Chapter 18
“Maybe,” Conn said. Truth be told, he’d feel a lot better leaving Mary if she had a watchdog.
“You want a dog, I’ll give you a dog,” Purcell said.
“I got too many. Four of them. You wait a minute, they’ll set to barking out back.
One’s the mama. The other three are her pups.
Only, they ain’t pups no more. They’re eating me out of house and home, and now that they got their size, the males scrap a lot. Makes a terrible racket.”
“What kind of dogs are they?” Conn asked.
“Mountain cur,” Purcell said.
“That’ll do the trick,” Conn said. “You up for a companion, Mary?”
“I love dogs,” Mary said. “Cole and I had planned on getting some eventually. But I doubt the hotel will want me keeping one.”
“How long you gonna be shacked up at the hotel, ma’am?” Purcell asked.
“Hopefully just a week.”
“Shoot,” Purcell said. “Leave him here, then, till you’re ready. Ain’t nobody else gonna want him.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate that.”
“Oh, my pleasure, trust me,” Purcell said. “If I pull one of those dogs out of the pack, I might actually get some sleep at night. You feed him once in a while, he’ll watch you like a hawk. Won’t nobody sneak up without you knowing, I’ll tell you that.”
“Those mountain curs are rugged,” Conn said. “Good all-purpose dogs. They got no quit in them.”
“You ain’t telling me nothing I don’t already know for gospel,” Purcell said. “I’m from Tennessee. You want the guns, then?”
“Yes, sir. And plenty of ammo for both. Also, we’ll be wanting to stock up on ammo for a couple of revolvers.”
They took care of business and paid Purcell and thanked him again and left the shop, each of them carrying one of the new purchases.
They heard some barking coming from around back of the shop and went down the alley between stores, and there were the dogs, four of them penned behind a well-chewed wooden fence.
They were big hounds, fifty or sixty pounds of muscle with blocky heads.
Three were mostly tan. The fourth had some tan in him too but was heavily brindled in chocolate-colored fur and a patch of black here and there.
They barked at Conn and Mary, but they didn’t seem to mean anything by it, and when Mary talked to them, they quit hollering and tilted their heads at her.
“One of you is coming home with me soon,” she said. “One of you boys want to be my watchdog?”
As if understanding her words, the brindle trotted over and jumped up and panted at her, his pink tongue lolling from between powerful jaws set with milk-white teeth that looked whiter still against his black muzzle. His head came to the top of the fence.
Mary reached over and patted him on the skull.
The dog seemed to like it.
“He’s got a big old bump on his head,” she said.
“Supposed to be the sign of a good dog,” Conn said. “Either that, or he bumped his head.”
“You sure are a funny-looking fellow,” Mary said, still petting the hound.
The dog grinned up at her.
“You want to come with me?” she said.
The dog licked her hand.
It did Conn’s heart good to see Mary smile. Maybe a dog would help her in more ways than just keeping watch.
She said goodbye to the dog and promised to come back, and she and Conn went back out to the main street.
Conn looked up at the sun and knew he had only ten or fifteen minutes until it would be time to meet with the volunteers.
“Let’s stow the guns in your room,” he said, “and then I’ll drop you off at the marshal’s before I go to meet those men.”
Mary said that sounded good.
Conn was happy for the opportunity to check her room. It was nothing fancy, but it looked clean enough, and there was a lock on the door. They laid the guns on the bed.
“Do you know how to load and shoot them?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “And clean them.”
“Good. You ready?”
“Yes.”
They walked back downstairs and out onto the street.
He glanced toward the saloon but didn’t see anybody waiting out front yet.
“Come on,” he said, leading her toward the marshal’s office.
“I can’t thank you enough, Conn. I would have been totally lost without you.”
“It’s the least I can do. We’re family.”
She nodded, looking sad. “I hate for you to leave.”
“I hate to leave you, but I’ve got work to do.”
She nodded.
“I hope your brothers come soon,” he said.
“No worries about that. They’ll come straightaway. Conn, be careful on the trail.”
“I will.”
“And come back.”
“I will. I told you. Once I’ve killed all of them, I’ll come back and help you build your house.”
“Well, thank you again,” she said, and stuck out her hand. “I will pray for you.”
“Thanks, Mary,” he said, shaking her hand. “You take good care.”
He started down the street but stopped when she called to him.
“I do hope to see you again,” she said. “It’s a comfort, you being Cole’s brother. And looking at you, it’s almost like being able to see him again. I mean, you even have the scar.”
He nodded. “Looks can be deceiving. I’m not half the man Cole was.”
“It’s funny to hear you say that. Cole always said the same thing about you, that he could never match you.”
“That’s funny, all right. In fact, it’s about the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. Because Cole was ten times the man I’ll ever be.”
“Not according to him. He always said you were the best man he ever knew. He said someday, you would be the best man anyone had ever known. It was just…”
“Just what?”
“He said you just didn’t know yourself yet.” Mary frowned. “I’m sorry, Conn. It’s been a hard day. Forgive me for talking this way.”
“Nothing to forgive. You take good care.”
“I will. Thank you again. And I meant what I said. I do hope to see you again.”
“I hope so, too,” Conn said. “Otherwise, I’m dead.”