Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9








    With frosty coolness, dawn broke and held the promise of a cloudless day. The horses were saddled, breakfast eaten, by the time it was light enough to track Slade on the trail. It would be a lot easier since the one unshod hoof of the pack horse would stand out. They would follow the same pattern as the day before. Small Bear would track ahead about half a mile in hopes of spotting Slade, if he did he would return for the rest of them.
    The high mountains surrounding them began to drop behind and open country with rolling hills lay ahead, which would be less tiring on the horses than going up hill. When going down hill the horse’s metal shoes would slide on rocks, and it was much more difficult for the horse to maintain their footing.

    Less than an hour of riding brought them to a camp site where Small Bear was waiting.
    "Man close. Not leave long." Small Bear said.
    "Then be careful, we will drop back about a quarter of a mile. If you spot Slade ride back and get us." Nine Mile told Small Bear.
    Small Bear was given time to lead out. Nine Mile said, "Slade was camped less than two miles ahead of us last night. I am glad we camped when we did. If he didn't have a fire going and we didn't see his camp we could have rode past him and not known it until this morning."
    They rode on north, following the East Rosebud.
    Suddenly, two shots rang out up ahead on the trail. O'Malley and Nine Mile reined up.
    "Slade." O'Malley said. "Stay here Kate."
    Nine Mile and O'Malley spurred their horses forward down the trail with Nine Mile in the lead. They had only gone a few hundred yards when Nine Mile was falling from the saddle as a shot rang out to his right. Buck stopped and went to his master’s side. O'Malley reined Star to a halt and dismounted and found cover behind a rock. Nine Mile was laying beside the trail. Blood was showing on Nine Miles shoulder. He was not moving. The area was on a flat bench with trees and rocks for cover.
    "Nine Mile. Nine Mile." O'Malley coarsely whispered. "Are you alive."
    No answer. O'Malley continued to scan the trees and rocks looking for Slade. He was certain it was Slade. Where was Small Bear? O'Malley wanted to get Nine Mile behind cover and see if he was still alive. One last look around and O'Malley moved in a crouched run to Nine Mile, grabbing him by his right arm he pulled him behind a large boulder beside the trail. No shots were fired as he moved.
    Nine Mile moaned.
    "Well at least you are still alive you old squaw chaser you." O'Malley said gratefully.
    O'Malley checked the wound and the bullet had passed clean through going in at the top of his left shoulder and coming out the back. He was bleeding pretty bad. O'Malley couldn't understand why he had not been shot at when he moved. Then he got his answer.
    "Don't move! Drop the rifle! Put you hands over your head! Do it now!" A man's voice ordered from behind O'Malley and up the trail.
    O'Malley knew he had no choice. If he did not drop the rifle he would surely be shot in the back. He dropped the rifle, raised his hands and stood up slowly. He slowly began to turn around to face his assailant.
    Slade stood about fifty feet away holding a rifle pointed directly at him.
    "I am going to enjoy this. You and your brother have cost me a once in a life time fortune. I am tired of you dogging my trail and this is where it ends." Slade reveled in every word.
    "Drop the rifle!" Kate ordered.
    Slade jerked his head to his left in the direction of the woman's voice.
    Kate had not stayed behind as she was told. She had slipped up on Slade with her saddle rifle.
    Slade knew he was in a bad spot. O'Malley still had his Colt. If he shot O'Malley, Kate would shoot him. He could try to shoot Kate and move before O'Malley could draw and fire and at fifty feet O'Malley would have a good chance of missing.
    "I said, drop the rifle or I will shoot you." Kate ordered again with meaning.
    Slade made his move. He turned and fired one quick shot from the hip at Kate, and dove for the cover of rocks to his left.
    Kate's rifle fired.
    O'Malley had not expected Slade to fire at Kate, but when he saw Slade swing the rifle toward Kate he began his own draw. He fired an instant after Slade and Kate had fired. Then Slade was diving for the cover of the rocks. O'Malley missed! O'Malley fired again, but only hit the rocks Slade had taken for cover. O'Malley moved for cover behind a large fir tree beside the trail. 
    "Kate. Kate. Are you all right?" O'Malley hollered.
    No Answer.
    "Damn you Slade!" O'Malley cursed.
    Bark was peeled form the side of the fir tree as Slade fired several shots at O'Malley. O'Malley returned three shots. He then reloaded the four spent chambers.
    "Kate, answer me!" O'Malley shouted.
    "I'm hit in the leg. But it isn't too bad." Kate answered. "I'll live. Just get Slade. I'll be all right!" 
    Slade looked at the rocks where Slade had taken cover. There was plenty of cover for Slade to move around behind. O'Malley decided to move in Kate's direction to check out her gun shot wound. He moved to another large fir tree. No shots. O'Malley moved again behind rocks. He crawled to Kate's side. She had already torn her shirt and bandaged the wound. It was half way between the knee and hip of her left leg and had missed the bone.
    "Where's Slade?" Kate asked.
    "He's behind some rocks beside the trail. What did I tell you? Wasn't it 'stay put'?" O'Malley said between clinched teeth.
    "I thought you might need some help. Apparently, I was right." Kate answered, somewhat pleased with herself. "You could be dead now if I had stayed where I was told to stay."
    "You wouldn't be shot in the leg if you had stayed where you told to." O'Malley argued.
    "You’re worth a hole in the leg." Kate answered.
    O'Malley could not argue with that logic. She had the last word and he knew it. He only shook his head at her.
    "I am going after Slade. I think I can find him in the rocks. You stay here. Understood?" O'Malley said.
    Kate nodded her head and the pain caused by the gunshot was apparent.
    He moved away from Kate and worked his way toward the rocks where he last saw Slade. O'Malley saw Small Bear come back up the trail and dismount. O'Malley whistled, and waved his arm at Small Bear. He motioned to him to circle around to where Kate was laying.
    "Small Bear is coming back." O'Malley warned Kate so she wouldn't shoot him.
    Small Bear worked his way up to O'Malley.
    "Man leave trail and circle back to watch for you. I fire shots to warn you. Where Nine Mile?" Small Bear asked.
    "Nine Mile took a bullet in the shoulder, but he should live, he's losing a lot of blood. Kate took a bullet in the leg, but she will be all right. Slade is in those rocks over by the trees. I'm going after him. Cover me. If he fires try to put a bullet between his eyes." O'Malley ordered.
    O'Malley ran crouched low to a fir tree near the trail. He waved Small Bear forward. The two of them worked their way slowly back to where O'Malley had last seen Slade. No shots had been fired.
    "Blood." Small Bear said looking at the ground where Slade had been.
    "Then either Kate hit him or I didn't miss after all." O'Malley said smiling. "But just had bad is he hit?" O'Malley wondered aloud.
    "Not much blood. Not bad." Small Bear offered.
    They followed the blood trail for several hundred feet and found where Slade had tied his horses. Apparently Slade had slipped back to his horse and was continuing his journey down the East Rosebud trail.
    "We go after man now?" Small Bear asked.
    "Not until we get Nine Mile and Kate patched up. Then we have got to get them to a doctor in Red Lodge.  I will go after Slade. You go back up the trail and bring Kate's mare and the pack horse down here. There are bandages in the supplies."
    O’Malley returned to Nine Mile. He took his canteen and gave Nine Mile a drink. Nine Mile came around. 
    "Thunderation! What damn buffalo ran over me?" Nine Mile growled and tried to get up.
    "You be still or you will start bleeding worse than you are now." 
    Nine Mile looked at the wound. "Slade is gettin' to be a bad shot. We can fix that hole, we will just have to cauterize it. Then there won't be no more bleeding. Did you get Slade?"
    "Slade is wounded, but he got to his horse and is on his way down the trail. Lie still until I get back."
    O'Malley went to Kate and told her Slade was wounded and that he was on the run again. He picked her up in his arms and took her to where Nine Mile was laying.
    "How in God's name did you get shot?" Nine Mile asked as he saw Kate's leg.
    "Slade was just a little faster than I was." 
    Small Bear brought the bandages to O'Malley and they bandaged both of their wounds.
    "Do you think you can both ride? We need to get both of you to a doctor in Red Lodge."
    "I ain't going to no doctor in Red Lodge or anywhere else for that matter; now or ever. I'm going after the low down pole cat that shot me." Nine Mile announced.
    "I want you and Small Bear to take Kate back to Red Lodge. I'll get Slade." O'Malley said.
    "You can't go after him alone." Kate protested.
    "I shouldn't have let you come along on this manhunt in the first place. You wouldn't have got shot." O'Malley said, changing the subject.
    "It is a little late to worry about that now. You can't mean to get yourself killed by going after Slade alone. That would be a mistake too." Kate argued.
    "I'm a grown man and I can go anywhere I please and there isn't a woman who can tell me to do otherwise. I think that is about what you said to me when I brought you along on this high country adventure, and it almost got you killed. There are things in life we all seem to have to do. At the time it seems like the right thing. Only time determines whether we were right or wrong." O'Malley had made his point. 
    They would ride along together and follow Slade's trail. For now, they would all be going the same direction, down the creek. Small Bear would take the lead and O'Malley would stay close to him. Kate would look after Nine Mile.
    O'Malley warned Small Bear to keep a sharp lookout, Slade just might try to ambush them on the trail again. The ride for Nine Mile was painful as it was for Kate. Kate's wound was not bleeding too badly, but Nine Mile was losing quite a bit of blood. After an hour they all stopped to rest a bit and re-bandage Nine Mile's wound. Nine Mile looked white as a sheet. Kate changed his dressing. He was not in the best of shape. Kate was holding up quite well and her wound had almost completely stopped bleeding. 
    They rode on and worked their way down the creek. Small Bear pointed out drops of blood from time to time along the trail. The further they went the less blood they found. When they got five miles north of Rosebud lake they were well out of the canyon. Soon Kate, Nine Mile and Small Bear would turn east toward Red Lodge and Slade's trail would either continue north or northeast. North would take him past the Crow Indian Agency and on to the little town of Absorkee and Bozeman beyond. If he continued northeast that would take him to a small place called Columbus on the Yellowstone River and then down the river east to Billings. It was mid afternoon when they came to a fork in the trail where the everyone but O'Malley would turn east for Red Lodge. They would have to ride fifteen or so miles to get to town. They would first come to the small community of Luther, about five miles east of the trail and then ride on, getting to Red Lodge after dark. 
    The pack horse and most of the supplies would go back to Red Lodge with them. O'Malley took a minimum of supplies and put them in his saddle bags. There would be a few places up ahead where he could get food and anything he might need.
    "You two take care of each other. Make sure you see a doctor Nine Mile." O'Malley said. 
    "I think you are a damn fool for going after Slade alone." Nine Mile chided, "If it is somethin' you got to do, then good luck and don't give that low life polecat a chance. If you do, he will kill you."
    "I won't ask you not to go." Kate said, as she rode up beside O'Malley. "I will ask you to come back to Red Lodge alive." Kate reached out held O'Malley's hand warmly. "You mean an awful lot to me John O'Malley."
    "I'll come back. I'll be alive and Slade will come back; dead or alive, but he will come back." O'Malley vowed.
    Small Bear took the pack horse and led the way working back to the east. Kate and Nine Mile followed with Buck trotting along side of his master.
    O'Malley watched as they rode off. When they reached the knoll of the last hill Kate turn around and waved. He waved back and felt very much alone. He hoped he could keep his word and come back alive.
     
    O'Malley followed Slade's track with ease since Slade's pack horse had thrown a shoe from his right hind hoof. O'Malley was soon moving at a fast pace. He followed until dark and the camped close to the East Rosebud. He did not build a fire for fear of discovery.
    It was much warmer that night since he was not on the cold plateau and was four thousand feet lower. O'Malley did not eat breakfast, but was sitting in the saddle waiting for enough light to begin following Slade's tracks.
    O'Malley followed all morning due north and along the East Rosebud, he passed the old Crow Agency building, and on to where the West Rosebud met the East Rosebud. Soon after that he began to see smoke on down river and knew Absorkee was close at hand. He had watched the trail ahead carefully. Slade could try to dry gulch him at almost any turn. 
    O'Malley rode into the small collection of cabins, a general store and a saloon. The big town of Absorkee.
    O'Malley looked for a horse and a pack horse some place in town. He rode up to the general store and dismounted. It felt strange to walk again, and his legs were stiff. He tried to slap and brush as much of the trail dust off as he could.
    He walked into the general store and walked to the storekeeper.
    "I'm looking for a man who came into town from the south in the past hour or two with a pack horse. He may have been shot." O'Malley said.
    "Yep. A fellar just left here about fifteen minutes ago headed north." The storekeeper offered. "He came in here bought some ammunition, bandages and antiseptic. He had a bandanna rapped around his left leg. Had blood on it and his pant leg. He wasn't talkative and I didn't ask how it happened. He didn't look like the type you ask questions."  
    O'Malley bought some ammunition, thanked the storekeeper and walked outside. Fifteen minutes. Not much of a lead for a man shot in the leg. O'Malley vowed to catch Slade before sundown.
    O'Malley rode out of town to the north. He found Slade's pack horse's unshod track without any trouble. Still going north. O'Malley urged Star into a gallop.  Five miles from town as O'Malley topped a rise he saw Slade. He was riding at a gallop and at a distance of about three miles. O'Malley reined Star to a halt and moved behind some brush and watched Slade ride on. O'Malley knew if he followed Slade in the open Slade would have too many options. Slade really didn't know if he was still being followed or not. If he saw O'Malley he would know for sure and there would be no chance to surprise Slade. You could also be certain Slade would set up another ambush if he knew O'Malley was following. Or Slade could make a hard run for it and leave the trail trying to lose O'Malley. Not far ahead of Slade was a knoll. As soon as he had topped the knoll and gone out of sight O'Malley would race to the top to get as close as possible to Slade without being seen.
    Slade stopped on top of the knoll turned and looked back for a long minute. Then he turned and disappeared behind the knoll. O'Malley urged Star into a break-neck run to the top of the knoll. As he approached the top of the knoll he reined Star to a halt and dismounted, grabbed his rifle and carefully looked over the rim of the knoll for Slade. He was below in an open valley and moving. Shag thought only a buffalo gun would hit Slade at that distance. He would not chance a shot. He was closer, but not nearly close enough. O'Malley thought about riding hard and fast down on top of Slade and hope he could get close enough before Slade knew he was there. If Slade saw him right away he had too much a lead for O'Malley to catch him. He would make the top of the next knoll and O'Malley would be a sitting duck riding up to the top. Not a smart move.
    O'Malley looked to the east. There was a divide ridge running to the north, parallel with Slade. It might just work. When Slade went over the top of the next knoll, O'Malley would ride hard north and angle for the ridge to the east. If he could get to the ridge and then still see Slade he could circle and get ahead of him. A much better plan than riding up to a ridge as a sitting duck. O'Malley put the rifle away and mounted Star. Once again when Slade got to the top of the knoll he stopped and looked back for a long minute and then turned and rode out of sight.  
    O'Malley rode hard to the ridge to the east and angling toward the knoll Slade had just crossed. 
    He made the east ridge and quickly crossed to the other side where Slade could not possibly see him. O'Malley rode hard north along the blind side of the ridge trying to get even with Slade. When Star began to get winded O'Malley stopped dismounted and carefully looked over the ridge top to the west where he expected to see Slade. It had worked. There was Slade. The same distance from O'Malley as before, but now he was riding left to right instead of away. O'Malley looked at the country ahead of him. The ridge continued for several miles and O'Malley would have a chance to get far enough ahead of Slade that he could slip down a coulee and get the drop on Slade.
    O'Malley mounted Star and continued to ride hard north for several miles. Finally he turned west and glassed the country south and east for Slade for several minutes. Damn! Where the hell is he? O'Malley began to get a very uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Had Slade seen something? Guessed something? O'Malley waited.
There!. Two ridges back Slade rode into view skylighted on the ridge. O'Malley slowly backed Star away from the ridge top. He rode north again and then crossed the ridge going west into the coulee. He slowed his pace so as not to leave a dust trail on the horizon to give Slade any type of warning. O'Malley came to a well traveled trail and turned south riding up the knoll to the ridge to meet Slade. The show down was going to come at last. O'Malley's heart was pounding, his mouth was dry and he could feel the tension in his body. O'Malley dismounted near the rim of the knoll, and looked to the south where Slade would ride up. Slade topped the next ridge to the south. He stopped once again and checked his backtrail for some time and then came riding down the trail toward O'Malley. O'Malley had about ten minutes to decide how he would handle Slade when he got there. O'Malley moved Star back behind some brush, took his rifle and moved to within fifty feet of the trail where he had rocks for cover and brush for concealment. 
    O'Malley was no cold-blooded killer. He would give Slade one chance to surrender, but he would kill Slade if he made one wrong move. O'Malley levered a shell into the Winchester and waited. He was breathing heavily and he could hear and feel his heart pounding.

    O'Malley could hear the horses coming up the knoll, then Slade's hat, head and body rose above the rim. He stopped and looked back. He was only a hundred feet above O'Malley. Slade turned and rode down the trail toward O'Malley. When Slade was fifty or sixty feet away O'Malley revealed himself.
    "Freeze; Slade, or you're a dead man." 
    O'Malley could see the surprise of Slade's face, then the panic as he stared down the barrel of O'Malley's Winchester.     
    Slade's face turned from surprise to determination and then rage. He had made up his mind. He was either going to die here, or kill O'Malley, but he would not be hung.
     Slade moved to draw his revolver. 
     O'Malley had expected the move, he really didn't think Slade would give up. He fired; knocking Slade from the saddle. Slade hit the dirt and raised up off the ground still trying to draw his revolver. O'Malley had levered in another shell and fired as Slade drew his revolver. The shot spun Slade around and he fell face down in the dirt and did not move.
     O'Malley let a long breath out and moved to check Slade. O'Malley stood a few feet from Slade and watched him for a long minute. He knew Slade was dead. 
     "I have kept my promise Tom. I killed both the man who shot you, and the man who had you shot. I hope this will help you rest in peace. God bless you." O'Malley said aloud as if Tom were standing beside him. 
     O'Malley tied Slade's body to his horse and they rode southeast toward Red Lodge.
Proceed to Chapter 10