A few more days passed and Heyes was getting restless. Doc Howard caught him trying to get out of bed on more than one occasion. "Mr. Heyes, you have GOT to stay in bed and rest."

Kid walked in on that statement. "If he don't Doc, you have my permission to tie him down."

"I don't think so Kid," Heyes said, gently easing himself back into bed. "My shoulder's killing me."

"Serves you right," Kid said sitting down.

"I'll go get you some laudanum."

"Thanks Doc."

"Here Heyes. I brought you a couple of books wrote by some fella named Verne or something, and a deck of cards. Don't be takin' all the doc's money now!"

"Thanks Kid. How's life outside?"

"Thankfully, its calmed down a bit. At least I can go the cafe now without a crowd following me. That newspaper fella keeps asking me when he can see you. Oh, and Clint Weaver's going to trial tomorrow for all those stagecoach robberies. I reckon he's pretty hot that we got amnesty and he ended up in jail with no reward money. That's what Sheriff Rivers said anyway."

"You already makin' friends with lawmen?" Heyes teased.

"He offered to buy me a drink," Kid said. "Then we ended up in a poker game together."

"How much did you lose?"

"I left with eight dollars more than I started with."

At that, Doc Howard returned. "Here Mr. Heyes. Take this. It'll help your shoulder and let you sleep a little better. And no more hiding them under the mattress. I've caught on to that little trick."

"How did you find that out?" a guilty Heyes asked.

"When I changed the sheet yesterday while you were sitting outside. I pulled it off the bed and it looked like a medicine bag exploded on the floor."

"Oh...well, don't worry Doc. I'll take it this time. Its hurtin' pretty bad."

"Heyes, you're gettin' sloppy since you became free," Kid joked.

"Aw Kid. Everybody has an off day!" Heyes smiled, then smirked as he took the laudanum.

Kid followed the doc back out to his office. "How's his infection looking Doc?"

"Actually, its starting to look a little better. Night before last, I got a littled worried because I could see a couple red streaks running from the wound, but by morning, they were gone. Coulda just been the way he was laying. I'm not at all that worried about it now. He should make a full recovery, IF, we can keep him in the bed!"

"Good luck with that Doc!" Kid laughed as he returned to spend some time with his cousin.

ASJ ASJ ASJ ASJ ASJ ASJ ASJ ASJ ASJ 00000000000******************

Clint Weaver had a plan. He was just waiting for the right time to execute it. And that time was drawing near.

The next morning, Sheriff Rivers walked back to the cells. "Get up Weaver. Time to go over to the courthouse." Clint's hands were cuffed in front of him and he was led out onto the street. Most of the town's populace was already seated in the courthouse waiting for the trial to start. That, and the early hour made the street almost deserted.

Halfway to the courthouse, Weaver decided to make his move. He suddenly tripped the sheriff, making him fall forward. Clint then fell on top of him, grabbing Rivers' gun out of his holster. Weaver twisted over to the side. "Don't move lawman," he said menacingly. "And don't make no noise."

Rivers rolled over onto his back, his hands up. "You'll never get away with this. They're expecting us at the courthouse any minute."

"Well they'll just have to wait a little longer, 'cause I mean to get out of here. I got some business that needs tending to." Weaver eventually managed to stand up. "Now, git up and unlock these cuffs."

The sheriff had no choice but to comply. He took off the cuffs and Clint promptly latched Rivers' hands behind his back. Holding the gun to his side, Weaver growled, "Now MOVE. Into that alleyway before someone sees us."

They quickly moved into the alley where Weaver took off the sheriff's cuffs and reapplied them after having Rivers stick his hands through a stairway railing. Then, he took off his bandanna and gagged him. Suddenly, he heard a voice.

"Sheriff, you out here? Sheriff Rivers?" It was the court's bailiff. Hearing him, Clint took off behind the buildings, headed for the livery. "Sheriff?"

Clint reached the livery just as the bailiff located the bound lawman. He startled the livery owner and ordered him to saddle a horse for him.

"Go after him!" Rivers yelled when the gag was removed. "He's making a run for it!" Bailiff Clayton ran back out into the street. Scanning it quickly, the thought occurred to him that if he were running, he'd head to the livery stable. He ran to the building. Stopping at the door, he drew his gun and slowly opened the door. Immediately, a shot hit the wood right above his head.

"One step inside here and it'll be your last!" Weaver yelled. Clayton jerked back. His mind went blank as to what to do. The sheriff was still cuffed to the railing, and there was no time to go get Deputy Parker at the jail. He decided to risk a shot. He creeped his head and arm around the door and took a shot in the direction Weaver's voice had come from. Weaver shot back at him, barely missing the side of his head. The livery owner had finished tacking up a horse and Clint mounted up. He spurred his horse into a gallop, pushing the door open right into Bailiff Clayton's face. He quickly recovered and fired off the rest of his six-gun's rounds at the retreating outlaw. He didn't hit him once. Not ten minutes later, a posse was on Weaver's trail.

By that evening, Clint had evaded his pursuers. He made camp under a sandstone shelter. Having settled in for the night, he made his plans for the following day. He would have his revenge, one way or another.

Not long after sunrise, Kid Curry made his way to the cafe for breakfast. "Mornin' Charlotte!"

"Mornin' Mr. Curry!"

"Please, call me Jed."

"Alright, Jed," Charlotte said slyly. "You want your usual this mornin'?"

"Yes ma'am. And a ham and egg sandwich to go please."

"When are we gonna have the honor of your partner's company?"

"It may be a little while ma'am," Kid said a little sadly.

"Well, you tell him to feel better soon so's he can come see me!" Charlotte smiled, headed towards the kitchen.

After breakfast, Kid went to visit with Heyes. What he saw when he got there made his blood boil. In the outer office, Doc Howard had been tied and gagged. When Kid opened the door to Heyes' room, he saw Heyes out cold, with Weaver standing beside him. "What'd you do to him Weaver?" Kid was seething.

"Nothin' yet. Just helped him to get to sleep. He looked so tired. Besides, I figured you'd want to watch," Clint smiled sadistically as he pointed his gun at Heyes' head.

"Well you figured wrong. Best thing for you to do is walk out that door and ride away from here."

"And the best thing for you to do is to drop that new revolver I see you sportin' in that holster."

They stared at each other for a long, agonizing minute. "You know we're not wanted anymore Weaver. If you kill us, you'll be wanted for murder."

"I DON'T CARE CURRY! Twice, I've been cheated out of twenty thousand dollars. THEN, I end up in jail. You two are the cause of it all and I don't intend to let you get away with it." Weaver's brow furrowed.

Kid kept his poker face, but his eyes were like ice on fire. Clint stepped away from Heyes' bed to stand straight a few feet in front of Curry. They squared off. Weaver went to turn his gun toward Kid. Kid's gun was in his hand almost instantaneously. He shot the gun out of Weaver's hand. Clint grabbed his hand and then dove for his gun. Kid had no choice but to shoot him. The bullet hit Weaver in his arm. But Clint was so frantic and consumed with anger that he continued to go after his fallen gun. Kid hurriedly walked over and knocked him unconscious. The two shots had woke up Heyes with a startled look. He grabbed his chest, expecting to see blood.

After he had subdued Weaver, Kid went to Heyes' side. "Its okay partner. You ain't hit. I gotta go untie the doc. Here's my gun in case he gets up." Kid went in and untied Doc Howard who immediately went after the sheriff. Curry went back into Heyes' room to keep Weaver covered.

A couple hours later, Weaver had been tended to by the doc and was back in his cell, now charged with two counts of attempted murder. At his trial a couple days later, he was sentenced to fifteen years for stagecoach robbery and thirty years for attempted murder. Kid attended the trial and smiled at Weaver as he was led away from the courtroom. Weaver's two minions each got ten years at their trials the next week.

A long month later, Heyes was finally released by the doc to ride a horse, but only for a little ways at a time. "You sure you boys want to leave?" Sheriff Rivers asked as Kid saddled their horses outside the doc's office. "We've got kinda used to seeing you around here!"

"Yeah, we gotta be going. We figured we go up to Porterville. Lom Trevors is a real good friend of ours, said we could stay with him 'til we found a place," Heyes answered as he gingerly mounted his horse.

"You okay?" asked Kid.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Heyes answered. "Well, Sheriff. I can't say its been pleasant for me, but my partner here seemed to enjoy your town."

"Wished it coulda been a better visit for you Mr. Heyes. You boys remember, you're always welcome here."

"Thanks Sheriff." Kid mounted his horse. "We'll be seeing you." With that, the two ex-outlaws rode off.

"There goes two fine boys," Sheriff Rivers muttered to no one inparticular.

"So what now Heyes?"

"What do you mean 'what now'? I thought we agreed to go to Porterville."

"No, I mean, what are we going to do now that we ain't wanted? We don't have to run no more. Are we gonna settle down, get jobs?"

"How about we get to Lom's first. We'll worry about that stuff later. We can now say that we have our whole lives to look forward too! We can look upon the country as free men. That in itself is enough to satisfy me for now." Heyes pushed his horse into a lazy trot.

"I guess that's true. We got a whole lot of freedom to go find!" Kid hurried his horse to catch up with Heyes and they rode toward Wyoming, finally free, unburdened men