Free Bullets Don't Die by J. A. Johnstone Page B

sound of footsteps from the two men. He seemed to have a little trouble, but after a moment he was able to focus on The Kid. “M-Morgan.”
    “I’m here, Marshal. What can I do for you?”
    “I can tell . . . from that ruckus with Ahern . . . that you’re a fighting man,” Cumberland whispered. “You’re the only one . . . who can help these folks. Levesy said . . . he and his men are coming to town . . . at sunup tomorrow.”
    “To turn Ahern loose?” The Kid guessed.
    “Yeah.” Cumberland licked his lips. “Doc, can I . . . get a drink?”
    “Water,” Franklin said. “That’s all.”
    “That’ll . . . do.”
    Franklin took a cup from the bedside table and lifted it to Cumberland’s mouth. The marshal took a sip, spilling some of the water but getting some of it down his throat. That seemed to strengthen him slightly.
    “Harlan said to have Ahern waiting for them . . . said if he wasn’t turned loose by then, they’d take him out of the jail . . . and make the town pay for defying him. Give him what he wants, and he promised . . . they wouldn’t kill anybody.”
    “Is that all?”
    Cumberland’s head moved slightly from side to side. “No . . . He heard about how you . . . beat Ahern. The town has to . . . turn you over to them as well.”
    “And if that doesn’t happen?”
    “He said that Broken Spoke . . . would make everybody in Copperhead Springs sorry.”
    “Did he tell you all this before or after they tied you to a horse and dragged you?”
    A little croaking sound came from Cumberland. It took The Kid a moment to realize the marshal was laughing.
    “Harlan said all that . . . before his boys jumped me. Said for me to . . . see that what he wanted was done.”
    “What did you tell him?” The Kid asked.
    Again that croaking laughter. “Told him . . . to go to hell.”
    Having seen what he had of Marshal Riley Cumberland, The Kid wouldn’t have thought the lawman had that much defiance in him. But the marshal’s badly beaten condition seemed to indicate he was telling the truth.
    “He told his men . . . to be sure not to kill me,” Cumberland went on. “He wanted me alive . . . to bring his message back to town.”
    That agreed with the theory The Kid had explained to Constance earlier. “So what is it you want me to do, Marshal? Do you really expect me to turn Ahern loose and surrender myself to Levesy’s men?”
    “No . . . Hell, no . . . Got to . . . fight them. Get everybody together . . . tell them it’s time to fight . . .”
    “If I do that,” The Kid warned, “innocent people are liable to get hurt.”
    “You think they won’t get hurt . . . if the Broken Spoke keeps running things . . . around here?”
    Cumberland had a point there, The Kid thought. Innocent people like Ed Phillips had already been hurt. And others would continue to suffer at the hands of the Broken Spoke crew as long as they were a law unto themselves.
    “That’s enough,” Franklin said. “He really has to rest now.”
    “Not yet!” Cumberland tried to push himself up from the pillows, but grimaced as he failed. “Give me . . . your word, Morgan.”
    “I can’t speak for anybody else in town,” The Kid said, “but I don’t like giving in to skunks like that. I won’t back up from their trouble.”
    “Good,” Cumberland breathed. “People will look at you . . . and know what they need to do.”
    The Kid never set out to be anybody’s leader. Sometimes circumstances thrust him into that role, however, and it appeared to be one of those times, he thought as Cumberland’s eyes closed. The battered lawman’s chest rose and fell fairly steadily as sleep claimed him.
    “He’s worn out,” Franklin said quietly. “Be the best thing in the world for him if he sleeps the clock around.”
    “Maybe,” The Kid said. “Question is, if he does that will there still be a town here when he wakes up?”
    He left the doctor and the marshal and returned to the front porch.
    Bert clutched at