Starring
Ben Murphy as Kid Curry
Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes
Guest Stars
Robert Mitchum as Walt Jenkins
Robert Ryan as Bret Martin
Strother Martin as Stumpy
Jacob Vargas as Charlie
Shia LaBeouf as Eli Jenkins
James Drury as Lom Trevor
The Favor
by Inside Outlaw
“You want us to do what??!”
Kid Curry’s face was a mask of fury, causing Lom Trevors to unconsciously step back and raise his hands defensively. “Now, Kid, take it easy.”
“Easy? You think he should take it easy?” growled Heyes, sounding equally irritated. “The governor’s asking us to be his personal hired gunmen. We ain’t gonna do it!”
Lom’s head whipped around to the dark-haired ex-outlaw sitting on his desktop with one leg nervously swinging. “He didn’t ask that. He asked you to go down there, nose around, put a stop to whatever’s going on, and protect his friend’s interests.”
“Define ‘put a stop’.” Heyes coldly stared at Lom.
“Look, the last thing anyone wants is for this situation to turn violent. That’s exactly what the governor is trying to prevent.”
“Yeah, but he ain’t being clear on how he expects us to prevent anything.” The Kid crossed his arms over his chest still glaring at his old friend.
“All he knows is his friends are principal shareholders in Consolidated Mining. They’re the ones who own the Buzzard Mine, and the governor’s worried they’re going to lose their shirts if things go bad. He just wants eyes there to keep track of what’s going on.”
“And what exactly has been going on?” asked Heyes, skeptically.
“Sabotage. Equipment busted up, stolen, sand in the engines. Two nights ago, someone snuck in and set fire to their coal supply. That shuts the whole operation down for the next couple of days while they ship in more and try to smother the fire out.”
“Smother? Why not just pour some water on it?” asked the Kid.
Lom sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Water’s in short supply even the ditches are drying up between the mine and the town. There’s none to spare.”
“I get it now. You’re askin’ us to put ourselves in the middle of a water war? Are you crazy?” Angry again, Curry started for the door.
“Hold up, Kid, the governor isn’t going to take no for an answer on this one’,” cautioned Lom. “His friends are in real financial trouble and he asked this as a special favor.”
Heyes smirked, but it wasn’t friendly-looking. “Favor? He dresses all his orders up as favors. You know what, Lom? A favor means you can say no.”
“Call it what you want, but if you don’t do it, it could go bad for you.”
“How much worse could it go? We’ve been trying for this amnesty for going on three years with no end in sight.” Heyes stood up.
“Boys, please, just go check it out.”
“We’ll think about it,” the Kid pulled open the door, “and give you an answer in the mornin’.”
“Thank you,” said Lom, collapsing in his desk chair.
Curry stalked out and Heyes followed, slamming the door behind him.
~~~~~
“I still don’t know why we’re doin’ this,” grumbled the Kid. He was guiding his mount through a rocky, nearly dried-up streambed.
Heyes didn’t even attempt to mask the disdain in his reply, “We don’t have a choice and the governor knows it. He’s got us right where he wants us, Kid. We’ve got too much time invested in the amnesties to turn back now.”
“Amnesties ain’t gonna do us any good if we’re dead.”
“All we agreed to do was check out the situation and that’s all we'll do. Trust me; I won’t let anything bad happen to us.”
“You’d better not.”
~~~~~
Two dusty, trail-worn men walked into the modest hotel and rang the silver bell at the front desk. From the door to their left emerged a small man, wearing spectacles, a few strands of hair carefully combed across his balding head.
“Why, good evening, gentlemen; how may I assist you?”
“We’d like a room. Two beds, overlooking the street,” said Heyes.
“You’re in luck, sir, I have one available but it’s a little pricey,” he apologized. “Two dollars a night. If you take it for a week, I can give you a deal. Seven nights for the price of six.”
“We’ll take it.” The Kid shifted his bedroll under his arm.
“Hold on.” Heyes turned to his partner. “What are we going to do here for a week? I thought we were just going to hole up and rest a day or two and then head out?”
“What’s your hurry? We don’t have to be in Chama before the tenth. I like the idea of a little vacation before we drive those doggies north.”
“Drovers are you?” asked the clerk.
“More like drifters, but drovers for the next bit. All right, I’m in, too.” Heyes pulled out a ten-dollar bill and laid it on the counter.
“Names?”
“Sam Winston, and he’s Noah Pigg.”
Curry angrily mouthed his new name at his partner while the little man dutifully recorded the names in his register and spun it around. “If you’ll sign here, Mr. Winston, we’ll get you settled in no time.”
Heyes signed the register with an X. “Sorry, neither of us ever did learn to read or write.”
“That’s just fine, sir, not all of us can. Your X is signature enough.” Snatching a room key from the wall, the clerk passed it to Heyes. “Up the stairs to your left, third door down.”
“Much obliged,” said Curry with a smile as he started to follow Heyes up the stairs. Once safely in the room, he put his bags on top of the oak dresser as Heyes flopped onto the bed and stretched out. He unbuckled a bag and paused as he reached inside it. Turning, he scowled, “Noah Pigg, Heyes?”
“No one’s going to think THAT’s an alias,” laughed Heyes as his partner threw a pair of socks at him.
“Why do we even need aliases? Nobody knows Smith and Jones here.”
“True, and I’d like to keep it that way. We agreed we’d check things out but we never said we’d do the job. This way, if it turns ugly, we ride on out of here and no one’s the wiser. And the governor won’t be trying to keep an eye on Winston and Pigg. He doesn’t know who they are.”
“Next time, I’m choosing the aliases,” grumbled the Kid. He emptied his saddlebags into the dresser drawer by turning them upside down and shaking them until his clothes dumped out, then closed the drawer. The bags were tossed aside.
Heyes smiled. “So, what d’you say we go out tonight and sample the delights of beautiful, downtown Buzzard, New Mexico?”
“Looks like there ain’t much delight in Buzzard. Or much downtown.”
“Maybe not, but there’s also no sheriff here. Our kind of town, Kid.”
“My kind of town has a few more saloons and a whole lot more pretty women.”
~~~~~
“Howdy,” said Heyes to the bartender as he sat down on a stool. He gazed around the empty saloon. Dust covered most of the tables and only one other customer occupied one of the many chairs: a man with a full gray beard and a floppy mustache dripping with beer.
The Kid sat down next to his partner and eyed a chalkboard on the wall. “Your stew any good?’
“Best in Buzzard,” was the barkeep’s reply. “Where’re you boys from?”
“Just came in from Amarillo on our way to Chama. This looked like a good spot to rest up a few days.” Heyes plunked down a dollar. “A couple of drafts and two bowls of your stew, please.”
The coin quickly disappeared into the bartender’s apron. He placed two beers in front of his customers and hurried off to fetch the stews.
“Hoppin’ place,” noted the Kid. “We’ll sure be able to blend into the background here.”
“Hey, don’t start.”
Returning with the food, the barkeep served it with a slice of thick bread on top of each bowl. “Bread’s compliments of the house. My wife baked it fresh today.”
“Thank you.” Heyes scooped up a spoonful of the steaming stew and blew on it.
“Better give that a minute. It’s stinking hot.” Grabbing a rag from his back pocket, the man began wiping the already clean counter. “We don’t get many strangers here. What do you do?”
“Drifters,” said the Kid.
“Drovers,” said Heyes at the same time.
The man laughed. “Drifting drovers, huh? Well, if you’re going to be here for a few days I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Charlie Quintana.”
“Sam Winston,” replied Heyes.
“I’m Noah,” offered the Kid, sending a warning glance at Heyes.
“Nice to meet you,” said Charlie.
“So, Charlie, what do you do for fun around here?” The Kid looked out the window at the empty street.
“Well, we’ve got a real good baseball team. Won the county title just a few weeks ago. Bible study is Thursday night, if you’re interested. Saturday night can get a bit crazy when the ranch hands come to town, but they clear out early Sunday morning before the preacher finds them.” Charlie chuckled.
“What do the ranch hands do for fun?” The Kid looked hopeful.
“Drink, play some poker. You know, the usual.”
“Charlie,” began Heyes, gesturing over his shoulder. “I saw a sign for the Buzzard Mine. What are they mining?”
The smile on Charlie’s face vanished and his brows lowered angrily. “Silver is what they’ll tell you, but if you ask me, they’re mining water. Ain’t much of either around here.”
A snort from across the room caused Heyes and the Kid to look at the grizzled man seated alone.
“That cursed mine is dryin’ up this town,” said the man.
“How so?” The Kid picked up his beer and took a sip. “There’s a drought on.”
“Drought, my eye. The mine’s been stealing from our aquifer. We’ve had droughts afore and, maybe we got less water because of it, but there’s always been enough we could draw from underground. Ain’t now.”
Heyes turned back to his stew.
“Gotta have water to mine and the town’s gotta have water to survive. Ain’t ‘nuff to go around.”
“Wouldn’t the town have first rights over the mine?” asked Curry.
“It does,” Charlie answered, “but that’s for ground water. Law don’t say anything about water being tapped underground.”
Heyes paused, his stew-filled spoon a few inches from his mouth and frowned. “You mean they drilled a well? Is that legal?”
“Well, it wouldn’t be if we could prove that’s what they done,” growled the other customer.
“Bert’s right. That’s the problem. We don’t know where the water’s going or how it’s getting there. If we could prove what they were doing, they wouldn’t be doing it!” Charlie slammed down the glass he’d been polishing. “Danged thieves won’t let me into the mine to see what they’re doing and I’m the Mayordomo!”
“Mayordomo?” asked the Kid.
“It’s just a fancy Spanish word for ditch boss. I oversee the acequias, which is another fancy word for irrigation ditches. It’s my job to see the water gets to where it’s supposed to and those crooks aren’t letting me do my job.”
“But someone’s fixin’ ‘em good!” Bert guffawed. “Can’t mine if their machines don’t run.”
“Bert!” snapped Charlie.
“Well, it’s true!” yelled Bert. “You let them carpetbaggers push you around but at least someone’s got the guts to take ‘em on!” The two men glared angrily at each other.
Heyes continued quietly eating as Bert shoved back his chair and stomped out the door. When he was done, he put down his spoon and took a long swig of beer. “Maybe you aren’t going about it right.”
“Going about what right?”
“Figuring out where the water is going. It’s got to be going somewhere.”
Charlie, who had gone over to Bert’s table to collect his empty glass, turned abruptly. “What do you mean?”
“How many folks are there hereabouts?” asked Heyes.
“Sixty-eight at last count, but a few babies have been born since,” replied Charlie.
“I’m guessing some of those folks work up at the mine and know who the rest of you are.”
The Kid frowned and picked up his beer again. “You better not be sayin’ what I think you’re sayin’.”
“You need a couple of strangers nobody knows to take a look for you,” suggested Heyes.
“You are sayin’ what I thought you were sayin’,” groaned the Kid, rolling his eyes.
Charlie’s eyes brightened. “We can pay. Leave that to me. How much do you want?”
“Now hold on, Charlie. I’m not saying we’ll do it; just that you need a couple of strangers,” said Heyes. “If word got around you were paying someone to spy on the mine, that someone would probably be dead before he learned anything.”
“I hear you and I’m not saying a word to anyone, not even Maria. But, if someone were to find out what was going on, I can guarantee that person would be well compensated. I’d even say two hundred dollars would be a fair price for that kind of information.”
Heyes stood up and smiled. “That sounds like a fair price to me, too. Good luck with finding those strangers. C’mon, Noah; let’s see to the horses and turn in. It’s getting late.”
The Kid followed Heyes out into the street. “You better not be plannin' to take that job!”
“Did I say I was taking it? Seems to me I made it plain we weren’t.”
“Good.”
“’Course we also aren’t getting paid by the governor or Consolidated Mining to poke around. So, if we happen to stumble on that information, and we decided we wanted to sell it, far as I can see, there’s nothing stopping us from doing that.”
“Heyes…”
“And we wouldn’t be selling that information until we’re done looking around. Maybe not even until we’ve left Buzzard behind.” Heyes grinned.
After a moment, the Kid returned the grin. “Well, two hundred dollars would last us a while. Especially if the governor doesn’t come through with the amnesties.”
“It would, wouldn’t it?” laughed Heyes. “First thing tomorrow, we get ourselves a couple of security jobs up at the mine.”
“What if they ain’t hirin’?”
“I’m pretty sure they aren’t too happy with whoever’s been doing security up until now.”
“Didn’t we tell Lom we weren’t hirin’ out our guns?”
“We both know you don’t have to shoot anyone to get a job done. We won’t be working for anyone but ourselves, so we get to decide how it’s gonna play out. You good with that? If you aren’t, we’ll ride on out of here and tell the governor we didn’t find anything.”
“He’s not going to like that.”
“He doesn’t have a choice. If he kicks up a fuss, we can always go back to outlawing. It’s safer as far as I’m concerned.”
The Kid’s eyes narrowed as he searched his partner’s face. “You mean that? You’d give up on the amnesties?”
“I do. We can keep afloat with poker or odd jobs—heck, it’s pretty much what we’re doing now. We can disappear, change our names—again,” said Heyes, earnestly.
A small smiled appeared. “Well, guess it won’t hurt to poke around a little.”
~~~~~~
The next morning, Heyes and the Kid presented themselves at the Buzzard Mine office in town. The male receptionist looked up from his desk across from the entrance and eyed them up and down, his gaze coming to rest on their tied-down guns. “Gentlemen, how may I help you?”
“We heard at the saloon you were having some trouble up at the mine.” Heyes pulled off his hat and puffed out his chest. “We’re here to offer some help.”
A man emerged from the doorway to the right. He held a sheaf of papers in his hand and wore his spectacles low on his nose. “I’m afraid we have all the miners we need.”
The Kid turned his icy blue eyes on the newcomer. “That ain’t the kind of help we’re offerin'.”
Heyes cleared his throat. “We specialize in security, you might say.”
The man’s bushy eyebrows arched and he smiled. “Gentlemen, you may just be the answer to my prayers. Please, let’s step into my office.” He moved aside and ushered them in with a swing of his arm. When his visitors were seated, he went around and sat behind the large oak desk. “I’m Ambrose Grant, General Manager of Buzzard Mine. It just so happens we could use your services as we’ve had some unfortunate incidents occurring up at the mine.”
“We heard,” the Kid stated, flatly.
“Yes, well, then you know that our security team had not been performing their duties. We let them go last week. I’ve had some of my miners posted at night and, frankly, I need them back in the mine. You would be replacing them. You will be in charge of seeing that there are no further incidents. Understood?” asked Mr. Grant with a pointed look at their guns.
Heyes nodded. “I think we completely understand.”
“Excellent. The job pays five dollars a day to each of you.”
“That’s pretty decent wages for minin’,” observed the Kid, “but, I ain’t pullin’ my gun for less than ten dollars a day.”
“That’s highway robbery!”
“Nope. Highway robbery pays a whole lot better than that. You know as well as I do, you get what you pay for and you haven’t been paying enough,” replied Heyes with confidence. “We’re going to need access to the mine as well as the above-ground areas.”
“Why?” Grant sat back in his chair and looked from Heyes to the Kid, who gave him a hard stare.
“We need to see where you're vulnerable,” explained Heyes. “Because that’s the only way to prevent more incidents.”
Grant appeared to mull it over, then nodded. “All right, ten dollars each and full access – but you’d better earn your keep! If we have any more damage, I’ll be docking your pay.”
“Fair enough,” agreed the Kid.
“See Findley on your way out. He’ll set you up with the paymaster.”
~~~~~
“Twenty dollars a day! I’m letting you do the negotiating from here on,” exclaimed Heyes gleefully as they walked along the boardwalk. “That and the money from Charlie and we’ll be living high on the hog this winter.”
“I still ain’t shootin’ anyone. Not even for twenty dollars a day,” growled the Kid.
“Agreed. That’s why we’re gonna have a friendly little chat with Charlie. Let him know we’re working security at the mine, and it would be in the town’s best interests if things quiet down for a spell.”
~~~~~
“Stumpy, come on over here for a minute,” yelled the big, burly man wearing a plaid shirt. A small, wiry man looked up from stacking firewood and started limping towards Heyes and Curry where they stood by the front gate to the mine complex. “Stumpy’ll show you around. I’ve got to get a boiler up and running.”
“Yessir, Mr. Martin, coming quick as I can,” called the man. He lurched across the yard and came to a stop by the three men standing together.
“I’d like you to meet our new security men. This here’s Sam Winston and that’s Noah Pigg,” said Martin, unable to keep a smile from creeping onto his face. “Can you show them around for me?”
“Yessir, I can.”
Martin turned to Heyes and the Kid. “Last shift ends at 8 p.m. I expect you to be here before the whistle blows.”
“What about the night shift?” asked the Kid.
“Ain’t no night shift,” piped up Stumpy. “There ain’t enough men to run it so we shut down and let our miners go home to their families; come back rested the next day.”
Martin continued, “I expect you and Winston to work through the night. Keep an eye on things while the rest of us are sleeping. Put your report on my desk before 8 a.m. and I’ll look it over first thing. If I have any questions, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Will do, Mr. Martin.”
“Call me Bret. Everyone does except Stumpy here.” With a nod, Bret strode away.
“That’s some handle you got there, Pigg. Not much better than Stumpy, I reckon,” said the small man with a friendly grin. He stuck out his hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
The Kid gripped the offered hand firmly and smiled. “At least Stumpy’s a nickname.”
“Pretty apt one at that. Lost my leg in a cave-in a couple of years ago. Bret Martin dug through the rubble with his bare hands and pulled me out afore I suffocated. Reckon if he wants to call me Stumpy it’s all right with me.”
“A cave-in, huh?” questioned Heyes.
“Yeah, soil shifts a lot here. Guess I should’ve noticed the supports starting to buckle but I didn’t, and here I am.”
“That’s rough,” the Kid answered, sympathetically.
“It ain’t so bad. Mr. Martin keeps me busy, gives me a place to live, and pays me a fair wage. Lots of folks are worse off than I am these days what with the depression and all. Although, the troubles here have all of us on edge. I hope you can stop whoever it is from messing with us. Well, let’s have a look around so you can get to work.”
The three walked around the yard as Stumpy pointed out the equipment shed, dynamite shack, tool barn, and a large building looming on the hillside. He nodded towards it. “That’s our tipple where we store the ore until it’s loaded up for transport. No trains near here so we ship it out by ox cart.” Ahead of them, a small stream of water flowed steadily down the hillside, sparkling in the morning light that also bounced off the surface of a series of nearby ponds’ milky, yellowish water. “That’s our tailings. You know, the wastewater. Gotta go somewhere so we put it there.”
The Kid pointed to the stream. “That your drinkin’ water?”
“Yep. Not as much as we’d like, but it keeps our whistles wet,” replied Stumpy.
“We heard water’s gettin’ scarce around these parts.”
“It is, but we’re real careful not to waste much. Fresh water goes for drinking. Wash water gets reused for the critters and the ladies’ gardens.”
“What about the mine? Don’t you need water for that?” asked Heyes.
“Yep, we sure do. We got steam engines for the deep shafts to hoist the ore and men back up to the surface, steam-powered pumps for the tailings, and we use steam-powered percussion drills. Keeping them engines supplied with water is a full-time job for three men. Water gets pumped out of the shafts and directed to the settling ponds you can see over there. Once it clears, we use it to power our machinery. Unfortunately, the engines are coal-fired so we’ve been pretty much crippled since someone sabotaged our coal supply.”
“Do you have enough water?” asked the Kid.
Stumpy turned to face them. “Well, the folks in town will tell you we don’t, but we’re not using any more water than we always have. Sure, we have to pump out tailings in the shafts, but that water is contaminated by the rock it moves through. It ain’t usable for the town’s purposes. Heck, it ain’t usable for us until it’s settled out. We’re careful not to waste water. If we run dry, the whole operation goes under.”
“Interesting.” Heyes studied the system. “Do you have any idea who's causing trouble?”
“If we did, we wouldn’t need you, would we?” chuckled Stumpy. “There’s a few troublemakers in town who keep yammering about their water drying up, but that don’t have anything to do with us. Mr. Martin’s been keeping a close eye on them but, so far all they done is complain, far as we can tell. Quintana, that’s the mayordomo, keeps showing up here wanting to look around, but the boss ain’t letting anyone in until he knows who’s been causing trouble. Whoever it is has been real clever about it.”
Heyes glanced at the mine entrance. “What about your security men? Did they find any clues?”
“Hmpf, the only things those two ever saw was the inside of their eyelids. Boss caught them sound asleep in the supply shack the morning our coal caught fire. Fired them lazy good-for-nothings on the spot.” Stumpy looked pointedly at the tied-down guns. “I can already tell you two are gonna do a better job. Good thing, too, because our miners are getting nervous. No one wants to be underground with someone messing around.”
“Do you have a map of the mine workin's?” asked the Kid.
“Sure do. I’ll get you a copy and then we’ll take a look inside.” Stumpy left them standing in the dusty yard as men and machinery moved around them.
“What do you think?” Heyes turned to his partner.
“You take the tour,” responded the Kid. “I’m goin’ to talk to some of these folk and see if I can get a better feel for what’s been goin’ on here.”
~~~~~
“Well, that’s all I’ve got to show you,” said Stumpy. His limp had become progressively more pronounced during the tour of the mine and he wearily leaned against a support near the entrance. “You need anything, the company town and store is down that road.” He gestured to a rutted wagon road winding over a hill to the south. “First cabin on the left is mine. The two-story house standing off by itself is Martin’s.”
He handed the map he’d been frequently referring to during the mine tour over to Heyes. “Here you go. Be careful if you come down here alone. It’s not a big mine, but it’s easy to get turned around even with the map. Best to let someone know you’re coming down so they’ll know to come looking for you when you don’t come back.” With a chuckle, Stumpy hobbled away.
Heyes was sitting on a barrel still studying the map when the Kid found him. He looked up. “How’d it go?”
“Nobody’s seen anything useful, but you know how superstitious miners are: I got the usual warnin’s about red-haired women, rats, black cats, Scottish lights, and Coblynaus.”
“Coblynaus?”
“From what I gathered, they’re the Welsh version of Tommyknockers, only meaner.”
“Huh. Aren’t they some sort of Leprechaun thing?” Heyes folded the map and stood up.
“Yeah, miners claim if you hear ‘em knockin’ you better get the heck out of the mine before it caves in.”
“Hmm, handy little guys to have around.”
The Kid grinned, “Not always, sometimes they don’t bother knockin’ and they’re famous for pullin’ practical jokes, too.”
“How do you know so much about these things?”
“I listened when Grandpa Curry told his tales about the old days unlike some folk. How’d it go for you?”
“I got the grand tour. Far as I could tell, it all looks on the up and up. There’s no sign of water down there at all, which is unusual from what I read. Stumpy said they had to pump water out of the shafts when they were drilling down, but it’s all dried up for the most part. He blames the drought. Now, they haul water to the engines in tanks the hoists lift up and down.”
“Sounds like this is all a waste of our time.”
“But time we’re being well-paid to waste.”
“So, what do we now?”
Heyes folded up the map and tucked it into his shirt pocket. “We wait until tonight and then we start really looking around for ourselves.”
“All right, where should we start?”
“I’d say the safe in Bret’s office might be worth checking out.”
“There ain’t a safe you can keep your hands off, is there?”
Heyes smiled.
~~~~~
“That was disappointing.” Heyes sat back on his heels and spun the dial before testing that it was securely re-locked. “No cash, no silver, and all the paperwork is in order.”
The Kid looked up from the desk he was rifling through. “Well, look at it this way, if we decide to ditch the amnesty we know where there’ll be a payroll shipment arrivin' one of these days.”
Heyes grinned up at his partner. “You always know how to cheer me up.” The Kid reached down and pulled him to his feet.
“We’d better get a move on. I thought I heard something outside a few minutes ago.” Crossing to the door, Curry pulled it open and jumped back, bumping into Heyes who had been following close behind.
“What!?” hissed Heyes.
“A black cat just ran by!” exclaimed the Kid. A shove in his back pushed him through the door.
“Don’t tell me you’re going superstitious on me.”
“Naw, he just startled me is all.”
“Let’s do our rounds above ground, then I’ll show you the mine.”
“I can’t wait!” replied the Kid, sarcastically.
~~~~~
The lantern the Kid held aloft did little to dispel the darkness surrounding the two ex-outlaws. They were deep in the bowels of the mine tunnels. Rats scurried back and forth, frightened by the sudden illumination, as the two men continued to explore further and further into the mountainside. The walls of the tunnels were slick with moisture and the floor was a muddy mess, getting worse the deeper they descended. Heyes held the map in his hand and looked at it constantly, turning around many times.
“What was that?!” snapped the Kid, pushing the lantern ahead of him.
Heyes jumped then swung around to scowl at his friend. “Sheesh, will you stop?! You’re gonna give me heart failure!” No sooner had he turned back to face the blackness ahead then a muffled, thumping noise sounded far away in the tunnel.
“Did you hear that? It was a knock!” Blood drained from the Kid’s face.
“Probably a Tommyknocker,” Heyes teased, hiding a tiny smirk. “You said they were good unless, of course, it’s a Coblynaus.”
“Shush! There it is again.”
Heyes paused. “Yeah, I hear it. I think it came from that direction.” He pointed to the tunnel branching off to their left. “Let’s check it out.”
“I ain’t checkin’ it out.” A mulish expression took up residence on the Kid’s face.
“Fine, then I’ll do it alone.” Heyes snatched the lantern from the Kid and started off down the side tunnel, quickly disappearing around a bend.
“No! Wait up!”
“Change your mind?”
“You took the lantern and the map. I ain’t walkin’ outta here in the dark without ‘em.”
“Gee, and I thought you were worried something might happen to me.”
“I KNOW something’s gonna happen to you soon as we get outta here.”
~~~~~
“Heyes, are we lost?” moaned the Kid.
“Not yet.”
“I don’t hear the knockin’ anymore.”
“Whoever it was must’ve heard us coming, but I’m sure we’re almost there.” Heyes held the lantern up high and dropped his right hand to his gun. Seeing this, the Kid instantly pulled his Colt and kept it ready as they rounded another one of the endless bends in the tunnel. And stopped cold. It was a dead end.
“We’re lost,” sighed the Kid.
“Here, hold this,” said Heyes, frowning. He thrust the lantern at the Kid and pulled out the map. “We aren’t lost. All we gotta do is go back to the last intersection. The map shows this spur as abandoned.”
“So? We must’ve taken a wrong turn.”
“I don’t think so. We followed the sound. You heard it coming from this direction and so did I.” Heyes stepped over and carefully examined the damp rock at the end of the tunnel. “It’s solid.”
“All right, then, we’ve checked it out. No one’s here and, in a minute, we won’t be either.” The Kid grabbed Heyes' arm and pulled him around. “We’re gettin’ outta here.”
“Hey, let go!” Heyes pulled free, brushed his arm, and laughed at his partner. “Big, tough Kid Curry spooked like a little boy.”
“Tell me it doesn’t bother you.” Curry gave him a hard, flat stare.
Heyes blinked. “Well, maybe a little.”
“C’mon. The day shift will be comin’ on in less than an hour. Let’s go. You’ve got a report to write up.”
“Yeah. We wandered around in the dark all night. The end.”
~~~~~
“Three nights and we haven’t learned a thing,” grumbled Heyes as he finished the last of his breakfast. “On the good side, no one’s stolen or broken anything.”
“Three days and I’ve hardly slept a wink. Who knew a hotel was so noisy durin’ the day?” The Kid crammed the last piece of toast in his mouth and chewed it a long time before taking a long pull from his coffee mug. “Least ways, the food is good.”
“Hmmm.” Heyes put down his fork. “I’m gonna go for a ride. Clear my head. Wanna join me?”
“Naw, I think I’ll go talk to Charlie. Let him know we haven’t found anything yet.”
~~~~~
The Kid entered the saloon only to find more customers than he’d seen before. Several men gathered at a table in the back corner of the large room. Charlie had his back turned to the door and a pretty black-haired woman stood next to him with a tray of coffee mugs in her hands. At the bar were two more men, each nursing a beer. He walked up to the bar.
“Kind of early for beer, ain’t it?” teased the Kid.
“What’s it to you?” snarled the younger man. The older man elbowed him causing a yelp.
“Mind your manners, Eli. Man’s just trying to strike up a conversation.”
“I ain’t interested in conversing.” Eli took his beer and crossed the room, pulled out a chair at a vacant table and sat, staring out the window.
“Sorry, mister. Boy’s a bit prickly.”
“It’s all right. None of my business if he likes day drinkin’.” The Kid sat. “Name’s Noah.”
“I’m Walt Jenkins. You’re new around here.”
“I am. Me and my partner are just passin’ through on our way to Chama.”
“Hmm. Cowboys?” asked Walt, looking him up and down.
“When we have to be.”
“What are you when you don’t?”
“Whatever puts money in our pocket and a roof over our heads. Right now, we’re runnin’ security for the mine. Seems they’ve been havin’ some problems.”
“My boy worked there before Bret Martin fired him.” Walt’s eyes narrowed slightly and he picked up his beer, taking a long, noisy sip. Putting it down, he stood up. “You seem like a nice enough fella, Noah. You might want to find another job. Mining ain’t too popular ‘round here.” With a nod, he walked toward the door gesturing for Eli to follow. The Kid watched as the two men left, a slight frown on his face.
“Don’t let him bother you, mister. He’s grouchy on a good day.” The pretty woman stood in front of him, her tray now empty.
The Kid removed his hat, putting it on the stool beside him. “Who is he?”
“Walt? He owns a big spread on the backside of the mountains. From what I hear that boy of his isn’t much help either. Eli’s been in more fights than a bull elk in rut.” A throaty laugh followed this statement and dark eyes sparkled with mirth.
“Maria, honey, can you fetch more coffee?” called Charlie from the back table where he sat.
“In a minute,” she called back. “What can I get you, mister?”
“Nothin’. Just tell Charlie Noah stopped in to say hi. I’ll stop back another time.”
“Nice to meet you, Noah.”
The Kid smiled, picked up his hat and nodded. “Nice to meet you, Maria.”
~~~~~
