks have been good, Heyes. Nobody's recognize us. It's been pretty quiet. I could get use to that easy enough."
"You know there's still some caution to be taken in Mexico. That country has an extradition agreement with the U.S."
"I know. But a hell of a lot less people are likely to recognize us in Mexico."
"That's true."
"Heyes, if you don't want to go, I'm not trying to make you."
"I know that, Kid. If you want to go, then I want to go."
Heyes..."
Yeah?"
"That was opium the doctor gave me last night, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, it was."
Kid sighed heavily. "The damn stuff works, Heyes."
"I could see that."
"But you know as well as I do what it can do to a person."
"Kid, those are people who use it even when they don't need it. You'd only be using it when you had one of them attacks."
"You know, I didn't get them attacks so often when we was in Wyoming."
"Yeah, in fact I don't recall you having any the whole time we was outlawing."
Kid smiled. "Maybe all I need to do is go back to outlawing, Heyes," Kid said with a laugh.
"Maybe a doctor would write you a medical excuse for outlawing," Heyes suggested with a grin.
"Now that would be something, I have to stay outlawing just to stay healthy."
"What are you gonna say if the doctor wants you to use the opium?"
Kid sighed heavily. "I guess I'd better agree. But Heyes, I want you to keep hold of the bottle. I don't want no easy access."
"It really does scare you, don't it?"
"I don't want to end up like one of them addicts."
"You won't, Kid. You got me to help see to that."
When they reached town their first stop was Dr. Henderson's office.
"How are you feeling today, Mr. Jones."
"Good. Ain't even sore."
"You know that was opium I administered last night."
"Yes, Sir. Joshua told me."
"Are you willing to consider using it?"
"It did a better job than the whiskey... I'll try it."
Dr. Henderson went to his medicine cabinet and withdrew a small bottle that he handed to Kid. "Take one as soon as you feel an attack coming on. It will lessen and very likely even eliminate the attack before it becomes full scale."
Kid nodded and slipped the bottle into his pocket.
"What if it's like last night and it starts in his sleep. He can't swallow when he's in the middle of one of them attacks," Heyes inquired..
"You can slip one pill in his mouth, preferably under his tongue or against his cheek. It will dissolve and be effective."
"What do I owe you, Doctor?" Kid asked.
"Four dollars."
Kid thought the price was rather high but he paid the doctor the money.
"Mr. Jones. Don't take the pill and alcohol. The combination can have some pretty severe effects."
Kid nodded his understanding.
When they left the doctor's office, Kid pulled the bottle from his pocket and tossed it to Heyes. "You're in charge of it now."
"I was thinking, Kid, Heyes said as he caught the bottle and put it in his pocket, "If someone was willing to steal your whiskey, they might want to steal this, too. I thought maybe we should ask Mr. Billings if we could keep it in his house while we're working there."
Kid stepped off the boardwalk to cross the street. "You're in charge of it, Heyes. It's your decision where it's kept."
"You know, since we have this, we're not in need of a pint of whiskey. That means our business in town is done, and we've got the day off," Heyes reminded his partner.
Kid smiled. "Kind of early for a beer, wouldn't you say?"
"Yeah, probably."
"So lets go have lunch and then we'll go have a beer," Kid suggested with a smile.
"Now you've really got me worried Kid. Are you feeling alright?"
"Sure, Heyes, why?"
"Cause you didn't even mention a bath."
Kid grinned. "You're right, Heyes, a bath, then lunch, then a beer."
0-0-0-0-0-
The next morning Mr. Billings arrived in the bunkhouse while all the hands were eating breakfast.
"The cattle drive starts in two weeks," Billings began and a groan reverberated about the room.
"Well, I think you'll all be pleased to know we will be doing things a bit different this year. The Cattlemen's Association has negotiated with the Transcontinental Railroad to ship the cattle by rail to various slaughter houses. In our area, the cattle will be transported to Denver. I will be notified of the date that this herd will be loaded right here in Carson City, just outside of town. So we won't be herding the cattle very far, but we are required to remain with the herd until every last one is loaded into the cars. The whole process of getting the cattle to the loading site, getting them loaded and on their way shouldn't take more that two to three days. This is more or less an experiment and the Cattlemen's Association is contributing money to help with the costs, so for most ranchers, the expense is not much more than the cost of paying drovers for two or three weeks of work."
Several of the regular hands appeared quite pleased with the idea.
"That means that the people hired for summer help will be let go. Whatever day the cattle are sent on their way, you will be paid for the remainder of that week."
Kid leaned in toward his partner. "Guess we should start planning for Mexico, uh?"
"That was the deal," Heyes replied.
Mr. Billings headed to the door but stopped and turned back to the men still at the table.
"Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones, I'd like to see you at the house when you're finished with your breakfast."
"Sure, Mr. Billings," Heyes replied.
Heyes and Curry lingered at the table until the other men had left. Then they got up and headed toward the house.
"You wanted to see us Mr. Billings?"
"Come on in boys. Let's have a cup of coffee."
Billings already had three cups of coffee as well as the coffee pot sitting on the kitchen table and he sat down and motioned to Heyes and Curry to do the same.
"I'd like to offer you two a permanent job here. I'd increase your salary, of course."
"Well, that's very kind of you Mr. Billings but, well Thaddeus and I have plans made already and well, to be honest with you, neither one of us is too inclined to do this kind of work for any great length of time," Heyes explained.
"Well, you're obviously not afraid of some hard work. You're two of my finest hands."
"We appreciate you saying that Mr. Billings, but we do have some place else to be at the end of the summer."
"I tell you what, I'll leave the offer out on the table until the cattle drive is over. If you change your minds, you just let me know."
"Thank you, Sir. We'll give it some more thought, but I think we are pretty committed to what we're planning to do next" Heyes said. "Come on, Thaddeus. We got work to do."
"What did you tell him?" Jim asked when they walked in to the barn to ready their horses.
"What?" Heyes asked.
"He asked you to stay on, didn't he?"
"He did. Was that your doing, Jim?"
Jim smiled. "I told him you two are good, hard workers. What he decides to do with that is his business."
"Well, that was nice of you, Jim," Heyes said, pulling the cinch tight. "But Thaddeus and I were thinking someplace warmer for the winter, Alaska maybe," Heyes said and grinned at his partner.
All three men walked their horses out of the barn and mounted.
"Well, I guess we'd best go help separate the herd," Jim said and they all rode off together.
0-0-0-0-0-
At the end of the week following the cattle drive Heyes and Curry collected the last of their Silver Horseshoe wages and their bottle of Opium that Heyes tucked carefully into his saddlebags. For several days, they headed south along the eastern edge of the Sierra Mountains, then turned west and traveled across Bishop Pass. They arrived in the little town of Bishop a full week after leaving Carson City.
The town of Bishop, nestled in the Owens Valley was first established due to a need for beef in the mining camp near Aurora, some eighty miles north of Bishop. The valley itself was initially named Inyo which was thought to be an India word meaning "dwelling of the Great Spirit," but this was later thought to be a white settlers mispronunciation, with the true meaning of the word simply being "Indian Land." Both Paiute and Shoshone lived in the expansive Inyo Valley.
The town of Bishop was the length of two city blocks, but when Heyes and Curry arrived there, every building was constructed on the same side of the very wide dirt street. The opposite side of the street remained thickly forested.
Bishop was essentially a quiet and peaceful town whose occupants were well aware that survival often depended on reliance and whose disputes with the Indians were rare and generally settled peacefully.
"Interesting little town you got here," Heyes said as he and Curry signed the hotel registry.
"You mean because it's all on one side of the road?" the clerk asked.
"That was the first thing we noticed," Kid replied.
"Well, I doubt it will stay like that for long. I suspect a few houses will be going up on the other side of the street. A lot of people like living in town rather than out."
"I didn't see a Sheriff's Office," Heyes casually mentioned .
"I'm sure the town would be willing to build one, iffen you're interested in the job."
Heyes laughed. "Oh, not us. We don't like staying in one place too long. Course, who knows, maybe this town will change our minds."
The clerk smiled as he handed them a key. "Room five, top of the stairs and to your right.
They started up the stairs but Kid stopped suddenly on the sixth step. Bending his head down, he struggled to suck in air and raised his eyes nervously at his partner.
Heyes dropped his saddle bags on the stairs and scrounged inside for the bottle of Opium.
"Something wrong?" the hotel clerk called from behind the desk.
"Nothing we can't take care of," Heyes called back to him.
By this time, Kid had dropped his own saddlebags and bedroll and had both hands gripping his knees as he instinctively stooped over to give his lungs the opportunity to expand.
Heyes reached into the bottle of Opium and withdrew a small pill that he held out to his partner.
"Put this under your tongue, Kid."
But Kid couldn't move as the whistling grew louder and the struggle to suck in air more difficult.
Heyes pushed Kid's head up and back and shoved the pill in Kid's mouth and under his tongue. Then Heyes watched pensively as the whistling began to dim and the struggle to breathe began to ebb.
After a minute of two, Kid was again breathing normally and he slowly picked up his gear and straightened himself.
"Sorry," Kid said, panting but no longer struggling.
"Kid, you don't have to apologize for an illness."
The corners of Kid's mouth turned upward into a bit of a smile. "No, I mean I'm sorry I can't go with you to the saloon this afternoon."
Heyes smiled. "Knowing you, Kid, I'm sure you'll find something other than drinking to do with your time."