“I wonder what William is doing here,” Frewen said as their driver pulled to a stop.
“Is Margaret with him?” Clara asked. “Maybe they have come to meet Jennie.”
“I don’t know,” Frewen said. “I’ll walk over there and see. If he is, I’ll lift my hat. If I don’t lift my hat, she isn’t there.”
“All right,” Clara said, remaining in the carriage as Frewen stepped down.
“Hello, William,” Frewen said.
“Moreton,” Teasdale replied.
“Are you meeting someone on the stage?”
“No. I just thought as long as I was in town, I would meet it and see if there is any mail for me.”
“Margaret didn’t come with you, did she? Clara is over in the carriage and wanted to know.”
“No, she’s at home.”
Frewen turned toward Clara and shook his head.
“What brings you here?” Teasdale asked.
“Don’t you remember? We told you that Clara’s sister Jennie and her son are coming to visit us.”
“Oh, yes, I do remember. Well, I hope they have a very pleasant visit.”
“I intend to make certain their visit is pleasant. They should be on this coach. And I’m sure they are, or I would have gotten a telegram from Mr. Jensen informing me that they aren’t.”
“Jensen? Isn’t that the gunfighter you hired? You mean you sent the gunfighter to escort your sister-in-law and your nephew?”
“Who better to send for protection than someone who knows his way around firearms?”
“But he killed a man the first night he was in town, didn’t he? That’s the kind of man you want escorting your kin?”
“If you have heard that he killed a man, you have also heard that the man he killed provoked the fight,” Frewen said.
“Kyle Houston. He was supposed to be very good with a gun, I’ve heard,” Teasdale said.
“Evidently he wasn’t good enough,” Frewen replied with a chuckle.
“You laugh about this,” Teasdale said. “But just how safe do you think someone like Matt Jensen is? He obviously draws men like Kyle Houston to him, men who want to make a reputation for themselves. I mean, do you really want someone like that around?”
“That is exactly the kind of man I want around,” Frewen said.
“I hope you haven’t made a mistake,” Teasdale said.
“I’m sure I haven’t, but I do appreciate your concern. I’d better get back over to Clara. She doesn’t like to sit alone for too long.”
As Frewen returned to his carriage, Teasdale controlled a smile. If things went the way he hoped, the only way Matt Jensen would be on that stagecoach would be if his body was sprawled out on top. If someone like Kyle Houston hadn’t been able to take care of him, then it was obvious that one man couldn’t do it. But Logan had told him this would be three men, three professionals who knew guns, and who had experience holding up stagecoaches.
“Coach is comin’ in!” someone shouted.
“Coach is comin’,” another repeated, and those people who were in the part of town near the stagecoach depot paused long enough to watch the arrival.
Ed liked to depart and arrive with a bit of a show, so, though he didn’t whip the horses into a gallop, they were at a rapid trot as the coach came moving quickly down Sussex Road. He pulled the team to a stop in front of the stage depot, then set the brake.
“Hello, Ed!” the depot manager called. “Any trouble?”
“Ha!” Ed replied. “No trouble for us, thanks to Mr. Jensen.”
Hearing that, Teasdale looked toward the coach. He saw a man step down, then help three ladies in the coach exit, including Jennie Churchill, whom he recognized. Teasdale had never met Matt Jensen, but he knew without having to be told that this was him.
“Jennie!” Clara Frewen called and she and Jennie ran toward each other with arms extended, meeting in the middle with a big embrace. Winnie stood quietly alongside his mother until Clara bent down to greet him as well.
“My, how you have grown!” Clara said. “I certainly hope you don’t consider yourself too big now to give your aunt Clara a hug.”
Winnie smiled and complied with Clara’s request. When Frewen extended his hand, Winnie took it and they shook hands.
“Oh, you must be exhausted, poor thing,” Clara said.
“Perhaps more exhilarated than exhausted,” Jennie replied. She extended her hand toward Frewen. “It was so wonderful of you to agree to receive us as guests,” she said.
“You are always welcome in our home, Jennie,” Moreton said. “I see you met Mr. Jensen.”
“Indeed we did,” Jennie said. “It was very thoughtful of you to send him for us. He was not only the perfect gentleman and a pleasant traveling companion, he also saved us from what could have been an unpleasantness.”
“Our stagecoach was almost robbed!” Winnie said excitedly. “But Mr. Jensen prevented it.”
“Oh, how frightening that must have been!” Clara said.
“Frightening? No,” Jennie said. “It was exciting! Wasn’t it, Winnie?”
“Yes, very,” Winnie replied.
Marshal Drew was one of those who had come to meet the stage, and upon overhearing the conversation, he walked over to the driver who was talking to the depot manager.
“Mr. Frewen’s guests are talking about a holdup,” Marshal Drew said.
“That’s right, there was a holdup,” Ed replied. “Well, no, there weren’t really no holdup.”
“Was there, or wasn’t there?”
“There wasn’t, but it ain’t cause the robbers didn’t try.” Ed laughed. “They was waitin’ for us like they done before, only Matt here, he seen ’em from the coach. It was back at Crowley Ridge it was, you know where the road makes a real hairpin turn around the end of it? It’s real near Teapot Dome. Anyhow, Matt clumb up over the ridge and then come down behind ’em. And when me ’n Gary got there, we seen Carter, Hodge, and Decker sittin’ just as purty as you please on the side of the road. And there was Jensen standin’ in the road waitin’ for us, holdin’ on to all their guns.”
“You weren’t carrying any money this time, were you, Ed?”
“Nope, nary one red cent,” Ed replied.
“Then I don’t understand why they tried to hold you up. Ever’ time they’ve done it before, you’ve had something to rob.”
“Yeah,” Ed said. “Well, truth is, I don’t know why they tried it, either. All I know is they did try it, and, thanks to Matt Jensen, they didn’t get away with it.”
Matt walked up to the marshal, carrying Pete’s hat with three pistols.
“Here you go, Marshal,” he said. “I told the men I took these guns from that they could get them back from you.”
“Ha!” Marshal Drew said. “There’s a fat chance of that happening.”
Frustrated at seeing Matt Jensen still alive, Teasdale turned back to his coach. “Take me home, Mr. Reeves,” he said to his driver.
Matt accepted an invitation to eat dinner with Frewen and his family that evening, but when Frewen offered him a bed in his guest room, Matt declined.
“If you have a spare bed in the bunkhouse, I’d rather stay there,” Matt said. “I think it would give me more freedom to ride around, and if I’m going to find and stop the rustlers, that’s what I’m going to have to do.”
“All right,” Frewen agreed. “I also have several line shacks, one less than I did have, since Logan burned one of them, but if you find yourself near one of them, feel free to spend the night there. They are all occupied, but I would be glad to give you a letter that would identify you so that—no, wait, that won’t do any good. There are several of them who can’t read.”
“You could give him a paybook,” Clara suggested.
Frewen smiled. “Yes, that’s a good idea. They would all recognize that.”
“A paybook?”
“Shortly after I started ranching, I learned that there is a rather quaint custom among some of the cowboys to show up at payday on the larger ranches, and stand in line to draw their pay—whether they work there or not. Apparently I was an easy mark, because my bookkeeper pointed out to me some months I was paying from one to two more cowboys than actually work for me.”