Long Trail

Chapter One

‘Mister, I may be only seventeen, but don’t let that stop you. If you think you can ride this bronc, just shake out a loop and put your spurs on!’

I stepped back from the bar and faced him squarely. He sat his drink down and looked at me, the laughter gone from his face.

‘You made the brag, mister,’ I said to him again. ‘Now go ahead and pin my ears back.’

He looked at the crowd, who had backed away from the bar. Licking his lips, his eyes met mine and in them I saw him for what he was.

Some men were braggarts, men who talked big and liked to swagger around using brash language and rough ways to bull their way through life. The man before me was one of these and now that he’d been called, he didn’t quite know what to do.

Myself, I was just a youngster, fresh up the trail from Texas. But I was not the wet-behind-the-ears boy that this man had taken me for. I carried a gun on my hip and I didn’t carry it for show. The butt was of walnut, worn smooth by the fit of my hand and I could make that old gun speak – six words at a time, and each spelled death.

When I came to this bar, it had been to relax and have a drink. The ride up the trail from Texas had been long and hard, hot and dusty. We’d swum swollen streams and dodged bars of quicksand, fought off Indians and battled jayhawkers trying to cut our herds.

My riding partner had been gored to death by a bull and our trail boss had been killed by a Kiowa arrow. All in all, when we finally hit town, we were in no mood to fool around.

I came here to the Alamo Bar for a drink. When I was through, I would go to the Drover’s Cottage and meet Brice Fellows, the cattle buyer contracted to buy our herd. He had done business with us before and would be expecting us soon.

I had just ordered my drink when the stranger lit in on me. I tried to ignore him at first, having had my fill of trouble on the trail. But well enough he could not leave alone. He fancied himself a big man with a gun and thought he’d have a bit of fun with a cowboy from Texas.

He went on about this and that, cussing every Texan who had come up the trail and allowing as to how they all needed their ears pinned back. Finally, I had taken enough and pushed away from the bar.

I laid it out plain to him then, calling his hand, and it took him by surprise. I reckon he felt confident that in his own town and in his own saloon a body would back down from him and all his bluster. He’d figured wrong with me; I didn’t give a damn as to whether I killed him in here or dragged him outside and killed him. Either way was the same to me.

Unable to hold my eyes, he looked down at the floor, then back to his friends scattered a safe distance away from him.

‘No call to get riled, stranger,’ he said defensively. ‘A little funnin’ never hurt no one.’

‘Then you’ve never been no one,’ I said. ‘You mentioned something about pinning some Texan ears back. Now you’ve got your chance. You take it or take yourself out of my sight.’

A look of indignation crossed his face and he replied angrily, ‘I’ll do no such thing! You’re a stranger here and a Texan on top of that. If anyone should leave, it’s you. We’ve had enough of your kind around here.’

He looked at the faces throughout the room but could find no support among them.

‘You’ll find no help there, mister,’ I said, causing him to look quickly back at me. ‘You bayed this coon, now you shake him out’n the tree.’

His hand hovered above his gun butt and his fingers twitched nervously. He wanted to draw – so dearly he could taste it, but when the good Lord had passed out gumption, this man hadn’t received a full ration.

A way out – that’s what he was looking for, and I was of a mind to give it to him. Softness was no part of my make-up, but truth be told, I just didn’t feel like taking the bother. A shooting in town would mean an inquest and maybe a day or two in the calaboose. I had better things to do, like sell the herd and collect the gold for it. There were folks needful of that money; folks who’d risked everything they had on this herd. Their livelihood and their very lives depended on the returns from this cattle drive. And now that the boss was dead, it was up to me to get the gold back to them.

Like I said, I had better things to do than tom-fool around with some wanna-be badman.

‘Mister,’ I said seriously, ‘I’ve got other steers to brand. Your best bet would be to join your friends and let the hair of the beast grow long. If you persist in this, they’ll be dragging you out of here by your boot straps.’

Before he could answer, I reached up and backhanded him across the face. Instinctively, his hand went to the stinging on his cheek. When it did, I reached out with my left hand and slipped the pistol from his holster. As quick as that he found himself covered with his own gun.

‘Move away from the bar,’ I said, motioning to an unoccupied table behind him. ‘You have a seat over there and contemplate the error of your ways.’

He moved to the table and sat down, his face red – not so much from the blow I had given him, but from his own anger and shame.

I reached into my pocket and flipped the bartender a two-bit piece. ‘Give him a drink on me,’ I said. ‘And when he’s cooled off, you can give him back his gun.’

I slid the pistol across the bar and the bartender snatched it up. Pulling my hat down tight on my head, I looked once more around the room before I turned and left it behind.

So this was Abilene. There was a lot I had heard about this town, but I had never been here myself. Each of the past two years I had been up the trail with herds from Texas, but we had taken the Western trail on up to Dodge City. This was my first time to Abilene and it was said that Wild Bill Hickok himself was the marshal. From stories I’d heard of him, a body had best step careful in Abilene.

I was in a hurry to meet Brice Fellows and strike a deal, but first I wanted a hot bath and a shave. Those things were unheard of on the trail and that couldn’t be helped, but anytime a man had the chance, he should be clean-shaved and bathed. Least ways, that’s what I believed, although I’ll admit I didn’t have a lot to shave.

Our herd was bedded down outside of town. On our arrival, there was a good five thousand head of cattle scattered around and about the outskirts of Abilene. I would ’spect most of the drovers were now in town, as I’d never seen such a passle of folks in all my days. They were everywhere! Punchers with their fanciest duds on, all decked out to cut a dido in town.

There were cattle buyers, too, in their houndstooth suits and string ties. They walked the streets in a grand manner, some smoking cigars and tipping their hats to the ladies.

There were Indians about, also. Some dressed like the white man and others bedecked in their native garb. I was wary of Indians myself, as my pa and ma had been killed by them whilst I was a youngster. But these in Abilene seemed peaceful enough.

As I rode up the street, I passed Henry’s Land Office and the Metropolitan Hotel. Further down the street was the Twin Livery Stables, and it was there that I pulled up. A man named Gaylord took my horse and to my question of a good place to stay, he named the Drover’s Cottage and the Metropolitan.

Most folks had heard about the Drover’s Cottage. A man named Joe McCoy had built it, stocking it like the fancy hotels back east, with the best of wines, whiskeys and cigars. The rooms were said to be plush and the help courteous and kind.

I was a down-to-earth person myself and although the Drover’s Cottage was the biggest thing in town, I thought I would prefer the Metropolitan.

Stabling my horse, I headed back up the street to get a room. On the way I ran into Slim Hite, one of our hands.

‘Howdy, boss,’ he said. ‘Where ’bouts you headin’?’

‘Fixin’ to get a room at the Metropolitan. Once I get cleaned up I’m going to find Mr Fellows. The sooner we sell the herd and get shut of Abilene, the better I’ll feel.’

We walked a few steps together up the street, each of us taking in the sights of a booming cow town.

‘I’m going to Fisher’s,’ Slim Hite said invitingly. ‘Want to come along?’

‘No, thanks,’ I said. ‘You go ahead. Maybe I’ll join you later.’

He turned and sauntered off, the boots on his bowed legs beating a quick tattoo on the boardwalk.

Fisher’s Addition was a part of Abilene that held the honkytonks and was sometimes referred to as the ‘Red Light District’. You could get most anything there, from cheap whiskey to shady ladies, and most of the punchers made a beeline for the bars and dives that made up Fisher’s Addition.

It was also the wildest part of town and many a shooting and stabbing happened there. Hickok would be there, I assumed, making sure things stayed as quiet as possible and knowing the man, I knew it was a task he was well qualified for.

No sooner than the thought of Hickok came than I saw the man himself walking slowly down the street. Although I had never seen him before, I knew him instantly. He was a tall man with a drooping mustache that was neatly trimmed. He sported a black hat and wore a finely tailored black suit. He had two pistols on his person, but didn’t carry them in a holster like myself and many others; he wore them tucked in a broad sash that went around his waist. And if ever a man had the look of knowing how to use them, it was he.

As he drew close, his eyes measured me with a calculating glance. His eyes were hard, but not mean. He tipped his hat to me and spoke as we passed, a pleasant-seeming man to me. Not at all what I had expected from the stories I had heard of him.

When he was gone, I entered the Metropolitan and walked up to the front desk. A man with glasses and a handlebar mustache was busy at his ledger. Seeing me, he looked up from what he was doing.

‘Howdy, friend. What can I do for you?’

‘I’d like a room,’ I answered. ‘Nothing real fancy, just plain and simple.’

‘All right,’ he said. ‘How long will you be staying?’

‘Hopefully just a night or two. But if I need longer, I’ll let you know.’

He turned the ledger to me and pointed out a line for me to sign on. When I had spelled my name out, he handed me a key to room nine and looked down at the ledger.

‘Up the stairs and to the left, Mr Pickett. If you need anything, just give a yell.’

I thanked him and turned to leave when he spoke again.

‘Dot Pickett?’ he said reflectively, rolling my name in his mouth. ‘Are you the Pickett from Doan’s Crossing?’

I turned and looked at him cautiously, but his face was innocent.

‘I am,’ I answered. ‘Do you have business with me?’

‘Oh, no, Mr Pickett. I only recognized your name on the ledger. The story of your . . . difficulties, shall we say, is well-known in Abilene.’

‘Do tell,’ I said coldly. ‘That’s in the past, my friend, and best left there. I have business to conduct here.’

‘You watch yourself, then, Mr Pickett. Two of the Banks boys are here in Abilene. Caxton and Everson. Caxton,’ he went on, ‘he’s the smart one of the bunch and by far the most dangerous.’

Doan’s Crossing was on the north side of the Red River, across from Texas and in the Oklahoma Territories. John Doan had opened a store there on a natural crossing of the Red. He sold supplies and most anything a person needed. Any herd coming up the Western Trail had to cross at Doan’s and although bars of quicksand were abundant, a safe crossing could be made were a man careful.

Last year on a drive for the Ten Bar, we had camped at Doan’s after crossing the Red. I was sixteen then and it was there that I killed my first man. Or men, I should say.

There were five of them when I entered Doan’s, all bunched at the bar and drinking rot-gut whiskey. They were a sorry looking lot if I ever saw one and I ordered a drink at the far end, away from them.

Outlaws, jayhawkers and baldknobbers were aplenty these days and unless I missed my guess, these boys were a little of each. What they were doing this far south I couldn’t say, but their business would always be questionable to honest folks.

We had been short of hands on that drive and those we had had stayed with the foreman and the herd, sending me on over for supplies.

Johnny Barnes and Sandy Carson were two of the five. The other three were the Banks brothers: Ed, Dawson and Lenny. They asked about our herd and where we were heading. To be courteous I told them, and they then turned out to be full of questions, seeming mighty interested in our herd and our men.

Finally I left, having purchased the supplies we needed. Later that day and close on to dusk, the same five men rode out to the herd, joined by two others whose names I never knew.

Our trail boss was Phineas Dalton, from Austin. He was an older man and a good man, but a little too soft to deal with men like these.

We rode out to meet them, Phineas and I, and they claimed to be inspectors of some sorts, saying that without a certificate of inspection we could proceed no further. They also claimed to have authority to inspect every herd of cattle for proper ownership and that the cost of these services would be ten cents a head.

Our herd then had numbered just over two thousand and at ten cents each, we couldn’t afford to pay. They then offered to take a percentage of the herd instead, for this so-called ‘inspection certificate’.

Mr Dalton balked at this suggestion and the conversation turned nasty. I sat quietly, taking everything in, but also kept my hand close to my gun.

Suddenly, Dawson Banks drew his gun and shot Phineas from the saddle. I returned the fire instantly, killing Dawson and then Ed with my first two shots.

Phineas was a game old man and from his place on the ground he opened up. For what seemed like minutes, but was actually only seconds, shots filled the air with a deadly boom. Horses were rearing up and some were bucking in half-jumps across the land.

Lenny Banks went down, as did Sandy Carson. I emptied one gun then drew another, barely missing a count as I fired again.

A bullet from someone’s gun hit my saddle horn and whined away nastily. Another clipped my ear and one tore at my shirtsleeve. I fired away regardless, continuously pumping rounds at the ‘inspectors’.

Johnny Barnes was dropped by Phineas, and the two whose names I hadn’t known turned and spurred their horses away as fast as they would go.

Our herd was not the only at Doan’s that day and the shots from our set-to started a stampede, both herds mingling together and charging east along the Red River. We lost at least a hundred head – fifty or so in quicksand and fifty more in the river. Three days it took to round up the herds and another day to separate them. It had been quite a bother and a lot of hard work.

In the meantime, Phineas Dalton was taken to a doctor back on the Texas side of the Red and the three Banks brothers were buried in shallow graves, their names burned on makeshift crosses with a running iron.

Johnny Barnes survived his wounds and slipped away in the night. Where to, nobody knew, but he was never seen again.

Once more we hit the trail, as the news of the gunfight preceded us. Seemed like the Banks brothers had been pulling their inspection bit on other herds coming up the trail and folks were not unpleased to hear of their demise.

My name was thrown about and when we at last arrived in Dodge City, I was a known man. I found it bothersome and had been glad to be out of there.

The reputation of a gunman was nothing I wanted, but nonetheless it was now attached to my name. Even the man here in Abilene had recognized it and I reckoned that it would be that