On their way to Bisbee, Arizona, Heyes and Curry get sidetracked and then find themselves surrounded. They may be able to extricate themselves, but only after taking some Detours

Detours
by Ghislaine Emrys

Acknowledgments: Many, many thanks to Fortitudine for her information about military speech and Army field competitions in the 19th century, and to Kwiltn and her Army JAG resources for their information about legal matters in the Army in the 19th century. Any errors that remain are solely those of the author.



“Kid, we’re going to Bisbee.” Heyes pulled his clothes from the dresser and started stuffing them into his saddlebag.

“Why?” Curry remained seated in the only high-backed chair in their hotel room, one leg slung over the chair’s arm as he methodically cleaned his gun.

“So you can be busy as a bee!” Heyes chuckled.

Kid groaned.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Heyes said, and tossed Curry’s saddlebags to him, along with a look that meant now.

“Heyes, what’s so dang important about Bisbee that we have to leave this nice, quiet, and very comfortable hotel only a day after we got here? Someone recognize us?”

Heyes shook his head.

“You recognize someone?”

Heyes shook his head again.

“Someone offer us a job?”

Heyes shook his head once more.

“Then what, Heyes? Why can’t we stay here a few days like we planned?”

“They got a lot of copper in Bisbee,” Heyes told his partner, as if that explained everything.

“I know that.” Curry slid the fifth and final bullet into his Colt and clicked the barrel shut. “I’m still waitin’ to hear something I don’t know.”

“Well, we’ve never mined copper before.”

“And you think we should start now? Because we had so much success with gold and silver minin’, is that it?”

Heyes ignored Curry’s sarcasm. “Don’t you want to try something new, Kid?”

“Nope. And what do you know about copper anyway? Would you even recognize it if you saw it in the ground?” Curry continued sarcastically, “Oh, wait. I forgot who I was talkin’ to. The genius who figured out how to blow a P & H ’78, just by readin’ books.”

Curry narrowed his eyes. Quick as an Arizona rainstorm, he grabbed Heyes’ saddlebag and slid his right hand inside. Curry triumphantly held up a newspaper, then spread it open to scan the headlines. A minute later, he read aloud, “Copper Queen’s monthly output exceeds expectations, more men hired.”

Heyes looked at his friend. “What have we got to lose?”

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

By the time Curry finished packing and met Heyes downstairs, Heyes had checked them out of the hotel and was waiting by the entrance.

“Ready?” Smiling at his partner, Heyes opened the front door and led the way to the livery.

Silently, the two men saddled their horses, mounted them, and headed southeast out of town. As soon as they’d left the buildings behind them, Kid turned to Heyes. “How long’s it goin’ to take us to get there?”

“Not sure. It depends on how we go. You want to take the main road or the less-traveled way?” Heyes stopped at the track that turned right and headed towards the mountains.

Kid observed the traffic on the road they were on: a Butterfield stagecoach filled with passengers, heading for Bisbee; several wagons filled with supplies, no doubt intended for nearby homesteads; and a few riders on horseback, heading who knew where. Without looking at Heyes, he pulled on the reins and guided his horse onto the track.

“Knew you’d make the right decision, Kid!”

“Since when do we do things the easy way? ‘Course we have to go this way; less chance of bein’ recognized.”

“Glad to see some of my logic’s rubbing off on you.”

“It ain’t logic; it’s common sense.”

“That too,” Heyes placated.

Mid-day, the partners found a thicket of mesquite and stopped to rest their horses and themselves. Breaking some beef jerky he’d rummaged from his saddlebag in half, Heyes handed one portion to Kid, who grimaced but took it anyway. They chewed in silence and then swallowed the dryness with sips from their canteens.

“I figure we’ve gone about ten, twelve miles. Not bad, huh?”

“Since you never told me how far we have to go, I couldn’t say, Heyes.”

“Well, I reckon it was about twenty-five miles by the main road so this way, it’ll be…”

“Longer,” Curry interrupted, when Heyes didn’t finish his sentence. “I know that. How much longer, Heyes? Are we goin’ to get there in time for dinner tonight or not until breakfast tomorrow?”

Heyes looked at Curry and scowled. “Now, Kid, calm down. We’ll get there, it’s just…” He hesitated.

Curry fixed his partner with a glare. “Tell me this is the right way. You do know where we are, don’t you?”

Heyes took a deep breath. “Well, when I was waiting for you at the hotel, the clerk said there were two ways to get to Bisbee. He gave me directions for the main road but he wasn’t sure about the other way. He said not too many people went this way since it was longer.”

“What else did he say? I know there’s more.” The glare remained on Curry’s face.

Reluctantly, Heyes related the rest. “He also said the way through these mountains was dangerous because outlaws hid out in them.”

Curry laughed. “I think we can handle that, Heyes.”

“And he said the Apache sometimes attacked people in this area.”

Curry closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them to look accusingly at his partner. “And when were you goin’ to tell me that?”

“What was the point in worrying you, Kid? Odds are we won’t come across any Indians at all; the clerk said there hasn’t been any trouble for a couple of months. And if we do get unlucky…”

“When are we not?” Curry muttered, then motioned with his hand for Heyes to continue.

“If we do get unlucky,” Heyes repeated, “and meet up with some Apache, then you can worry about it.”

“Gee, thanks, Heyes. It’s nice to be forewarned.”

“Anytime, Kid, anytime.”

Moistening their bandanas, each man squeezed some water into his horse’s mouth before wiping away the sweat on their own faces and necks. Heyes looked at his pocket watch, then announced, “There’s several more hours of daylight left. I think we can reach Bisbee by dark.”

“The sooner we’re there, the happier I’ll be.”

“See, I knew you’d want to go there, too!”

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

The horses plodded on under the relentless sun, moving ever southward. They picked their way through the desert shrubs, climbed up and over the hills they encountered, and detoured around rock outcroppings. Hours passed and the sun moved a fraction lower in the cloudless sky. Heyes was in the lead and Curry dozed.

A raven’s cry roused Curry. “What was that?”

Heyes came to a halt and Curry drew up alongside him. “I don’t know. But look over there.” He pointed to a spot about a mile away, where both men could see several birds circling above something hidden from their view by hills.

“How far you think we’ve gone?” Kid took a sip from his canteen as he waited for Heyes to answer.

“Not far enough for that to be in Bisbee.” Heyes also took a drink from his half-empty canteen. “Maybe a cougar killed something.” He looked questioningly at his partner.

“Maybe,” Curry said doubtfully. He turned his horse in the direction of the birds.

“Wait a minute! What are you doing?” Heyes positioned his mount in front of Curry’s horse, blocking him.

“Goin’ to find out what happened.”

“Why? It ain’t none of our business.”

“Heyes, if you were stranded in the desert, maybe injured, maybe runnin’ out of water, wouldn’t you appreciate some help?”

“Well…”

“And just ‘cos we didn’t get any don’t mean we can’t help someone if we’re able to.”

Heyes looked into the serious eyes of his friend, then nodded. He let Curry’s horse pass by him, then both men proceeded slowly towards the ravens and their quarry.

When they reached the top of the hill, the two men tethered their horses to an ocotillo bush, removed their guns from their holsters, crouched down and slithered to a point where they could see the desert below. A lone wagon lay on its side, the left rear wheel hanging off the axle. What appeared to be household goods and supplies were spilled all around.

Curry looked at Heyes grimly, then set off down the hill, taking care to make as little noise as possible. The dark-haired man sighed and followed. Scanning the area as they wound their way through the low-lying vegetation, Curry was on the alert for any sound that might indicate danger.

He heard nothing.

There was no sign of life but as they neared the wagon, Heyes saw an arm dangling from the back of it. Silently, he tapped Curry’s shoulder and they cautiously moved closer. Curry kept a lookout while Heyes climbed into the wagon.

“Kid,” he whispered as he backed out and jumped down, “she’s dead.” Heyes faced his partner. “She’s only about thirteen. Killed by an arrow.” He raised his hand to show it to his partner.

Curry kept his eyes on the perimeter. “See anyone else?”

“No.”

“All right. You check over there,” Curry jerked his head to the left, “and I’ll look around here.”

They separated, Heyes moving behind the wagon and Curry following some tracks he found in the sand. Since he wasn’t far from where they’d left their horses, he walked up the hill and led them back to where Heyes was waiting. They reported their findings to each other.

“There’s two more bodies here, a woman and a baby,” Heyes said grimly. “Looks like they were trying to hide behind some chests. They were both shot with arrows.”

“There’s a man dead about a hundred yards from here. He’s arrow shot, too. I’m guessin’ he was chasin’ after their mules. There’s a whole slew of tracks there; I’d say eight to ten horses. You know what that means, don’t you?” Curry looked at his partner sideways, one eye still on the horizon.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Don’t you want to bury them first?”

“You want to stick around and meet the Indians that did this?”

“I think we should bury this family.”

“Kid, I know it’d be the decent thing to do, but…”

“Those Indians are long gone, Heyes. They got the mules, left everything else. No reason for them to come back here.”

“We don’t have any shovels. We’re buying our equipment in Bisbee, remember? How we going to bury four bodies?”

Curry looked at his partner. “Heyes, these folk were homesteaders; bound to have a shovel somewhere. We just got to find it.” As he spoke, he brushed back the canvas covering the wagon and searched inside. He held up one shovel. “See?”

They took turns digging and when all four people were buried and simple crosses marked the graves, Heyes and Curry wearily climbed onto their horses and resumed their journey.

After some time, Heyes said, “We have to report this, you know.”

“Yeah. I suppose that means the sheriff,” came Curry’s glum response.

“Don’t see who else.”

“Kind of risky.”

“Yeah.”

They rode in silence for a while, then Heyes ventured, “You sure we need to tell the law what happened?”

“No.”

“Because it ain’t going to make a difference to those people back there and…” Heyes stopped in mid-sentence. “Huh?”

“I said, no, I ain’t sure we need to go to the sheriff,” Curry repeated. “But, Heyes, what if someone else finds them, and our tracks, and tells the law, and then they think we did it. How we goin’ to prove we didn’t?”

Heyes grimaced as he wiped the sweat from his face with his bandana. “I hate it when you get logical.”

“Well, it’s gettin’ dark. You think we can make Bisbee tonight or should we camp here instead?”

Heyes looked at the sky to estimate how much time was left before the sun completely disappeared. Investigating the Indian attack had taken a couple hours. “I don’t like the odds of spending the night here and maybe getting attacked by Apache. But I don’t like the idea of riding at night in the desert when we’re not familiar with the way, either.”

“If we found some place defensible, you can take the first watch, and I’ll relieve you in a few hours. I’d rather not get lost in the desert; in fact, I think I’ve had enough of the desert to last me the rest of my life!”

Heyes grunted in agreement. They found a suitable campsite not long after that, under a rocky overhang that was partially hidden by mesquite.

“Dinner’ll have to be jerky and the biscuits we still got from breakfast,” Kid said glumly.

“You know we can’t make a fire and risk attracting unwanted visitors.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have to like it.”

After eating, Curry rolled out his bedroll and lay down under his blanket, boots still on. “Good night, Heyes.”

“Good night, Kid. I’ll wake you in four hours.”

Heyes spent the time gazing at the stars, unobstructed by any town lights in the huge expanse of the Chihuahuan desert. When the time came, he woke his partner and settled under his blanket for a few short hours of rest.

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

“Joshua, wake up.” Curry nudged Heyes with his foot. “C’mon, wake up.”

Heyes opened his eyes to a pale blue dawn and a carbine pointed at his chest. He sat up slowly and found himself staring at a Winchester. Then he saw that the brown weapon belonged to a black man, and his eyes widened.

“Good morning, Joshua. We got company.” Curry was sitting on the ground, his gun beside him.

Heyes retorted, “I can see that, Thaddeus. What happened?” He looked around at the group of men surrounding them, noting that all were black and all wore Army uniforms. All also held carbines competently in their hands.

The man pointing the Winchester at Heyes responded. “I’m Sergeant Washington, with the Ninth Cavalry of the United States Army. We’re on patrol. What are you doing here, gentlemen?” Although the question was asked politely, the weapon remained firmly in place.

Heyes quickly scanned the area. Their two horses were behind the five soldiers, effectively blocking any possibility of escape. His partner didn’t outwardly appear too worried but his posture indicated that Curry wasn’t happy about being caught by surprise by the soldiers.

Heyes lifted up his hands in a gesture of conciliation. “Sergeant, my name’s Joshua Smith and my partner is Thaddeus Jones. We’re on our way to Bisbee. We got a late start yesterday and decided to spend the night here instead of risking getting lost. That’s all,” he finished with a smile.

Curry nodded in agreement.

“We’re not trespassing, are we?” Heyes asked, trying to allay Washington’s suspicions. “We surely do apologize if we are. We’re strangers in these parts, maybe we got turned around on the trail when it got dark. Gosh, Thaddeus, you think maybe we got lost? I sure hope not! We need to get to Bisbee fast as we can. Sergeant,” Heyes implored the soldier, “could you point out the right direction for us, please? We’ll be on our way just as soon as we pack up.”

The other soldiers snickered. Washington turned to Curry. “He always talk that much?”

Curry twisted around to look at his partner, smirking when the others couldn’t see him. “Pretty much.”

“Ain’t necessary to talk so much in the desert. Could be dangerous makin’ so much noise, Mr. Smith,” Washington advised. “Don’t you know it ain’t safe out here? Where you comin’ from, Mr. Jones?”

“Oh, uh, Tombstone,” Curry replied quickly.

The sergeant scrutinized both men, who tried not to fidget under his gaze. The other soldiers waited patiently for their leader to decide what to do. Washington asked another question. “If you came from the north, that means you took the turn-off just outside of Tombstone. Correct?”

“Yes, sir,” Heyes said.

“Then,” Washington followed up, “did you see anything unusual along the way, sir?”

Although the question was asked casually, Heyes saw the soldiers under Washington’s command tense. Exchanging a glance with his partner, Heyes nodded. “Yes, we did. That’s why we wanted to get to Bisbee as quickly as possible.”

“And just what exactly did you see, sir?”

This time, Curry answered. “Some miles back, we came across a wagon that’d been attacked. Looked like it was Indians. We buried the family.”

“We found some arrows,” Heyes added. “We’re on our way to report it to the sheriff in Bisbee.”

Washington lowered his carbine and signaled his men to do the same. “All right, gentlemen. Could be you’re tellin’ the truth. But you’re a lot closer to Fort Huachuca than Bisbee, so you can make your report there. We’ll escort you.”

Curry silently communicated his unease to Heyes. His partner shrugged fatalistically.

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

“Enter!”

Sergeant Washington, followed by Heyes and Curry, walked into the small office where a colonel was busy writing notes in a ledger. Washington stood at attention in front of the desk while the two civilians nervously waited near the door, which an adjutant had closed behind him on his way out after admitting the three men.

“Sergeant Washington reporting, sir!” He saluted and then waited for permission to speak.

“Make your report, Sergeant.” The colonel flicked his eyes to Heyes and Curry, obviously curious, but waited to hear what his most senior enlisted man had to say.

“We was on patrol as ordered, Colonel Grierson, when we seen smoke in the desert. We moved closer and seen a wagon lyin’ on its side. It’d been attacked, sir. All the goods scattered all round. Man, woman, kids was all dead, sir. Looked like Apache. Weren’t no sign of horses but we seen tracks goin’ south.” Washington paused and the colonel nodded for him to continue.

“We followed the tracks a ways and came on these two. Said they was on their way to Bisbee. Claim to be miners but they don’t have no mining tools, sir. I thought it best to bring them back here, sir.”

The officer gazed hard at the two men standing behind his sergeant. “What were you doing out in the desert there?”

Just as Heyes opened his mouth to answer the question, the colonel pointed in Curry’s direction. “Well?”

Curry glanced at Heyes. “We, uh, like Sergeant Washington said, sir, we’re on our way to Bisbee. Goin’ to try our hand at minin’.”

“You don’t look like miners.”

Heyes interceded and with a smile of acknowledgment said, “As a matter of fact, sir, we ain’t really miners. We read about the copper strike in the newspaper and thought we’d give it a try.”

“Where are your tools?” Grierson asked.

“Oh, we plan on buying everything in Bisbee. Would’ve been too hard for our horses to carry so much equipment such a long way.”

Still suspicious, the colonel continued his questioning. “Where were you coming from, then? And why were you in the desert, instead of on the road to Bisbee? I’m afraid, gentlemen, your story doesn’t hold up.”

Heyes continued to use his most persuasive manner. “We came from Tombstone. I’m afraid we got a little lost. You see, there was a fork in the road and we took what turned out to be a wrong turn. We thought we were going straight but we ended up on a real crooked path and, well sir, I guess we just got confused there for a while.”

“Go on.”

“We decided to stop for the night. Didn’t want to get any more lost than we already were. Well, we came upon those poor folks in the wagon, but ain’t nothing we could do except bury them, so that’s what we did. We were going to tell the sheriff in Bisbee but your men found us first.”

“I see. Well, it’s our job to make this area safe for settlers and the Army takes its responsibility seriously. There’s been some trouble recently with the Apache and this incident will only make matters worse. Civilian travel is now restricted. You will remain here until a detail is going to Bisbee, when you can travel there under escort. In the meantime, you’ll be quartered here at the Army’s expense. Dismissed!”

Heyes and Curry looked at each other in dismay. Misinterpreting, the colonel said, “Sergeant Washington will make sure your stay is comfortable. Sergeant, please show these men to the guest quarters and make them familiar with post regulations.”

“Yes, sir. This way, gentlemen.” Washington saluted his commanding officer and led the way out the door.

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

After detailing a trooper to see to their horses, the sergeant led Heyes and Curry along the western edge of the parade ground and then turned right to cross a small creek. The group passed the fort’s bakery and one of the post’s kitchens before arriving at the boarding house. The two civilians noted that their horses were stabled in the cavalry’s corral a couple hundred feet away.

Washington walked up the steps, unlocked the front door, and ushered Curry and Heyes into one of the rooms along the corridor on the first floor. “I trust you’ll be comfortable here, gentlemen.” He turned to leave.

“What about our meals?” Curry asked. “Where do we eat?”

“Dinner is at 1200 hours in the Cavalry Barracks in the building on your right. You don’t want to be late. Now, if there’s nothing else, I best be gettin’ back to work.”

Heyes thanked him and the soldier departed.

Curry dropped his saddlebags over the back of a chair. “Now what?”

Heyes shrugged. “Might as well unpack. Looks like we’re going to be here a while.” He started removing his clothes from his own saddlebags and laid them neatly in the top drawer of the bureau that was in between the two beds in the room.

“That’s not what I meant,” Curry grumbled.

“I know, Kid. What do you want me to say? We can’t very well sneak out of here. You want the whole Ninth Cavalry hunting us, too?”

Curry shook his head and sighed. “No.”

“We just got to make the best of it and hope Colonel Grierson finds out quickly what really happened to those people.” Heyes looked at his partner sympathetically. “I don’t like it any better than you but I don’t see as we got much of a choice.”

Heyes poured water from the pitcher into the bowl and washed his hands and face. “Let’s go look around. All these soldiers here, maybe you can learn something about guns from them.”

Curry ignored his grinning friend and after cleaning up, they left, Heyes carefully locking their door with the key Sergeant Washington had given him.

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

Promptly at 1200, Heyes and Curry entered the soldiers’ mess hall and found themselves surrounded. About seventy-five black men were staring at them. The room was silent as the soldiers watched the two civilians get their food and sit down at a vacant table against a wall.

“How come we’re the only…?” Curry started to ask.

“The only what, Kid?”

“The only ones who ain’t soldiers.”

“I don’t know.” Heyes surveyed the room. The soldiers were looking at them and whispering, but too softly to be heard.

“What do you think they’re talkin’ about?”

“Us. Sure would like to know what they’re saying.”

Curry eyed the food on the plate in front of him. “Maybe they’re talkin’ about the food. This don’t look too fillin’.”

“Nothing wrong with beans, bacon, and bread.” Heyes raised a fork to his mouth. “Not bad.”

“It ain’t what it is, it’s how much there is. I mean, how little.” Curry had finished his meal while they were talking. He stood up.

“What are you doing?” Heyes asked sharply.

“Gettin’ some coffee. Want some?”

“No, and neither do you. Sit down.”

“What’s the matter with you, Heyes? Take it easy.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, we kind of stick out here. I don’t like people staring at us, memorizing what we look like.”

“That the only thing worryin’ you?”

“Ain’t that enough?”

Curry looked down at his partner, who was fiddling with the silverware on his now-empty plate. He sat down again and said seriously, “It never bothered you before. We even had a few blacks in the gang at times. You know they ain’t any different from us.”

Heyes looked at his partner and tried to explain. “It’s not that. I don’t care what color a man’s skin is long as he can do the job proper. It’s just…”

“What?”

“I don’t like the idea of taking orders from Washington.”

Curry started laughing. “Sheesh, Heyes, you don’t like takin’ orders from anyone, it don’t matter who they are!”

Conceding the point with a grin, Heyes said, “Go on, then, get your coffee.” He watched as Curry went and asked the cook to fill his cup, then raised an eyebrow questioningly when Sergeant Washington sat down next to him.

“Enjoy the meal, sir?” Washington asked with interest.

“It was, um, real good,” Heyes assured him.

Washington regarded him for a moment before speaking. Then he asked, “Why didn’t you two just up and leave when you saw who was eatin’ here?”

“Should we have? This is where you told us to come. We stayed because the food was here and no one bothered us.” Heyes paused. “You always tell visitors to eat here?”

“No, not all of them,” the sergeant replied cryptically, then rose when Curry returned. “Sir,” he said as he walked back to his table.

“What was that all about?”

Heyes was thoughtful. “I’m not sure, but I think we just passed some kind of test.”

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

The sun peeked over the horizon and all was quiet as the two civilians silently glided past the cavalry corral and walked northwest away from the fort towards the mountains. Once inside the cover of the forest, they made their way through the underbrush until Curry indicated with a gesture that he was satisfied with the location.

Curry set up six pine cones on a log, then walked back twenty paces.

Heyes moved in front of him. “This ain’t a good idea, Kid. You know that, don’t you?”

“I got to practice, Heyes!”

“I don’t know why you have to do it here, in the middle of an Army post!” Heyes threw up his hands in frustration as he shouted.

“What’s the matter with you? I haven’t practiced for two days; I’m goin’ to get rusty if I don’t keep my hand in it!”

“You’re going to drive me crazy, you know that?” Heyes rubbed his eyes. “You know what’s going to happen as soon as you start shooting? Someone’s going to hear and come looking. And you know what they’re going to find? Kid Curry, fastest gun in the West! Is that what you want?”

“No, that’s not what I want!” Curry yelled. “But a man’s got to practice, don’t he?”

“And when the soldiers find us, what do you think they’re going to do?” Heyes looked like he wanted to flatten Curry.

“I’ll just shoot for an hour. I’ll be finished before anyone finds us.”

“It’s a stupid idea, Kid.” But Heyes moved to stand behind his partner, shaking his head in annoyance.

Curry stood with his feet apart, facing the log, gauging the wind by tilting his head skyward, then sighting his weapon. The six shots sounded like four. Curry grimaced when he saw the results. “This is why I got to practice, Heyes.” He held up the one pine cone that wasn’t completely shattered.

“It ain’t a crime to miss one,” Heyes tried to console his partner.

Curry glared at the pine cone, then said, “It ain’t good enough.”

“Most everyone else’d be satisfied.”

Curry turned his glare on Heyes.

“All right. You’re not most everyone else.” Heyes found more pine cones and set them up, then watched for forty more minutes as his partner gradually regained his form.

“Feel better?”

“Guess so,” Curry replied, but his sigh indicated dissatisfaction.

“You do look faster now,” Heyes assured him.

“Another hour would be good.” Curry looked hopefully at his partner.

“If you’re that worried, we can come back tomorrow.”

“I don’t think so.” Sergeant Washington suddenly appeared from behind a hillock.

Completely surprised, Heyes and Curry exchanged a concerned look but stayed where they were.

“Have you any idea what you done? Don’t you know someone shootin’ off a gun around here is gonna get the Army all riled up? That mebbe the Army would think the post was under attack? Don’t you have no common sense?” The soldier looked at the two men, now standing sheepishly before him, and ended his harangue.

“It’s my fault, Sergeant,” Curry began. “Joshua…”

“Sorry, sir,” Heyes interrupted his partner before he could say more. “We didn’t think anyone would take notice. This being an Army post and all.”

“Well, you sure didn’t think, that’s true!” Washington told them.

“Sergeant, I’m sorry for the trouble I caused,” Curry said. “It’s just that I like to practice every day.”

Washington gazed steadily at the civilians until they shifted under the scrutiny. “That ain’t possible. You need to come with me, gentlemen.”

Another concerned look passed between Heyes and Curry. “Look, Sergeant, we’re really very sorry. We’ll make sure it don’t happen again,” Heyes said, glaring at his partner.

“Oh, it certainly won’t,” Washington agreed. “Let’s go.” He turned back toward the post and Curry and Heyes reluctantly followed.

Lagging behind, Curry whispered, “Do you think we should make a run for it?”

“Not yet. They got horses, remember? They’d find us in no time. I don’t know how much Washington heard, but I been thinking about what we said and I don’t think we gave ourselves away. No reason to make him more suspicious by running.”

“You think you can talk us out of whatever he’s got planned?”

“Pretty sure. Let’s just wait and see what happens.”

“All right, but I don’t like it.”

“For once, Kid, I’m in total agreement with you.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

“Here’s the source of the shootin’, sir.” Sergeant Washington pointed first to Curry and then to Heyes, who were standing in front of the colonel’s desk, hats in their hands, a repentant look on Heyes’ face and a defiant one on Curry’s.

“Gentlemen, have you any idea what the sound of unknown gunshots means on an Army post?” Grierson asked.

Mutely, they shook their heads.

“Fort Huachuca is in the middle of Apacheria. We are here solely because there is a problem with the Indians. When soldiers hear gunfire and don’t know where it comes from, they assume they are under attack. When they are under attack, half the infantry deploy as skirmishers and the rest assume defensive positions to protect the fort. The cavalry mounts up and rides out. The colored troops, whom the newspapers like to call buffalo soldiers, have been well trained. As soon as shots were heard and none of my officers could explain them, the entire fort did what it is trained to do and rushed to their designated posts.”

“We’re sorry, sir.” Heyes hid his irritation with his partner from the senior officer as he apologized, adding, “We figured this being an Army post, gunshots wouldn’t be a problem, what with soldiers training and all. I mean, they do practice shooting, don’t they?”

“I suppose civilians can’t be faulted for not knowing military regulations. But if you were officers, what you did would be punishable by death.” The colonel regarded the two men who visibly paled before him. “However, you may have actually done us a favor.”

Heyes cocked his head but neither he nor Curry said anything.

A trace of a smile appeared on Grierson’s face. “Yes. The men haven’t done a battle drill recently that simulated an attack so your blunder gave us the opportunity to determine how effective our training has been.”

“Glad to be of service, sir,” Heyes said, smiling himself. “But we’ll make sure it don’t happen again.”

Curry finally spoke, saying glumly, “No, sir, it won’t.”

The colonel nodded. “Good. The men have a lot of duties here and while an occasional disruption in their daily regimen can be accommodated, I do not want a repeat of this morning’s activities. Is that clear?”

Curry and Heyes nodded and turned to leave.

A cough from Sergeant Washington stopped them. “Sir.”

“Yes, what is it, Sergeant?”

“The competition, sir.”

“What about it?”

“Mebbe these two…”

The colonel leaned back in his chair. He appraised first the dark-haired man, so eager to oblige, and then the blond, the one who apparently was the cause of the morning’s activity. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, sir. I saw Mr. Jones shoot, sir. Didn’t see Mr. Smith, sir, but if he’s half as good, then we got the competition locked up.”

“Let me explain, gentlemen,” Grierson said, answering the curiosity in the men’s faces. “Tomorrow, Fort Huachuca has its semi-annual field competition to determine which company can lay claim to having the best soldiers. There will be contests involving various forms of shooting and riding. Prizes are awarded to the winners of each individual contest. Sergeant Washington is asking if you two would like to join his company and participate in the competition.”

Curry’s eyes lit up and he looked at his partner. Heyes shrugged. “What do we have to do?”

“Sergeant Washington will explain the details. But first, we have to put you on the Army payroll to make it legal.”

“You mean we have to join the Army for this?” Curry asked.

Washington grinned at his discomfiture. “Something wrong with that, sir?”

“Oh, no, not at all. It’s just, we, uh…” Curry looked at Heyes to resolve the situation.

“It’s just that we don’t want to miss out on the copper strike in Bisbee,” Heyes said, coming to his friend’s rescue.

“Don’t worry, gentlemen. Besides soldiers, people contracted to work for the Army are allowed to participate. We’ll add you to the payroll as,” Grierson paused as he thought a moment, “as teamsters.”

“And how much will we be paid as teamsters?”

“Joshua!” Curry remonstrated. “It don’t really matter.”

“If it has to be legal, then we have to be paid,” Heyes insisted.

“Quite right, Mr. Smith. You’ll be on the Army payroll for only one day so you will each be paid one dollar.”

Heyes’ eyes widened. “A dollar? For a whole day’s work?”

Grierson became serious. “Mr. Smith, my enlisted men receive thirteen dollars for one month’s work. You and Mr. Jones are being paid more than twice as much as that. The Army is not some bank that has an unlimited amount of money to spend. We are also providing you with quarters and rations. I suggest you consider that as well.”

Curry interceded. “That will be fine. Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. Don’t we, Joshua?” he asked pointedly.

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

“Good. Now, Sergeant, please give Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith the details about the competition and show them where it will be held. That will be all.”

“Sir.” Washington saluted and ushered Heyes and Curry outside.

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~

Colonel Grierson, as commander of Fort Huachuca, acted as master of ceremonies for the day’s activities. Surveying the crowd of spectators, he saw his wife seated at the front of the ladies’ section, holding a parasol like all the other officers’ wives to keep the hot Arizona sun from burning her skin to a shade of bronze like a savage Apache’s.

Addressing the assemblage, Grierson described the four events that the soldiers would compete in and explained the rules for each one. “The first event is designed to display the horsemanship of the soldiers as they compete to see who can maneuver through a set course first. As the distance is not long, the riders will traverse the course twice. Marksmanship will be showcased next. The following event combines riding with shooting, and involves competitors firing rifles at stationary targets as their horses gallop by. The final event requires each man to ride to a specified point, dismount, then fire over his horse’s back at a target.”

Grierson then introduced the teams participating in the day’s competition. “Today there are four teams, two from cavalry companies and two from infantry companies. Each team has five men.” One cavalry team and one infantry team were composed entirely of white soldiers, and buffalo soldiers comprised the members of the second infantry team. Heyes noticed that his team, Company C of the Ninth Cavalry, was the only one that included both black men and white men.

A soldier from one of the other teams objected when the names Smith and Jones were read aloud. “We ain’t never seen them two before!” His fellow teammates nodded.

“Good,” muttered Curry.

Heyes laughed.

Sergeant Washington said, “They just started working here. You prob’ly ain’t never seen them ‘cos they been busy haulin’ freight between here and Tombstone. But they’s on the Army payroll. You can examine the records if you want.”

“No, no. If you say so, we believe you,” the soldier backtracked.

Turning away from the other team, Curry said, “Not sure I like bein’ the center of attention here.”

“Now you tell me? You’re the one who was so all-fired eager to do this, Kid. You may recall, I wasn’t exactly keen on it.”

“You weren’t exactly against it, neither.”

Heyes scowled. “Well, can’t help it now. Just try and come in second or third. Maybe that way we won’t get noticed so much.”

Curry looked at his partner incredulously. “I can’t do that! Washington is countin’ on me. I can’t let him down. Besides, he’s already seen me shoot so he knows what I can do.”

“Well, he ain’t seen me shoot. I’ll pretend I’m not real good.”

“It wouldn’t be pretendin’,” Curry smirked.

Heyes narrowed his eyes.

Curry laughed. “What happened to your sense of humor, Heyes?”

Heyes sighed and, gesturing to all the soldiers who were walking towards the corral at the other end of the parade ground, said, “Come on, then. Let’s not keep them waiting.”

~~<>~~<>~~<>~~