Trouble Shooter (1974) (26 page)

For a long time Hopalong sat on his horse, staring down at the crumpled, lifeless bundle of old clothes and used flesh that had been a man. When he looked up, it was to see Cindy Blair riding toward him; her clothes were torn and her cheek scratched.

"Are you all right?" he asked quickly.

She nodded, glancing at the dark bundle, then away. "They--the Brothers--they did that?"

He nodded. "Let's go home. Rig will be worried."

Almost an hour later she suddenly spoke. "They must have had their reasons."

"Yes."

"He told me about the PM. He transplanted a tree, grass, everything."

"I know. I figured it too late. Those stubbly limbs on that cottonwood, then the smaller ones growing out of them. I should have known it had been transplanted."

"Hoppy? He was Fan Harlan, wasn't he?"

"Sure. He never left this country for long. He was crazy to

come back, with the Brothers wanting him, but he saw his chance here, and he knew they never left their mesa."

They returned to the head of the canyon trail for Krug. The outlaw was gone. He had worked himself loose and escaped. "I'm not sorry," Hopalong told Cindy. "Maybe he's learned his lesson."

When they,rode into the streets of Kachina, it was to find a crowd of horsemen all mounted to ride out after them. Rig explained they had been out searching, had lost the trail, and returned for fresh horses and food. Hopalong explained what had happened. As they talked Cindy suddenly caught Hoppy's arm. "Look!" she whispered. "Look at this!"

A dozen riders, clad in cloaks and hoods, rode down the streets in ranks of three. Before the saloon they stopped and one of them dismounted. He walked up to the wall and tacked a notice there. Mounting again, they turned and rode quietly out of town. Not until they were gone did anyone approach the notice.

Hopalong Cassidy leaned from his horse and read the words aloud.

"attention, citizens of kachina

"Be it known that the man calling himself Justin Tredway, known to the law as Fan Harlan, was an abandoned child adopted by the Brothers Penitentes;

"That upon leaving the Order, he stole the Treasury and he killed in cold blood two of the elders;

"That he brought disgrace upon us by his subse--

quent conduct; that he, by our records, robbed four trains, seventeen stages, killed eleven men and one woman;

"For this, in solemn conclave, the Brothers Peni-tentes have tried, judged, and sentenced to death the man John Woolrich, alias Fan Harlan, alias Justin Tred-way.

"John Woolrich was executed at fifteen minutes past three o'clock this day."

Rig Taylor rode up beside Cindy and took her hand. Hop-along Cassidy turned away from the placard and swung his horse around. On the steps in front of the saloon a young man was sitting. He was neatly dressed, his gray shirt taut over a powerful chest, his naturally cold face now lighted by a smile.

"Mesquite Jenkins!" Hopalong exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," he said, "I've got a loan for seven thousand dollars and I figured on starting a new ranch up Blue Mountain way. I was hopin' you'd help me out."

Over the mountains beyond Babylon Mesa heavy thunder-heads had gathered. The heat still hung heavy in the sky, presaging the thunderstorm that was coming. Hopalong was tired, but once a job was done, he never could stay in one place for very long.

"All right." He turned to his friends. "It looks like I'm going to be heading out." Dismounting, he shook hands with Rig. Cindy Blair stepped up. "Thank you, Hoppy," she said, kissing him on the cheek. Sarah Towne took his hand and led him a

few steps to where Pike was standing. "We're going to make a new life. In a few days we're going to head for Oregon."

"I'm glad," Hopalong told her. He shook hands with Pike; when Pike let go he grabbed Cassidy in a fierce bear hug that lifted Hopalong from the ground. The two men laughed.

"If you ever need me," the man who had once been Ben Hardy said, "I'll come a-runnin'."

Hopalong Cassidy swung into the saddle, and with Mesquite at his side the two started up the trail. In the distance a muffled avalanche of thunder rolled and rumbled. Through the storm clouds the afternoon sun sent streaks of cathedral light across the sky and the first spattering of drops fell, dappling the ground and making the dust jump.

"Red Connors is meeting me out there," Mesquite said as they rode out of town. "And if we can find Jonny, we'll send for him. It'll be like old times again."

"Well, lead on then," Hopalong Cassidy said, tugging his hat down on his head. "I always did like ridin' in the rain."

Pike Towne stood in the main street of Kachina long after the others had taken shelter inside the hotel. The warm rain tapped on his hat and slowly soaked through his shirt. He looked off across the country, watching the mounted figures of Hopalong Cassidy and Mesquite Jenkins as they followed the trail out of town, appearing and disappearing in the folds of the landscape, finally cresting a hill that would take them forever out of sight. The clouds had broken momentarily and the hill was

drenched in golden shafts of light. One figure went on, but the other stopped on the crest of the hill and seemed to be looking back. Pike Towne thought he could see the figure lift a hand in farewell, but because of the distance, and the rain, he couldn't be sure.