Slocum 421 by Jake Logan

make you a bill of sale for him. Don’t stop so anyone sees you for long, and then strike out. You should get clear down there, and some will think it was me went through. I’ll pay you twenty dollars besides.”
    â€œHoly shit, mister, I can ride him to the Mexican border for that. Good, but what will you do with this camp stuff?” He looked around at the mule and the panniers.
    â€œI guess leave it. Better than being picked off because I have it.”
    The kid agreed. “But a damn shame.”
    â€œI’ve had to lose more than that to save my hide before. We can split what we can use and tow sack it.”
    â€œSounds good. Am I glad I met you, mister—”
    â€œSlocum.”
    â€œJerry Kane.”
    â€œNow, let’s fix supper.”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    The preparation went well. Afterward they split the cans of tomatoes and peaches left and some other items. Slocum kept the coffee and the candy. The next morning they ate well and parted. The mule was not well broke to rein, but after some arguing, Slocum won and he trotted him off north. Kane rode south as the decoy with a bill of sale from “Andrew Thomas” for the gray horse.
    Â * * * 
    The mule was extremely tiring to ride or drive for Slocum, but in two days he was at an isolated ranch in a great swale, with lots of wet land around it, near the South Dakota line.
    A handsome woman in her late twenties came to the door in a blue dress.
    â€œGood day.” He removed his hat. “My name’s Slocum. Could I buy a meal?”
    Amused, she covered her mouth and shook her head in disbelief looking at him. Finally recovered, she stepped outside and leaned her back to the door frame. “I have had many folks stop by looking for a handout. But you are the first one ever, mister, to offer to pay for it.”
    â€œCan I buy it?”
    â€œHell, no. Get off your mule and I’ll wrangle you up something for free. I’m Glenna, Glenna Russell. I gave you my name. Now, who are you?”
    â€œThanks, Slocum is mine.”
    â€œJust Slocum, huh?”
    â€œYeah, it makes it easier.”
    Glenna turned and showed her fingers over her shoulder for him to come inside after her.
    â€œGood.” He hitched the mule at the rack and started for the house. On the porch he stuck his hat on a rack and washed his hands and face in the basin. Then he dried them on the sack towel available and stepped inside the neat cabin.
    â€œYou have a very nice place here,” he said to her back while she was working on the wood range.
    She looked back. “You can sit at the table. You’ve been on the road awhile.”
    â€œI probably could use a bath and a shave. But food seems like to me to be a little more important.”
    â€œWhen did you eat last?”
    â€œOh, yesterday I had my last can of peaches.”
    â€œI have some beef stew I am heating. You must be on the run.”
    â€œI am.”
    â€œWell, you aren’t Jesse James. I have seen fuzzy pictures of him.”
    â€œNo, ma’am. I recently shot a man in self-defense in Kansas after he shot a man in cold blood and then turned his gun on me. Only thing is he was the prodigal son of a congressman. I have never been on trial and they call me a convicted criminal.”
    She served him a bowl of hot stew. “I’ll cut you some sourdough bread. It’s still hot.”
    â€œThank you, Glenna.”
    â€œYou don’t have to keep thanking me. Any man rode a mule that far is tough as anyone I know. I saw right off he is not a saddle mule.”
    Between spoons of his stew, Slocum managed to say, “My gray horse was too famous to ride any longer.”
    â€œI said you were tough.” She poured him some fresh-smelling coffee.
    â€œYour husband around?”
    â€œHe’s dead. He had a horse wreck and died two days later over a year ago. My brother Jon and I own this place.”
    â€œI am