Frederick R. Bechdolt

“ Bob West and Owl-head Johnson made no comment as they walked down the sidewalk toward the town’s edge, where their ponies were awaiting them. Hilarity had fallen from them, and in its place had come a silent alertness. He knew that they were biding his word, ready to do their part in what was to come.
For according to the unwritten code of those days, when men challenged one another to combat as in the age of chivalry, he had flung his gage to Scarborough; and everyone within reach of his voice had understood the import of his defiance. He was going to shoot up Horsehead before he left. ”

“ His horse raced down the block, and when he came into the next, Kansas threw back his head. He gave the long wolf yell and saw the sidewalks before him clearing as if his voice were a gigantic broom which swept whole groups of men back through the open doorways. For Horsehead’s populace realized the significance of that cry and to a man remembered the fate of bystanders on one or two past occasions when frolicsome cowboys had started to burn powder on the main street. ”

“ And as the weeks went by, the news traveled back along the trails. It reached White Oaks before snow flew; it drifted to John Chilson’s ranch, and on to Horsehead. So the men who would have liked to kill him, and the men who would have liked to use him as a killer ceased to think of Kansas, and those who would have enriched him ceased their search for him. But the story lived, of the outlawed cowboy fleeing from Texas, to stumble on great riches beyond the Pecos, and to meet his death before the fruits of his discovery could come to him. ”

“ Owl-head Johnson called as their companion came thundering up behind them.
“There is,” young Kansas answered, “a stud-game in some of them deadfalls that’s due to suffer when I get to town tonight, boys.”
A flaring affront to the yellow stars, outraging the surrounding night, Horsehead lay asprawl under tall cottonwoods upon the river's bank. Passing trail-herds contributed sunburned young riders to the sidewalk crowds that milled beneath the wooden awnings on either side of the main street. ”

“ In those days of the Southwest every man’s business was supposed to be his own affair, and he did not even know the boy’s real name. Just “Kansas,” that was all. But when Bob West and Owl-head Johnson were swinging into their saddles, he reached a decision and beckoned him.
The other two rode on. Vacations came few and far between on the trail to Dodge; they were due back by the morning’s second hour to take their turns guarding the sleeping herd; Horsehead lay more than ten miles away, and their money was burning the pockets of their tight jean breeches. ”

“ To enforce this edict Horsehead kept a town marshal; and in order to make good with his constituents, the official, who had a sawed-off shotgun handy for the purpose, felt it incumbent on himself to slay a cowboy every so often. Such towns were not uncommon in that day, and Bill Scarborough was a typical specimen of the cold-eyed breed who passed, in some of them, as Lords of the High Justice. They resembled the real frontier peace-officer very much as the short-card man of the period resembled the old-time square gambler. ”

“ Let future developments take care of themselves; in the meantime he would do what he had set out to do. When they reached the hitching-rack in the deep shade of the cottonwoods, he spoke.
“Lend me your six-shooter, Bob.” The cowboy handed him the weapon without a word. “You boys ride back the way we came,” Kansas bade them, “and wait for me where the road forks, two miles out.” ”

“ Men would regard him as a desperado, and sooner or later some one else would seek his life again. So long as he rode where the events of the past year were known, he must keep a hand close to his revolver.
The boys were waiting for him at the forks of the road. While they dressed his wound he told them what had happened.
“Plug up the hole with a wad of axle-grease, and she'll heal slick’s a whistle,” Owl-head Johnson said. Kansas buttoned his shirt and handed the borrowed revolver back to Bob West.
“Tell Jeff,” he bade them, “not to look for me. I’m headed west.” ”

“ The boy nodded. “I thought I’d kept that news behind me,” he said lightly. “Them things get to be a nuisance when you go to town.” As he was turning the stirrup, he asked over his shoulder: “This Scarborough—he’s lookin’ for new scalps?”
“He’s got him a reputation,” the other answered, “and it looks like he’s aiming to keep it up.”
“Reckon I got to stay half sober, then. Adios!” Kansas was in the saddle and the pony was leaping forward when he called his farewell. As he rode after his companions, he got a glimpse of the horseman who was going toward the herd. ”

“ The five of us was havin’ a drink when Rudabaugh come in with half a dozen of them O Z rail punchers. He spotted Kansas from the start and headed straight for him. Said he done killed that feller in Horsehead from behind. And all that Kansas done was laugh.
“He laughed at the things Rudabaugh called him, and asked him if that was the best he could do. Said that down in Texas where he come from, them words went fer pet names, and he reckoned he’d take ’em as sech.”
“And Rudabaugh,” said John Chilson softly, “shore can misname a man. ”

“ The visitor might indulge himself in every sin known to Gomorrah of old, and no man would say a word of reproof—in fact, the visitor who did not steep himself in some wickedness or other was not given so much as a passing welcome ”

“ Those who caught the gist of that allusion to last summer’s warfare, wherein the ownership of range-cattle was at issue, comprehended the fullness of the insult, and it was their unostentatious movement to one side which turned all eyes on Kansas. ”

“ A dirty turban bobbed up behind a rock and vanished before Kansas could bring his rifle to his shoulder. Two or three tenuous puffs of smoke rose from the summit of the nearer bank. A mule squealed shrilly ”