Chapter 13, Part One

No Honor: Ch. 13 Pt. 1: The Turn

The tomahawk was wood an' iron. It was about a foot long, and heavy, for its size. Digging it out o' that wood was not fun, and after I'd done it, I realized I had no idea what to do with the thang. I walked back inta tha bar with it, and the reaction it got su'prised me.

People shied away from it. As I passed, some even made the sign o' the cross. It was like I was holdin' The Devil's pitchfork... I wound up puttin' it under tha counter, behind tha shotgun.

The next day, I arranged for Gordon, the Carpenter on 3rd, ta build us a new outhouse shelter. The whole thing was an embarrassment, for Marco's camp. He didn't come back to tha bar that night, and I reckoned he wanted to dodge questions about it, so he'd probably stay away for a time. I noted also, that we had less people show up that night, in general.

As amusin' as Manny's story was, it was a tell on what was comin', and what was comin' was trouble. The original boss and founder o' this town, Tom Black, he said somethin', way back when. He said, "This place is like a station. The smart ones, they come an' lay low, 'til the heat's off 'em, and then they hitch a ride ta someplace else... Only the idiots stay around fer good."

Black died here, fifteen years back.

During the shift, Wally started havin' stomach problems again. I was afraid he'd have ta leave, but luckily, he stuck it out. Good news, 'cause I didn't feel much like stayin' past my time. While walking up 4th though, I saw somethin' that made me think about turnin' round, and goin' back ta tha bar.

There was a man on horseback, up the street some. He was dressed in dark clothin', and under 'is cowboy hat, he had some kind of scarf, covering the lower half of 'is face. Set there like he was, in the middle of the path, it'd be tough to make your way around him by horse, and even by foot, if he wanted ta stop ya. Every instinct I had, told me to avoid 'im.

There is a cross trail, that splits each o' tha four streets, down the center. I knew I could turn up this trail and head on ta 2nd, without gettin' close to the man, so that's what I did. I took... maybe three steps up that way, and then I got cut off. It was another man on horseback, in dark clothin', with a scarf over 'is face.

I stepped back a ways, and by instinct, my hand raised up, ta my Colt.

"Easy Wayne. He's with me."

It was Carter. He was ridin' up towards me, and leadin' this soil-brown stallion, alongside Shadow.

"I want you ta come ride wit' us", he said. "Somethin's goin' on tonight, and I want ya ta see it."

---------------------------