“We live on Third Street,” Hannah told them. “Just go up one block and then turn left. It’s the fourth house.”
Sam nodded. “We’re much obliged, Miss Coleman.”
“Yeah,” Matt added. “Thanks. Now we’d better see about finding a stable for our horses and a place to stay.”
“Cottonwood Hotel’s across the street in the next block,” Coleman said. “Nice, clean place. And I’d recommend Loomis’s Stable, at the eastern end of the street. Ike Loomis will take good care of your animals.”
Matt and Sam nodded their thanks, then went to gather up their mounts while Coleman and Hannah went into the marshal’s office. The horses were well trained and hadn’t gone far. As the blood brothers led them toward the stable Coleman had recommended, Matt grinned and said, “You’ve got it bad.”
“What?” Sam said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The hell you don’t! I saw the way you were makin’ calf eyes at Miss Hannah.”
“You’re loco!” Sam protested. “She’s a pretty girl, I suppose, but I wasn’t…I didn’t…” His voice trailed off and he blew out an exasperated breath.
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that you started talkin’ about stayin’ around these parts for a while.”
“The horses need a rest,” Sam insisted.
“I need a drink, too, but it looks like I’m not gonna get one here.”
“You can live without a drink for a few days.” Sam paused, then went on. “Did you hear what Hannah said about someone trying to bushwhack her father?”
“Of course I heard her. I was standin’ right there.” Matt frowned a little. “But that is a mite interestin’. Could be the marshal has more trouble on his hands than he realizes.”
“And the prospect of trouble always intrigues you, doesn’t it?” Sam asked.
Matt grinned in response but didn’t say anything.
They reached the livery stable. According to the sign painted on the front wall over its big double doors, it was LOOMIS’S LIVERY—ISAAC LOOMIS, PROP. When they led their horses inside, a short, barrel-shaped man in overalls and with a plug hat met them. He had a short, rusty beard, and a crooked black stogie was clenched between his teeth.
“Howdy, gents,” he said without removing the stogie. “He’p you?”
“We need a place to put up our horses,” Sam said.
“And a place that’ll sell us a drink,” Matt added jokingly.
The fat man leaned out to look both ways along the street, then slowly straightened and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone as he said, “Just could be I might can he’p you with both of them things.”
Chapter 5
The blood brothers looked at him in surprise. Matt said, “I was just funnin’ with you, old-timer. We know about the new law in Kansas.”
“Yeah, well, just ’cause somethin’s a law don’t mean that everybody follows it.” The liveryman frowned suddenly. “You boys ain’t some o’ them special marshals, are you?”
“Us? Not hardly,” Matt said.
“We’re just passing through Cottonwood,” Sam added. “And we’re really not interested in having a drink.”
“Speak for yourself,” Matt said. He turned to the liveryman. “Just what were you gettin’ at, amigo?”
“There’s an old barn at the other end o’ town. It used to be Cottonwood’s other livery stable, but there weren’t enough business to support two of ’em. Fella who owned it closed up shop and went back wherever he came from. Barn’s been sittin’ there empty for nigh on to a year.”
“So what happened?” Sam asked. “Someone came along and converted it into a secret saloon once that new law went into effect?”
The liveryman looked around nervously again, then said, “You didn’t hear it from me.”
“Wait a minute. You’re serious? There really is a saloon down there?”
“Now you’re talkin’,” Matt said.
“Just go ’round back and tell ’em that Ike sent you. That’s me, Ike Loomis.”
Matt grinned. “I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. Loomis. Under the circumstances, mighty pleased.”
“I suppose you get a little payment for sending customers down there,” Sam said with a note of disapproval in his voice.
Loomis shook his head. “No, sir, I sure don’t.” He hooked his thumbs in the suspenders that held up his overalls and added proudly, “I own the place. Well, not the barn itself, I reckon, but nobody was usin’ it. I brought everything in and set it up, though.”
“Where do you get your booze?” Matt asked.
Loomis shook his head. “That’s a secret. I’m already takin’ a chance just tellin’ you about the place, but you boys look trustworthy to me.”
“We just helped Marshal Coleman arrest some men who were disturbing the peace,” Sam said. “He’s the one who told us to bring our horses down here.”
Loomis started to look worried again. “Oh, shoot. You’re friends of Marsh Coleman, are you?”
“We just met him,” Matt said. “Don’t worry, Mr. Loomis, we’re not gonna run back to the marshal’s office and tell him about your saloon.”
“I expect he’ll find out sooner or later, though,” Sam said. “He seems like a pretty smart man.”
Loomis nodded. “Oh, he is. Marsh is sharp as a tack, and a damn fine lawman, to boot. Reckon when the time comes, he’ll close me down. But I plan on makin’ a nice tidy sum before that day dawns.”
“That’s your business.”
“That’s right, sonny, it is.”
“Can you take care of our horses?” Sam asked.
“Oh, sure, sure. That’s my business, too, takin’ care o’ horses. They’ll be took good care of, too. You got my word on that, Mr….”
“I’m Bodine,” Matt said. “He’s Two Wolves.”
Loomis scratched at his graying red beard and frowned. “Bodine and Two Wolves…seems to me I’ve heard them names before.”
“Must’ve been two other fellas,” Sam said. He held out the reins. “Here you go.”
Loomis took the reins of Matt’s mount, too, and said, “That’ll be a dollar a day for each, plenty o’ grain and water included. I’ll make sure they get rubbed down good, too.”
“We’re obliged,” Matt said with a nod.
“Now don’t tell anybody what I told you about that barn,” Loomis warned.
“Don’t worry. We’ll keep it to ourselves,” Matt promised.
As they left the livery stable, carrying their saddlebags and rifles, Sam muttered, “I can’t believe you’d do that.”
“Do what?”
“Tell that old-timer we’d keep his secret, when we’re going to Marshal Coleman’s house for dinner this evening.”
“Coleman offered to feed us because we rounded up those troublemakers for him,” Matt said. “The way I see it, one thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other.”
“He’s sworn to uphold the law here in Cottonwood, and you just agreed to help someone break it.”
“Loomis is gonna be runnin’ that illegal saloon whether I say anything about it or not,” Matt pointed out. “He was runnin’ it before we got here, and I figure he’ll be runnin’ it when we leave.”
“Unless we tell the marshal about it and help him close it down.”
Matt stopped in his tracks. “Oh, now, wait just a minute. It’s a far piece from tellin’ Coleman about it to helpin’ him put the place out of business.”
Sam shrugged. “You heard Hannah. He doesn’t have any deputies.”
“Well, don’t go volunteerin’ me for the job. We didn’t even wear badges when we helped out ol’ Seymour Standish down there in Sweet Apple, Texas. We were unofficial deputies, at most.”
“All I’m saying is that the deck is stacked against Marshal Coleman the way it is.”
“And we don’t have cards in that game,” Matt said. “I’d just as soon keep it that way.”
Sam grunted and shook his head. “Now you’re saying we should avoid trouble. Never thought I’d see the day when Matt Bodine did that.”