A Yakima Cooper Adventure

(Second Draft)
A short western by David Rowell Workman

Yakima Cooper sat deeply nestled in his saddle, fighting the winds as his mount slowly plodded through the pass. His redish brown duster flapped in the wind likes the wings of crow. The dust burned in his throat and nostrils. He’d been on the trail for two days but it felt more like seven. Riding next to him, fighting the same battle was his friend Chili. Cooper had just slightly over six foot two inches tall
The promise of work in a town over forty miles away fueled their determination.
As the winds died down and the daylight dwindled, the two Cowboys decided to make camp finding refuge in a cluster of boulders.
“Got more sand in my rifle than buckshot,” complained Chili. After their horses we tended to Chili started a fire and Yakima dug deep into his saddlebags for the small amount of grub they stored for the trip. They had packed light so they could move fast.
“Beans and hardtack. I think I was weaned on this my whole life.”
Yakima shook his head. “I’m just tied of eating trail dust. I figure if we leave by daybreak, should put us in Banning ‘fore noon.”
“That’s how I figured it, “said Chili.
After they ate Yakima felt better and turned in leaving Chili poking at the fire and contemplating the smoke he’d rolled.
He woke to the dull click of a hammer being pulled back. He opened his eyes and stared down the barrel of a colt.
“I reckon you want something,” he said in a quiet calm voice.
“I reckon I do,” said the man behind the gun. He was a burly figure worse for wear. His coat was threadbare and the air around him seemed filled with the man’s odor.
Yakima slowly got to his feet. He looked around for Chili but saw no one else in his makeshift camp.
“You were lookin’ for something?”
Yakima tried on a thin smile. “Nothing’ just seeing if there were others.”
“Don’t need no others. Just myself.” He waved the gun in Yakima’s face. “ And my colt.”
“You wavin’ that gun in my face is making me nervous, Mister”
“And you just stay that way. Where’s your irons.?”
Yakima pointed at his saddle. “With the rest of my gear.”
The burly man grinned. “ Mighty reckless of you.
The wind whistled through the rocks and Yakima wondered if that was the last tune he would hear.
“Didn’t expect company in this weather.”
“Horse went lame. Don’t have time for explainations. Step away from your saddle.”
Yakima slowly moved to one side.
“I’m not lookin’ to kill you, Mister,” said the man. “But if you try somethin’ stupid, I’ll shoot you down.”
Yakima nodded. That’s when he caught a flash of someone in the rocks. Chili!
The burly man dug through Yakima’s saddle and pulled out his colt. “You won’t be needing this.” He dug around somemore and pulled out what was left of the beans and hardtack. “ This all ya got?”
“Fraid so.”
Chili was now out of site but Yakima figured he was working his way in closer behind the large rocks. It was too dark to see. A small rock bounced down one of the boulders and the burly man spun around. His arms were full of the hardtack and beans, and he was still trying to keep Yakima covered. He gave up and dropped the grub to the ground.
He didn’t know which way to point the colt so he kept waving it back and forth to the boulder then to Yakima – from Yakima to the boulder.
Yakima frowned. “This keeps up and you’re libel to shoot someone, Mister.”
“Who’s hiding up there? Friend of yours?”
“Ain’t no one there.” Yakima said calmly. “ Probably the wind knocked a rock loose. “
The burly man considered this as he waited a short spell. When he heard nothing more he put his attention back on Yakima. “I want you to pick this grub up nice and easy and shove it in that saddlebag. And I’ll be taking’ that canteen too.“
Yakima stayed put. “Not leaving me with much.”
“Don’t push me. I’m leaving you your hide. Just be thankful of that.”
“No horse and no food. Come morning the sun will be pushing through this dust and I ain’t sure where the nearest waterin’ hole is.”
“None of my concern, now do as I say.”
Yakima sat on a nearby rock, reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a chew of tobacco. “”Fore I do that, Mister. I’m going to wanna know your name.”
“Why’s that?”
“Cause I want to know who it is I’m chasin’.”
The burly man’s moth dropped open.
“ Can’t ya see I’m holdin’ a gun against ya. And ya sittin’ there like ya not have a care in the world. Get up.”
Yakima yawned. Then he looked the dirty cowboy up and down again.
“Ya aint know gunman, cause a gunman don’t shake when he’s holding a gun. And Ya ain’t no bank robber running from the law, ‘cause ya don’t have any loot on you.”
“You making a point, Mister.”
“Point is I’m just as tired and ragged as you are. Why don’t ya put down the gun. I’ll offer you my campfire and we’ll head outta here in the morning together. I’m headed to Benning. Should be a short ten miles from here and you look like you could rest a spell.”
“What if I ain’t headed in that direction?”
Yakima spat out some tabacco juice. “ Near is I can make it, ain’t nothing to the north or the south for a long time but a hard trail. And you ain’t going back the way ya came are you?”
The burly man shook his head.
“And I reakon your no killer or you’d a shot me in my sleep.”
The man’s should stooped.
“Sit and lets have some coffee. We’ll be all neighborly like until we reach Benning, and there won’t be any hard feelings.”
The man lowered his gun. “I didn’t mean nothing, Mister. I’m just desperate is all..” He holstered his gun and moved next to the fire. “ Been on foot for a good five miles, saw smoke from your fire when the wind died down.”
“Whats your name?”
“ William Twitty.”
“I’m known as Yakima Cooper.”
Yakima got up, picked up his gunbelt and buckled his holster. For a moment the burly man thought he was had, but Yakima moved next to the fire and started pocking at it.
“You a poker playin’ man?” asked Twilly.
“Been known to fold a few hands.”
“Thought so. Was afraid ya call my bluff and I’d be in a corner. Knew I couldn’t shoot you.”
“I wasn’t so sure.”
Twitty’s dark eyes widdened. “Still ya crossed me, gun in hand and all.”
“Wasn’t to worried. If you’d a shot me, Chili would have shot you. Then we’d been square.”
“Chili?”
There came a scrambling down the rocks and an older man, dressed in buckskin toting a rifle made his way to the campfire. “That’d be me.”
“Ya had a bead on me the whole time? Why didn’t ya shoot?”
Chili moved to the coffee and pour himself a cup of the dark liquid. “Don’t shoot a man in the back where I come from. And I wasn’t too sure what your game was.”
Twilly scratched his head. “ How’d you know I was sneakin’ up on your camp?”
“Ya call that sneakin’. I heard you a good hundred feet ‘fore ya got hear.”
“But why’didn’t chya wake up your partner?”
Yakima grinned. “Wasn’t asleep. That damn wind whistlin’ around these rocks kept me awake.”
Twilly’s whiskered face showed only confusion. “ But your gun was still by your gear.”
Yakima pulled another colt out from behind his back where it was tucked into his pants. “I always carry two.”
The burly man tipped a little. “So I was in some danger, was I?”
Yakima poured another tin full of hot coffee and handed it the man. “ Not really. I was close enough to ya, to see you didn’t have any bullets in your gun.”
Twilly’s face fell. “I feel somewhat the fool, playin’ hard when all the while the cards were stacked against me.” He took a swig of coffee and shuddered.
“No hard feelings,” said Yakima. “ Now lets have the story. Why you in such a hurry to get away. Law trouble?”
Twilly hung his head down and stared at the tin cup in his hands.
Chili lit his pipe and sighed. “Out with it man. You can trust us or you’d be dead.”
The burly man’s face went pale. “Worse than the law. Widow Hastings put her sites on me, and corned me into an engagement. My only way out was to flee like a coward.”
Yakima crunched up his eyebrows. “ You was runnin’ from a woman?”
“You ain’t met the widow Hastings or you’d a ran, too.”
Yakima and Chili spent the rest of the night chortling like drunken fools until daybreak.



THE END

Want to comment on this Short Stories? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Short Stories and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...