Being out in the wide open spaces is good for a man, specially a man with wandering ways. North, south, east or west; they’re his to choose. Course there’s terrain and hostiles and bears to consider, but anything that gets the blood pumping is no bad thing when you gotta live on your wits.
All roads end somewhere; mine ended in Salina, a cowtown in north Kansas. After stabling my horse and booking in at the hotel, I figured I’d explore the town, starting with the saloon on the main street.
Nobody gave me a second glance when I sidled in and ordered a bottle of whiskey. That suited me fine. After two weeks in the saddle all I wanted was a peaceful drink.
‘Psst! Valance, is that you?’
It’s a strange thing to walk into a saloon, miles from home, and be recognized by some shifty eyed cuss at the end of the bar. I was still trying to work out how he knew me when he introduced himself.
‘It’s me… Frankie.’
‘I’ll be damned… Frankie Pinder!’
‘Shh! Not so loud.’
Last time I saw Frankie we were hightailing it out of Cedar City with a posse on our backs. When the gang split, Frankie went one way with Noah Williams and Sixtus Smith, while I went another with Jonas Cole and Curly George. I never saw any of those fellas again. That was fourteen years ago.
‘Its good to see you again Valance. What brings you here?’
My, did we have a time. Twixt laughing about the old days and raising a glass to the dear departed, we traded a backlog of horseshit and hard luck stories. We must have been halfway through the second bottle before we got around to talking about the present. Frankie had drifted into town just days before. Down on his luck, he was looking for a break. I thought he was fooling when he suggested we rob the Salina bank, but no, he was deadly serious.
‘The manager opens at nine and locks up at six. He’s old and he’s slow, and the clerk’s a wet nosed kid. Sometimes it’s busy, sometimes it ain’t, I know, I’ve been keeping an eye on the place. It’s just a matter of timing. And you showing up now… well it’s fate, that’s what it is. It’s meant to be, don’t you see|? So how about it… for old times’ sake?’
By the end of the evening he’d talked me into it. Seemed a good idea at the time but next morning when I looked out of the hotel window and saw the good citizens of the town milling around, and the sheriff’s office across the street… well, robbing a bank don’t look the same cold eyed sober. I figured it was probably just the booze talking, anyhow.
Frankie didn’t like it when I told him I was backing out. I felt so lousy about it that I didn’t have the heart to deny him a favor when he said he’d go it alone.
‘I’ll make my move just before the bank closes. Three miles north of town, where you hit open country, there’s a sharp rise to the west. I’ll see you over the rise shortly after six. Have some fresh horses waiting and we’ll have a clear run to Hays.’
Finding a couple of horses was easy enough. The hard part was persuading their owner to part with them. That negotiations were settled peaceably in my favor is all down to Mister Samuel Colt, for which I am truly grateful. All the same it was good to get over the rise and out of sight, in case of any misunderstandings.
Frankie sure seemed a long time coming. My own fault, I guess, for getting there with a couple of hours to spare. With nothing to do but laze around and smoke cigarettes, I got to the thinking about times past, though I sure wished I hadn’t when a worrisome thought came to mind; it was Frankie that got us shot up in Cedar City.
Hell, did my heart leap with joy when my old pard came tearing over the hill. I whooped and I hollered, and I threw my hat in the air, but Frankie didn’t respond. He couldn’t. The darned fool had got himself shot in the back and was practically dead in the saddle. Well, since there was nothing I could do for him, and since no posse would ever believe I had nothing to do with robbing that bank, and since it ain’t right that an old friend should die in vain, I bequeathed the money in his possession to me, on his behalf, and got the hell out of there. I’m sure Frankie would have wanted it that way.
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