Walkers Creek - A Western

'I don't need no help.' Billy says, pushing his nurse to one side. 'And I certainly don't need no help from you, whoever you are.'

Wilson appears again around the corner of the house. He seems to be walking circles round the building. Logan steps back from the window.

'Right now there's a deputy patrolling round the outside of this house.' He pauses a moment to let the information sink in. 'Now why do you think he might be doing that?'

'Dammit.' Billy struggles to wrestle free of the blankets. 'He won't get me, he mustn't get me. Where's my gun?'

'He won't get you Billy,' Logan says calmly, 'because he doesn't seem to know that you're in here. So let's stay calm and quiet and try to keep it that way because I can see that you haven't got the strength to get as far as the door. Relax.'

'Where's my gun? If any deputy comes in here I'll shoot him, I will.'

'You've no need for a gun. There's no surer way of shortening your life than shooting at a deputy. Even if you kill him all sorts of hell will be raining down on you.'

The look they both gave him made the bottom of his stomach drop out.

'You damned fool kid.' He mutters shaking his head.

'He shot me first.' Billy insists.

'Don't make it any more right. Any judge is gonna think that he had reason to be shooting at you.' So that's why they were so scared. They both know that Billy has something to do with the missing deputy and they're terrified that another deputy is going to come along and dangle him from the end of a rope. He has a feeling that a judge wouldn't look too favorably on her either.

Did the sheriff and Humby know that Billy was here and know about what happened to the other deputy? It would make some sense of why they had come here. Humby's romance as a smokescreen while they sought out the deputy's killer. But why not tell him what was going on? If that was the plan then they were clearly hoping in some way to link him and Billy and get their hangings advertised on the same bill posters.

'You two need to keep quiet, and you need to think of some story that explains his wounds so that a doctor would believe you. Tell people he was gored by a bull, or fell onto a fence nail or something. Anything but a bullet.'

They nod in unison, looking grateful for the advice. They're little more than children, both of them. No wonder they're so scared. If he can protect them maybe it'll keep his own head out of the noose. Maybe not, but at least if they ever try to pin the missing deputy on him, he knows where to find the real culprit.

'Did you kill him? Will he be able to identify you?'

'I think I got him.' Billy says quietly, sounding a little ashamed now, the pride and confidence evaporated.

'Well, lets hope you did.'

Wilson is making another circuit.

It's taking him a while to get round the house. There's a stand of trees and bushes just beyond the corral. He could probably run that far before Wilson got back round again. Hell, he could probably walk that far. Would Humby or Emily see him go? He hopes they're too preoccupied to be looking. He pauses for a moment with distaste at the thought of her with another man but puts it out of his head.

'That's the deputy making his patrol again. I don't want him to find me with you. You don't need to be attracting his attention like that.' More self-serving lies. 'I'm going to jump out of this window once he's out of sight and make a run for it. I want you,' he turns to the girl, 'to shut the window behind me as quietly as you can and then both of you keep out of sight until Humby and the deputy have gone. Do you understand me?'

The kids both nod.

He holsters the gun and raises the sash as smoothly as he can. It's big drop to the ground but he tries not to think about it and throws himself from the windowsill. He lands heavily and feels a sharp pain in his ankle.

Tentatively he tries to walk on. It hurts, but his ankle still works. He sets off at a limping run towards the trees. Looking back he sees the girl closing the window sash and waving some sort of signal to him. Wilson is nowhere to be seen.

CHAPTER TWELVE

'I still don't understand why you came here.' Emily says.

'What more do you want me to say? Isn't it enough that I want you to marry me?' Humby persists in the same argument that has made him no progress for half an hour.

'I know you don't really mean that. Let's cut the pretense. I have a ranch, a successful ranch, and you can't bear to see anyone other than you in Walkers Creek being successful. So you want the ranch. I'm not going to sell it to you and I'm not going to marry you. You're not going to get it.'

She still has the rifle across her lap. She realizes that she wouldn't be able to use it if he rushed at her in that small room, but having it there as a barrier between them gives her some comfort. He gets up from his chair and starts striding about the room.

'Your father was going to sell me the ranch.' He says.

'Don't bring my father into this.'

'No? Perhaps you've forgotten that he agreed that you and I should wed?'

'That's nonsense and you know it. I loved my father and I won't have his memory sullied by your lies.' She is close to tears but determined that he shouldn't have the satisfaction of having made her cry.

'Maybe we should ask your brother. I'm quite sure he remembers it.'

'Leave him out of this too.'

'No, really I think we should go and ask him. What do think he'd say? I've always got the impression he quite liked me, haven't you?'

'You fooled yourself into thinking that I liked you. I wouldn't put too much store in your ability to judge people.'

'I'm getting tired of this, Emily. I'm going to ask you once more to come with me.'

'And then what? You'll get your henchmen to carry me into town. I don't see them here any more.'

'They'll come when I call them.'

'Really?' She has seen Logan making off through the trees. She chooses not to mention it.

'You want me to call them now?' Humby heads over to the window to call out to the deputies.

'So why now?' she tries to change the subject, hoping to deflect him. 'What makes you come here demanding my hand today when you haven't been near me for months?'

'You want to know? Oh, I'm sure you know.' Humby has an angry fire in his eyes now. His hand is toying with the hem of his jacket.

She knows he has a pistol under there. She shifts the rifle on her lap.

'I'll tell you,' he says. 'You know I had a prospector looking at that valley. You know he found something. You flooded it anyway.'

So that's it. The mining man is fired up by the idea of losing a possible money making opportunity.

'What prospector? McLaren? He was working for you? Well that makes sense.'

'Yes, inconvenient that someone should drop some dynamite down his chimney don't you think?'

'Why do you care? It's on my land. You can't mine there. You shouldn't even have been poking about there.'

'You really are a damned fool girl aren't you? The judge will happily sign your land over to me if I can prove there's gold there. He's done it before. It's about jobs and prosperity. There's no space for sentiment. Walkers Creek hasn't become the success that it is with sentiment.'

'You really do think you're above the law don't you? I'm surprised you even bother asking me to marry you. I'd have thought your friend the judge would just declare us married whether I wanted it or not.'

'Don't think I haven't thought of that.'

She swallows hard. She wants to take back those words she said. Why did she have to plant that idea in his head?

'You know, the simplest solution,' he says, 'would be to get your brother to swear that your father consented to the marriage. You'd be bound by your father's promise then. You wouldn't want to break that now, would you?'