Disclaimer: The characters belong to Trilogy, MGM, Mirisch etc and were used without permission. No copyright infringement was intended and no money was made.
This story is a sequel to A Tracker’s Tears, Testing Time and Trouble.
English spelling has been used in this story.
Size: Approx 140K
"Okay, which one of you three is Buck Wilmington’s young friend?"
Without hesitation, Vin replied, "That’s me." Inwardly he thanked Providence, in the form of Nettie Wells, for the fact that he was uncharacteristically clean-shaven. Without his habitual stubble, he knew that he looked his real age. He did not know exactly what that was, but he knew that it was much closer to that of JD Dunne than the others suspected.
Caught off guard, JD gaped at the tracker for a moment and then hastily began to dispute the statement. "No, he’s …"
Ezra interrupted hurriedly, "What business do you have with Mr Dunne?"
"Look, he’s not …" JD started again.
"Shut up, Vin!" Vin said sharply. "I know yer tryin’ to help, but there’s no way these bastards would think a kid yer age is the local sheriff."
"Ya didn’t say we were grabbin’ a lawman, Kev," one of the bandits protested.
"I didn’t because it doesn’t matter. To make Wilmington to change his testimony, I’d grab the damned governor if I had to. Anyway, Larabee and Wilmington are the real law in Four Corners. They just indulge the kid by letting him wear the badge. Now tie the young bastard up. I want to get moving."
Well, there was no way that JD wanted to go with the bandits, but he could not stand by and let them take Vin, as was clearly their intention. "I am the sheriff," he insisted, "and I can prove it." He pulled his jacket open, but to his dismay, his badge was gone from his shirt.
He glanced around and spotted it hanging from Vin’s jacket. "You stole it!" he accused.
Ezra glared at JD. "Vin, these delaying tactics are not of assistance to anyone," the gambler pointed out.
"Yeah, shut up, boy," Kev MacFarlane snapped. He turned to Ezra. "My name’s Kev MacFarlane and I want you two to take a message to Buck Wilmington. Tell him he is to withdraw his testimony against my little brother or he won’t see the kid again."
"But that will not prevent the trial from proceeding because there are others to testify," Ezra pointed out.
"Maybe, but you make it clear to him and Larabee that they’ve got to lean on those witnesses and the jury too if necessary. The sooner my brother either gets acquitted or released from lack of evidence, the sooner his little pal here will be freed and the better shape he’ll be in."
With that, he motioned to a couple of his men and they bound Vin’s wrists tightly behind him. Then the bandit turned to Dunne and Standish. "Get him into the saddle," he ordered.
Ezra moved forward to comply, but furious with both his friends and their assailants, JD stubbornly stood his ground. There was no way he was going to cooperate if he could avoid it. "Hurry up, boy," the outlaw leader ordered, "or I’ll have my men tie him over the saddle."
In the face of this threat, JD reluctantly complied.
"Right, we’ll leave your horses and guns a couple of miles west o’ here. You get them and then go and tell Wilmington and Larabee what’s what. And no tricks or Wilmington’s pretty, young friend will suffer for it."
With that the five outlaws mounted their horses and rode off with their captive, leaving the gambler and a fuming JD.
JD was so mad that he did not know where to start. Finally, he blurted, "Did you take my badge?" He knew the gambler was an expert at any sleight of hand tricks and it had suddenly occurred to him that the theft was more likely to be the work of the deft Standish than the tracker.
"Of course," Ezra replied calmly. "I realized Mr Tanner might have need of it when I heard him lay claim to your identity."
"But he shouldn’t have!" JD exclaimed in exasperation. "Why did you support him? I’m not a kid. You don’t have to protect me."
"Look, JD, if those men had kidnapped you, Mr Wilmington would have been beside himself. Now he will be able to approach the situation more rationally."
"Are you saying he won’t worry about Vin? He likes Vin."
"We all have more than a modicum of affection for our tracker, but you have to admit Mr Wilmington is a tad overprotective when it comes to you."
"Well, yeah, but …"
"However, there were two other reasons why I elected to follow Mr Tanner’s lead. One, we now have the element of surprise. They think they have captured a youngster who does no more than play at sheriff, whilst Messrs Wilmington and Larabee perform the real work."
JD bristled visibly at that.
"I did not mean to imply that there was any veracity in that, I merely stated that is what they believe," Ezra continued hurriedly. "Accordingly, Mr Tanner may perchance manage to catch them off guard, and if he does elude them, who could cover his tracks more efficiently or live off the land better, until we can locate him, than he can."
JD could see there was some logic in that, though he begrudged having to admit it. "And your other reason?" he asked testily.
"You need to pay a somewhat urgent visit to Mr Jackson. In case you have not noticed, you are bleeding rather heavily from that crease you suffered."
JD had actually all but forgotten the injury in the heat of the moment, but now he was uncomfortably aware of blood trickling down the side of his head, which was also starting to throb. "But what about Vin?"
"What about Mr Tanner? I confess that I fail to comprehend your inquiry."
"He got hit too."
"Are you certain?" Standish asked in concern. "I did not observe any injury to Mr Tanner." JD had been between him and the tracker when the outlaws fired, and once JD had fallen, Ezra’s eyes had been on him.
"You know what he’s like at hiding it when he’s hurt. I heard him swear under his breath. Then he just peeled off his bandanna and shoved it under his jacket."
Ezra paled. He had thought, that in following Vin’s lead, he was acting for the best, but was no longer so sure. ‘Mr Larabee is going to put a period to my existence,’ he thought. However, all he said was, "Let us trust that his injury is minor. And now, abhorrent though the thought may be, it is time we embarked upon our unwelcome perambulation to locate our steeds."
As the pair walked, both dwelt privately upon the events of the day. Ezra had been so pleased to see that Vin was recovered sufficiently from his shoulder wound to resume his patrols and now all had gone wrong and the man that held the secret place in the heart, which he always tried to pretend did not exist, was now in mortal danger.
For his part, JD was still smarting over Vin’s highhandedness in adopting his persona, while simultaneously wondering how Tanner could sacrifice himself so readily for someone who had misjudged him dreadfully and had accordingly been so unpleasant towards him over recent days.+ + + + + + +
The gambler and the sheriff had been returning from Eagle Bend, having been there on a commission from Judge Orrin Travis, and had met up with Vin, who had been on an area patrol, about four hours before the ambush.
At first, the tracker had approached the pair somewhat hesitatingly, unsure whether or not the gambler would welcome his presence, but certain that JD would not. Ezra had been a bit distant since Chris had returned from his pursuit of Grant Masters, while since Casey had turned away from the sheriff and had embarked on her pursuit of Vin, JD had been understandably hostile towards him. The kid seemed to place all the blame for what had happened at Vin’s door and Tanner could understand his desire to find Casey blameless.
As JD had seen it, sweet, innocent and affectionate Casey had clearly been seduced by the more experienced older man. Well, admittedly seduced was not really the word the sheriff wanted, as he would have been tempted to gut-shoot the tracker if he had thought for a moment things had gone that far. Hell, if they had, he knew he would have had to stand in line behind Casey’s aunt in spite of her clear affection for Tanner. However, although he believed the tracker had not taken advantage of the girl, Vin had definitely lured Casey away from him.
Accordingly, since Vin’s return to town from Nettie’s place, JD had made it abundantly clear that the tracker was persona non grata as far as he was concerned, either ignoring him completely or making snide remarks about men who chased other men’s women, with barely concealed references to Charlotte Richmond, while simultaneously trying to persuade Casey that she was making a foolish error.
So Vin was quite prepared to find himself unwanted and was taken aback when both greeted him warmly.
Indeed, far from greeting him with frosty silence, JD had actually been full of news and had been chattering away nineteen to the dozen, while Standish seemed to have added to his already extensive vocabulary and his circumlocution was even more pervasive than usual. Between them, they soon had had Vin’s head spinning and he was tempted to turn his horse around and head back into the wilds in the interests of the preservation of his sanity. Indeed, it had got to the point where the tracker had closed his ears to the babble of sound and was no longer making even a token effort to follow their conversation. Unfortunately, this meant that his normally preternaturally acute senses were dulled and Tanner had failed to detect that they were under observation. Indeed, his first inkling of the danger came when the bandits fired a warning shot and called upon them to stop.
All three had automatically grabbed for their guns. The outlaws responded with more shots and Vin had felt a tearing pain in his side. Worse, from his point of view, he then saw JD topple from the saddle, with blood spilling from a head wound. Realizing their position was untenable, the tracker had dropped his mare’s leg and slid down to check on the kid. At the same moment, Standish raised his hands in reluctant surrender.
Fortunately, Dunne’s wound was slight, although bleeding heavily as head wounds are wont to do, and he began to scramble to his feet as soon as he hit the ground.
Ezra dismounted and offered JD a steadying hand, and while he thought both were preoccupied, Vin surreptitiously removed his bandanna and shoved it under his shirt. He did not want his friends worrying and there was no point in exposing a weakness to one’s enemies.
The outlaws had then proceeded to reveal their motive: the saving of Johnny MacFarlane from the hangman’s noose.+ + + + + + +
A month or so earlier, Johnny MacFarlane, a hellion in his late teens, had been involved in an attempted bank robbery in Four Corners, in which a female teller had been killed and two townsfolk injured.
The enforcers had been caught rather off-guard by the raid.
It had happened the morning after Chris Larabee had returned from hunting down Grant Masters. Chris was meeting with Judge Travis to fill him in on what had happened, while JD had seized the news as an excuse to call upon Casey, because both she and her aunt would be anxious to hear that Masters was dead and that Larabee had returned unscathed. Josiah and a most reluctant Ezra, who regarded rising before noon as an activity definitely not to be indulged in by a true gentleman, were out on patrol.
Buck was lingering over a cup of coffee in the dining room of the boarding house, when he saw Nathan descending the stairs. "Hi, Nate, join me in a cup?"
"Yeah, I might at that," Nathan replied, sliding into the seat next to him.
"Have ya been up to see Vin?"
"Yes, I thought it was time his dressings were changed. He didn’t agree with me, but that goes without saying."
"I s’pose he said they were fine."
"Yeah, you’ve got it in one," Jackson smiled.
"And was he right?"
"About the bandages no. He’d managed to spill coffee over them, but he seems to be healing okay."
"Good! Is he in Chris’ room now?" Wilmington questioned hopefully.
"No, he’s still in Ezra’s."
"Oh," Buck said, his tone clearly conveying his disappointment. Although he would never have wanted another man himself, he had come to believe that the scruffy, longhaired Texan was just what the black-clad gunslinger needed to make him truly happy. "I was hopin’ he and Chris might have made up their differences."
"So was I," Nathan admitted.
"Have either said anythin’ to ya about what’s wrong?"
"No, but I’m hopeful they’re on the way to sorting things out because Vin seemed a bit more cheerful this morning. Of course, it could be that he’s just relieved that Chris is back safely."
"As we all are. Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I don’t think it’d be too healthy for either of us to start pokin’ into their concerns. I just wish Ezra hadn’t got involved."
"I don’t know. He’s been a great help with Vin, and I don’t need to tell you, I’m grateful for help from any quarter when I have to deal with a sick or injured Vin Tanner."
Buck grinned, "Yeah, he ain’t exactly first in line for the ‘Co-operative Patient of the Year Award’, is he? Seriously though, I’ve started to have a few doubts about Ezra’s motives."
"You’ve started to have doubts about his motives? Started! Hell, I’ve had misgivings about those since the moment I met him."
"Yeah, I know what ya mean, but these are ... um ... a bit different. I mean it ain’t like there’s money involved as there usually is when Ezra’s schernin’. No, I’m just wonderin’ if our gambler is fool enough to think he can get away with poachin’ on Chris’ preserves."
"What do you mean, Buck?"
"Do ya think he’s after Vin?"
The healer looked astounded. "What? That fancy tailor’s dummy chasing after our resident scruff? I can’t imagine it. Why he’s always lecturing Vin on his clothes, his speech, his behaviour .... Hell, just about everything Tanner says or does stirs him up."
"Yeah, stirs might just be the word, Nate. I reckon I’d be the last one to desire another man, but even I can see Vin is beautiful, ‘specially after seein’ him at Mrs Wells’ place without that stubble he affects. Also I do know somethin’ about affairs of the heart and I’ve got a feelin’ that Standish might be a little too interested in Vin Tanner for all our sakes. Shit, the fat would really be in the fire if Larabee got a whiff of it."
"Let’s hope you’re wrong then."
These interesting speculations were abruptly cut short by some revolver shots and some loud screams.
Buck and Nathan leapt to their feet and pounded out onto the boardwalk to see four masked men rushing towards their mounts, whilst a group of women and young children cowered back against a building alongside the horses.
Unfortunately, Nathan was unarmed. He turned back into the boarding house seeking a weapon. Buck drew his revolver, but was conscious that he could not fire without the risk of hitting the townsfolk. Then to his horror, he saw a blue-shirted man grabbing hold of a girl of about seven, clearly intending to use her as a shield if necessary.
He knew he could not let them leave with the child and so ran into the street to challenge their passage, while hoping for a clearer shot.
Everything was happening too fast. Men were shouting and women screaming. Revolvers were firing. The horses were bearing down on him as he raised his own gun. Then suddenly he heard the deep boom of Vin’s mare’s leg. It sounded twice and two bandits fell.
Frightened by the noise, blue-shirt’s horse shied and reared. He was having trouble controlling it with one hand while holding the girl with the other. Buck snatched at the child as the rider tried to pass him, while in her turn, the terrified child struggled frantically and clawed at the man’s face. The outlaw lost his grip and she fell into Buck’s arms, dragging the outlaw’s bandanna down as she did so.
Blue-shirt quickly scrabbled the offending cloth back into position, but the damage had been done. Buck had had a very close view of the angry, young face, before the youth put spurs to his mount and was away.
Clutching the hysterical child to his chest, Wilmington was unable to even get a shot off, but he heard the mare’s leg yet again. Looking up, he was horrified to see Vin Tanner leaning precariously out of an upstairs window, firing with his left hand.
At that moment, Nathan appeared clutching a revolver. "Get Vin!" Buck shouted urgently, pointing up at Vin.
With an uncharacteristically foul oath, Jackson turned and raced back into the boarding house. He clattered up the stairs, calling Vin’s name as he did so. He was not such a fool as to burst in on Vin Tanner unannounced.
As it turned out, he was just in time, as Vin was having considerable difficulty getting back inside, because he was unwilling to drop his precious gun and had been unable to extricate his other arm from its sling.
Jackson seized hold of him and pulled him none too gently back in the window. "What sort of fool stunt was that, Tanner?" he scolded. "You could have fallen."
"But I didn’t," Vin said, stating the obvious with annoying calm.
"Only because I got here in time to haul your worthless carcass back inside."
"Two got away," Vin observed.
"Don’t try to change the subject, Tanner!" Nathan ordered in exasperation.
"DR JACKSON! DR JACKSON! ARE YOU UP THERE?" a voice shouted from the stairs. Nathan spun around and hurried towards the sound. "Yes, what is it?" he called.
"Mr Wilmington sent me," the youth gasped. "There’s folk hurt down at the bank."
"I’ll be right with you." He spun around and snapped at the tracker, "Stay here and behave yourself. We will continue our conversation later."
While Nathan busied himself with the two surviving victims, Buck prepared to ride out in pursuit of the robbers. Being particularly incensed because the main victim was a woman, Buck vowed not to rest until he had tracked them down. Joined by Larabee, who had hastened from the judge’s house, and ignoring Vin’s protests that he was well enough to ride, they set off after the robbers. The two duly returned, two days later, with Johnny MacFarlane as their prisoner and the body of the second outlaw slung over his horse.+ + + + + + +
During the pair’s absence, Nathan had checked Vin’s shoulder, ascertained that he had not done further damage, scolded him thoroughly again and discharged him, with an injunction that he wasnot to use the arm again until given permission to do so.
When Larabee and Wilmington returned, he advised the gunslinger that Vin should not be allowed to do his usual patrols as yet regardless of whatever inventive reasons the tracker came up with for resuming them.
So Vin had been stuck in town. The enforced ‘detention’ had not been pleasant, and as each interminable day dragged past, he became more and more depressed.
Of course, the worst thing was that every day he saw Chris Larabee and longed to be with him. The gunslinger would greet him and maybe exchange a few quick words, but was clearly determined to abide by Vin’s stated wish to be no more than friends. Unfortunately, the distance he was imposing tended to reduce them to mere acquaintances rather than that.
Feeling isolated and bored, Vin had tried to turn to the gambler, who had been such a support for him in recent months, but found Ezra also less than forthcoming. Although Standish allowed him to continue to occupy his rooms, he was now definitely avoiding spending time with him, staying even longer than usual at the tables and returning to his rooms as late as possible so Vin would be already abed.
In truth, Standish was torn. Wary of trying the notorious Larabee temper too far, he knew he ought to ask Vin to return to his wagon, but could not bring himself to do so as he loved the tracker as much as ever. He was only too aware that Vin did not realize this and did not return the sentiment, and so Ezra had decided to concentrate on self-preservation and stay mum, at least for the time being. Of course, if the Larabee-Tanner rift was to prove permanent, he might then venture to chance his arm, but there was no point in tempting fate, and the ire of Chris Larabee, by acting precipitately. Above all, Ezra feared lest he cause Larabee to turn on Vin. Every time he thought of the drunken and irrationally jealous gunslinger using his fists on Vin he felt physically sick. No, he could not risk a recurrence of such behaviour.
Once Vin might have gone to Josiah, but could not bring himself to spend time with the preacher. Although Josiah had apologized sincerely for the beating he had given Vin and the latter knew that Sanchez deeply regretted his actions, Vin knew that Josiah still disapproved of his relationship with Chris and so the tracker felt uncomfortable in his presence.
Then there was Jackson. He was friendly enough and seemed to have accepted Vin’s changed relationship with Larabee, albeit with some misgivings. However, Vin figured the healer merited a break from his company after recent events and so he did not approach him either.
Of course, there was always Wilmington. Buck was normally good, if exhaustingly exuberant, company, but there was awkwardness there at present. Wilmington was Chris’ oldest friend and would always put Chris before the tracker. Vin accepted that and anyway would not have wanted to put Buck in a difficult situation by being caught between them.
Furthermore, JD’s happiness was also one of the ladies’ man’s prime concerns and the kid was anything but happy at present. Since JD’s ire was directed, albeit unfairly, in the tracker’s direction, it would have been unthinkable for Buck to upset the kid further by consorting with the ‘enemy’. Of course, that problem could have been dealt with if Buck had told JD about Vin and Chris’ relationship, but he still felt uncomfortable about doing that.
So the sheriff remained convinced that Tanner was chasing Casey Wells. Well, ‘chasing’ was certainly going on, but it was Casey making the running. During his stay at her aunt’s home, Casey had seen Vin clean-shaven for the first time and had suddenly realized just what a handsome man he was. Further, she saw that he was in fact much closer to JD in years than to Chris and Buck. Formerly, she had not paid much attention to him, seeing him as of the two older men’s generation.
Indeed, as well as making things awkward with JD and embarrassing Vin with her assiduous attentions, Casey had inadvertently caused Vin upset in another direction.
One morning, Mary Travis had been busy typesetting, when she became conscious of raised voices outside "The Clarion" office. Of course, she had immediately gone to the door in case anything newsworthy was happening, but all she saw was Casey and JD, standing in the middle of the main street, involved in some sort of dispute.
Idly wondering what could have the pair so riled up, but assuming it was likely no more than a lovers’ tiff, Mary was about to head back to her work when she heard the word "Vin". Anxious now to hear more, the newspaperwoman moved out onto the boardwalk. However, she still could not pick up much of the conversation and hesitated to go closer lest others observe her eavesdropping.
Finally JD threw up his hands in exasperation and turned away from Casey. As he stalked off, the girl hesitated, clearly wondering whether to pursue him to continue the argument.
That was Mary’s chance. Adopting what she hoped was a look of concern, rather than curiosity, Mary moved towards the girl. "Are you all right, Casey?" she questioned.
"Oh, g-good morning, Mrs Travis," Casey stuttered, caught off-guard by the woman’s sudden appearance. "I’m okay."
"Are you sure? You look a little flushed. Perhaps you’d like to come into my office for a cup of coffee."
"Thank you."
As soon as she had Casey settled down with her drink, Mary said, "Please pardon me for asking, but I cannot help being concerned about you. Have you and JD had words?"
"Yes!" Casey said, without hesitation. She was still so angry with JD, for speaking to her as if she was a child and for daring to assume that he knew better than she did whom she should associate with, that she continued, "He’s so immature! He can’t accept that Vin and I are ... um ... shall we say close friends."
Mary did not fail to notice the emphasis that Casey had deliberately given to the word ‘close’, but doubted the veracity of the girl’s statement. Whatever she had expected to hear about the tracker, it certainly was not that. "Vin and you?" she asked disbelievingly.
Casey did not like Mrs Travis’ tone of voice, It reminded her too much of JD’s infuriatingly patronizing attitude. "Yes, Vin and me!" she responded, rather snippily.
"What on earth do you mean?"
Casey knew what she was about to say was not precisely true, but she resented Mary’s attitude, and anyway she had almost convinced herself that Vin really did want her. She had certainly analysed and twisted his every word and look so that everything pointed to his infatuation. "Well, as you may know, until a few days ago, Vin has been living with me and …"
"What? Are you saying that Vin Tanner has been staying in your home?" Mrs Travis questioned rudely. This revelation was news to her. She had assumed, and not completely erroneously, as that had been the original situation, that Vin Tanner had been staying with Chris Larabee at his cabin.
"Oh, yes, we didn’t like to make a big thing of it, of course, because we didn’t really want visitors, what with Vin recuperating and other things," she added archly, hoping Mary would read all sorts of things into that addition. "I can tell you JD wasn’t very pleased when he found out. I didn’t want to hurt him, but ..."
She went on weaving her story, but Mary was no longer listening. She was starting to wonder whether she had been wrong all along. After all, Chris was so manly and he had been happily married. Could it be that she had been stupid enough to misinterpret his close friendship with Vin as something more, and had thus ruined her own chances with the handsome gunslinger for no good reason?
Of course, he had never denied her heated accusations, and she would have thought any real man would. But then Chris Larabee was not just any man. He was a law unto himself. He seemed to fear neither man nor God. He did not care what others thought, but went his own way. Why, the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed that he had simply chosen to ignore her accusations out of sheer perversity, not caring that such behaviour appeared to confirm their veracity.
She knew she had angered him greatly and that was probably his revenge, for although he had not denied having a sexual relationship with Vin, he had certainly never confirmed it either. No, he had cleverly left the matter hanging and she had been too blind to see it.
How could she have been so foolish as to believe that Chris would actually want the scruffy tracker and so toss away her own chances with the gunslinger?
Was it too late to make amends? She hoped not. She would certainly do all she could to rectify matters and as soon as possible.
Accordingly, she made a point of being exceptionally pleasant to Chris Larabee, when she encountered him later that day. To her private joy, he then offered her his arm and walked her to her home, even responding enthusiastically to her invitation to join her for dinner the following evening.
She would have been considerably less happy had she realized, that although Chris was pleased by her change in attitude, the thought in his mind was that an apparent resumption of his supposed affair with Mary Travis would quieten any gossip and thus protect Vin from unpleasantness.
Of course, the tracker was as much in the dark about his motives as Mrs Travis was. Vin watched the pair’s progress along the street with sinking heart. He did not miss the triumphant look on the newspaperwoman’s face or her arm tucked possessively through that of the gunslinger.
He knew it was his fault that Chris was no longer sharing his bed, because he had denied it to him, but he had hoped for an eventual reconciliation. Now the chances of that looked dim. He tried to tell himself that Mrs Travis was welcome to Larabee, with his uncertain temper and quick fists, but knew it was not true. It might be painful, at times, living with Chris Larabee, but being without him seemed to be even worse.
The next few days, had depressed him still further, because everywhere he went, he either saw Chris and Mary together or heard people talking about them. In the past, Mary had always been most protective of her reputation, but now seemed to be taking delight in being seen with Larabee. Why, on one occasion, Mrs Potter had even seen her peck him quickly on the cheek!
Because Mrs Travis had previously been so circumspect in her behaviour, a number of ladies suggested that the change must surely signal that wedding bells were in the offing and that had them all of a twitter with excitement. Indeed, as the attractive pair strolled along, with Billy gambolling beside them, they already had the appearance of a happily married couple. Not that a lady like Mrs Travis would allow a gentleman to anticipate the marriage service, but then Larabee had never claimed to be a gentleman, so the townswomen could not help but whisper and wonder.
Of course, if anyone knew anything for sure, it would be Vin Tanner. After all, he and Larabee were as thick as thieves. The trouble was the painfully shy tracker always got so flustered and tongue-tied when any of the women tried to interrogate him. Why he almost ran at their mere approach.
That was true. Poor Vin was getting desperate. Trying to avoid Casey had been bad enough, but being quizzed by various women as to the relationship between, and marriage prospects of, Chris and Mrs Travis was unbearable. It had got to the point that the tracker was barely emerging from the saloon, since no lady would darken its door.
Unfortunately, the saloon was not a pleasant refuge for the tracker because Ezra was preoccupied with his poker, JD would not talk to him, Buck was always busy flirting with the saloon girls or talking to JD, and Larabee was out courting, so Vin sat miserably in his dark corner and drank steadily.
After a week or so of this, Jackson decided enough was enough and approached Chris. He knew that the gunslinger was seeing a lot of Mary. However, although his brain told him such a relationship was better for Chris, in that it was legally and socially acceptable, in his heart he could not help but feel sorry for Vin and he wished that things had worked out between him and Larabee. He correctly surmised that Chris’ radical change of heart was the main factor in Vin’s unhappiness, far outweighing the claustrophobia he always seemed to feel whenever he was confined to the town through illness or injury. However, he also felt that the romantic entanglement was none of his business, and so did not mention it to Larabee, choosing instead to stress Vin’s frustration at having his freedom curtailed.
"I never thought I’d be the one to say it first, Chris, but I think its time you let Vin resume his patrols. He’s never happy cooped up in town and at the moment he seems downright miserable. All he seems to do is sit around in the saloon and he’s drinking far too much," Nathan said.
"Are ya sure he’s up to it yet, Nate?" Larabee asked.
"No," Jackson admitted, "but he seems so depressed, it might just be the best thing for him."
Chris nodded reluctantly. He did not like the thought of Vin being away from the town alone, but hoped it would be for the best. They seemed to have reached an impasse in their relationship and the reconciliation, that the gunslinger so desired, did not seem any nearer than it had the day Vin had asked to if they could go back to being just friends.
That request had been so difficult to comply with. Every time he laid eyes upon the tracker, he yearned for him. Being with Vin for more than a few minutes was to be prey to almost unbearable temptation and he feared lest he lose control and speak his thoughts or reach for him to pull the slender body to his heart. It would be so easy to spook the tracker and ruin any hope that Vin might eventually relent and agree to resume their sexual relationship. Hence, he had tried to spend as little time with Vin as he could and elected to wait for the tracker to approach him.
So, if Vin was out of town, it would be easier in that respect, although he knew he would be worried about him. However, it also occurred to him that Vin would be happier if he was free to come and go as in the past, and if he felt more his old self, perhaps that would lead to him back to Larabee’s arms. It was worth a try. Hell, anything was worth a try, if there was the slightest chance that Vin would accept Larabee’s love once more.
His mind made up, he said, "You give him a check over, and if that shoulder is healed up enough, tell him to come to see me about his first patrol. I’ll be over at the jail."
Half an hour later, a panting Vin Tanner flung open the door to the sheriff’s office. He had clearly run straight from the clinic. "Chris, Nate says my shoulder’s okay! He reckons I’m fit enough for patrols!" he announced.
‘Well, I guess ya’d might as well get on with it," Larabee replied drily, wishing the happy look on the tracker’s face was a result of their meeting rather than because Vin saw the chance to leave town. "The boys’ll be pleased to be able to give up double duties."
That was no exaggeration. Vin always did far more patrols than the others. They all tended to regard it as a somewhat boring part of the job, as often the patrols were simple routine exercises with no problems or excitement, but Vin loved being out there. On more than one occasion, Vin had no sooner returned from one patrol than he was off doing one for someone else, usually Ezra, who considered almost anything better than riding for days through what he saw as an inhospitable wilderness, unfit for civilized men.
So a few minutes later, Vin was astride Peso and heading out for a three-day ride.
At first, he felt good. The exhilaration of breaking free from the shackles of the town, of not having to avoid Casey or those nosy townswomen, of not having to endure JD’s hostility, and most crucial of all, of not having to watch Larabee sparking Mrs Travis made him feel better than he had in days.
However, the euphoria did not last more than a couple of hours. It suddenly occurred to him that Larabee had omitted his usual annoying warnings to take care and to be back on time. He had always vocally resented those cautions, as they suggested that he was unable to look after himself, but now he missed them. Did Chris no longer care enough to issue such admonishments?
He did not know how hard Larabee had had to bite his tongue to stop himself beseeching Vin to be careful. Knowing how Vin hated such comments, seeing them as an attack on his abilities rather than an expression of love and concern, he had decided to suppress them and merely touched his hat to Vin as the latter rode past on his way out of town.
Unfortunately, unaware of Larabee’s inner turmoil, carefully concealed, as it was beneath, the cold, calm façade, Vin feared the worst. Indeed, the more Vin thought about it, the more certain he became that Chris no longer cared about him ... not even as a friend. He rode blindly, seeing nothing of the natural beauty that normally so enthralled him. The black-clad figure filled his mind to the exclusion of all else.
Suddenly Peso stumbled slightly and he was jerked back to his senses. Horrified to realize just how far he had travelled in a trance-like state, laying himself wide open to potential bounty hunters and other predators, he tried desperately to regain his usual mental poise. But it was hopeless. All he could think of was Chris Larabee and how much he loved and needed him, no matter how hard he tried to suppress such unreciprocated feelings.
‘Ya should just keep ridin’, Tanner,’ he thought. ‘It’d be best fer everybody iffen ya never went back to Four Corners. Ya ain’t cut out fer town life. Yeah, ya should do that. Now he’s with Mrs Travis, Larabee won’t miss ya.’
Larabee. Everything always came back to him. The thought of never seeing the gunslinger again was more than he could bear.
‘Yer so damned stupid, Tanner,’ he berated himself. ‘Ya cain’t leave him ‘cos ya love him and yet ya were the one who told him ya wanted to be just friends. How could ya expect he’d wait fer ya to change yer mind. A man like him don’t hafta wait fer nobody. He can have anyone he wants. So now ya’ve lost him and it serves ya right.’
As he rode, he went over and over all that had happened since that fateful day that Hudson kidnapped him, torturing himself with the images of what Hudson did to him and, worse, with those of Larabee loving him, which served to emphasize just what he had stupidly thrown away. Sure he could not forget Larabee using his fists on him in that jealous rage, but somehow that did not seem so important any more. Realization that he found himself prepared to accept such treatment if only Larabee would take him back, brought him to a sudden halt. ‘Hell, Tanner,’ he observed, wryly, ‘I though ya was stupid before, but that beats all. Yer not goin’ to accept that. Yer not!’ he insisted severely.
It had not been long after these self-denigrating observations that he had spied Ezra and JD.+ + + + + + +
Johnny MacFarlane’s trial was due to open in two days time, having been delayed as the judge was away on circuit and also until both the injured were well enough to take the stand if required.
Unfortunately, the delay had meant there had been time for the news of his brother’s arrest to reach Kevin MacFarlane. At more than ten years his brother’s senior, and uncomfortably aware that it was his own example that had led the kid into a life of crime, Kev had had no hesitation in rushing to Johnny’s aid and no scruples in doing whatever it took to extricate him from his plight. He could not leave the youth to suffer what would be undoubtedly a sentence to hang.
Quietly entering Four Corners, accompanied by only one of his men, MacFarlane had made discreet inquiries about the situation. At first, he had been inclined to merely hire a large group of men and to stage a raid on the jail, but then he had learnt about ‘The Magnificent Seven’ and what he heard put a whole new complexion on things.
Instead of a sheriff and perhaps a couple of deputies, not necessarily anything above the ordinary in their gun-fighting skills, Four Corners had somehow attracted several men notorious for their fighting abilities. Further, the leader of the group was the notoriously cold and deadly Chris Larabee, who would probably shoot Johnny down without compulsion in the event of a raid on the jail, or so his reputation suggested.
No, a raid could only be a last resort, given its considerable risk of failure.
So, Kev had looked for other angles and soon heard that the chief witness was likely to be one Buck Wilmington. According to local gossip, he seemed to have been the only one to see Johnny unmasked close up. Further, that bastard had also been the one that had captured Johnny. So, he clearly needed to be eliminated.
Well, a sniper’s shot could do that, but given Wilmington’s friends, that was likely to be a suicide mission, for the rifleman and there would still be other potential witnesses. Okay, Wilmington’s death might cower some, but after the loss of his reputedly closest friend, that damned Larabee could probably make any defaulters more afraid of withdrawing their testimony than of proceeding. No, he had to make sure Buck changed his testimony because that would seriously undermine the prosecution’s case, and also not preclude the seeking of a more permanent revenge at a future time.
Then, once Wilmington had withdrawn his testimony, there were the minor witnesses to deal with. As far as they were concerned, he decided the best course was to get Larabee to lean on them, albeit unwillingly.
At first, both parts of his plan seemed impossible to achieve, but the more he probed, the more he learnt about the close friendship amongst the seven. They seemed such a disparate bunch in many ways that the reported depth of feeling amongst them seemed odd, but there was one attachment that he could easily comprehend. The older men were apparently very protective of the young sheriff, JD Dunne, and even more importantly, Buck, in particular, seemed to treat him just like a much loved younger brother.
Well, that was something that Kev MacFarlane could understand. He knew exactly how far a man would go for a younger brother and had made his plans accordingly.
The only problem was that Dunne was apparently out of town, but on consideration, Kev realized that this should make the kidnapping easier.
A garrulous old drunk gave him a vague description of the kid, as being brown-haired, on the small side and in his early twenties, but provided a far more detailed picture of the foppish gambler that would be riding with him. Indeed, the old man clearly got quite a kick out of poking fun at Standish’s stylish suits and colourful waistcoats.
MacFarlane had set up his ambush and waited, It had thrown him slightly to find three men where he had expected two, but the second kid had provided no impediment to his plans, apart from annoying him with his lip.
Dunne himself had seemed slightly older than Kev had anticipated. Judging by his clothes, he clearly fancied himself as a buffalo-hunter, but he would probably run a mile if confronted with an angry bull. Still the role-playing matched up with the old guy’s comments about a wet-behind-the-ears kid playing at sheriff. Old Joe Ford had really gone to town on that, failing to mention that that same kid had run him in, for being drunk and disorderly, several times with no need of assistance from the older men.
So, MacFarlane was feeling pleased with how his plans had gone thus far and was looking forward to working off some of his desire for revenge on Wilmington on his new prisoner. From what he had heard of the former, any hurt to the boy would cause Buck far more distress than an attack upon his own person. Not that he had abandoned his thoughts of killing Wilmington. There would be plenty of time to plot Wilmington’s demise once he had Johnny safely out of Four Corners.
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