Chapter 8 (1/2)

He wanted a drink Whiskey, cheap and warm After six weeks on the trail, he wanted the saet what they wanted He was one of theainst the bar The whiskey couldn't

He had another ninety long, dustypan like Lone Bluff honaled for a bottle and took his first gut-clenching gulp Some had to

For himself, home was usually the six feet of space where his shadow fell But for the past few et a roo woman, all at a reasonable price It was a tohere aon his mood

For noith the dust of the trail still scratchy in his throat and his stomach empty except for a shot of whiskey, Jake was just too tired for trouble He'd have another drink, and whatever passed for a meal in this two-bit town blown up from the desert, then he'd be on his way

The afternoon sunlight poured in over the swinging doors at the saloon's entrance Someone had tacked a picture of a woman in red feathers to the wall, but that was the extent of the fe women for their clientele Just to liquor and cards

Even towns like this one had a saloon or two A man could depend upon it, the way he could depend on little else It wasn't yet noon, and half the tables were occupied The air was thick with the sars the bartender sold, two for a penny The whiskey, went for a couple of bits and burned a line of fire straight frout If the owner had added a real woed double that and not heard a single complaint The place stank of whiskey, sweat and sured he didn't smell too pretty himself He'd ridden hard froh to Lone Bluff except he'd wanted to rest his horse and fill his own stos Saloons always looked better at night, and this one was no exception Its bar was grimy from hundreds of hands and elbows, dulled by spilled drinks, scarred bybut hard-packed dirt that had absorbed its share of whiskey and blood He'd been in worse, Jake reflected, wondering if he should allow hiarette noait until after a meal

He could buyfor another There was a month's pay in his pocket And he'd be daain That was a life for the young and stupid-or maybe just the stupid

When his un on the stage through Indian country The line was always looking for aat the back end of a steer It was thefor gold and land, following dreams Some of them stopped in the Arizona Territory on their way to California because they ran out of y or time

Their hard luck, Jake thought as he downed his second whiskey He'd been born here, and he still didn't figure it was the most hospitable place on the y It suited him just fine "Redman?"

Jake lifted his eyes to the dingy glass behind the bar He saw the y His brown hat was tipped do over his eyes, and sweat glistened on his neck Jake nearly sighed He knew the type too well The kind that went out of his way looking for trouble The kind that didn't know that if you hung around long enough it found you, anyway

"Yeah?"

"Jake Redman?"

"So?"

"I'hs "They call me Slim"

The way he said it, Jake was sure the kid expected the nanizedshuddered over He decided the whiskey wasn't good enough for a third drink He dropped so sure his hands ell clear of his guns

"There a place where a et a steak in this town?" Jake asked the bartender

"Down to Grody's" The e "We don't want any trouble in here" Jake gave hi you any"

"I's and let his hand hover over the butt of his gun Ascar ran across the back of his hand froh, a single rig with the leather worn smooth at the buckle It paid to notice details

Easy,noyou want to say?"

"You got a reputation for being fast Heard you took out Freemont in Tombstone"

Jake turned fully As hedoor flew back At least one of the saloon's custo a44 Colt, its black rubber grip well tended Jake didn't doubt there were notches in it Barlow looked like the type ould take pride in killing

"You heard right"

Barlow's fingers curled and uncurled Twopoker in the corner let their hands lie to watch and ame in front of them "I'm faster Faster than Freemont Faster than you I run this town"

Jake glanced around the saloon, then back into Barlow's dark, edgy eyes "Congratulations" He would have walked away, but Barlow shifted to block hi his eyes The look caive way "Cut your teeth on somebody else I want a steak and a bed"

"Not in my town"

Patience wasn't Jake's long suit, but he wasn't in theto sharpen his reputation "You want to die over a piece of meat?"

Jake watched the grin spread over Barlow's face

He didn't think he was going to die, Jake thought wearily

His kind never did

"Why don't you come find me in about five years?" Jake told him "I'll be happy to put a bullet in you"

"I found you now After I kill you, there won't be a man west of the Mississippi on't know Slim Barlow"

For some-for many-no other reason was needed to draw and fire "Make it easy on both of us" Jake started for the doors again "Just tell them you killed me"

"I hear your rinned when Jake stopped and turned again "Guess that's where you got that streak of yellow"

Jake was used to rage It could fill a man fro up, he claht-and it seeht cold

"My grandmother was Apache"

Barlow grinned again, then wiped his mouth with the back of his left hand "Thatyellow breed We don't want no Indians around here Guess I'll have to clean up the town a little"

He went for his gun Jake saw the move, not in Barlow's hands but in his eyes Cold and fast and without regret, Jake drew his own There were those who saw hi and thunder There was a flash of steel, then the roar of the bullet He hardlyinstinct and experience In a sun Tom they-call-me-Slim Barloas sprawled on the barroom floor

Jake passed through the swinging doors and walked to his horse He didn't knohether he'd killed his man or not, and he didn't care The whole damn mess had ruined his appetite

Sarah wasto lose the ed to bolt down at the last stop How anyone-anyone-survived under these appalling conditions, she'd never know The West, as far as she could see, was only fit for snakes and outlaws

She closed her eyes, patted the sweat from her neck with her handkerchief, and prayed that she'd h the next few hours At least she could thank God she wouldn't have to spend another night in one of those horrible stage depots She'd been afraid she would be murdered in her bed If one could call that miserable sheetless rope cot a bed And privacy? Well, there simply hadn't been any

It didn't matter now, she told herself She was nearly there After twelve long years, she was going to see her father again and take care of him in the beautiful house he'd built outside Lone Bluff

When she'd been six, he'd left her in the care of the good sisters and gone off to hts, when Sarah had cried herself to sleep fro him Then, as the years had passed, she'd had to take out the faded daguerreotype to remember his face But he'd alritten to her His penmanship had been strained and childish, but there had been so much love in his letters And so much hope

Once a month she'd received word from her father from whatever point he'd stopped at on his journey west After eighteen hteen letters, he'd written from the Arizona Territory, where he'd settled, and where he would build his fortune

He'd convinced her that he'd been right to leave her in Philadelphia, in the convent school, where she could be raised and educated as a proper young lady should Until, Sarah reh to travel across the country to live with hi to join hirand, required a woman's touch

Since he'd never ined her father a crusty bachelor, never quite certain where his clean collars were or what the cook was serving for dinner She'd soon fix all that

A man in his position needed to entertain, and to entertain he needed a hostess Sarah Conway knew exactly how to give an elegant dinner party and a formal ball

True, what she'd read of the Arizona Territory was distressing, to say the least Stories of ruthless gunmen and wild Indians But, after all, this was 1875 Sarah had no doubt that even so distant a place as Arizona was under control by this tierated to sell newspapers and penny dreadfuls

They hadn't exaggerated about the climate

She shifted for a better position The bulk of the woave her little room for relief And the smell No matter how often Sarah sprinkled lavender water on her handkerchief, there was no escaping it There were seven passengers, craecoach It was airless, and that accentuated the stench of sweat and foul breath and whatever liquor it was that the ht frorimy neckcloth had fascinated her But when he'd offered her a drink, she had fallen back on a wonity

It was difficult to look dignified when her clothes were sticking to her and her hair was drooping beneath her bonnet It was all but impossible to an to gnahat appeared to be a chicken leg But when Sarah was deterood sisters had never been able to pray or punish or lecture her stubbornness out of her Noith her chin slightly lifted and her body braced against the bouncing sway of the coach, she kept her eyes firh of the Arizona landscape, if one could call it that As far as she could see, the entire territory was nothing but miles of sunbaked desert True, the first cacti she'd seen had been fascinating She'd even considered sketching a few of the as a man, with arms that stretched up to the sky Others were short and squat and covered with hundreds of dangerous-looking needles Still, after she'd seen several dozen of them, and little else, they'd lost their novelty

The rocks were interesting, she supposed The buttes and flat-topped ed charm, particularly when they rose up into the deep, endless blue of the sky But she preferred the tidy streets of Philadelphia, with their shops and tearooms

Being with her father wouldas she ith hiain He'd be proud of her She needed him to be proud of her All these years she'd worked and learned and practiced so that she could becohter to be

She wondered if he'd recognize her She'd sent him a small, framed self-portrait just last Christood likeness She'd always thought it was too bad she wasn't pretty, in the soft, round way of her dear friend Lucilla Still, her coood, and Sarah comforted herself with that Unlike Lucilla, she never required any help froe the sisters so disapproved of In fact, there were tiht her complexion just a bit too healthy Her mouth was full and hen she would have preferred a delicate Cupid's bow, and her eyes were an unremarkable brown rather than the blue that would have suited her blond hair so much better Still, she was triun this miserable journey

It would all be hile soon When she greeted her father and they settled into the lovely house he'd built Four bedroohtful Undoubtedly, she'd have to do soht about such niceties as curtains and throw rugs She'd enjoy it Once she had the glass shining and fresh flowers in the vases he would see how much he needed her Then all the years in betould have been hile Sarah felt a line of sweat trickle down her back The first thing she wanted was a bath--a nice, cool bath laced with the fragrant lilac salts Lucilla had given her as a parting gift She sighed She could alht corset and hot clothes, the water sliding over her skin Scented Delicious Almost sinful

When the coach jolted, Sarah was thrown against the fat woht herself, a spray of rotgut whiskey soaked her skirts

"Sir!" But before she could lecture him she heard the shot, and the screams

"Indians!" The chicken leg went flying, and the fat wooing to be murdered"

"Don't be absurd" Sarah struggled to free herself, not certain if she was erous speed of the coach or the spot of chicken grease on her new skirt She leaned toward theto call to the driver As she did, the face of the shotgun rider slid into view, inches fro there, upside down, for seconds only But that was long enough for Sarah to see the blood trickling from his mouth, and the arrow in his heart Even as the woround

"Indians!" she shouted again "God have mercy

We'll be scalped Every one of us"

"Apaches," the man with the whiskey said as he finished off the bottle "Must've got the driver, too We're on a runaway" So saying, he drew his gun,methodically

Dazed, Sarah continued to stare out theShe could hear screams and whoops and the thunder of horses' hooves Like devils, she thought dully They sounded like devils That was impossible Ridiculous

The United States was nearly a century old Ulysses

S Grant was president Steamships crossed the Atlantic in less than teeks Devils sie

Then she saw one, bare chested, hair flying, on a tough paint pony Sarah looked straight into his eyes She could see the fever in theht streaks of paint on his face and the layer of dust that covered his glea skin He raised his bow She could have counted the feathers in the arrow

Then, suddenly, he flew off the back of his horse It was like a play, she thought, and she had to pinch herself viciously to keep fro

Another horse loith pistols in both hands He wasn't an Indian, though in Sarah's confusion he seeray hat over dark hair, and his skin was nearly as dark as that of the Apache she'd seen In his eyes, as they met hers, she saw not fever, but ice

He didn't shoot her, as she'd been al his right hand, then his left, even as an arrohizzed by his head

Aan to race with her terror He was rilued to the racing horse Then the fat lady grabbed her again and began to wail

Jake fired behind hi to the horse with his knees as easily as any Apache brave He'd caught a gliirl in a dark blue bonnet His Apache cousins would've enjoyed that one, he thought dispassionately as he bolstered his guns

He could see the driver, an arrow piercing one shoulder, struggling to regain control of the horses He was doing his best, despite the pain, but he wasn't strong enough to shove the brake doearing, Jake pushed his horse on until he was close enough to the racing coach to gain a handhold