War Of The Mountain Man

After breakfast, Smoke walked up and down the town’s streets, telling people what he felt was coming at them. They had all felt that sooner or later they would be attacked. They took the news stoically. Benson, the blacksmith, summed up the town’s feelings. “We’ll be ready, Marshal.”

The town braced for trouble, and Smoke went to see Dr. Robert Turner.

The doctor met him at the door. “If you’re hurt, I’ll treat you, Smoke; I’d do that for any man. But other than that, you are not welcome in this house.”

“I see,” Smoke said, standing on the small porch. “Does that include my wife, too?”

Robert hesitated. Women were held in high esteem back east, but nothing compared to the way they were almost revered out here in the wild West. “Sally is welcome here anytime, of course.”

“You just don’t like my barbaric ways, is that it, Doc?”

“Something like that, yes. All this killing is quite unnecessary, you know.”

“No, I didn’t know that, Doc. What am I supposed to do when a man confronts me with a gun? Kiss him? Let me tell you something, Doc. This will probably change over the coming years, and in a way it’ll be a sad thing when it does; but out here, a coward can’t make it. Now, there is a reason for that. If a man is a coward, then there is a good chance that he’s also a liar and a cheat. Not always, but often that’s true. You see, Doc, out here, a man’s word is his bond. If a man’s word can’t be trusted, what good is he? So no man wants the title of coward branded on him. Too much goes with it. Are you beginning to understand what I just said?”

“Of course, I understand it. It’s still stupid, primitive, and barbaric.”

“Victoria home?”

“No. She went shopping.”

“That’s good. ’Cause I just don’t believe she knows the game you’re playing.”

Robert stared at him for a time. The doctor’s eyes were unreadable. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jensen.”

“You’re a liar.”

Robert didn’t back up. “I’m no gunhand, Smoke. And I certainly can’t whip you with my fists, so I’m not going to try. Does that make me a coward?”

Smoke chuckled. “No. But I didn’t call you that to provoke a fight. That’s a bully’s way. And I’m not a bully. I called you that to get your attention. Have I got it?”

“Yes. I believe you could say that.” Robert stepped out onto the porch and waved Smoke to a chair. “What’s on your mind?”

“Your brother, Max Huggins.”

Robert was so shaken he missed the seat of the chair and went tumbling to the porch floor. Smoke helped the man up and into the chair. Robert was ghost-white and his hands were trembling.

“You want me to get you a drink of water?” Smoke asked.

“That would be nice. Yes. Would you?”

“Sure.” Smoke went into the kitchen, pumped a glass full of water, and took it to the man.

Robert drank the glass empty and sighed heavily, as if a load had been taken from him. “How did you find out about Max?”

“By looking at the two of you and guessing. I knew someone had been leaking information out of town, so I followed you one day. Now, then, what do you intend to do about it?”

The man shrugged. “Victoria doesn’t know, Smoke.”

“All right. Neither Sally nor I believed she was a part of it.”

“How many people know?”

“Me and Sally. Judge Garrison. My deputies.”

“When the townspeople find out, I guess I’m through in Barlow, right?”

“I imagine so. You and Victoria, you’re not cut out for this kind of life, Robert. The West is not for people like you. It’s still plenty raw out here. You and Victoria, you both want all the pretty things that are scarce out there. Women wear gingham out here, not lace. Coming up here from train’s end, me and Sally took our baths in creeks. I can’t work up a picture in my mind of you and Victoria doing that. Killings are common out here, Robert. Not as common as they used to be, but people will still travel a hundred miles to see a good hanging.”

The city doctor shook his head at that and grimaced in disgust.

“And then there is the little matter of your brother to take into consideration.”

“Max is my brother. Can’t you understand that?”

“He’s also a thief, a rapist, a murderer, and God only knows what else. And accept this, Doc: I intend to kill him.”

“Judge, jury, and executioner, right, Smoke?”

“Sometimes that’s the way it has to be, Robert. And you’re no better than Max, are you, Robert?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There was no old rancher that you befriended back in the city, was there, Robert?”

The doctor’s silence gave Smoke his reply.

“I suspected as much. Max killed that rancher and then had the letter forged. The letter you showed your wife.”

“He never said, and I never asked.”

“Didn’t you even care?”

“Yes,” the doctor’s reply was spoken low. “Yes, I cared. I came out here in hopes of changing my brother, making him see that what he was doing was wrong. Evil. Our parents died two years ago, four months apart. They left quiet a sizeable estate; it all came to me. Of course, they had written Max out of the will years before. I even offered Max half of the estate.”

“Sally thought you were a poor struggling doctor.”