sneak up to the house and listen at a winder. Someone would see him for sure. Someone would plug him with a bullet. As good a gunman as he was, he werenât no match for a whole army aâ cowhands. And just then a horrible thought come into my head.
What if ole Sly was to get hisself kilt? What would ole Lillian do then? Would she come back after me? Would I get my ass stuck again with her and that goddamn snotty kid? It was enough to make me sick to my stomach, and I went and poured myself another glass full aâ good brown whiskey.
Chapter Eight
Well, I was a-setting there worrying my ass off about ole Sly getting hisself foolishly kilt out there at Chugwaterâs ranch and thinking that I had been a fool to agree to his going out there. I wisht I had rid with him too. I coulda stopped him from doing any goddamn foolish bullshit what was too damn dangerous. I poured myself another glass aâ whiskey, and Bonnie seen me. She come a-waddling over to the desk. âBarjack, I coulda done that for you, sweetie. Whynât you call me?â
âI can pour a goddamn glass aâ whiskey,â I said.
Sly come back final. He had been gone for quite a spell, and the rest aâ my gang was getting mighty restless, I can tell you. They was wanting some action. Once ole Butcher had piped up and said, âWhy donât we just ride out to that damn Chugwaterâs place and attack the bastards? Why do we have to sit around here and wait for him?â
âButcher,â I said, âI am the town marshal aâ this here town. I ainât got no jurisprudence outside aâ town. Weâd just be a bunch of owl hoots attacking a manâs ranch if we was to do that. What weâre a-doing here is weâre guarding the jail andour prisoner. We just has got to keep our patience. Thatâs all.â
And he werenât the only one neither. They was all getting kinda jumpy. Me too, but I never let on so they could tell it. So I was damn glad whenever Sly final come back. I even jumped up from my chair and practical run across the room to meet him, but so did everâone else, and I run smack into Bonnie and fell over backâards and landed on my ass. âBarjack, Iâm sorry,â she said, and she helped me up to my feet. Everâone was talking all at the same time and asking Sly what he had found out, so I at last yelled out for them all to shut up. They did. Then I stepped right up to Sly and looked him in the face.
âWhatâd you find out?â I said.
âTheyâll be coming in in the morning,â he said. âAnd Chugwaterâs called in another twenty men. They mean to attack with a full force and kill us all if thatâs what it takes to free Owl Shit.â
âBy God,â I said, âweâll be a-waiting for them.â
âThatâs not all,â he said.
âWhat more?â
âHe means to block off the town so we canât get out. Both ends. Heâs sending men in right now to do that.â
I scratched my head, walking back to my chair. âWhat the hell would we want to get outta town for?â I said. âWeâre guarding this here jail.â
âChugwater thought that you might think to ride over to the county seat and ask Sheriff Cody for some help.â
I thunk hard for a minute till it got to hurtingmy head, and then I said, âI wonder how in the hell he come up with that. Thatâs just ezackly what I was a-thinking about doing. Butcher, go back up on the roof and send Happy down here.â
âYes, sir.â And Butcher run outside. I was thinking to send Happy, but I thunk better aâ it before he come in. I decided that I would ride over to the county seat my own self and get that damned Cody and make him help out. I knowed that I would be more persuasive than what Happy could be. I checked my Merwin Hulbert self-extracting revolver, and then I went over to the gun rack to get