The Coward of Cochise County

"Hold your fire!" Sheriff Wayman yelled.

"I got a woman and kid in here," Rafferty shouted. "I think the best thing for all concerned, is for you to let us walk out of here. I take the woman and kid with me until we're a couple miles out of town and I'm sure you ain't following, then I let them go."

"Damn!" Wayman said. "Who the hell does he have in there."

Pa came running from the feed store when he heard the shots. When he heard one of the other men say they were holding a woman and kid hostage in the bank, he went to Wayman and told him Ma and me had gone to the bank for seed money.

"I've got to go in there, Sheriff. They have my family," Pa said.

"You can't do anything, Frank. You might get them killed."

"I don't normally carry a gun. I might be able to get in there and they won't expect anything."

He explained his plan to the Sheriff, and Wayman agreed he might have a chance, and agreed to let him try.

"What do you need from us?" Wayman asked.

"A gun first."

"You can have mine," Wayman said. "This will be rifle work before all is said and done."

Pa took the gun, checked the action, checked the pull on the trigger. Then he just held the gun, weighing it in his hand.

"No offense, Sheriff, but the balance doesn't seem quite right."

He handed the gun back, then tried several others until he found one he seemed to like.

Rafferty called from the bank.

"I haven't got all day in here. Have we got a deal or is a woman and kid going to end up dead on the floor?"

"We've got to stall them a couple minutes," Pa said.

"We have to talk to the mayor," Wayman yelled. "That's the towns money you have in there. Someone's gettin' him now. Hold your horses."

"I ain't waiting much longer," Rafferty said. "I'll shoot the woman first."

Pa cut the holster off the belt.

"Hey!" the owner said. "What the hell!"

"Sorry, but I'll buy you another one. They're never going to let me walk in there armed, but I've got to get a gun in there."

Pa took a couple pieces of rawhide and cut holes into his duster on the left-hand side, tying the holster in facing forward for a right-handed crossdraw. He stood up and practiced a few times.

"Whew! You're pretty fast with that rig," Wayman said. "You ever draw that way before?"

"Talents from a misspent youth. I never did it from under a coat before, but it's about the same if I hold the holster steady with my left hand. I thought I was through with gunplay, but I stayed in practice just the same. A man never knows when it might be needed.

"Talk to them Sheriff. See if they'll let me through the door?"

"You in the bank. There's a fellow out here that wants to see if his wife and kid are all right. He'd like to work something out when the mayor gets here. Maybe exchange himself for the boy. Can he come in and talk to you?"

"Send him out where I can get a look at him," Rafferty said.

Pa walked halfway across the street before Rafferty stopped him.

"Far enough. Curly, take a look at this gent and see if he is who he says he is?"

Curly eyeballed Pa for a few seconds.

"Yeah, that's Franklin. You don't have to worry about that sarsaparilla drinking son of a bitch. He don't carry no gun and he's a coward to boot. A few months ago, I had him practically crawling on the saloon floor, and in front of his kid, too."

Rafferty yelled out the door, "You heeled, Mister?"

Pa pulled out the sides of his duster, sweeping the makeshift holster away from his body while hiding it in the folds of cloth.

"See for yourself."

"What do you want?"

"First, to make sure the family is all right. No one's going to make any deals with the banks money if they're hurt."

"Check 'em out, but if you try anything, your wife will definitely get hurt."

Rafferty backed away from the door, taking Ma with him, holding her breast with one hand, and a gun to her head with the other.

"Curly, keep an eye outside and make sure this isn't a trick for someone else to get close to the bank," Rafferty said. "Hack, keep an eye on the kid. Plug him if the sodbuster gives us trouble."

Pa came through the door and took a quick glance around, placing everyone in the room, then looked at Rafferty.

"You look like the man in charge. Can we make some kind of deal here?"

"I gave 'em my terms. What kind of deal are you talking about."

"Why don't you keep me and let the woman and boy go? You don't want them to get hurt."

"I don't, but that's the reason I need them. Nobody else wants them to get hurt either. They might be a tad more itchy if they only had you to worry about, and not your family."

"What if the townsfolk don't want to trade a bunch of outlaws who just robbed their bank for a sodbuster's family?"

"Let's hope it down come down to that," Rafferty said, squeezing Ma's breast.

Pa said, "They'll hang you for shootin' a woman or child. You'll only get prison for robbing a bank."

"I've been to prison. I'd rather hang."

Pa needed an edge. Rafferty was watching close and kept his finger on the trigger.

"Curly," Pa said, "why don't you check outside to see if the mayor's arrived yet."

Everyone looked at Curly. They couldn't help it. Even I looked at Curly, Tension was high and they wanted to know what was going on outside. Everyone except Pa. He started to turn as if he was looking too, but it was to cover the motion of his hand across his stomach inside his duster. His eyes never left Rafferty.

The gun was up and cocked in one smooth flow that seemed a part of his turn, firing before anyone knew his gun was drawn. The first bullet took Rafferty through the right eye, his brain dead before it could command his finger to squeeze the trigger.

The next two shots followed so quickly, they rolled into the first, square into Hack's chest, guarding me. Hack managed to fire his gun, the bullet hitting the floor. He'd not been guarding me as close as Rafferty had Ma. By the time Curly turned around, Rafferty was on the floor, Hack was slumping toward it and Curly was staring right up the barrel of Pa's gun.

"You want some of this," Pa asked, "or are you ready to give it up?"

Curly stared at the two bodies lying on the floor, before his gun dropped to the floor. Ma had her hands over her mouth suppressing a scream. She started to turn towards Rafferty.

"Don't look, Helen," Pa ordered. "He ain't a pretty sight. Come here, both of you."

Ma and I both stepped into his encircling left arm, squeezing us hard, but his face never left Curly.

"Curly, you should never have threatened my family," Pa said. "I want you to go outside with your hands held high, and tell everyone it's all over in here and you're giving yourself up."

"Yes, sir."

Several men had started moving towards the bank as soon as shots were fired, moving more cautiously when the shooting stopped. Curly stepped out practically into their arms.

"I surrender," he said. "It's all over inside."

Sheriff Wayman stepped into the doorway, taking in the bloody scene.

"That's about the finest bit of shooting I've ever seen, or heard of." Wayman said.

Pa handed him the gun.

"Give this back to the owner. Tell him thanks for me."

He pulled me to toward the door, an arm around each of us. I couldn't resist looking back at the two outlaws sprawled on the floor. Ma was right. Pa had done what needed to be done when it needed doing.

"Let's go home," Pa said.