Another close call. The man who called himself Jesse Jones was getting sick and tired of them. Yes, he wanted the running to end, but he wanted to find a sympathetic listener, someone he could tell his story to and hope for a pardon. Though he was desperate, he still wasn't thrilled at the thought of being gunned down by a bounty hunter.
This time he rode straight towards Reno. Since he had told the Cartwrights he was heading to Carson City he knew they would share that information with that hired gun. At least heading to Reno would give him a few extra hours.
By the time he reached the city, his throat was parched from all the dust he had swallowed. He knew he shouldn't show his face in any public area, so he decided to find a stall for his horse and bunk down beside him in the hay. He paid the owner of the livery stable, watching for any raised eyebrows on his part, but he saw no flash of recognition cross his face. The owner merely asked if there was anything else he could do and then went on his way.
The wanted man had just taken the saddle and bridle off of his horse and rubbed him down when he heard someone leading their horse into the stable. Ducking quickly behind the stall wall, he watched to see who it was. It was clearly a drover, as both the sight and the smell told him. The young cowboy yawned and rubbed his hand through his thick hair. Suddenly, the familiar face turned towards the direction of the wanted man, and he jumped up with a shout.
"Why, if it isn't Rowdy Yates!" The ramrod stiffened and started to go for his gun at the disturbance, but when he turned to see the wanted man standing there, his face broke into a huge grin.
"Jess Harper!" They grabbed hands and gave several vigorous shakes by way of greeting. "Why, I can't believe it! I never thought I'd run into you again!" Jess, more than overjoyed to find a friendly companion in the midst of his troubles, merely nodded and said,
"Yeah, I sure never thought I'd see you again either, not after they signed that paper at Appomattox." After a moment's pause, Rowdy asked enthusiastically,
"So what are you doing out here, Jess? I thought for sure you'd go back to Texas after the war." Jess wasn't quite ready to bring his wanted status to life, and said by way of avoiding the question,
"I've been working on a ranch in Laramie. Nice little spread, and some great people." Rowdy shook his head.
"Boy, I never thought I'd see the day when Jess Harper would settle down on a ranch. You must have changed since the last time I saw you." He patted his horse absently, then a crease appeared between his eyebrows. "But hey, you're a long way from Laramie right now. You here on business?" Jess was tempted to lie, but he couldn't bring himself to do that to a good friend.
"No," he answered briskly, with no explanation forthcoming. Rowdy waited a moment for anything more, then realized that he wouldn't get any extra information. He turned back to his horse and ran his fingers through the tangled mane. The silence hung heavy between them.
Just then the sound of horses' hooves alerted the two men that someone else was coming towards the stable. Rowdy looked towards the doorway with mild interest, while Jess ducked inside his stall and felt for his gun at his side.
In a few moments Gil Favor led his horse into the stable, yawning as he did so. When he saw Rowdy, he halted and adjusted his hat. He looked the ramrod up and down for a moment, then said, "Is it all right with you if I stable my horse here, or this a private establishment?" Rowdy looked back at him with wide eyes and answered,
"Uh, yeah Boss, that's fine with me."
"Thanks, that's mighty generous of you," Gil said in words that dripped thickly with sarcasm. He began to lead his horse past the ramrod, then stopped again and looked back. "Well, you wanna tell me why you're standing around like a lovesick pup?" Jumping as if startled, Rowdy mumbled a quick,
"Oh, uh, nothing," and hurried to lead his horse into a stall. Gil led his horse into the stall beside Jess. The wanted man tightened his grip on his gun and prepared himself to pull it at any time. The boss unsaddled his horse and rubbed him down, then came out of the stall. As he passed Jess's horse, he paused, noticing a suspicious figure in the back corner. Before he could investigate, he heard a revolver cock and a stern voice say,
"Hold it right there, Mister."
"Jess!" called Rowdy and he came running over. "Jess, this is my trail boss. You don't have to worry about him." Gil looked back and forth between the two as Jess stood up and came closer.
"I'm sorry Rowdy, but I don't know who to trust right now."
"Is this the wanted man that Randall's after?" asked Gil to his ramrod.
"No, this is a friend from the war, Jess Harper." Looking back at Jess, Gil added,
"Also known as Jesse Jones?" Rowdy, quick to come to his friend's defense, began to say,
"Boss, I said his name is Jess Harper," but the wanted man cut him off.
"All right, sure, I've been using the name of Jesse Jones for the past few months. What of it?" Now Rowdy turned to look at his friend.
"So that's why you're here?" Jess still held his gun on the trail boss, but he looked at the ramrod.
"Sorry you had to get mixed up in this, Rowdy." Even with the wanted man's gun pointed at him, Gil asked calmly,
"Is it true that you killed a man?"
"No!" Jess hastened to say, but then he paused and added, "Well, yeah, I did kill a man, but it was in a fair fight, I swear." Gil and Rowdy looked at each other for a moment, then Gil heaved a sigh and said,
"Looks like you may be mixed up in something too big for you to handle by yourself." Jess looked up at the trail boss with hopeful eyes and stated,
"You'll get no argument from me there." Eagerly, Rowdy put in,
"Say, Boss, the herd's real fat and comfortable right now, and we're ahead of schedule. We can stay in town a few days, can't we? At least long enough to help Jess out of his trouble?" Gil scratched his head.
"I don't know…" Jess, who had already lowered his gun, looked back and forth between the two of them anxiously.
"Pete's in charge of the herd, and he'll move 'em when they need it." Gil still hesitated, so Jess added,
"I'd be mighty obliged to you both if you did." Convinced, Gil lowered his head and said,
"Oh, I suppose we could spare a few days." He glanced at Jess and gave orders to the wanted man as if he were one of his drovers. "Harper, you stay here tonight. Lay low and stay out of sight. In the morning we'll figure out what to do with you."
"Yes sir," Jess agreed. Rowdy threw a grin at his friend as he followed the trail boss out of the stable. Once outside, the trail boss turned and stopped his ramrod.
"We'll have to get Randall to help us, too." Rowdy's face clouded over at the mention of the bounty hunter that he had completely forgotten. A snarl began to form on his face.
"We don't have to tell that bounty hunter nothing. How do we know he's really looking out for Jess's good? He could just be lying with that story about Jess's family in order to get us to help him."
"We'll have to worry about that later, if that's true. As it is there's no way we can help Harper without Randall finding out, and if he really is trying to help we could always use another person." Shaking his head vigorously, Rowdy snarled,
"I don't trust that bounty hunter, and I'm not going to let him turn Jess in for some easy money." Gil put his hands on his hips.
"Like I said, we'll deal with that when and if it comes." Then he turned and headed to their hotel. Rowdy looked back at the stable for a few moments before following after his trail boss.