It was late afternoon when they rode down the dusty street of Midland, sharing a smile when they discovered the town lacked both a sheriff's office and a jail, but did have the requisite saloon, mercantile, diner, and hotel.
"Maybe you're right about our luck changin'."
"Told ya. When are you gonna learn to trust me?" Heyes said glancing sideways at his friend.
"Always trust ya Joshua…well…most always," the Kid stated still staring straight ahead.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," his teasing grin quickly disappearing as he shot him a wounded look.
"Any time," Curry said grinning to himself. Sometimes it was just too easy to rile his partner.
Heyes pulled his horse to a stop in front of the mercantile and began to shift his weight to dismount, settling back into the saddle when his partner spoke up.
"Thought we'd go for that beer you were gonna buy me."
"Nope…remember we decided to get supplies before anything else when we ride into a town from now on."
"Yeah you're right we did," he said throwing his right leg over his horse and dropping to the ground between the two animals, his partner following suit. Together they walked into the mercantile and made their way toward an older woman who smiled at them from behind the counter when she saw the two handsome strangers.
"Good afternoon, what can I help you young men with?"
Both men touched their hats nodding politely in greeting.
"Afternoon ma'am we're in need of a few supplies."
"Certainly just tell me what you'd like."
"Let's see…we're gonna need a pound of beans, two pounds of coffee…" Heyes paused when his cousin wandered over to the window to check out the main street before adding…"a pound of flour, a pound of that salt pork and..." He pointed at the container on the counter with a wink. "Better have a pennies worth of these peppermints too," he said in a whisper grinning knowing how much his partner liked them. The woman smiled and quickly put a handful of the candies in a small paper bag which Heyes tucked into his pocket before calling to his cousin. "You think of anything else Thaddeus?"
The gunfighter turned away from the window to look at what was stacked on the counter…"Two boxes of .45 shells ma'am."
She added the ammunition to the pile and began tallying with pencil and paper. "And anything else gentlemen?"
"No ma'am this'll be just fine, thank you."
"It comes to six dollars and seventy five cents."
Heyes pulled the money out of his pocket handing her the correct amount, both men tipping their hats as they headed for the door with their purchases in hand.
"What nice young men," she said softly after the door closed behind them. "If I was twenty years younger," she giggled.
XXX
They stowed their supplies in their saddlebags and made sure their gunbelts were both full again. They were still standing by their horses when Heyes was reminded that he'd promised his partner a beer and a steak supper. He couldn't help but laugh.
"You're right Thaddeus. What do you want first…the beer or the steak?"
The Kid leaned both arms on his horse's rump frowning as he appeared to think about the question. "Well Mr. Smith, it was a long hot dusty day in the saddle and truth be told I am hungry…but I think a cold beer would be welcome before the steak."
"Mr. Jones I think that is an excellent idea." Heyes walked around behind his horse to his cousin's side still chuckling as he threw his arm around his shoulders and together they walked down the street to the saloon.
Stopping at the batwing doors, the Kid surveyed the room over the top of them and seeing no one that looked familiar, pushed his way inside, his partner right behind him.
Beer in hand Heyes turned to eye the poker tables while the Kid watched the room as it was reflected in the large mirror hanging on the back of the bar.
Heyes set his glass on the bar and was opening his mouth to order a second when he felt a firm hand clamp down on his arm. He turned surprised eyes to his friend who was shaking his head, a slight smile on his face.
"Uh uh…you owe me a steak supper first."
Heyes smiled at the bartender. "Maybe later," he said.
XXX
The sun was getting low on the horizon when the two men entered the hotel room, tossing their saddle bags on the beds. The Kid sat down heavily on his bed rubbing his stomach happily with one hand and covering his mouth with the other to muffle a burp.
"That was a fine supper Heyes, thanks."
"It was. I don't recall the last time I ate that much and I even enjoyed that second piece of cherry pie you sweet talked that waitress into…but I'm stuffed."
"Me too but it sure beats bein' hungry." He looked over at his partner. "And we've been hungry too many times lately."
"I know Kid," Heyes sighed. "But it's gonna get better."
The Kid said nothing more as he stripped down to his long johns, lying back on his bed staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head. Heyes watched him knowing that they were going to end up having this conversation sooner or later. He silently cussed the steady parade of governors that his partner was convinced had no intention of ever granting them amnesty, and lately he'd been almost inclined to agree with him. Deciding he might as well get this over with sooner rather than later he got up, going to sit on the side of his best friend's bed.
"Kid?"
"Yeah Heyes," he said closing his eyes, knowing what was coming.
"I got a propostion for ya." He waited for a response and getting none continued. "We keep trying for the amnesty for another three months and if we don't hear anything by then we'll talk about moving on to either Mexico or Canada."
The Kid kept his eyes closed until after Heyes was done talking then opened them to look at him.
"Three months?"
Heyes nodded…"Three months."
"And you promise you won't change your mind when the three months is up."
Heyes raised his right hand, looking his friend squarely in the eye. "I swear Kid…three months."
"Alright," the Kid said after what to Heyes had seemed an eternity. He breathed a sigh of relief patting his cousin's leg as he got to his feet.
"Get some sleep partner we got some money to make playin' poker tomorrow night."
XXX
The next morning as Heyes stood in front of the mirror shaving, his partner was tucking his shirt in as he went to the window to check out the main street. Heyes snapped his head around when the Kid jerked away from the window with a soft "shit". His back against the wall he carefully lifting a corner of the curtain to peer out.
"What is it?" Heyes asked striding over to stand behind his partner looking over his shoulder to see what had alarmed him.
"Chase Walker just rode into town."
Heyes shook his head. "Never heard of him."
"You might remember him better as the Montana Kid."
"Yeah, guess I do seem to recall hearin' that name a long time ago. Figured maybe he'd been k…"
"He joined up with his brother Chance. Decided to use his talent with a gun to hunt down men for the money on their heads," he said cutting Heyes off. "And they don't usually bring them in alive."
"Will he recognize you?"
The Kid gave a choked laugh. "Oh he'll recognize me all right."
Heyes wiped the remaining soap off his face and without a word grabbed his saddlebags stuffing his few belongings into them, his cousin remaining by the window to watch the two men until he saw them disappear into the saloon. Then he too quickly packed his belongings and after one more look out the window the two men made their way quickly down the stairs and across the street to the livery.
Their horses quickly saddled, they led them to the door of the livery checking the street before climbing into the saddle and heading quickly out of town, neither of them seeing Chase step out of the saloon just before they reached the edge of town…didn't see the smile that formed on Chase's face when, even seeing him from behind, he recognized the man in the brown cowboy hat. After watching the two men ride away he stuck a cigar in his mouth, lighting it and taking a deep draw on it. The doors of the saloon swung open and he eyed his brother when he stopped by his side.
"Gonna have us a big payday real soon brother," he said turning his eyes to the now empty street.
"Why who'd ya see?"
"Kid Curry just rode outta town…and I'd lay odds that the fella ridin' alongside him is Hannibal Heyes."
"Well what're we waitin' for, let's go," Chance took a step toward his horse only to be stopped when his brother grabbed his arm.
"No… hang on…just in case Curry saw us, let's give 'em a bit of a head start, maybe get 'em thinkin' they're in the clear. We'll get us somethin' to eat then start out after 'em. We'll be able to run 'em down with these horses."
"You know I thought you was plumb crazy spending as much money as you did on these two animals, but you were right, they never tire. All right, let's get some breakfast."
XXX
The two cousins rode at a steady pace away from town for nearly an hour keeping a close eye out behind them and seeing no sign that they were being followed, slowed their horses to a walk.
"Maybe we got lucky Kid," Heyes said hopefully some time later.
"Maybe," his partner said glancing over his shoulder again uncomfortable with the fact that they were crossing a large expanse of flat open land.
"You don't sound convinced."
"I'm not. You don't know him like I do. If he saw us he'll hang back for a bit hopin' to make us think we got away clean."
"How do you know him?"
"He called me out a long time ago and now isn't the time to talk about it…look."
There in the distance Heyes could barely make out two riders riding rapidly towards them.
Kicking their horses into a ground eating canter they headed east toward the hills where they knew it would be easier to lose whoever was after them.
XXX
Their horses were breathing hard by the time they made it to the hills and the thick woods there. Weaving around the trees as fast as they dared, they finally eased the animals back to a walk. The Kid reined to a stop, turning in the saddle, Heyes halting to look back at his partner. The gunfighter urged his horse forward again shaking his head as he came alongside Heyes.
"Don't know how, but they're not far behind us, I could hear 'em," he said in a whisper.
"Well Kid there's two of them. I say we split up, meet at that deserted line shack we passed a few days ago. It'd be a day and half's ride from here," Heyes whispered, knowing the Kid wouldn't want to split.
Curry didn't like it but nodded, knowing it was the smart thing to do, especially with only two men after them. What concerned him was who those two men were. He reached out his right hand shaking hands with Heyes, their eyes meeting as both men silently wished the other good luck before kicking their tired horses in two different directions.
XXX
The two bounty hunters entered the trees cautiously, Chance dismounting when he got to the spot where the two wanted men had stopped. Getting down on one knee he studied the tracks for a few seconds, standing and walking a few feet further on.
"They split up."
"Well we're stayin' together. We get one, we'll soon have the other when he comes back thinkin' he's gonna be able to rescue his partner."
"Which one do we follow brother?"
"This one," Chase said nodding his head in the direction he wanted to go.
The brothers rode steadily but alertly all day, following the trail, confident they would soon catch up. The trail of the outlaw was easy to follow and they were slowly gaining on him. They were both startled when the wind started to pick up, the sun quickly disappearing behind the heavy dark clouds that had rapidly formed. Then the rain started, but the brothers weren't about to let ten thousand dollars get away because of a little storm, so they kept going.
The storm steadily worsened as they rode, the tracks they were following erased by the rain which had intensified to the point where they could hardly see where they were going, but the thoughts of the money had them continuing to hunt the man ahead of them knowing the storm would be slowing him as well. Then the hail started. They were about to give up and find a place to wait out the storm when Chase pointed ahead. His brother squinted against the driving rain smiling when he was able to make out the man sitting his horse on the banks of the river. He pulled his rifle and took careful aim.
XXX
The Kid huddled into his Sherpa, and knowing both brothers were on his trail he couldn't stop because of the storm…he knew Chase would be relentless in following him. The rain increased and he was finding it hard to breathe without taking in water but he kept urging his weary horse forward, trusting him to find his way around the trees. The lightning was getting closer, the wind howling and then the hail started, stinging both him and the horse, but not knowing how far behind him his pursuers were he didn't dare stop. It was almost dark when suddenly he found himself on the banks of a river swollen by the heavy rains that had started higher up in the hills earlier. The hail continued as he sat his horse debating the odds of making it to the other side when a bullet hitting the tree beside him peppered him with bits of bark and had him digging his heels hard into the already skittish horse making it leap forward into the raging river. The horse struggled to swim but both man and animal were quickly swept downstream by the floodwater. The Kid was pulled from the saddle, the reins torn from his hand when the animal went underwater briefly. He saw the horse surface, but by then he was too far away to reach him. He was sucked under time and again, somehow managing to gasp in a quick lungful of air before being pulled below the surface again. He tried to swim to the far side, but didn't seem to be getting any closer and he was weakening. Just trying to stay above the water long enough to gulp in a breath was becoming almost impossible. He was barely aware of bumping against something solid when he lost the struggle to remain conscious.