Iron Shirt. John Collins

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      The women called them to eat. They had fixed biscuits, cured ham, redeye gravy, and dried apple cobbler with coffee. Bill and Isaac ate so much that they were ashamed and apologized. One of the girls said it was the least they could do for saving their lives.

      Isaac said, “Aw shucks, ma’am, it was nothing.”

      Bill noticed that even with his dark tan, Isaac was blushing. Isaac, now at nineteen, had not been around many girls, except for his ma.

      The girl who had thanked him said, “Aren’t you the polite one.”

      He blushed even more and stammered, “Y-yes, ma’am.”

      Bill said, “We will spread our rolls next to the cooking fire and leave at first light.”

      *****

      The farmers went to the wagons. Bill and Isaac went to their rolls next to the fire. Bill filled his pipe, took a twig from the fire, and lit it. They sat in silence for a while.

      Isaac said, “Bill, we can always get us a small farm.”

      Bill looked at Isaac with a hurt look in his eyes and said, “Son, before I will farm again, I would rather put on a wooden bill and pick shit with the chickens.”

      Isaac laughed and said, “That bad, you say.”

      Bill whispered to Isaac, “Slide out into the dark near the wagons, and take your guns and cover me.” He eased out as quiet as he could.

      After a short time, a voice called out, “You, in the camp, can we come in?”

      “Come in with your guns holstered.”

      Two men walked in from the dark into the firelight. “You alone?” one man asked Bill.

      “My pard is sleeping.”

      “Well,” the man said, “that makes it convenient. I guess we will take what we want.”

      “You two are not too friendly.”

      The man said, “I had six men in my gang, but it looks like you and these sodbusters killed four of them.” The two brought their guns out and pointed at Bill when two shots rang out. The lights went out on the last of the gang.

      Isaac walked out, and Bill said, “Good shot, son. Both between the eyes.”

      “I was afraid to shoot lower. I thought they might squeeze off a shot.” By this time, the whole camp was awake. After all the talk died down, Isaac looked at Bill and said, “How did you know?”

      Bill said, “Learn to trust your horse. She will always let you know if a strange horse is around. Her ears perked up, and she let out a low whinny, and I heard an answer off in the distance.”

      *****

      The next day, they and the wagons and their morbid cargo rode into Conway. As they approached the jail, the sheriff came out and said, “What the hell is going on here?”

      Jeb recounted the attack on their wagons and Isaac and Bill coming to their aid and about the two who attacked them that night.

      The sheriff looked over the dead then at Bill and Isaac. Taking special note of their guns, he said, “You two, bounty hunters?”

      Bill said, “No, just helping fellow travelers.”

      “I thought with those fancy guns and the kid with a crossdraw rig, you might’ve been. But that makes me no…never mind. All six have bounties on their heads and have been killing and raping ever since the start of the war with all the men gone and all,” the sheriff said. “You two will need to settle a couple of days till I can send the wire and do the paperwork.”

      Bill looked over to Isaac and said, “Now ain’t that a kick in the ass. We killed the lowdown varmints, and they’re going to pay us.”

      Jeb and his people all thanked them, and one of the older girls ran up and kissed Isaac on the cheek. Isaac’s mouth flew open, and Bill was sure he was going to bolt. But he just stood there, red-faced.

      The sheriff said, “Take the bodies to the barber. He serves as undertaker too.”

      At the barbershop, the barber said, “That’s the James Coleman Gang. Laws been after them for years for bank robbery, murder, and rape. Just two weeks ago, they raped a widow and her daughter and killed them. After leaving the bodies, they went to the livery stable to board their horses now totaling nine.”

      The livery boy told Isaac it cost twenty-five cents per horse, and that included grain. Isaac remembered what his Pa had told him and pulled out a ten-dollar Confederate bill.

      Isaac and Bill walked to the hotel and asked for two rooms and a bath. The clerk said it would be fifty cents per day each. The bath was included. Isaac pulled out a five-dollar Confederate note.

      The clerk smiled and said, “In Confederate, it will be double.”

      Isaac said okay and asked where they could get a good meal. He was told of Sue’s café around the corner. Isaac said, “With luck, we’ll get rid of all this Confederate money.”

      They ate a good supper of steak, potatoes, collard greens, and buttermilk. Bill smacked his lips and said, “Now I need a drink.” They walked into the saloon across the street. Bill ordered rye whiskey and Isaac a beer.

      “You know, I was raised on moonshine but never liked it,” Isaac said.

      One man at the end of the bar was talking about the outlaws who were brought in dead and said that they were friends of his and that he would bet they were shot in the back. The bar got quiet as a mouse’s fart. The bartender said, “Those two at the end of the bar brought them in.”

      Isaac stepped away from the bar, his hand hovering over his gun butt. He said, “Friends of yours, you say? Do you have a bounty on your head too?”

      The man said, “Wait a minute, boy, I didn’t mean anything.”

      “I’m not your boy. My ma would not fool with trash like you.”

      “I’m sorry, mister. I apologize.”

      Isaac started back to the bar when the man’s hand slid down toward his gun, but Bill’s was already out. The man raised both hands and said, “Don’t kill me.”

      Bill said, “You were going to back shoot my friend. Why should I not kill you? Bill told the man next to him to take his gun out and throw it in the horse trough.

      Isaac looked at the man with the coldest eyes anyone had ever seen and said, “If I ever see you again, I will kill you.”

      The man ran for the door, and they heard his horse galloping out of town.

      Bill said in a low voice, “Isaac, now for the second lesson, never buck a man then turn your back to him.”

      They finished their drinks. The bartender said, “I wish you would have killed that troublemaking son of a bitch СКАЧАТЬ