CHAPTER THIRTY
I rode west on Trevitt’s horse, with my own rope hung over
his saddlehorn. I was probably going to need it for Stobo, if he was as big as
they said. As I rode, I kept fussing with the rope, and before I knew what I’d
done, I’d made a noose. It scared me a little. There’s nothing I hate more than
a lynching, but my hands seemed to have done my thinking for me.
Dawn was just breaking when I saw Stobo, crouched behind a
campfire, cooking breakfast. He was big alright, bigger than I’d even hoped. He
had meaty paws and a beefy face and shoulders like an ox. He was a good three
or four inches taller than me. His nose had been broken, and his face was
scarred and veiny.
Yeah. Stobo would do just fine.
His horse was saddled and stood nearby. He must have planned
to ride right after breakfast. Too bad for him he’d waited to eat. He might
have lasted another day, with me trailing him. But now he was going back to
Dodge. Alive. Hurt, but alive. I’d promised.
I rode straight up, got down, and walked over.
Stobo looked at me warily, and kept his gun hand free. “You
lost, stranger?”
“No,” I said, stopping just across the fire from him. “I’m
not lost – Stobo.”
Hearing his name he drew his gun and pointed it at my belly.
“No tricks, mister,” he said. “I don’t see a gun, but no tricks.”
“Relax, Stobo,” I said. Repeating his name was important,
like I had to keep reminding myself of who he was. “I’m unarmed.”
Stobo wasn’t afraid of me, armed or not. But he did like
having the advantage. Scornfully he asked, “Who are you?”
“Matt Dillon,” I told him. “I’m a US Marshal out of Dodge.”
“You’re a long way from Dodge, Marshal.”
“Stobo, you and your pal had some fun with a friend of mine
yesterday. You hurt him bad. Maybe you killed him.”
Stobo’s laugh was ugly. It came in short little fits, then
built into something real nasty. “You rode out here without a gun to tell me that?
You’re the craziest Marshal I ever saw.” He laughed in another short triple
burst. “I’m gonna shoot you, Marshal, and bury you in the river. What do you
think o’ that?”
“I expected you would.”
That confused him. He was big and he was mean and he had an
animal’s sense of self-preservation. But he wasn’t smart. “Eh?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But unless you want it on your conscience
you refused to feed a man on the trail, you better give me a piece of that pork
first.” I nodded to his breakfast.
Stobo smiled like a man who apprecates a good joke. “You’re
about the coolest man I ever saw, Marshal.”
“Do I eat?”
Again with the short little guffaws before he answered. “Sure
you do. Sure. You just stand right there across the fire and don’t move or I’ll
have to shoot you before you been fed.”
“I know.”
He kept his gun out as he moved toward the fire. “It’s too
bad I only got one dish for your last meal, Marshal.”
“A man can keep sassy on meat alone, Stobo.”
Again the guffaws. “Yeah, yeah, he sure can.” He bent forward
and used his left hand to poke at the meat with a stick. “Well, looks about
done – at least this here piece is. You can’t –”
I kicked the fire, hard. Coals went flying up and struck
Stobo in the face and on the arm. As he reeled back screaming I came at him
with both fists and hit him four times in the belly. He tried to bring his gun
hand around and I slapped it away. His gun fell and I kicked him in the knee.
He collapsed to the ground. I picked up his gun and pointed it at him. He
couldn’t see me because he was still cluching his face.
“Alright, I got your gun, Stobo,” I told him, “so don’t try
anything!”
“You burned me, you burned me, you burned me! You sonofa -”
“It’s just a few coals,” I said. “It won’t hurt you. Now shut
up and get on your horse!”
Stobo opened his eyes, then, and there was no laughter now,
but a pure animal rage. “I’ll kill you for this. Marshal! You can’t hurt me
like that – ”
“On your horse!” I shouted. He wasn’t afraid of me, but he
was afriad of the gun. I waved it at him again. “Go on, now! Get up there!” He
did. “Now you just sit there, Stobo.”
I remounted and took my rope from the saddlehorn of Trevitt’s
horse. Now I knew why I’d made the noose. “I’m gonna throw this noose around
your neck, so keep your hands down!” One throw and it was on him. “There now.
You ride towards Dodge. You do anything I don’t like and I’ll jerk you off your
horse and drag you the rest of the way. Now ride.”
We rode that way for the whole morning, Stobo just ahead of
me, a noose around his neck, and his gun pointing at his back. It was hot and
tiring work, but that was alright. I had plenty of water. For some reason,
Stobo didn’t ask for any. Maybe he wasn’t thirsty. Or maybe he wanted to prove
how tough he was. Or maybe he knew that I wouldn’t have given him any, even if
he begged.
We didn’t say a word until we reached Dodge.
“Jail’s on the left,” I said. “See it?”
Stobo nodded and said in a croaked voice, “I see it.”
I tugged on the noose. “Alright, pull up.” Stobo stopped his
horse, and I stopped Trevitt’s. “Shiloh?” I called. “Bub! Shiloh!”
The kid came tearing out of the jail, with Shiloh trailing
along behind him. “Mr. Dillon!” cried the kid.
“Well, hello, Marshal,” said Shiloh. “This the other one?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Trevitt get here?”
“He sure did!” the kid told me.
Shiloh nodded. “More dead ‘n alive, but he’s here.” Shiloh
eyed me in a way he never had before. “It was rough, Marshal. Real rough.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Shiloh – how ‘bout Chester? Tell me.”
Shiloh just shook his head. “Doc ain’t sure yet, but he’s
alive.”
I nodded. “Lock Stobo up. I’m going over to Doc’s.”
Shiloh reached down and pulled out his pistol. Stobo was too
much of a brute for any sane man to take chances with. “Alright, you, get down!
Walk straight or I’ll shoot you through both knees.”
Chester was asleep, but the Doc let me take a look at him.
Seemed to me he had more trouble breathing than before. But Doc said another
day might see him out of it. There was nothing I could do, so I went up for a
steak at the Texas Trail, where I told Kitty and the kid what I’d done. The kid
was real excited, but Kitty just looked at me with a strange look that I didn’t
really like, so I finished my food and took the kid back to Shiloh. Then I went
to bed.
