Disclaimer: This story is the copyright of nesciri and are published for others to read. Any abuse or infringement of the author's rights will be goverened by Swedish law. The characters have been borrowed from the TV-drama "The Young Riders" . This has not been done in order to violate the copyright of the authors of that show, however, if an infringement has been done, please notifyand this page will be removed. Any drawings are the copyright of nesciri and may not be used without the written permission of
VII. Disturbing news
Epilogue
Chapter 7
Disturbing
News
Jimmy reacted instinctively. All he could remember afterwards was how he saw Tom’s hand closing around the gun, Tom raising his upper body, aiming the gun at him or Teaspoon, he wasn’t sure who. His gun left its holster and with out aiming he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Tom straight in the chest, causing him to convulsively jerk backwards, pulling the trigger of his gun. The bullet missed Ike by inches, then hitting a metal sign on the wall, bouncedoff and hi t the old drunkard, Esaias, in the stomach.
The old man looked at the men in front of him with a surprised look on his face before he crashed head-forward on the ground. Teaspoon looked at the boys around him, all of them a bit stunned by the swiftness of the events.
"You’re OK, Ike?"
Ike nodded, looking down at Tom.
"He’s dead," Teaspoon observed. "How about the old man?" Kid ran up to Esaias, turning him around.
"He’s alive, Teaspoon!"
"Lou, help Kid and see if you can’t get him to a doctor. Use that wagon over there." Teaspoon said, pointing to a cart that was standing close to the alley.
"There’s a doctor by the edge of the town," Lou replied. "I saw his office earlier."
"Better hurry. He don’t look as if he can last very long," Teaspoon added as he noticed the red stain slowly increasing on the man’s shirt.
Lou ran over to the Kid and by a combined effort they managed to lift old Esaias into the wagon and head over to the doctor's office. Teaspoon bent down and took Ike’s gun and handed it over to the boy as voices announced the arrival of several people. First to enter the alley was the sheriff.
"What’s happened here?" he bellowed as he saw Tom’s body on the ground.
"He tried to shoot us," Jimmy replied angrily, before Teaspoon could say anything.
"Then where’s his gun?" The sheriff looked harshly at them as he came closer.
"He attacked this boy here and managed to get hold of his gun. When he was 'bout to take a shot at us, Jimmy here just managed to be first," Teaspoon added.
"Do you have any witnesses to that?"
"He also managed to shoot an old man, Esaias, I think he called himself. Two of my boys're on their way to the Doc with him. As for witnesses, all of us saw what happened, Sheriff. There’s no reason why we should lie, is there?"
The sheriff looked doubtfully at Teaspoon. Looking around him, none of the townspeople seemed inclined to give him a helping hand in arresting the strangers. Tom hadn’t been one of the most popular men in town, and most of the townsp eople thought he was better off dead. Slowly the crowd disappeared and left only a few spectators.
"I’ll need you to sign a statement," the sheriff finally said. "Then I suggest that you stick to your plan and leave first thing in the morning."
"Nothing could make me happier," Teaspoon replied amiably.
The sheriff turned around. "John! Cav! Get over here and help me get the body over to the undertaker. And have somebody run over to Mr. Dodgson and tell him what’s happened!"
"And you," he added, staring at Jimmy, "you better keep that gun of yours where it belongs, in the holster. If I see or hear that you started anything else, I won't hesitate to hang you from the nearest tree. Is that clear, boy?"
"We got the message, sheriff", Teaspoon said calmly. "Come on, boys, let’s get out of here."
As they had walked away from the alley, Jimmy grabbed Teaspoon by the arm."What are we gonna do now?" he demanded.
"Get hold of that girl. She’s involved in this somehow, and I want to find out what she knows. I’ll see how’s the old man is doing. I’ll meet you back at the hotel later."
"You got something up your sleeve, don’t you?" Jimmy looked suspiciously at Teaspoon.
"Just get ahold of that girl. Take Ike with you, and I’ll see you later." Teaspoon walked away from the boys. Jimmy looked at Ike and shrugged. Teaspoon was up to something but apparently he wasn’t going to let them in on it.
"All right then. Let’s go find that girl, shall we?"
Belle tore the clothes out of the wardrobe, trying to get them to fit into an old bag. She was crying and sobbing and every move she made caused the bruises on her arms and face to ache. She was scared like she’d never been scared be fore. She had always feared Tom, but so far he had left the saloon girls alone, unless one of them broke the rules. But she hadn’t done anything wrong. All she had done was talk to that blonde fellow. But that was her job, wasn’t i t? Then that small boy had started to ask her all sorts of questions, and she had been so nervous. It was a standard rule never to discuss any of the customers with others, so she hadn’t said anything. Not that there had been anything t o say. All she knew was that the man had flirted with her and then Mr. Dodgson had shown up, offering him to join in the poker game.
On the edge of collapse, she desperately tried to get a long skirt into the bag, getting almost hysterical when it refused to fit.
She had to get out of here, now! If Tom found here now, she was sure he was going to kill her. Or maybe he would make her wish for him to kill her. She had heard one of the other girls say that Tom didn’t like to kill with a gun, but that he preferred to beat his victims to death. She shuddered, clearly remembering the pain she just had endured in Tom’s hands. She would do anything to avoid that from happening again, even if she had to leave Lichfield on foot.
She jumped as a hard knock was heard on the door. Terrified she backed up to the opposite wall, staring horrified at the door.
"Open the door, Belle! We know you’re in there!"
The young girl stood petrified by the wall, not able to utter a single word.
"Belle? Open up or we’ll knock the door in!"
There was silence for a moment, then loud bangs suggested that somebody had brought a sledgehammer to knock the door in. Sure enough, the head of the sledgehammer broke through the door next to the keyhole. The sledgehammer was removed an d replaced with a hand that searched for the key. Finding it in the keyhole, the owner of the hand let out a triumphant sound and unlocked the door. Two men entered the room.
"There you are, Belle. Come on, Mr. Dodgson wants to talk to you." The girl stared at the men, not moving from the wall.
"Don’t be stupid now, Belle. Mr. Dodgson just wants to talk to you, that’s all." One of the men slowly approached the girl. As he reached out to grab her arm, Belle found her voice and yelled for all what she was worth, trying t o get free from the man.
"Damn it, get her to shut up!" The man by the door said, nervously, keeping an eye on the hallway. The other man grabbed her by the arms and shook her violently.
"Shut up, Belle! We ain’t gonna hurt you - Mr. Dodgson just wants to have a word with you!"
Sobbing hard, the girl stopped screaming, but fear showed in her eyes, almost causing her legs to sway from beneath her. Somehow, she remained standing, to scared to move or talk.
"That’s better, Belle. Now come on, let’s go see Mr. Dodgson, shall we?"
Belle slowly moved out of the room, firmly held by one of the men. She was moved alongthe hallway to the office of Mr. Dodgson. Pale and shaking, she was brought in and left standing in front of the desk.
Mr. Dodgson didn’t seemed to notice her standing there and for a moment her breathing became easier. Maybe it isn’t too bad, she thought. At least she couldn’t see Tom anywhere. Finally Mr. Dodgson rose his head and looked at her. "Snake eyes" she had called him when she was new, and didn’t know better. Mr. Dodgson wasn’t found of being called names behind his back, and she had soon learned that Mr. Dodgson always knew everything that happened or was said.
"You seemed to have got yourself in trouble, hmm, Belle, is it?"
"Yes, Mr. Dodgson." Belle’s heart fell.
"You know perhaps that I have lost a good man due to your foolish behaviour, don’t you?"
Lost a man? Belle didn’t know what he was talking about and it showed.
"Your ‘friends’ killed Tom, Belle. Now tell me how you’re going to reimburse me for that loss."
Tom was dead. The sentence roamed? through her mind. At first she felt wonderfully free! Tom wouldn’t be able to hurt her, and even if Mr. Dodgson decided to have her killed, she wouldn’t be brutally beaten to death. Then she lo oked down at the hard face of Mr. Dodgson and fear replaced the feeling of lightness.
"I don’t know, Mr. Dodgson", she mumbled and stared into the floor, not daring to look the man in the eyes.
"You don’t know, eh? But you’re willing to do something to reimburse me, are you not, Belle?"
"Yes, Mr. Dodgson," Belle replied weakly, wondering what he wanted.
"That’s good, Belle. Now I want you to look up these ‘friends’ of yours and tell’em what you know."
"But I don’t know anything, Mr. Dodgson," Belle replied in a high pitched voice.
"But you will, Belle, you will." Mr. Dodgson smiled at the frightened girl.
A few minutes later the girl was escorted from the office. Mr. Dodgson leaned back in his chair and lit a cigar.
"So what do you think, Frank?"
The sheriff walked out from the adjoining room. "Don't see why you wanted me to hear this, Mr Dodgson."
"Well, Frank, now you're involved. I like to have more than money ensuring me of loyalty from my men."
The sheriff looked at him and then he left without saying a word.
The ‘Doc’ was a young man that admitted to being fresh out of medicine school. He was from the east and had decided to try his luck in the west, when an offer from Mr. Dodgson had arrived. He and his young wife had jumped at the opportunity, but now, as the reality had got to them both, they were longing to get back east.
The young doctor looked at the man and instantly backed away.
"Where did you find him - he smells like garbage!"
"Never mind his smell," Kid shouted at the doctor. "Help us get him inside!"
"Inside? I won't have that man inside my practise!"
"If you don’t treat him, he'll die!" Lou yelled furiously at the man, trying to keep the man steady as she and Kid half carried, half dragged Esaias into the house. The doctor nervously followed.
"I don’t know what Mr. Dodgson will think of this," he complained, but at the stare from Lou and Kid, he became silent, and started to wash his hands.
Carefully removing the old man’s dirty clothes he examined the wound. "If I get the bullet out," he observed, "I might kill him. He will lose too much blood."
"Can he live if you leave it?" Lou wanted to know.
"Doubt it."
"But if you remove the bullet, he might have a chance?"
"Slight, but, yes, I would say a chance," the Doc muttered and frown. "God, he’s dirty."
"Get on with it." Kid ordered between his teeth. He had enough of this squeamish eastern doctor.
Soon old Esaias was lying in a clean bed, his wound bandaged and a little bit cleaner than when he came in. The doctor’s wife had proven to be more resourceful than the her husband and had, at the sight of Esaias, gone after some tow els and tried to wash the worst dirt off the man. He was breathing with difficulty and the doctor didn’t think he would survive the night.
"Waste of time," he muttered and left the room.
"What do you think, Kid?" Lou wondered and looked down at Esaias.
"I don’t know, Lou. He sure doesn’t look well."
Lou bit her lip and went over to some chairs in the corner of the room.
"You’re OK? Kid asked with concern.
"Yes. I’m just worried. It’s not helping, sitting here waiting for an old man to die either. He had nothing to do with any of it," she muttered. "He was just in the way."
"There’s nothing we can do to change that," Kid said trying to comfort her. He knew that she wasn’t too concerned about the old man. She was worried about Cody and Buck. They all were. He sat down next to her.
"We’ll find ‘em, Lou."
"And if we don’t? How are we supposed to go on if they’re... if we don’t know where they are?"
"We just have to." Kid said silently, feeling the same way. They were part of their family and he would even miss Cody’s constant nagging about him and Lou. He looked over at Lou and saw tears falling down her cheeks.
"Hey, Lou," he said gently and pulled her towards him in an embrace. She pulled of her glasses and turned around so that her head rested on his shoulder and then she just let the tears flow. Kid sat in silence just holding her and soon sh e rose her head and tried her cheeks with her hand. Her hand trembled a little when she put on her glasses again.
"Thanks, Kid," she said looking lovingly at him.
"You know I’ll always be here, Lou."
"I know." She smiled at him and started to wipe his coat with her sleeve. "So stupid of me", she mumbled, "now I got your coat all soaked."
"I think I can live with that," Kid replied, relieved to see her back to her normal self again.
A knock on the door made them sit up straight in the chairs as Teaspoon stepped into the room.
"You're all right. Lou?" he asked carefully searching the boy's face.
"I'm fine. Just a bit tired that's all."
"How's the old man?"
"Doc don't expect him to live through the night." Kid answered.
"Too bad."
"Why are you so interested in this man Teaspoon? He's just an old drunkard."
"Never underestimate the old men, Kid. They’ve a lot time watching, and I'm sure that this fellow knows more than anyone else what's going on in the town. Do you think you can stay here during the night in case he comes through?"
"Sure. I don't see the reason, though."
"If he comes through, see if he knows anything about Cody or Buck."
"Where you going Teaspoon?"
"I have a small errand to make. I'll talk to you later."
The sheriff's office was empty when Teaspoon came in. He hadn't really expected anybody to be there, so he sat down behind the desk and looked around, waiting for someone to arrive.
After half an hour, steps outside told him his wait was over, and the sheriff walked in. At first he didn't notice Teaspoon, but then he saw him and by his startled look, Teaspoon could tell that he hadn't expected anyone.
"What're you doin' here?" he growled and reached after his gun.
Teaspoon already had his gun in his hand and at the sheriff's movement he raised the gun, so that the barrel was shown above the desk. The sheriff paled and stared uncomfortably at Teaspoon.
"If I were you, sheriff, I would keep my hands away from the gun," Teaspoon said shortly.
"What do you want?"
"Some answers."
"Answers? About what?"
"I intend to find out what happened to my two riders, sheriff, and I bet you know a helluva lot more than you told me."
The sheriff grunted and moved over to the stove carefully keeping an eye on the gun in Teaspoon’s hand.
"Now why should I know anything?"
"‘Cause you’re the sheriff in this town. I don’t care whether you’re doin’ your duty or not, but I know that to stay alive as a sheriff in a hellhole like this, you’d better keep an eye out for what is going on. So I’ll ask you one more time, what happened here?"
The sheriff sat down in a chair opposite Teaspoon.
"May I myself get a cup of coffee, Hunter?"
"Why not - I wouldn’t recommend any sudden moves, though."
The sheriff slowly reach for a cup and poured himself some coffee. He didn’t offer a cup to Teaspoon, but Teaspoon didn’t mind. He wasn’t there to be social, he was there for some answers.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hunter. Sure, I keep an eye on what happens in town, but that ain’t saying I know what happened to your boys."
"But you knew when they arrived?"
The sheriff hesitated and sipped his coffee. Then he seemed to come to a decision.
"Sure, I saw ‘em ride in. A blond fellow in a fancy buckskin coat and a half-breed."
"Then what?"
"Nothing."
"I’m not a patient man, sheriff."
"Hell, I’m telling you I don’t know what happened to ‘em boys!"
"Then why are the army looking for one of ‘em?"
"How the hell should I know? I ain’t interested in the army’s business. If they want him, I’d arrest him, but I wouldn’t bother with the why."
"Then why didn’t you?"
"Did what?"
"Arrest him."
The sheriff looked puzzled.
"He got away, I s’pose," he said slowly.
"Then you did try to arrest him?"
"No, he was gone when I got that dodger."
"Where to?"
"I don’t know."
"So the army wants a man you knew has been in your town and you’re doin’ nothing. Not asking if he’s still around or where he went? You ain’t much of a sheriff now, are you?"
"I am the sheriff in this ‘ere town, and ain’t some old codger coming in ‘ere telling me otherwise." The sheriff’s face had turned red and his voice got higher in pitch.
"Let’s face it." Teaspoon got out of the chair. "You never bothered with the dodger. You already knew. I think you knew what happened to the half-blood too. And I’m telling you, when I find out, you’re in big trouble, sheri ff. ‘Cos if anything has happened to either of’em boys, I swear I’ll come after you. Now, I ain’t much for making threats, but if you would remember anything ‘bout ‘em, I might consider letting you off easy. May be."
The sheriff stared at the cold face of Teaspoon and turned pale.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about," he mumbled again, although without conviction.
"I think you know." Teaspoon placed his gun in its holster and looked at the sheriff who remained where he was staring dumbstruck. "And I think you know I mean it," he added and walked out the door. The man was a coward, and Teaspoon hope d that he might been intimidated to loosen up his tongue. He hoped, even though the more time he spent in this town, the more it seemed that it was being controlled by someone. The boys must have crossed that someone’s path, and done it good, he thought. Just as he was on his way out, the sheriff called him back.
"All right," he said. "I saw him ride out of town the day after the big game, heading east. But that’s all I know, I swear." The sheriff wiped his face with an old bandanna. Teaspoon just looked at him and left without a word.
As Teaspoon crossed the street by the hotel, he saw Jimmy running towards him from the entrance. Ike was just behind him.
"Teaspoon! We’ve found the girl! You were right..." he silenced as Teaspoon held up his hand.
"Easy, Jimmy. Let’s go over to the doctor's. Kid and Lou are there, and it’s more private than here. There's something about this town that makes me believe that the walls have ears."
Together they walked down to the doctor's house, only to meet a very nervous Doctor, who tried to object to their presence. Esaias hadn’t woke up yet, so they all gathered by the Doctor’s barn, out of earshot from the large hous e.
"Now, Jimmy, what have you found out?"
"We’ve found the girl. She was hiding in her room. She looks like hell, Teaspoon. That man surely beat her up badly."
"What did she know?"
"She said she saw Cody at the saloon the night of the poker game. She’s not sure about Buck, though. Says she can’t remember seeing him. That gambler was right about Cody joining a game. Seemed he lost a lot of money, too."
"A lot of money?" Kid looked at Jimmy. "Cody never managed to save a dime! He wouldn’t be able to lose a lot of money."
"You don’t always have to be rich to lose a lot of money, Kid," Teaspoon intervened.
"You mean he might have borrowed money? Teaspoon, even Cody has enough brains not to do that!"
"According to this girl he did. She said she asked him about it but he had been bragging about a new job, and said that money wouldn’t be a problem." Jimmy replied.
"What new job?"
"She said she didn’t know. All she knew was that he said he had to go to Granby in the morning on an urgent errand."
"Granby? That’s forty miles east of here. Why would he go to Granby?"
Jimmy shrugged.
"She didn’t know."
Ike tapped on his chest.
<What about Buck?>
"I haven’t forgotten about him, Ike. So far we only got some clues to what Cody’s been doing. I think it’s time we split up. Maybe we have a better chance of finding them then." Teaspoon looked at the others.
"You want some of us to go after Cody?" Kid asked.
"Yes. Jimmy, Ike, if you head out tonight, you’ll probably manage to get a few miles before it’s to dark."
<I’ll stay here.> Ike stared at Teaspoon.
"I can go with Jimmy." Kid offered, seeing Ike’s distress.
"I know you’re worried ‘bout Buck, son, but I want you to go with Jimmy on this." Teaspoon insisted gently.
Ike stared at Teaspoon in anger.<I have the right to stay here.>
"It ain’t a suggestion, Ike, it’s an order. You’ll go with Jimmy or you’ll head back to Sweetwater."
Ike looked at Teaspoon, but seeing the old man wasn’t going to change his mind, he gave in and nodded.
"What are we going to do if we get to Granby and Cody ain’t there, Teaspoon?" Jimmy wanted to know.
"You’re not goin’ to Granby, boys. You’re going in the direction of a small town called Harper Springs."
"Why Harper Springs? Where’s that?"
"Harper Springs is east of here."
"Why? That’s the opposite direction?"
"Exactly. Suddenly two persons seemed to remember Cody heading out east, urging us to go after him. Call me suspicious, but I have a feeling somebody wants us out of the way."
"So you think they’re trying to get us as far away as possible from where they might be?" Kid asked, as he realised what Teaspoon was talking about.
"Yeah. And there ain’t many towns around here. If we assume that half the story is true, Cody left town the day after the game. But he didn’t go to Granby. There are just one town in the area west of here and that’s Harper Springs. If Cody was goin’ anywhere, I’d say he was heading in that direction."
"So we go west then?" Jimmy asked.
"Yes, but it better look like you’re heading east. I suggest you head east, then turn back and go around the town to the south. Hopefully there ain’t to many routes to Harper Springs, so you can be pretty sure you’ll follow in his footsteps."
"What are you going to do?"
"We’re going to find Buck. Now, get going."
Jimmy and Ike started to walk towards the stable, when Ike turned around and walked back to Teaspoon. From his jacket he pulled out Buck’s knife.
<You’ll see that he gets this.>
"We’ll do that, Ike." Teaspoon said softly and took the knife. Ike looked at him as if he wanted to say something, but then he turned and followed Jimmy.
"Why didn’t you let him stay, Teaspoon? Buck’s his best friend!" Lou looked at Teaspoon, who silently turned the knife in his hands.
"Look here, we’ve known Buck long enough to know that he wouldn’t have given up his knife without a fight. And if he lost the knife, it’s because he couldn’t defend himself." Teaspoon looked grimly at the two riders. " I don't want to frighten you, but we have to face the facts. That’s why I wanted Ike to go off with Jimmy. If Buck's dead, you know how Ike will take it. It's better he has something else to think about right now."
"You think he’s dead, Teaspoon?"
"I don’t know what to think, Lou. All I know is that we have to be prepared for the worst."
"What are we going to do now?" Kid asked.
"We’ll wait here and see if that old man has something to tell us."
"Waiting for him to die that is," Lou muttered.
"Let’s just hope he can tell us something before he does."
Lou stretched in the chair, gazing around in the room. Kid slumped in another chair and Teaspoon was dozing with his feet on a small table. Esaias was still breathing, but the old man was going fast and it was obvious that he wouldn’ t last the night. None of them had wanted to get back to the hotel so in the end they decided to stay with Esaias. Both Lou and Kid had been somewhat suspicious of Teaspoon’s assurance that Esaias knew something. But then there was noth ing else to do. Quietly, as not to wake the others, she rose and went over to Easais’ bed.
"How are you feeling, Esaias?" she asked, not expecting a reply. When the old man opened his eyes and looked at her, she was startled.
"Where am I?" The old man looked around dizzily, then his eyes set on Lou. "Are you one of’em angels?" he asked weakly.
"No, I’m not an angel." Lou smiled at the old man.
"You look like one, girl. Fooling old Esaias like that, ain’t nice now." Esaias coughed and for a moment he was breathless.
"I’m not a girl," Lou begun, but then realising that it didn’t matter. "I’m sorry I’m not an angel", she said softly.
"You look like one, girl. With ‘em big eyes of yours. Esaias is pleased you’re here, that he is."
"I’m looking for some friends of mine, Esaias. Have you see any of them? A blonde man and an Indian. They were here some days ago."
The old man chuckled, which caused him again to fight for his breath. "Nice fellow, he was. Gave Esaias whiskey," he mumbled. Lou’s heart jumped. Then Teaspoon was right, Esaias had seen at least one of them. Oh God, don’t let h im die yet, she thought desperately.
"Who did you see, Esaias? Do you know what happened to them?" She gazed over where Teaspoon and Kid where sleeping, but they hadn’t waken up. Maybe as well, she pondered. If Esaias kept repeating that she was a girl, maybe Teaspoon w ould discover her secret.
The old man closed his eyes and for a moment Lou thought that he was gone, when suddenly his eyes opened again. "Searching for his friend, he was. His poor Indian friend."
"What happened Esaias? Please, tell me what happened." Esaias clearly had difficulty breathing now, and Lou feared that he might die at any moment.
"They took the Indian." Lou had to lean over the man to hear what he said. "Poor boy. Esaias saw, but didn’t do anything. Esaias always been a coward. Always a coward. Lost my Annie being a coward." Tears rolled down the old man’ ;s cheeks.
"I’m sorry about your Annie, Esaias. What happened to the Indian?"
"Will you tell my Annie I was a coward?"
"I don’t think you’re a coward, Esaias. Please tell me about my friends."
"Annie!" The old man started to mumbled incoherently and occasionally Lou heard the name Annie mentioned over and over again.
"Esaias, please, you have to tell me what you saw!"
"Annie?" The old man looked dimly at her.
Lou hesitated, but then she answered. "I’m here Esaias, Annie’s here. You have to tell me about the boys, Esaias."
"The boys..." The old man blinked. "They took the Indian and the other one, blond he was, went after. He bought me whiskey, Annie. He was a nice lad, that he was."
"Where did they go, Esaias?"
"They all went west. Remember when we went west, Annie. You were so beautiful then." Esaias smiled. "You’re still beautiful, Annie" he whispered and closed his eyes.
"Esaias?" Esaias!" Lou took the old man’s hand, but it was cold and still. At her call, both Kid and Teaspoon sprung from their resting places.
"What is it?" Teaspoon asked. Lou straightened herself up.
"Esaias is dead." Teaspoon approached the bed and put a gentle hand on Lou’s shoulder.
"We’re all going to walk that path, Lou. Esaias just gonna walk a bit sooner than he thought."
"I think he might be better of where he’s heading", Lou mumbled.
"Did you talk to him?" Teaspoon asked. Lou nodded.
"Then let’s tell Doc, and see that everything is arranged. You can tell us on the way to the hotel." Teaspoon left the room to wake up the doctor.
"You’re OK?" Kid asked as soon as Teaspoon had closed the door behind him.
"Kid, he thought I was someone he missed, Annie."
"He was dying, Lou."
"I know, but I pretended to be her, just for him to tell me about Cody and Buck."
"Then maybe that was a comfort to him?"
Lou bit her lip. "Maybe, " she sighed. "But I wish he didn’t had to die."
When Teaspoon had made certain the doctor would arrange for Esaias' funeral, they slowly strolled back to the hotel while Lou told what Esaias had said.
"You sure he said they took Buck?"
"Yeah. He said ‘they took the Indian’. He must have meant Buck."
"I don’t get it Teaspoon." Kid said. "What did they want with Buck?"
"He said something about ‘poor Indian’, too, and that he had been watching something, but not interfered," Lou reminded them.
"Well, I don’t know what to make out of that," Teaspoon muttered scratching his chin. "I was pretty sure it was Cody who was in trouble, but now it looks like Buck got in trouble first."
Teaspoon looked at Lou. "You’re sure he said they went west?"
"Well, yes, but he was rather confused by then, talking about someone named Annie all the time."
"What exactly did he say?"
"‘They all went west.’"
Teaspoon walked in silence for a while. He would have preferred if the man had said that Buck and Cody went west, but then he hadn’t much else to go on."
"You think they headed west, Teaspoon?" Kid interrupted his thoughts.
"We haven’t got much of a choice, now have we?"
"So what are we going to do?"
"We have to head out after them."
"So then we’re leaving in the morning?"
Teaspoon looked at the sky.
"Nope, we leave now. The sun will be up in a couple of hours, and the less people that see us leave the better."
"We could head out east first, like Jimmy and Ike?"
"We ain’t got time for that. For all we know, both Buck and Cody are out there somewhere west of here, maybe in bad shape, and besides I’m not in the mood for going around. 'Sides, if we head straight for Harper Springs, we migh t catch up on Jimmy and Ike. No, boys, no detours this time. We’re heading west."
