Chapter 25

"Cold Springs Texas  - Population 894"

That's what the sign read as they rode into town just before noon on the cool, cloudy Saturday.

"Boy, it sure has gotten chilly since we left the ranch.  Wish I'd brought my coat.  And I left my gloves laying on the bunk."  Hannibal Heyes pulled his black hat lower over his eyes to shield them from the brisk cool wind that had started blowing in from the north.

"Looks like another cold spell is blowing in,"   Kid Curry told his partner as they rode through the busy streets of Cold Springs towards the blacksmith's shop.

"Sure will be glad to get to that smithy's and warm up next to his fire,"  Heyes said.

They pulled rein in front of the only blacksmith's workshop in town.  The smith was busy with his back bent over the hot forge.  The boys observed from the large open double doors for a moment as the man pulled a glowing red hot horse shoe from the flames and placed it on the anvil to pound into shape.  The horse tied next to their own must be awaiting the newly shaped shoe.

"Excuse me,  are you the fella they call Shep?"  Heyes asked making his way under the tin roof  to stand among the many instruments of the trade that hung from the low rafters.

"Yep, that's me."  The man turned to face the two young men who had just rode in.

When Shep turned to face the boys they were taken aback for the briefest of seconds.  The entire right side of the man's face, head and neck were disfigured by deep scars, obviously the results of severe burns.  All the hair, eyebrows and eyelashes on his right side had been singed away.  Heyes quickly recovered his manners and spoke without  staring,  "This paint here needs a new set of shoes.  How soon before you can have him fixed up?"

"I just got started reshodding that bay there.  It'll take me another fifteen or twenty minutes.  Then I can get started on your pony.  All four shoes should take me about an hour."

"Fine. Fine.  We'll just wait here by your fire if you don't mind.  Sure has turned off cold hasn't it?"

"I didn't notice.  Standing over a fire all day you sweat no matter what the weather,"  Shep stated indifferently as he turned back to his work.

The boys leaned against the opposite wall watching the smithy at work,  relieved to be out of the cold wind and out of the public eye.  Heyes hadn't forgotten his promise to Evie to go nowhere except the jewelers and the blacksmith's shop.  And after her warnings about coming to Cold Springs, no matter how unfounded or silly they may have seemed,  both he and the Kid were a little on edge.  Hopefully in a little more than an hour  they'd be headed back to Red Rock with no trouble.

"You fellas must be from Red Rock.  I don't remember seeing you around here before.  I've been getting a lot of old Boone's customers.  How is old Boone doing after that fall anyway?"

Wary of giving away any information about where they'd come from or where they were headed the boys didn't answer immediately, prompting Shep to ask,  "Is that where you'll be headed back to after you leave here?  Red Rock?"

The boys exchanged a worried look.  "Uh, we're just passing through,"  Kid said nervously.

"Oh?  Is that a fact?  Which direction will you be headed in then, when you leave here?"

Another look passed between the boys.  "I think right for now we've warmed up enough and  we'll be heading for the saloon,"  Heyes said and motioned for his partner to exit the establishment.  "We'll be back in about an hour to check on the horse."

Shep never spoke or looked up from his work as the boys made their way out of his shop and headed down the dirt road main street towards the Holy Moses saloon.  But as the pair stepped up onto the boardwalk, he turned malicious eyes that bore a hole in the backs of the two men.  When they had disappeared inside, he wasted no time.  He tossed his tongs aside, his work forgotten,  and headed straight for the sheriff's office.

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It was a typical saloon.  Like dozens of others they's seen before.  They stood just inside the doorway and scanned the room.

"I don't like the way that guy was asking so many questions,"  Kid said, his blue eyes intense as they darted from left to right.

"Me neither,"  Heyes replied as he took note of the many sets of eyes that turned to size him and the Kid up.   "Sure are a lot of people in here."

"Yeah, too many.  I got a funny feeling, Heyes.  I don't think we should be in here."

"Yeah,  I got that feeling too.  And I did promise Evie I wouldn't go anywhere except the jewelers.  Come on, let's get out of here."

The partners exited the saloon and headed south unnoticed towards the jewelers.

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Sheriff Amos Crenshaw's eyes bugged out of his head.  "Did you say Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry?  Here.  In Cold Springs?"

"That's right sheriff.  I was in the orphan's home with both them hooligans and I recognized them right off. That Hannibal Heyes even punched me in the nose once. It can't be anybody else."

"Well, I'll be,"  said the stunned, middle aged, portly sheriff.   "Sure am glad you decided to show up today, Sherman."   He turned towards a tall thin man who stood silently in the corner looking at the floor. The man had an air of authority about him but that authority also seemed mixed with a bit of lawlessness.  He lifted cold steel gray eyes to the sheriff.  A sideways smirky grin formed on his lean chisled face.

"That makes two of us Amos.  If it really is Heyes and Curry you've got, I'll know it.  I almost caught up to those two a couple of years ago when I was riding with the Texas Rangers.  They had just robbed a bank in  El Paso.  I chased them for two days before they finally shook me somewhere near the Colorado border.  I've been waiting for the day to get another crack at those two."

"No sense wasting time.  You said they went into the saloon?"

"That's right.  They're waiting for a horse to be shod.  I told them it be more than an hour, so I don't figure they'll be going anywhere soon."

"Better round up some of your deputies, Amos.  Those two ain't going down without a fight.  You're going to need all the help you can get,"   the steely-eyed man in the corner informed his older colleague.

"Right you are.  Jesse,"  he addressed his young deputy, who stood at attention like an army soldier when called upon. "Go round up Joe and Hershel.  Tell 'em we've got a situation and we need 'em here lickity split."

"Yes, sir."   Young deputy Jesse Horton bolted out the door, and ran towards his horse.

"Where's the fire, Jesse?"   called out Mr. Handy who was sweeping off the boardwalk in front of his mercantile.

"I gotta round up Joe and Hershel.  Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes is in the saloon.  Shep recognized 'em from when they beat the tar out of him back in the orphan's home.  And we're a fixin' to go in and take 'em into custody."  And with a kick of his heels he was off to complete his mission.

The news spread like a prairie fire and within ten minutes the entire town had heard the news and was gathering in the streets to witness the capture and arrest of two of the west's most notorious outlaws.

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"Heyes, your silvery tongue has done it again.  I can't believe you got the jeweler to throw in that silver chain for free."

Heyes couldn't keep the self satisfied smile from his face.  "It was pretty genius at that.  I figured Evie could use the chain to keep her mama's ring on.  Since she's gonna be wearing this one."   The partners admired the small silver band with the single sparkling diamond in the center as it lay nestled in the little cushioned box.

"She's gonna love it, Heyes,"  Kid said to this partner as they headed back up the street.  "Hey, Heyes, look what's going on over at the saloon. A crowd's gathered.   I told you we shouldn't have been in there.  There's some kind of trouble."

Both ex-outlaws watched with furrowed brows as more and more towns folk formed a large congregation around the Holy Moses saloon.

"Hey, neighbor!"  Kid called out to an elderly man who was limping hastily towards the crowd.  "What's the commotion?"

"You ain't heared?  Why, Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes is in the saloon.  Shep, the blacksmith says he spotted 'em right off.  Says he was in the orphan's home with 'em and woulda knowed 'em anywhere.   Says they just about killed him with their bare hands once.  So there's no doubt that's who they are.  'Course they didn't recognize him cause of them scars.  The sheriff and that Texas Ranger fella are goin' in to arrest 'em.  Ever body's gatherin' to get a look at them ornery no account cusses."

The partners each  gave a nervous half laugh.  "Oh, say, who is the Texas ranger fella you're talking about?"  Heyes asked.

"McMaster.  Sherman W. McMaster.  Sheriff Crenshaw is an old friend of his daddy's and he just stopped by to pay respects.  Good thang too.  Well, don't just stand there, let's get goin' so's we can get a good view.  I ain't seen this many people gathered since they had nickel night at the whore house."    The old timer limped off with an excited gleam in his eyes.

The boys were frozen in their tracks for a moment.  Then two heads turned in unison to  stare in disbelief at each other.  Then again in unison they ducked into the nearest alley and ran through the back streets of Cold Springs towards the blacksmith's shop where their horses were tied.   They were lucky the entire town was in the middle of Main Street.  They didn't run into a single person as they made their way towards the rear of Shep's shop.

Sherman McMaster had almost cost them their freedom in the spring of '78 when they'd robbed the Citizen's bank of El Paso.   And he'd almost cost them their lives when he'd dogged their heels for two straight days, forcing them to ride into  trecherous canyons.  But it had been in those canyons that they had discovered  Rising Gulch.   They had hidden in an old mine shaft for days waiting for the posse to give up.

"Heyes, how are we gonna get our horses?  They're sitting right at the edge of that crowd.   Everybody's bound to know they're ours by now.   If we up and take them  we're busted."

They stood with their backs against the front of the small house that was attached to the back side of the black smith's shop.   Before Heyes could answer his partner, the front door came open and a woman wearing a long coat and bonnet stepped outside holding a carpet bag.  Both men stood still.

She turned towards them and was startled to see them standing there.  Her bag fell to the ground as she gasped in surprise.

Her mouth fell open.  Her eyes grew wide.  He had come.  He had come to take her away.  "Hannie?"  she whispered.

A shocked Heyes stood silent as Laura Shepherd threw her thin arms around his neck.  "I knew you'd come for me.  I just knew you would."

He pulled her arms from around him and gently but firmly set her away from him.
"You live here?  In this house?"

She looked at him confused.  Why did it matter?   They would be leaving here soon.  "Yes, why do you ask?"

Brown eyes met blue as the whole truth became apparent to both men.  "And your husband's the blacksmith, right?"  Kid asked, not expecting an answer.

"Yes, but why does that matter?"

The sound of horse's hooves coming hard and fast and the ever growing murmur of the crowd around the corner of the building they were sheltered behind, let them know that the sheriff's backup had arrived.

"That'll be the deputies, Heyes.  Which means there ain't much time before they find out we're not in that saloon and then they'll be scouring the town looking for us."

"What's going on?  Has someone recognized the two of you?"  Laura asked with genuine concern.

There was no need for them to answer.  The answer was written all over their faces.  "Then let me help you.  Tell me what to do and I'll do it."

Just then her four little girls, one with the baby on her hip crept slowly up behind Laura.  Heyes and the Kid felt immediate sympathy for the lost lonely looking children, in spite of their own predicament.  The boys were feeling the bite of the north wind even through their undershirts and long underwear.  But these kids had on thin dresses and no coats.

"Ma,  we've been outside now for hours.  We're cold."   Rebecca said in a small voice between chattering teeth.

"And hungry."  Anna Mary whispered timidly.

Eliza Pearl hugged tiny Hannah Belle, both trying to gain some warmth from the November chill that had filled the air.

The angry look that passed over her face for a scant second did not go unnoticed by the perceptive eyes of Hannibal Heyes.

Laura whirled around to face her children.  "Well, don't just stand there.  Hurry on inside then."   She opened the door and ushered the youngsters inside.  She shut the door and turned her full attention again to the two wanted men standing outside her house.

"What can I do to help?"

"Don't you want to go inside and take care of your younguns?"  Kid asked incredulously.

Heyes was smart enough to figure out what was going through her mind.  He knew she was unhappy and that she was looking for a way out.  She thought she had found it in him.

"Laura, your husband did recognize us and he's turned us in to the sheriff.  He thinks we're in the saloon.  But we must have left while he was in the sheriff's office.  When we came out of the jeweler's that crowd had gathered to watch us get arrested.  Once they realize we're not in the saloon they'll be hunting us down.   Our horses are tied in front of the shop.  We won't get far without our horses."

She didn't speak.  Her mouth was firmly set.  Her eyes cold.  "He turned you in?"

Heyes just nodded.  "And who could blame him?  I punched the man in the face once.  And now his wife has packed a bag and is trying to sneak out and leave him with seven kids to raise,  all because of me, right?"

The guilt was written all over her face.  She looked away, unable to face his penetrating gaze.

She silently walked around the corner of the building into the alley.  Three minutes later she emerged from the alley with both horses.  

"You didn't come here for me did you?" she asked, her voice weak.

"No, Laura, I didn't."

The look on her face was one of absolute defeat.  She wilted like a cut rose in the desert sun.  Someone shattered and hopeless.  Kid was already in the saddle.  But Heyes could not help but reach out with compassion to this confused woman he had once cared for.

"Laura,  I don't know what kind of life you think I live, but those stories in those dime novels are not true.  You want to know what kind of life I lead?  Well, you're looking at it.  Always dodging the law.  Always having to get out of town fast before somebody can turn us in for the bounty.  It's a lot like the life your kids are living.  Cold and hungry with only each other to rely on."   She lifted shame filled eyes to him.  She was shamed that he was able to see her miserable failings as a mother and a wife.  "You were forced to grow up without your folks.   Your kids have folks but they may as well be orphans.  Don't deprive them of a normal loving family because you think I'm something I'm not.  You don't know what I'd give to have what you have.  A quiet peaceful existence with somebody who loves me and a house full of beautiful kids."   He thought of his beautiful Evie.    He placed a gentle hand to her cheek as tears spilled from  her eyes.  "Go inside and take care of your kids, Laura."

She just nodded her head in response, knowing that he was right.

"Let's go, Heyes,"   Kid gruffed impatiently.  Heyes mounted the black.

"Which direction are you heading?  I'll try to lead them in the other direction,"  Laura asked, still concerned and willing to help.

"No, if they know you saw us, your husband will know you helped us and that might get you in trouble.  Just go back inside and pretend you never saw us."  Heyes turned Odin in a southerly direction intent on riding back towards Red Rock.

"We can't go back towards Red Rock, Heyes."  Kid stated firmly.    "He was already suspicious that we'd come from there.  That'll be the first place they'll look.  Besides that we'll be leading them straight back to Evie, Livvy and Big Mac.  Do I have to remind you what happened to Belle Jordan and her girls."

Heyes gritted his teeth.  He struggled with the decision but only for a moment before turning the big black around and pulling up beside his partner.  Their eyes locked and an unspoken conversation that they had had so many other times wordlessly passed between them.  Here we go again.  Leaving all that we love behind us.  But at least we're alive and we're together.


"Heyes, I know you want to go back to her, but right now we can't.  You know McMaster's is not going to give up a second chance at us.  He'll get a posse bigger than the last one  and they'll split up and part of them will go to Red Rock just in case we double back.  We need to head north."

Heyes just nodded solemnly.  He looked back, tipped his hat to Laura and mouthed the words, "Thank you."

She smiled sadly at him.  "I won't tell any one I saw you.  You have my promise."

 And with a snap of Heyes' reins and a nudge of Kid's boot heels they were off, headed north through the back streets of Cold Springs.

And with the snap of those reins,  Hannibal Heyes galloped away and out of her life.  Laura watched until she could no longer make out their retreating forms in the distance.  She picked up the carpet bag she'd dropped on the ground earlier.   She slowly opened the door of her home, almost afraid of going inside.  The sight of her four small daughters huddled together by the fireplace hearth picking out pieces of cold, burned eggs from the frying pan was a rude awakening for her.  Hannibal Heyes was a right.  No child should be left motherless, especially when their mother wasn't even dead.   Her children deserved better than what she had been given as a child.   She removed her coat and bonnet, placed the carpet bag under the bed.  The bed she had shared with Bradley for thirteen years.  She touched the quilt that covered it.  She remembered making that quilt the first year they had been married.  She smiled.  He had been so proud of her and how beautiful it had turned out.  They had shared many loving moments under that quilt.  Bradley was a good man.  He was a good provider and a good father.  His only crime had been that he wasn't Hannibal Heyes.   But now she knew that the Hannibal Heyes she had conjured in her mind wasn't even the real Hannibal Heyes.  The real man was riding now in the cold to outrun the law.  And he was leaving behind a woman that he obviously loved and who loved him back.  And he couldn't go back to her.  She felt sorry for him.  And for the woman he was leaving behind.  Would she ever know what had happened to him?  Would he ever be able to contact her again?  And what if they got captured?  Laura felt suddenly grateful for her small cozy home and her family.  She spun around to face her children with an apologetic smile.

"How about I make us some fresh eggs, and bacon too.  Rebecca, you can help me make some biscuits.  Anna Mary, do you know where your brothers are?"   The child nodded.  "Good.  Put on a coat and go fetch them.  Tell them to come home right away."   She picked up baby Hannibal and changed his diaper before settling in the rocker by the fire to nurse him from her small breast. "We'll make a nice big meal for your Pa when he gets home from working so hard."  

Three little girls watched in awe as their mother fed the baby.  Not that feeding the baby was so unusual.  It was what their mother was doing as she fed him.  Something she didn't ever do.  She was smiling.

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The cold wind made his eyes water as he and the Kid urged their horses into a gallop once they reached the open fields on the outskirts of town.  He shuddered against the bite of the cold air that seemed to cut straight through his clothes to his skin.

He hoped they were getting a good enough head start to keep the inevitable posse from catching up to them.  He had to find a way to get back to Evie.  She would be devastated when he didn't come back tonight.  She might even think he'd gotten cold feet and had left her.

Why hadn't he just listened to her and stayed home?  None of this would be happening now if he had.  But it was too late now to worry about it.  He could feel the little box in his breast pocket sliding up and down with the beat of the Odin's hooves.  Would he ever be able to give her the ring now?  Would he ever be able to place it on her finger?    Please don't worry, sweetheart, I'm not leaving you. I'll find a way to get back to you, I promise. 

As the powerful black stallion carried him further and further away from her, and the air grew colder he prayed it was a promise he'd be able to keep.