Strongheart by Don Bendell Page A

hideout, apparently his bathroom. Joshua shook his head and quietly chuckled at the sight of the naked armed man striding away from the rocks.
    Joshua quickly and silently backed up away from the edge. He moved like a cougar himself down the rocks and slipped into Jeeter’s hideout. He had shelter, food, and a campfire and had made himself a nice evergreen bough bed, and there were excellent fields of fire and vision in almost every direction. He even had spaces between large rocks from which he could easily observe or shoot anybody approaching from the blind side of the mountain, along the base of the steep rock. If Joshua had tried coming that way, he would have been easily bushwhacked. Like many people and animals, though, Jeeter had failed to watch for danger from above.
    Joshua poured himself a cup of coffee and found it to be strong, fresh, and very hot, just the way that he liked it. His standard request was that anybody making him coffee should grab a small rock and set it on the brewing coffee, and when it floats the coffee is ready.
    Quickly looking through Jeeter’s things, he found his money belt, and the letter was inside. He checked to insure that Jeeter was not at hand, then lowered his drawers, strapped the belt around his waist, and cinched his gun belt back up.
    None of his wounds were hurting right now, because of adrenaline, but Strongheart still was a long ways from having all his strength back. He sat down and waited a couple minutes, and soon he heard Jeeter whistling a tune as he made his way up the path to the hideout. Naked but for the gunbelt, Jeeter strode into the cave and froze at the sight of a grinning Joshua Strongheart, bandaged all over, a pistol in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
    With a thick accent, Jeeter finally spoke. “What you doin’ heah, ya damned blanket nigger?”
    Strongheart smiled, saying, “I gave my word to my mother on her deathbed I would never give away or sell my rig that you are wearing.”
    Jeeter shook his head, saying, “You come after me wounded up bad to get back yer gun and knife?”
    Strongheart said, “And the wedding ring you took, and I got my money belt. Why did you still have the letter?”
    Jeeter spat some brown tobacco juice out. “Wal, I reckoned I would sell it ta the highest bidder. If ya was a man and let me make a play, then after I kill ya, I would go do jest that.”
    â€œWell,” Joshua replied, “we don’t have to worry about that.”
    â€œWhat, letting me ta make a play? I figgered as much.”
    Strongheart said, “Where is the ring?”
    Jeeter said, “The hell with ya. I give it ta one a mah gang, and I ain’t telling’ ya nothin’ else.”
    Strongheart said, “Well, I have already killed about half your gang, and I will hunt the rest down until I find that wedding ring. So you won’t tell me where your brother or the rest are?”
    â€œHell, no. Why would ya spend time lookin’ for a damned ole ring?”
    Strongheart said, “Because I gave my word.”
    Jeeter chuckled, shaking his head. “Craziest thing Ah ever heerd of. Ya been shot a bunch, ridin’ hard I guess, and all over a gun, a knife, and a ring.”
    Strongheart stopped smiling and said, “No, because of integrity. You would never understand that concept.” He spun his pistol back into the holster, saying, “You asked what I meant when I said we won’t have to worry about that.”
    Jeeter said, “Yeah.”
    â€œI was not talking about giving you a chance. I was talking about you being able to kill me.” Jeeter looked into Joshua’s dark, dark eyes and what he saw made his spine shiver. Suddenly, he wished he was back in his natural bathroom.
    He laughed halfheartedly, saying, “At least let me put some clothes on. Ah’m naked.”
    Strongheart said, “That’s how you came into this world, but now