Throw the Devil Off the Train Read online

  Throw The Devil Off The Train

  by

  Stephen Bly

  Copyright 2011 Stephen Bly

  (1944-2011)

  SmashWords Edition

  This book is available in print at many online retailers

  More about Stephen Bly:

  http://blybooks.com/

  http://blybooks.blogspot.com/

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  ~~ Chapter One ~~

  “Is he dead?” The high pitched voice whined.

  “If he isn’t,” came a low rumble, “I could fix that.”

  “I ain’t killin’ no man over a saddle.”

  “And a gun. He’s got one of them new Colt revolvers.”

  “I still ain’t killing no man over a saddle and a gun.”

  “I bet he has a bag of gold on him.” The lower voice had the power of a salesman on a slow day. “He’s as dirty as a prospector.”

  “He ain’t as dirty as us.”

  “Suppose he does have gold. Would it be alright to kill him then?”

  The high pitched bleat continued. “How much gold you reckon he has?”

  “At least a couple twenty-dollar gold coins.”

  “Maybe you’re right. For forty dollars, why cain’t I just hit him over the head with this fence post?”

  “If you don’t knock him clean out, I’ll have to shoot him.”

  “You got a gun?”

  “I’ll use his.”

  “Okay, but you do the shootin’. I ain’t shot nobody since the war.”

  “Maybe he is dead. Shorty said he’d been laying there on his saddle without movin’ since daybreak.”

  The whiner seemed hesitant. “If he’s such easy pickin’s, why didn’t Shorty clean him out?”

  “Maybe he did.”

  “He could be asleep.”

  “In the middle of the day? Who sleeps in the train yard in the middle of the day?”

  “Old man Ticcado did. He was sound asleep right smack dab on the tracks.”

  “He was crazy.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “You have to be crazy to marry one woman when you was still married to another.”

  “Well, it didn’t work out too bad.”

  “What? He got run over by a train.”

  “Yeah, but they sent half to one wife and half to the other.”

  “I say it’s goin’ to be simple. I’ll reach for the revolver. If he raises up, you clobber him with the fence post.”

  “You got any whiskey? I could bust a skull better if I had me some whiskey.”

  “We’ll have plenty of whiskey when we pick him clean. You ready?”

  “I reckon.”

  “I’ll just reach down here nice . . . and . . . slow,” the low voice whispered, “ . . . and . . . stop!” The last word was a shout.

  “Stop? He ain’t raised up.”

  “Don’t hit him.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “I don’t think so. He’s got one eye open and a saddle pistol shoved in my belly.”

  Race Hillyard opened his other eye. An unshaved man with matted hair and tattered brown suit hovered over him. “Tell your pal to put down the post,” Hillyard growled.

  “Put down the post, Cuke. You heard him.”

  The little man with big, black mustache jumped back, but held onto the broken piece of four-by-four.

  Hillyard shoved the first man so hard, he tumbled to the dry dirt of the train yard. “Is there any reason why I shouldn’t shoot you two? You were going to kill me.”

  The one called Cuke dropped the post. His bare toes wiggled through the holes in his boots. “Me and Willie thought maybe you was dead.”

  Hillyard backed up, but kept his gun pointed at the men. “It’s alright to steal from a dead man?”

  Willie struggled to his feet. “They don’t complain much.”

  Cuke wiped his broad nose on the back of his tattered shirt sleeve. “Don’t shoot us, mister. Times is tough. They run us out of our homes after the war and won’t give us decent jobs out here.”

  “You two Rebs?” Hillyard asked.

  Cuke threw his shoulders back. “We didn’t rebel against nothin’. We are proud veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia.”

  Hillyard shoved his saddle gun back into his bedroll. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” He reached in his coat pocket and tossed the man a coin.

  Cuke turned it over in his hand. “A silver dollar?”

  “That’s to buy dinner for both of you. I was on the losin’ side of the war, too, boys.”

  “No foolin’?” Cuke scratched his head like a dog looking for a flea. “We didn’t know that.”

  Hillyard’s glance whipped around the train yard, as if he expected another ambush. “Would it have made a difference?”

  Willie eased close enough to smell the garlic and whiskey on his breath. “To be honest, mister, probably not.” He leaned against Race’s shoulder. “These is tough times, alright. A man’s got to do what’s right for himself.”

  Hillyard felt his Colt being pulled slowly from his holster. His clenched right hand caught Willie under his narrow, pointed chin and lifted him off his feet. The gun blasted into the air, as the man slammed motionless to the dirt.

  The Colt retrieved, he turned towards Cuke, who stumbled backwards through a cloud of black powder smoke.

  “Get out of here,” Hillyard roared.

  “Eh . . . yes sir . . . I eh, didn’t know Willie was goin’ for your gun. I reckon you want your dollar back.”

  “No, keep it and get out of here.”

  “Thank you, sir. Us Southerners need to take care of each other.”

  “I’m not doing it for you. Nor the South. I figure it’s my Christian duty.”

  “Well, praise the Lord, brother.” Cuke stopped in his retreat. “Say, if I had me a twenty-dollar loan, I could go West and start all over. Could you spare . . . ?”

  Hillyard cocked the hammer of his revolver and aimed it at the man’s head.

  The man pushed up his hands. “No offense. I’m goin’.” He paused. “I reckon you’re a Baptist.”

  By the time Race Hillyard shouldered his saddle and hiked across the tracks, a crowd formed on the platform next to the West-bound train. A few boarded the train. The rest milled about saying farewells.

  The distant gunshot sounded like a celebration fired in the air, but the man in her arms didn’t need outside encouragement. Soft, unchapped lips pressed firm with only a twitch of anxiety.

  Catherine graded it a level three kiss, perhaps headed for a four.

  She threw her arms around his neck and clutched tight. His whole face now felt warm and moist. The low moan bubbled up like lava from some buried source.

  That’s better. A definite four. I knew you could do it. But this is where I stop. I never go to a five in public. Especially in a crowded train station.

  She released her grip to study the wide, brown eyes and intense face. Women would murder to have such shapely earlobes. They seem wasted on a man. Hmmm . . . is that a smirk or a leer? This close, his nose does not look quite so long.

  Like reverse poles on a magnet, his lips jammed against hers again.

  He’s trying for a five, but he’s way too aggressive. She felt her mouth mash back against he
r teeth. Rose tonic water . . . men with silky soft mustaches always use rose tonic water. Why is that?

  “Move it.” The tone jarred her like a dream when she tried to stop falling off a cliff. “You two step over by the baggage and do anything that won’t get you arrested. I’ve toted this saddle all the way from the stockyard and I’d like to board the train.”

  Catherine’s eyes popped open. The growling speaker’s sun-tanned face caked a tad less dirt than his broad-brimmed black felt hat.

  Thick mustache, wide chin, hasn’t shaved in several days. He does not use rose tonic water.

  She tilted her chin. “Please, I’m going away for a few weeks and I don’t want him to forget me.”

  The tall man in the rumpled charcoal gray suit and dingy white, tieless shirt, tipped his hat. “Lady, nobody on this train platform is going to forget that kiss. Now, move aside.”

  Catherine suppressed a smile. “Must you be so rude?”

  Mister, you think that was memorable? You have no idea what a level five kiss looks like. And I’m quite certain you will never find out.

  The steam blast from the train caused her to stumble forward. Catherine clutched the hard, cold, rawhide saddle horn. The saddle crashed to the rough wooden deck of the station platform.

  The man’s face reddened, accenting his thick, black eyebrows. “Lady, you are a . . . .”

  “Just a moment!” The one in the crisp, three piece suit and unchapped lips stepped between them. “I say, are you insulting my fiancé?”

  I like that. A little color does men good. Women rouge their cheeks, but men are limited to anger or embarrassment.

  “Mister, you probably just got the best kiss Omaha has ever witnessed.” He swooped down and hefted his saddle. “No one is insulting anyone. This saddle is heavy. I’m tired. I want to get on the train.” He shoved his dusty wool suit coat back to reveal a holstered revolver. “Get out of the way.”

  Is he threatening to use a firearm? I assumed this only happened in Mr. Buntline’s torrid novels. This must be what Gretchen meant when she said to be on the lookout for western ruffians.

  Catherine slipped her hand into Mr. Rose-Tonic-Water’s arm. “It seems obvious this man’s coarseness is equal to his insolence.” When she raised her chin, she felt the hatpin strain that kept the turned down brim of her Tuscan straw hat at a rakish tilt across her brunette bangs.

  The man in the three piece suit shuffled Catherine Draper to the side. His lanky arms still encircled her waist. “It is as if all manners and decency are left on the banks of the Missouri River,” he huffed. “One more kiss?”

  Catherine heard the conductor yell something. Several men shoved by them. “Everyone is watching,” she offered.

  His linen suit has an aroma of mothballs . . . but then, every odor in a train station seems repulsive.

  “I certainly hope so,” he murmured.

  She noticed a tightness in his voice, an urgency in his arms. This time their lips mashed until she felt her cheeks bulge and her dusty brown lace up shoes lift off the ground.

  Where do men learn to kiss? Someone should give them lessons. Unlike ladies, I suspect they do not spend hours in front of a mirror practicing.

  She gasped for a breath. “Whoa.”

  He leaned close to her ear, his thin voice a soft whisper. “Thank you for allowing me to see you off. Will you wave to me from the window?”

  “Of course.”

  Catherine enjoyed the swish of her navy blue and gray faille dress as she sauntered toward the train car. Several more impatient men boarded ahead of her. When she reached the steps, she tugged a linen handkerchief from under her light blue, button-trimmed chevron cuff. She turned to view his retreat to the platform and a circle of friends. She waited for the whole group to turn her way. Then she dabbed the corner of each eye and offered a shy wave.

  Inside the coach a pentecost of languages and a menu of aromas greeted her. The sweet and the rancid blended without rhyme or recipe. Catherine hurried to the first pair of bench seats facing each other on the right side of the coach.

  The man with the dirty felt hat occupied one window seat, his saddle the other. His long legs bridged the aisle between them. Chin on chest, hat pulled over his eyes, she noticed a thick roll of black dirt . . . or a scar . . . on his neck, just above the yellowed collar of his white shirt.

  She positioned her floral valise and matching purse in front of her like a barrier of protection, then cleared her throat. “Excuse me, I need access to the open window.”

  He neither moved nor spoke. The black leather shafts of his square-toed boots disappeared into the gray legs of his worn, wool trousers.

  He looks out of place in a suit . . . even without a tie.

  Catherine raised her voice. “I said, do you mind moving?”

  A tan faced boy in the seat behind them, about one year or so old, let out a short scream. His mother picked a small red wooden block off the floor, wiped it on the sleeve of her multi-colored wool dress and handed it back to him.

  Catherine stooped down and glanced out the open window at the group of men on the platform. “You can’t possibly be asleep yet. I saw you flinch when the little boy cried out. I need to wave at someone through the window.”

  He didn’t look up. His deep voice startled her, like it rolled out of a dark room thought empty. “You talking to me or my saddle?”

  She brushed dust off her sleeve with the back side of her pale yellow glove. “Your saddle isn’t blocking the aisle.”

  Somewhere at the back of the train, couplings collided as another car was added. The coach jolted forward. She braced her hands against his knees to keep from tumbling.

  He sat straight up and shoved her back. “Good grief, lady, I’ll move. You don’t have to attack me.”

  I’m sure he has a mother somewhere wondering, ‘where did I go wrong?’

  “I have no control over the coach. If you’d just scoot over, I’ll send my greeting and then be gone.”

  His booted feet banged to the floor. “You going to kiss him again?”

  She plopped down on the vacated seat next to the window. The dark brown leather felt warm and smooth, with a faint aroma of barn sweat. “Probably not.”

  Your hair is dirty and you need a cut. Philip has his hair cut every four weeks.

  “Do you object to kissing?”

  The man leaned back and circled his thick fingers inside the buttoned collar of his shirt. “It’s overrated.”

  “Oh, my, what words of wisdom.” Her back to the obnoxious man, Catherine opened her purse, pulled out a small mirror, then adjusted the cluster of artificial buttercups, heath blossoms, and fern that perched on the knot of her ribboned hat.

  “But then, I haven’t had a lot of experience with kissing . . . like that.”

  She glanced at the mirror. His face peered over her shoulder. “Yes, I can see why.” She stuck her head out the open window. Even the heat and drifting steam felt fresher than the air inside. She sensed perspiration bead on her temples.

  Above the noise of the crowd and the train, Catherine heard laughter from the men huddled at the far side of the platform. She waited for the one with silky mustache to turn her way.

  Out of sight, out of mind, no doubt. Ah, dear Philip, you have never, ever forgotten me.

  When she caught his attention, she put her gloved hand to the side of her mouth. “Goodbye, Darling,” she called out.

  The man lumbered toward the coach, then waved back with the enthusiasm of an actor bringing down the curtain on the first act. “Take good care of yourself, Sweetheart.”

  “Oh, yes.” The train pitched forward. Catherine righted herself, then held her hand over her heart. “I’ll write to you every day.”

  From down the line, someone hollered, “All aboard!”

  He jogged a few feet from the window. “Tell your Aunt Demetria we will all be praying for her.”

  The train rolled forward. She pressed her gloved hand against her ful
l, rose colored lips and blew him a kiss. “Until I’m back in your arms, my love.”

  He slowed his trot and slid out of sight.

  Catherine pulled inside the window as the train rattled out of the station. Brick walls and white cased windows hurried east. She adjusted her hat and brushed down the wrinkles of the rounded end of the pale yellow sash. She tugged the valise to her lap and stared out the window.

  I’m not sure why most of my life is lived at a distance, as if I’m watching it from across the street. I have no idea why I get so demonstrative in public. It’s a good thing Philip understands that.

  “That’s my seat, lady,” the voice was insistent, devoid of kindness or grace.

  She noticed a small hole in the elbow of his suit coat. Single men should hire a woman to tell them what to wear.

  “I shall find another.”

  “When?” he growled.

  She looked back at the hefty woman with two babies in the next seat. The lady shrugged.

  Catherine stood. “Rest assured, I do not intend to sit with anyone so ill mannered.”

  As he slid next to the window, the train slammed to a stop. Catherine tumbled towards him again. His rock hard arms a collapse into his lap.

  He shoved her back upright. “Lady, you are a chummy thing.”

  “That’s insulting. You know it was unintentional.” She peered through the crowd on the train car. “Have you seen our conductor? I must talk to him.”

  He leaned back, calloused hands behind his neck. “Are you going to report me for being grumpy?”

  “I’m sure that reporting your rudeness would not change you in the least and prove futile to improving the comfort of this trip. I have a question concerning tickets.”

  The large lady in the next seat leaned forward. “The conductor came through before you boarded. I’m sure he’ll return.”

  The man again stretched his legs across the side aisle and rested them near his saddle.

  Catherine noticed the fence posts alongside the tracks. “Why aren’t we moving?”

  The lady with the sleeping infants suppressed a yawn. “Honey, they just roll us out of the station where they can make up a train. We could be here a while.”