Rio Loco by Robert J. Conley

me a good rifle. I picked out a good Henry what I liked. Happy come in the door just then.
    â€œHappy,” I said, “I’m leaving you in charge here. You know what to do.”
    â€œWhere you going, Barjack?” he ast me.
    â€œI’m riding over to see Cody,” I said. “I’ll be back quick as a flash. In the meantime, you take care a’ things around here. Ask Sly to tell you what he found out.”
    I stuck a bottle a’ whiskey down into my coat pocket. Bonnie run up and grabbed on to me. “Barjack, be careful,” she said.
    â€œDon’t worry, sweet hips,” I told her.
    â€œBarjack,” said Sly, “are you sober enough for this?”
    â€œI’ll be all right.”
    I walked on out and then down the street to the stable, where I got me my favorite horse and had the man saddle him up for me. And I tell you what. I did stagger some in my walking. Even so, while I was a-waiting for my horse to get saddled,I pulled out my bottle and had me a snort. Then I tuck out a ceegar and lit it up with a match I had in my pocket. My horse was ready, and I climbed into the saddle. It were a bit difficult, but I made it, and then I rid outta there and headed for the county seat.
    I rid as fast as I dared to ride, and once I nearly wobbled outta the saddle. That shook me up some, so I slowed down a bit and set more careful in the saddle. I got outta town and was a-riding alongside a’ the big clump a’ rocks what set beside a’ the road out there, when I seen a gang a’ five men riding toward me. I turned and went behint them rocks. I dismounted and tuck my Henry with me. Laying that rifle acrost a rock, I cranked a shell into the chamber. The riders come to a halt out there in the road.
    â€œBarjack,” one a’ them called out.
    â€œIt’s me,” I answered.
    â€œYou might just as well get back on that horse and ride back into town,” he said. “No one’s getting out.”
    â€œYou bastards think you can stop me,” I said, “you just come right on ahead and try.”
    He laughed. “You’re already stopped,” he said. “You ain’t going no farther.”
    I tuck my Henry in my left hand and reached inside my coat with my right to find a stick a’ dynamite, which I brung out. I helt the fuse to my ceegar tip till it begun to fizzle, and then I helt it a little bit longer. Final, I stood up behint that rock and heaved that son of a bitch just as hard as Icould. It went a-flying up and out and landed in the road just in front a’ the five a’ them.
    â€œHey,” yelled one.
    â€œGoddamn,” said another one.
    The rest a’ them mighta been thinking about hollering out something, but they never got no chance. That there dynamite blew, and it blew big. It scattered pieces a’ horses and men all over the road, along with dirt and rocks and sticks and such. I looked around and didn’t see no survivors. I pulled out my bottle and tuck me another drink. Then I walked back to my horse and put a foot in a stirrup. I grabbed on to the saddle horn and went to swing my right leg over the horse, but I lost my balance and fell down in the dirt. “Goddamn it,” I said.
    I struggled around till I was on my hands and knees, and then I reached up with a hand for the stirrup. The horse was kinda dancing around, and he dragged me in a circle kinda. “Whoa. Whoa, you son of a bitch,” I said. Final he settled down some, and I managed to pull myself back up onto my feet. Then I got on his back, but it weren’t no easy task.
    I had to ride real careful acrost that place in the road to keep from riding right through some sloppy mess what I had made there. Even so my ole nag stepped right on a piece a’ arm what was right in the middle a’ the road. It made me kinda wince. “Damn fools,” I said, “think you can hold me up.” The rest a’ the