Along Came Jones Page #2

for tyin' up with somebody I ain't never seen.

- You don't even know Waggoner?

- I never saw him. Leo picked him.

It was fixed that the shotgun guy that got me

was gonna be left behind.

Outside the horse,

there wasn't supposed to be no shootin'.

- I got a good mind to blast his belly open.

- That's right.

- Get outta here!

- I was...

Never mind. Get to town and look for Leo,

so I don't have to slope outta here by myself.

Sure, Monte.

You stay here.

Now, what about this fella?

- He's nothing but a tramp cowhand.

- Stop talking like a fool or like I'm a fool.

How do you know

he ain't one of Luke Packard's men?

Come on, Monte. Sit down.

There. Now, he's nothing but a tramp cowhand

who just wandered into Payneville

with an old side rider.

On account of the initials on his saddle,

they took him for you.

Cotton was fixing to shoot him

when I got this idea.

I figured the best thing I could do was

help them keep on thinking he was you.

Tomorrow, the posse'll be ridin' after him

50 miles from here,

and the north'll be wide open for you.

- See anything wrong about that?

- Yeah.

Nobody's as stupid as you make him out to be.

He's just a common, ordinary,

useless bronc stomper,

like you see any way you looked around here.

He'd have done anything I asked him to.

He would, huh?

He did, didn't he?

He kinda liked you?

Yeah, it looked like it.

That's what I thought it was.

You better be glad he did, too.

There's something maybe you better remember.

And never mind tellin' me

how it didn't mean nothin' to you.

Just don't monkey around with nobody at all,

unless you wanna see their belly blasted open.

In my life, I ain't never been so low in my mind

as since I talked to that there girl.

If we aim to get across that line,

we ought to hustle up these ponies.

- I don't aim to cross any line.

- What are you talking about?

I don't aim to get across any line

because that's what she wants us to do.

I worked that out before her mouth shut.

- You mean there ain't no posse?

- Sure, and it's probably trailin' us.

There wouldn't be if she hadn't sicked it on us.

Are you telling me

that there pretty lady is a skunk?

Something happened back there

we don't know what it is.

If that posse's trailing us to the south,

it'd make an opening

for somebody to get away to the north.

- I can't believe it.

- Where is that somebody else now?

If what you say is a fact,

he's hid out round that same place.

- That's the way I figured it too.

- Leastways, if she ain't, he...

Wait a minute, Melody.

You ain't gotta be no dumber than necessary.

That would make me somebody.

The man that took Monte Jarrad.

- Now, you look here...

- You don't understand, George.

But for one hour back there

I felt what it felt like to be high-regarded.

- I'm never gonna feel the same again.

- But that fella's a killer.

I might even get...

you can't tell... get to be sheriff.

That or a corpse. One or the other.

Now, you just listen to me.

- Where are you goin'?

- Back.

But listen, Melody... Melody!

You go on if you want to.

If only you could shoot a little better.

What are we supposed to be doing?

Playing Indians?

You gonna ask her where he is?

I ain't figured out yet what I'm gonna do.

I was mixed up in shootin' once. I can't tell you

how quick I got sick of the whole idea.

Mm-hm!

- He's changed, Avery.

- He can't help it. He's in trouble.

They're chasin' him and he's wounded.

No, it's more than that.

You know, when we were all kids together,

just growin' up,

he was kind of wild, of course.

That's why I was so crazy about him, I guess.

But it ain't wildness now. He's mean.

Plain, downright mean.

And he's gettin' meaner all the time.

There she is now. Ask her.

What you got in this mattress? Skulls?

Take your dirty feet off my bed.

You've really got a crust.

- My horse run off and I...

- Shh!

Look, I don't know if you're crazy,

but you've gotta get out of here.

- I'll get you another horse and saddle...

- I couldn't leave without Henry.

- Your partner?

- No, Henry's my horse.

I couldn't leave him, specially with his bridle on.

- Where is your partner?

- George?

He's out somewhere in the brush.

He's the nervous type.

Oh.

In some kind of a fix, ain't you?

Of course not. All I'm trying to do

is to keep you out of a fix.

Don't you see?

That's why I took you out of town.

You mean when you called me Monte

in the middle of the street?

You've got it crazy about this... Monte, ain't you?

Look, I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll make a deal with you.

- What'd you do that for?

- Your dog's seen something.

Somebody's prowling around out there.

Your partner, maybe.

No, he'd fall over something.

Sounds like he's gone now.

What kind of a deal?

Will you do somethin' for me?

Sure.

- Stay in this room until morning?

- Do what?

Sleep here, in that bed?

For me? Will you?

- Why?

- I'll explain it in the morning.

I just don't want you goin' outta here tonight.

- All right.

- You promise?

Sure.

Thank you.

- And for Pete's sake, stay put this time, will you?

- Mm.

- Thanks. Good night.

- Uh...

You don't wanna sit and talk a spell first?

Heaven forbid.

- Stick em up.

- You surely took long enough about it.

- You heard me?

- I been listenin' to you for about five minutes.

You always wanna shoot em in the right eye.

Spoils their aim.

I went back into town last night.

To look into things.

What'd you find out?

The way it looks now, as long as you keep on

lettin' anybody think you're Monte Jarrad,

you've got five chances of being hung or shot,

which a fella tells me is a record in these parts.

How come?

One:
the sheriff's got just about

everybody in this county in a posse

that ain't got no other aim in life

but to catch you and hang you.

Two:
there's a family

in this county named Cotton

that you killed three members of

five years ago.

This family, which has got

about 150 uncles and cousins,

is conducting an independent hunt

to kill you ahead of the posse.

Three?

Three:
if neither one of them crowds get you,

the express company has got its men here

because 40,000 dollars in cash

was taken off that stage.

Some say 40 million,

but that sounds like an overstatement to me.

Four:
failing all them people gettin' you,

you can look for

the United States Cavalry to arrive.

There was some mail on that stage.

They aim to kill you both 'cause you is

Monte Jarrad and 'cause you ain't Monte Jarrad,

and they just don't like to be disappointed.

You said five.

And five:
if you keep on looking at

a certain female lady the way you've been,

I think we could count on Monte Jarrad himself

to take a hand in the shooting soon.

If this Monte Jarrad is such a well-known,

popular sort of a jigger,

- how come I get mistook for him?

- Monte ain't been back for five years.

Besides, you ain't run into nobody

that knowed him good.

You ain't fooled nobody

that really knowed Monte.

- I got a message for you.

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