Free Shootout of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone

on trains that have an attached stock car. I plan to take my horse with me.”
    “All right,” the stationmaster replied. He worked on the tickets for a few moments, then handed a packet of them to Smoke.
    “You’ll leave here at eleven tonight,” Charley explained. “You will arrive in Colorado Springs at one in the morning, where you will change trains, then depart Colorado Springs at two a.m., arrive in Cheyenne, Wyoming, at eleven tomorrow morning. Because you will need a stock car, you won’t be able to depart Cheyenne until three o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Then comes the long ride, from Cheyenne to Battle Mountain, Nevada. You will reach Battle Mountain at eight a.m. the next day. I’m afraid you are going to have to spend the entire day in Battle Mountain, because you won’t leave until ten that evening. You’ll reach Cloverdale at eight o’clock on the following morning. It will be an all-night trip, but your passage should be quite comfortable, as the train is equipped with Pullman cars.”
    “It’s good to see that you have it all worked out for me,” Smoke said.
    “Oh, and Smoke, I don’t know how dependable the shipping people are at all these stations, so if I were you, I would keep an eye on your horse at each place.”
    “Thanks, Charley, I intend to,” Smoke replied.
    Tickets in hand, Smoke sat inside the depot with Sally and his two friends as they waited for the midnight special. It was called that, even though most of the time it was scheduled to arrive at about eleven.
    “What kind of a fella is this Bobby Lee?” Cal asked.
    “I’m not sure,” Smoke said. “He was not much more than a kid the last time I saw him, but he was as fine a kid as I’ve ever known. I’ve only heard from him once or twice since Nicole died. I think he rode shotgun on a stage for a while, and was a deputy somewhere up in Wyoming. I don’t know how he got to this place in Nevada, and I have no idea why they are about to hang him.”
    “Do you think he is innocent?” Cal asked.
    “I don’t know. But I don’t care whether he is innocent or not.”
    “You mean, even if he was guilty, you would go try to rescue him?” Cal asked.
    “I’m not going to
try
to do anything,” Smoke said. “I am going to do it.”
    “Cal, quit asking such dumb questions,” Pearlie said. “You mind how when I was in jail that Smoke come to rescue me?” 3
    “Yeah, but you hadn’t been convicted yet,” Cal replied.
    “Do you think that would have mattered?”
    “No,” Cal said. “I don’t reckon it would have mattered. Smoke would have rescued you, just like he’s going to try to rescue this fella Cabot.”
    “I told you, there is no try about it,” Smoke said. “I’m going to do it.” He reached out to put his hand on Sally’s hand and looked deep into her eyes.
    As Smoke gazed deeply at her, Sally could almost look back in time to see the Smoke she had not known, the Smoke that had come before.
    “I know that you will,” Sally said.
    They heard the whistle of the far off train.
    “Sounds like the train is comin',” Cal said, stating the obvious.
    Smoke had checked his rifle through with his saddle, but he kept his saddlebags with him, and he reached down to scoop them up.
    “What do you say we go out onto the platform and watch that big beast roll in?” he suggested.
    “All right,” Sally answered.
    Smoke draped the saddlebags over his right shoulder, then put his left arm around Sally’s waist and pulled her closer. She leaned into him.
    “You’ve got nothing to be jealous about, Sally,” Smoke said quietly.
    “Oh, darling, I know that. I’m not in the least jealous,” Sally said. “I think the fact that you can still have such a feeling for Nicole even though she has been dead these many years is one of the reasons I love you so. It’s comforting in a way. It reassures me that if anything happened to me, you would still love me.”
    “Forever,” Smoke said, squeezing her more