royannahuggins
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Join date : 2013-10-13
 | | The Sheriff and Dingus McGee | |
Starring
Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes
Ben Murphy as Kid Curry
Guest Starring
Rip Torn as Dingus McGee
Robert Conrad as Sheriff Eugene Walker
Peter Brown as Deputy Blake
Wally Cox as Barney Fuller The Sheriff and Dingus McGee
by Penski
A man wearing a long black jacket, with his hat pulled low over his face, rode into a town towards sunset. A long package, wrapped in a blanket, was tied over the saddle of the horse he led. Reining in by the jail, he dismounted and stretched.
Moments later the sheriff came out of his office. “Who you got there, Jake?”
“Just another no good outlaw for you.”
“Got a name?”
“Yep, J McDaniels. Killed a lawman in Texas.”
“McDaniels.” The sheriff pondered. “Come on in. We’ll go through the posters to see how much he’s worth.”
“No need to; got the poster right here.” The man took a folded paper out of his pocket. “Says he’s worth $500 dead or alive.”
The sheriff eyed the wrapped body slung over the saddle. “Like the way you bring ’em in. No jail time or trial, and I don’t have to feed ‘em, just bury ‘em.”
“Besides, dead men don’t talk,” the man chuckled.
“Come on in for a cup of coffee and we’ll start on the paperwork,” invited the sheriff. “I’ll get someone to take McDaniels over to the undertaker.”
“Much obliged, Sheriff.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry tightened the cinches of their mounts and led them out of the livery.
“Here’s the papers you have to deliver.” Heyes handed some documents to Curry, who put them in his saddlebag and sighed.
“I know. You don’t like the idea of us separating.”
“That’s right – no good ever comes when we separate. Have no one watchin’ our backs.” The Kid buckled the bag closed.
“I agree, but we need the money and these two delivery jobs became available at the same time.”
“I get it, but that don’t mean I like it. And why do you always get to go on the shorter trip?”
“We flipped a coin and you lost.” Heyes smiled, innocently.
“As usual. Don’t know why I always agree to a coin toss.”
“We used your coin this time,” Heyes reminded him. “Besides, I’ll be able to add to our money with some poker. If I remember right, the boys at Pine Grove bet on two of a kind.”
“Then you can buy me a steak dinner when I get there.”
“I’ll do that.” Heyes mounted his horse. “It’ll be less than a week. Meet you in Pine Grove.”
Curry settled into the saddle. “Watch your back, Joshua.”
“You do the same, Thaddeus.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Heyes grinned as he counted the money and pocketed it. His delivery to Red Bluff had gone smoother than he’d hoped. A bonus had been paid for getting it to the lawyer early. After a quick drink and a meal, he headed toward Pine Grove.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
As the moon rose over the mountains, Kid Curry leaned against a tree and gnawed on jerky. His hobbled horse grazed nearby.
As tempting as coffee and a hot meal were, he was safer without a fire, especially without Heyes with him. He drank from his canteen. “If I get on the road at dawn, I should make it to Jackson and then on to Pine Grove just in time for that steak dinner Heyes promised me.” Cheered by that thought, Curry grinned as he took another bite of jerky.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The Kid rode into town past a ‘Welcome to Jackson’ sign and headed toward the Silver Dollar saloon. He let his horse drink its fill from a trough before tying it to a hitching post. “I’ll be back after I send Heyes a telegram and have a quick beer to cut the dust.” he promised.
About thirty minutes later, Curry checked his cinch, untied his horse and mounted. “Told you I wouldn’t be long.”
Unnoticed, a man chewing on a stogie leaned against a building in an alley and watched the wanted man ride out of town until he disappeared from sight. With a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, he stood up and checked his gun. He added a sixth bullet, closed the cylinder, and holstered the gun after a twirl. Satisfied, the man walked over to his horse at the end of the alley and mounted. “Time to go a huntin’. Curry huntin’.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Kid Curry was a few miles out of Jackson and Pine Grove was less than twenty miles away, when a few gunshots fired rapidly in succession spooked his horse.
“Whoa… easy girl,” he soothed his animal as his eyes searched the surrounding area trying to figure out where the shots had come from.
“Get your hands up, Curry!” barked a voice from behind a rock.
“Who?” The Kid raised his hands. “I think you have the wrong person. My name is-”
“Kid Curry.” A man holding a Colt walked into view.
“Dingus McGee.”
“You remember. I’m touched, Kid.”
“How could I forget? Me and Heyes kicked you outta the Devil’s Hole Gang. I heard you were dead.”
“You heard right. Some other poor soul died in that fire and the papers all said it was me. Smart man that I am, I took advantage of the situation and changed professions – bounty hunter now. Got a new name, too. Jake Williams.”
“You’re Jake Williams?”
“So, you’ve heard of me.”
“It pays to know those who are tryin’ to turn you in.”
“Those are truthful words, Curry, and yet they didn’t help you. Yeah, I’m so successful because I know what a lot of outlaws look like. Take you and Heyes. No good descriptions of you out there.” The man walked over and pulled the Kid off of his horse, shoved him down onto the ground and put his knee into his prisoner’s lower back. “So where are you meetin’ up again with Heyes?”
Winded, and with his face pressed into the dirt, Curry managed to answer, “I’m not. We went our separate ways a few months back.”
McGee pulled out a leather thong and roughly tied the Kid’s hands behind his back. “You and Heyes were as thick as blood.”
“Not no more.”
Dingus rolled his prisoner over and stared into his eyes. The hard slap and punch came out of nowhere. “Don’t lie to me. Who else would you have sent a telegram to?” Another punch. “Where’s Heyes?
“Even if I knew,” Curry gasped through the pain, “do you really think I’d tell?”
“You will, eventually.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
A battered Curry swayed as his horse walked behind McGee’s mount. He mumbled around a fat lip, “Why didn’t you just turn me in at Jackson? Was only a few miles back. Where we goin’?”
“I have a friend who’s a sheriff and he don’t care how I bring in the outlaws – dead or alive. I bet you’ve heard of Gene Walker, haven’t you?”
“Eugene Walker?”
“Yep, he’ll be happy to see you, Kid, though I bet he’d rather see both of you.”
“I bet.”
“He sure has held a grudge against you and Heyes ever since you robbed his town and made off with the loot. Got Gene kicked outta that town and he had to do some mighty persuasive talking to convince another town he was a good enough sheriff to hire. His new town’s a few days away. That’ll give me time to get reacquainted with you some more and hopefully get to see Heyes, too.”
“Don’t care much for your way of gettin’ reacquainted,” muttered the Kid, aiming a heated glare at his captor’s back.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Heyes enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Annie’s Café. Afterwards, he headed over to the hotel to read for a few hours before going back to the saloon for another evening of poker. As he stepped into the hotel lobby, he heard someone call out his name.
“Mr. Smith?”
Heyes turned to the hotel clerk. “Yes?”
The man held out a piece of paper. “A telegram arrived for you this morning.”
Heyes took the proffered piece of paper and smiled as he read it.
JS <stop> In Jackson <stop> Should arrive for steak dinner <stop> TJ
“My friend will be arriving today from Jackson – Thaddeus Jones. How long of a ride is that from here?”
“Well, he should be here sometime around lunch, depending on when he left and how fast he travels.”
“When he arrives, please give him a key to my room.”
“Yes, sir.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
McGee led Curry to a fork in the road. The sign showed Pine Grove five miles one way and the state border in the opposite direction. The bounty hunter, taking the road toward the border, yanked hard on the rope leading his prisoner’s horse, causing the animal to startle.
The Kid, weary and with his hands tied behind his back, fought hard to keep his balance. In the end, he lost the battle and fell off into the dirt landing hard on his shoulder.
McGee jumped down and grabbed him roughly by his hair, jerking Curry's head up and causing him to wince in pain. “Get up, Kid!” he snarled.
Curry stumbled to stand. McGee threw him back on the horse and tied him on. “There, now you’ll stay put.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Heyes closed his book and sighed as he looked at his watch. It was after 3:00, late in the afternoon. He paced the room a few times and ran a hand through his hair. “Just a hunch, but I've gotta bad feeling about this. A real bad feeling. Maybe I’ll just go and meet you on the trail.” Heyes gathered his belongings into his saddle bags. “Just in case.”
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Heyes crossed to the desk and rang the bell.
The hotel clerk hurried in from the next room. “Oh, Mr. Smith, you’re leaving? Your friend didn’t show up.”
“I know. Think I’ll go meet him on the trail. He’s always running into problems with that horse of his.” He laid some coins down on the counter. “Here’s enough for the room tonight. Hopefully I’ll be back with him soon.”
The clerk took the money. “Hope you find him, sir.”
“Me, too.”
Heyes rode five miles until he came to a fork in the road. He was about to turn left towards Jackson when something caught his eye – a brown floppy hat on the side of the road heading toward the state border. He quickly dismounted and picked it up. “Kid.” He looked around and noticed two sets of horse prints and an area where someone was on the ground. “What happened to you?”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
That evening, McGee camped off the road near a creek in a copse of trees. He had Curry tied standing upright to a trunk and was standing next to him.
“And this one’s for kickin’ me outta the Hole!” McGee punched him in the stomach and the Kid doubled over.
The bounty hunter grabbed his hair and lifted his head. “I'll ask you one more time, Curry, where's Heyes?”
“Go to– ”
McGee slapped him hard in the face, then turned away in disgust and sat down. “I should’ve known you weren’t gonna tell on your partner.”
The Kid breathed hard, fighting against the pain. He hurt everywhere. A rib was bruised or broken. He was cold, exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. And alone.
“Is Heyes really worth this much pain?” McGee asked as he poured a cup of coffee and ate his dinner. “He’d be tellin’ where you were.”
Curry didn’t take the bait and remained quiet.
McGee finished eating, tossed his empty plate on the ground and stood. “As I see it, Kid, you have a couple of choices. You can tell me where you were meetin’ up with Heyes and I’ll leave you alone the rest of the trip. Or you can continue bein’ muleheaded and suffer. Don’t bother me none if you arrive dead or alive. Kinda enjoyin’ gettin’ reacquainted with you and reminiscin’ on old times.” He walked over to his prisoner and hit him hard in the jaw. “Walker’s not the only one who has a grudge! I’ve had my own grudge against you and Heyes for quite a while now because of – ”
Click.
McGee felt cold metal pressed hard against his neck.
“Grudges are for folks with bad stomachs,” Heyes spat. “Now get away from my partner!”
Dingus moved to the side, giving Heyes a good view of his battered partner. “I should just kill you for doing that to the Kid. It was me who kicked you out of the gang. Not him.”
“You’re not a killer, Heyes,” McGee retorted with disdain.
“And you are.” He cocked his Schofield. "You deserve this for what you did back when you were a gang member and for what you did to Kid.”
Despite his show of bravado just moments earlier, McGee gulped, his knees wobbling.
“Not worth the bullet, Heyes,” Curry managed, his one good eye looking into his partner’s, dark with anger. “He’s not worth losin’…what we’re fightin’ for.”
Heyes sighed and released the trigger.
McGee straightened up and gave Heyes a smirking grin. “Told you so.”
Heyes raised his gun and brought it down hard on the bounty hunter’s head, dropping McGee unconscious to the ground.
“Kid.” Heyes pulled a knife from his boot and cut his partner down, grabbing him before he fell.
“What took…so long?” Curry asked as he clutched Heyes’ coat.
Heyes helped Curry over to the warmth of the fire and settled him on McGee’s bed roll. “Got your telegram from Jackson and knew you’d be in Pine Grove around lunch. Seeing how you never miss a meal, I knew something was wrong and came after you.” He handed him a canteen.
The Kid took a deep drink. “How… How’d find me?”
“Your hat.”
“Hat?”
“Yeah, at the fork of the road. You left it so I’d know which way to go.”
“Huh, smarter than… thought.” Curry closed his eyes.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
A few hours later, the Kid opened his good eye and looked around. Heyes was feeding McGee, who's turn it was now to be tied up to the tree.
“Heyes?” Curry croaked, his voice raspy.
Heyes turned, and seeing his partner awake, hurried over.
“Water?”
“Right here.” Heyes opened a canteen and gave it to him.
The Kid took a drink and, over the bottom of the upturned canteen, two brown eyes met one blue.
“How you feeling?”
“Like a herd of horses ran over me.”
“You’ve had a herd of horses run over you before?” Heyes smiled. “Hey, does McGee have a partner he’s not telling me about?”
Curry shook his head, then wished he hadn’t. His eye squeezed shut in pain. “No partner… seen.”
“Can I get you something? Think you can eat?”
“No. Whiskey?”
Heyes rifled through a saddle bag and found a bottle.
“Hey, that’s mine!” shouted McGee.
Heyes gave the man a look that quieted him. He knelt and poured a swallow in a cup. “Here you go, Kid.”
Curry drank the liquor and soon fell asleep.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Hours later, Curry woke and watched his partner adding sticks to the fire.
Heyes turned and saw a blue eye. “Hey.” He handed him the canteen. “Hope you feel better than you look.”
The Kid took a drink. “Hopin’… looked better… than felt.” He glanced around. “McGee?”
“Still tied to the tree over there sleeping.” Heyes handed him a biscuit. “Try to eat. It’ll make you feel better.”
Curry took the bread and broke it up, eating a little at a time. “Hurts to breathe.”
Heyes nodded. “I bet it does. I checked you over when you passed out and you bruised a rib or two pretty good. Don’t think any of 'em's broken. I tore up some of McGee’s shirts so we can bind them up for you.”
“McGee is Jake Williams.”
“Jake Williams the bounty hunter?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he say where he was taking you? Would’ve thought he’d go back to Jackson or on to Pine Grove.”
“Has a sheriff friend that don’t care how he brings ‘em in. Sheriff Eugene Walker.”
“Eugene Walker? Of all the luck. He has to be pretty angry with us for robbing his town.”
“Yep. Got fired. Has a new town.”
“McGee and Walker – you couldn’t have picked a couple of men who didn’t have it in for us?”
“What fun would that be?”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Over a day later, Curry gingerly got on his horse. His ribs were wrapped, but the act still caused a grimace of pain to cross his face. “You sure we just wanna keep McGee tied up here? You know he’ll get away and come after us.”
“What do you want to do with him?”
Kid Curry shrugged.
“Besides, we talked things over. I reminded him that we could, and would, identify him as Dingus McGee, who’d be wanted for murder, if he was still alive, instead of just Jake Williams.”
Curry glanced over at McGee and lowered his voice. “You think we can trust him?”
“We'll be long gone before he ever gets free.”
“So, we jus' gonna leave him here all tied up?”
“Yep,” Heyes nodded. “But we'll notify the law in Pine Grove that he's out here.”
“We're jus' gonna ride into Pine Grove, walk into the sheriff's office an' tell him that we left a man tied up out here?” Curry shook his head doubtfully. “That don't sound like one of your better plans to me.”
“Give me more credit than that, Kid.” Heyes grinned and spoke low, “We’ll make it sound like we’re going to Jackson just in case McGee does decide to follow us. You double back and head towards the border. I’ll ride into Pine Grove and leave an anonymous note for the sheriff. He'll never know it was us at all. Since you’ll be riding slower, I’ll be able to catch up with you.”
“Separatin’ again…”
“Just for a short while.”
“And if someone on the trail sees me all battered like this?”
“Hope it’s a gal who’ll wanna nurse you back to health.”
The Kid smiled. “That plan I like.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
“You can’t leave me here tied up!” shouted McGee. “Untie me! I won’t go after you!” Heyes, Curry!”
The two former outlaws continued down the road.
“I’ll let someone in Jackson know where to find you,” Heyes shouted back.
“Jackson!? No one will be around here until tomorrow.”
“That’s right. Plenty of time for us to be out of the area.”
“Heyes! Curry! I’ll get you if it’s the last thing I do!”
“He sure changed his mind real quick, didn’t he,” the Kid commented.
‘He sure did.” Heyes glanced sideways at his partner. “You okay?”
“I’ve rode in worse shape. You worry about stayin’ on your horse…”
Heyes and the Kid completed the statement in unison, “I'll worry about staying on mine."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Kid Curry kept a tight grip on the saddle horn with one hand and his reins in the other hand. A sheen on his face and sweat marks on his shirt showed the pain he tried to hide.
“Sure you’re okay?”
“Heyes.”
“We should’ve waited another day.”
The Kid sighed. “We’ve been through this. I’ll be okay. Just have to take it slow.”
“Well, it’s time for us to separate. You head back towards the state border, like we discussed, and I’m going to Pine Grove.”
“Sounds good.” Curry reined his horse. “Be safe.”
“You too.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Hannibal Heyes rode into Pine Grove with his hat low. He nodded as he reined his horse when two children ran into the street.
“Sorry, mister,” one of the boys yelled back as they continued down the boardwalk.
Heyes went into the Wells Fargo telegram office and wrote a message on a piece of paper. He folded the paper in half.
“Ready to send your message?” the clerk behind the counter asked.
“Would you deliver a message in town that’s not a telegram?”
“Sure, for two-bits.”
“Of course.” Heyes fished out a coin from his pocket and placed it on the counter.
“Who’s it go to?” the clerk took the paper.
“To the sheriff, but I don’t want you to deliver it until you’re on your way home tonight.”
“Delay the deliver? To the sheriff?”
“Yep.” Heyes put a second coin on the counter.
“Yes, sir.”
“Could you possibly forget who gave you the message to deliver?”
The man smiled and held out his hand.
Heyes dropped another coin into the hand.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Heyes galloped through the countryside to get on the road heading to the state border and back with his partner as quickly as possible. He took a roundabout route or went the long way around the area where McGee was tied up so he wouldn’t see or hear him. From on top of a hill, Heyes saw a lone rider wearing a brown hat on the road below. He smiled until he saw how the rider was sitting in the saddle. Heyes whipped his horse using the reins as he raced down the hillside to the road. A few minutes later, he was staring at the end of a Colt.
“Dang it, Heyes! Why’d you come up on me so fast? I could’ve shot you!” Kid Curry, now sitting up, yelled at his partner as he holstered his gun.
Heyes furrowed his brow. “You wouldn’t have shot me. Besides, I saw how you were leaning in your saddle. You’re hurting – hurting bad.”
The Kid winced. “I’m hurtin’ ‘cause I turned around too fast thinkin’ a posse was comin’ up behind me.”
Heyes scowled. “No, you were – ”
“Heyes, just let it go, will you? Do you see anyplace we can rest around here? No.”
“Okay, but we’re resting the horses at the next stream or shade we come to.”
“Fine. We’ll give the horses a rest.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry rode into the town of Colfax as the sun was setting. It was a larger town with several saloons, a livery, two churches and a school, two mercantiles and a variety of stores. There were also a few boarding houses, hotels, a café, a newspaper, Wells Fargo stage, a bank, and, of course, a jail.
“Huh, no sheriff’s name posted,” commented the Kid quietly.
“How inconvenient.” Heyes turned a frown in to a smile. “Maybe there’s no sheriff.”
“Can we be that lucky?”
“So, do you want a drink or dinner first?”
The Kid grimaced. “How about we get the horses settled and find a place to bed down. I’d rather just get a sandwich or soup and eat up in the room. I’m tired after these few days on the road.”
“You really must not be feeling well.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
That evening Curry rested in bed with his arm covering his eyes. A plate on the table still had a half sandwich. Heyes sat on the bed leaning against the head board reading the local paper, the Colfax Journal. Both men were in their long johns and henleys, ready for bed.
“Oh no!” Heyes gulped.
“What? Someone’s chickens got stolen?” the Kid asked, half asleep. “Can you turn off the light soon?”
“Kid, we have a problem – a BIG problem!”
Curry removed his arm from his face and turned toward his partner. “What kind of big problem?”
“Colfax has a sheriff.”
“Who?”
“Sheriff Eugene…”
“Walker,” Curry groaned. “Of all the towns and sheriffs out there, we have to choose his town.”
“Well, he obviously hasn’t seen us yet or we’d be in jail. Just have to stay outta sight and leave early.”
“Definitely before breakfast,” Kid agreed with a sigh.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Two men with their saddlebags over their shoulders and carrying bedrolls and rifles quietly went down the motel stairs and out the door without waking the clerk snoozing behind the counter. They stepped off the boardwalk and slipped into an alley, making their way to the livery.
“The owner should be opening soon,” Heyes commented when they reached the corral. “Sign said it opens at 6:00 a.m.”
A paper was tacked near the livery hours. Heyes read it aloud, “Opening at 7:00 a.m. today. Sorry for any trouble.” He huffed. “Another hour? It’ll be light by then.”
“Or we can help ourselves to our own horses and leave some cash. Could be a couple of miles away before they open.”
Heyes looked puzzled for a moment. “You mean…?”
“You have your picks, don’t you?”
Heyes looked around and reached into his boot. A few minutes later he had the lock opened and grinned. “After you.”
Kid Curry drew his gun and cautiously entered the dark stables. “Don’t look like anyone’s here.”
Heyes glanced around one more time before entering the building and shutting the door.
They quickly began saddling their horses.
Last edited by royannahuggins on Sun 02 Feb 2020, 9:55 pm; edited 4 times in total | |
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Good story, I thought some of it was familiar, glad you shared it on VS. It's never a good idea to separate, glad Heyes found Kid's hat and then the kid. Pretty bad luck that they wind up in town with the wrong sheriff. I liked the young lawyer and now he can say he had some high profile clients even if they did leave him in a cell.
