‘The eyes’ remained at the window waiting for ‘them’ to leave the Sheriff’s office. ‘He’ was with them. ‘He’ and only ‘he’ could relieve the pain. Restlessly, ‘the eyes’ waited.

**********

“So why the hell did they attack Josiah?” Buck asked as the men collected on the ground floor of the boarding house.

“Robbery, perhaps,” Ezra suggested, his attention more on the distasteful aroma permeating he building. So many unwashed bodies.

“Didn’t look interested in stealin’ nothin’ to me,” Vin muttered, unconsciously drawing his coat around him.

“Just wanted to belt the crap out of me,” Josiah agreed, rubbing his bruised stomach.

“The question is, why?”

“Wrong place at the wrong time. They would have harrassed anyone?” Ezra suggested, though there was very little conviction in his voice. Standish covered his nose with his hand trying to deflect some of the stench.

“Ya reckon?“

"I guess someone may have got wind of the signing. But why attack us? You'd think Macquaire would be their target."

"Logical reasoning is not a strong point for brainless thugs," Ezra pointed out.

The men glanced at each other and finally decided to let it go. The incident was over. Two of Josiah’s attackers were dead and the other three had left town and weren’t likely to return.

“Let’s get some sleep,” Josiah suggested.

Buck and J.D. glanced at each other and then they took off like the hounds of hell were after them. Startled, their companions watch the pair bolt up the stairs side by side, shoving each other as they went. “I get the bed!”

“Like hell!”

The others grinned, following at a more leisurely pace. “Josiah, you want anything more for the pain?” Nathan asked.

Sanchez shook his head and pulled a bottle of whisky from his pocket. “Compliments of Chris.” Larabee winked at his friend.

“I could use something to dull my nasal passages. Is it just me or is the smell in this building putrid?”

“J.D. get off that bed or I’ll drag you off it!”

“I got here first!”

Ezra reached in and shut the door, muffling his companions’ voices. “We don’t want our neighbours to realise how juvenile they are.”

“Vin, you need anything before I turn in?” Nathan asked.

Tanner shook his head, carefully sidestepping the healer’s sweeping arm. Nathan eyed the tracker carefully and then flicked his eyes to Chris. Larabee nodded. He too had noticed Vin shiver.

“Well, night fellas,” Jackson stated. He opened the door of his and Ezra’s room. “I’ll take the floor.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jackson.”

“You’ve got it tomorrow.”

“Something to look forward to,” Ezra mused sarcastically.

Chris and Vin continued on up the hallway, entering their own cupboard that served as a room.

“I’ll take the floor,” Vin offered. “I’m used to sleepin’ on the ground. Prefer it.”

Larabee didn’t argue. He knew the adrenaline rush caused by the incident in the street had drained a lot of Vin’s energy. Tanner hadn’t shown any outward signs of weakness, but Chris could tell. Larabee decided there was no sense arguing with his friend and so the gunfighter nodded.

“I’ll use your bedding. Don’t know where my saddle and stuff ended up.”

“In Josiah’s room.”

Vin bent to prepare the blankets that had dried over the course of the day but stopped halfway, grabbing at his head and then his side.

“Here, I’ll do that for...”

“I can do it!” Vin snapped.

“I know you can do it, but you don’t have to, you cantankerous cuss!” Larabee growled, helping Vin to his feet.

Vin stared at his friend and grinned. “Sorry. I guess I am cantankerous when I’m under the weather.”

“You remind me of me.”

“Hell, I ain’t that bad am I?! No one‘s that bad!”

Chris shoved his friend with mock disgust. Vin lost his balance and started to topple. Larabee grabbed the injured tracker and steadied him. “Vin?”

“Just a bit tired,” Tanner whispered shivering. Chris knew that his friend was chilled again after being out in the rain. Larabee sent the younger man a silent accusation. “I’m gettin’ sick of this, Cowboy,” Vin muttered. “Hate feelin’ like this. Like in Tenta...” He stopped there. He didn’t want to bring that up.

Larabee guided his tired friend to the bed. Without a word, the gunfighter yanked the tracker’s boots off and then helped him out of his buckskin coat.

“I don’t mind taking the floor, Chris,” Vin claimed, removing his holster.

“Neither do I.”

Vin sighed and laid back, Chris supporting his shoulders and lowering him down onto the bed. The younger man knew he’d lost the argument tonight. Tomorrow night he’d take the floor no matter what Larabee said.

Chris covered Vin with the blankets, watching as his injured companion shuddered again. Nathan had explained that the tracker’s condition made it difficult for him to maintain warmth. “You should warm up in a few minutes.”

“Hang on. I’ve got everyone’s blankets,” Vin muttered.

“Their bed rolls will be dry by now. Besides, you need them more than they do.”

Vin considered arguing the point, but felt too tired to do so.

Chris prepared his bedding, shut the door of the room, removed his boots and then laid down. The light from the fires on the street below illuminated the room with a slight glow.

“Sheriff Brewer wanted to see if we’d try and take over,” Vin muttered.

“Yep.”

“You think he wants us to?”

“Don’t know.”

“Will we?”

“If things start to get out of hand.”

“For a while there, I thought Brewer may have hired those men to beat Josiah up to see how we’d react.“

“So did I. You don’t think so any more?“ Chris asked.

“Naww. The whole office scene was him tryin’ to force us to take those badges, but I don’t reckon he had anything to do with Josiah’s attack. So, who and why?” Vin pressed.

For several seconds there was silence as Chris pondered the question. “I don’t know. Maybe Ezra was right. Maybe Josiah was in the wrong place.”

“I don’t buy that.”

Larabee grinned. “I didn’t think you would.”

“Do you?”

Chris thought about it. It wouldn’t be the first time he had come across brainless thugs who took it into their heads to beat defenceless figures. Fortunately, this group of thugs had chosen the wrong ‘defenceless’ figure.

Both men fell silent. Outside, the town was settling down, most people heading for their rented rooms and cots.

“Nathan’s got first watch,” Chris stated quietly, hoping to put Vin’s mind at rest.

“When’s mine?”

“I’ll wake you.”

“I bet,” Vin accused drowsily.

That was the last thing Vin heard as he drifted off to sleep.

**********

Ezra raised himself up onto one elbow and stared out the window of his and Nathan’s room. He assumed the sun was there somewhere for the murkiness was getting lighter, but the black clouds above stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions... and the rain continued to fall.

Ezra wondered what had disturbed his slumber. Nathan was asleep on the floor beside him so it hadn’t been the healer. Abruptly, there was ‘chink’ against the window. Standish swung his legs over the edge of the bed and carefully stepped over Nathan. The gambler peered out the window. Below him, he spotted a child with a slingshot. The boy loaded another stone, raised the shot and aimed at a bird sheltering under the eaves of the building.

Ezra shook his head, memories of having done exactly the same thing as a child filling his mind. How easily that child could have been him. The memory of having used a slingshot to hit a woman on the backside surfaced from the furthest crevasses of his mind. Standish grinned. He had been so proud of himself. The woman in question had been on the other side of the street! Of course, she hadn’t appreciated the skill in the accomplishment and he’d ended up being clipped around the ears.

Ezra watched the child as he moved along the street alone. The gambler frowned. When he had been young, he too would often be up early and wondering a town alone while his mother... did whatever it was she was doing.

Standish sighed, pushing the memories back to where they had come from. As he was about to move away from the window, something caught his eye. There was a man slouching against a post across the street, staring up at the boarding house. Standish tried to get a better look, but the stranger turned and headed indoors. Ezra dismissed the incident immediately and stepped backwards, tripped on Nathan and crashed into the wall with a shocked shout.

“What the hell?!” Nathan cried, waking up startled.

“You alright in there?” Chris yelled from outside the door. He had been on watch and heard both Nathan and Ezra’s cries. “Boys?!”

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re fine. Ezra’s trying to do a tango in here.”

“No, we are not fine. We are cramped and claustrophobic!” Ezra replied, regaining his footing.

Chris moved back to his room and found Vin sitting up.

“Mornin’.”

“How do you feel?”

“Hungry,” Tanner claimed. Chris smiled. That would please Nathan. Vin hadn’t eaten lunch or dinner yesterday and all he’d had for breakfast was broth. “What are you grinnin’ at? What time did J.D. and Buck settle down last night?”

“I’m not sure. Last I heard them they were playing cards, winner to get the bed.”

Vin shook his head with amusement. “Josiah okay?”

“Yeah. I checked on him earlier. He’s got a killer headache and he reckons his ribs are a bit sore, but he’s okay.”

“Damn.”

Larabee’s brow furrowed with confusion.

“Just thought that if he was feelin’ ill, Nathan would have someone else to worry about and he’d leave me the hell alone.”

“And good morning to you too, Vin,” Nathan greeted, entering the room. “Lucky I have a thick hide.”

“I’m feelin’ a lot stronger this mornin’, doc.”

“Good to hear, but don’t jump to any conclusions. It ain’t over yet.“

“Yeah, I know.“ Vin had seen how the illness had affected his friends. One moment they appeared okay and then next they were back in bed.

“How’s your side feeling?”

Vin shrugged. “Like I was swiped by a bottle two days ago.”

“You’re impossible!” Nathan claimed. There was redness around Vin’s eyes, which could be a sign his side was becoming infected. Tanner looked weak, but then, he had every right to be. “I should probably have a look at that wound.”

Vin sighed. “Do what ya have to, doc.” Nathan stepped forward, about to check Tanner’s brow for fever, but Chris’ name being bellowed from downstairs stilled his hand.

“MR. LARABEE!“

Chris and Nathan moved to the door, Vin climbing from the bed. Buck, J.D., Ezra and Josiah poured out into the hallway.

Brewer’s youngest deputy appeared, puffing and red-faced. “We need your help! There’s a fight in the Whisky Cask Saloon!”

Chris nodded, his men grabbing their gun belts and racing after the young man. As the regulators got closer, they could hear the sounds of the brawl.

“Buck, J.D., take the back! Josiah, Nathan, the front windows. Ezra, cover the porch.” Larabee watched his men fan out. There was a sharp whistle from the back of the saloon that pierced even the driving the rain - a signal that Buck and J.D. were in position. Chris glanced at Vin. He had just consciously realized the tracker had come along.

Stop fussin’, Chris. Larabee held his friend’s gaze.

“I wouldn’t have come if I thought I’d be in the way,” Vin pointed out quietly.

Larabee accepted that. “Ready?”

Tanner nodded and the two men burst though the batwing doors. Inside, it was a free-for-all. There were more than a dozen men involved and they were throwing punches, chairs and anything else they could get their hands on.

Sheriff Brewer bellowed above the din, but the rabblerousers ignored him. Chris nodded to Vin. The tracker raised his mare’s leg into the air and cracked off a single shot. The explosion from the weapon echoed in the room, all of the occupants freezing.

“That’s enough!” Brewer shouted. “Clean up this mess! Now!”

“Go to hell!” one man yelled, raising his fist. Buck and J.D. stepped through the back door and aimed their rifles at the troublemaker.

“I don’t think you heard the sheriff. He asked you to clean up this mess,” Buck growled.

The mob launched into tidying up with as much enthusiasm as they had participated in the fight, thanks to Larabee’s men encircling them with raised rifles. Brewer nodded his thanks. Once the room was as back to normal as it could be, the sheriff sent the occupants on their way.

“I’m in your debt.”

“Where are your deputies?” Chris asked curiously.

“I’ve got one in each of the other two saloons, keeping an eye on things. Sent the boy to get you to back me up... and I appreciate what you did. You and your men are good.”

“We are better than good, my friend,” Ezra corrected. “We are exquisite.”

“Breakfast is on me,” Brewer offered, looking at Ezra confused.

“Now, that’s mighty generous of you, Sheriff,” Josiah boomed. “I could eat a whole cow.”

“He probably will, too!” J.D. giggled.

**********

The Seven retired to a small restaurant with Brewer. The sheriff ordered and then once again offered his thanks.

“What usually happens?” Vin asked.

“You mean when the rains come? Well, usually I hire at least ten deputies, but the rains are early this year. Caught me off guard.”

“And this happens every year?” Nathan asked.

“Every year. Still, it’s a nice little town for nine months. Nice and quiet.”

“Sheriff Brewer, have you seen the ghost?” J.D. asked.

Brewer glanced at the boy and smiled widely. “Son, normally I would say yes, but to be honest, no. Elsa is just a legend, which not only brings curious people into the town to buy souvenirs, but also helps me to keep the rabble under control. Mention ghosts to men who have had too much to drink and next thing you know they’re all seeing her and they high tail it out of here quicker than a bear spotting a beehive!”

“So the legend’s not true?” Josiah asked.

“I’m afraid not, but don’t tell anyone I said that.”

“But Father Tom said he’s seen her,” J.D. pointed out.

Brewer nodded and smiled gently. “Tom’s a good man. He’s done a lot for this town. The people love him. Unfortunately, whisky is his weakness. Thankfully, he hides it well, but I can’t say it surprises me that he sees ghosts.” Brewer turned to Josiah. “You two have know each other for a long time. You probably know about his drinking.”

Josiah sighed deeply. “I didn’t know it had become a problem.”

“It hasn’t... not really. He only goes off the rails every now and then. That’s when he sees the ghost.”

The men’s breakfast arrived and all ate heartily, except Vin, who pushed his plate away untouched. He had started coughing again which the others knew only exacerbated his throbbing headache.

“Thanks, Sheriff. That was one fine meal.”

“Think of it as a bribe,” Brewer laughed. “Back me up again, and there’ll be more.” The sheriff rose to his feet, tipped his hat and left the room.

“Seems like a nice sort of a fella,” Buck stated.

Vin and Chris exchanged a glance. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.

Chris smiled and nodded his agreement.

“Sure is hot in here,” J.D. commented, removing his jacket.

“Thought it was just me,” Vin muttered.

“It‘s muggy alright,” Nathan agreed.

“So, what are our plans today?” Josiah asked his companions.

"Mr Macquarie is supposed to meet us outside the sheriff's office at noon so that he can sign the papers. Then, technically, our role is over."

"He'll probably want us to take the papers and post them from Four Corners. Just to make sure they get through," Josiah mused.

"If he gets through," Vin murmured. The others eyed him curiously. "Ain't easy ridin' in this weather. He was comin' from the east. Probably got caught out in this."

"So, what does that mean?"

"I guess it means we have to wait until he can get here," Nathan murmured.

"Great," Vin grumbled. He didn't like crowds.

"Then I suggest we enjoy the morning and wait to see what eventuates. I intend playing some cards,” Ezra announced, climbing to his feet.

“Ezra,” six voices growled as one.

“Oh, have a little faith, my friends.” Standish flashed his companions the widest grin they had ever seen and then tipped his hat and exited the restaurant.

“I was going over there anyway. I’ll keep an eye on him,” Wilmington offered. “J.D.?”

“I’ll be over a little later on. I want to go and speak to Mrs. Von Otter.”

“I do believe I will join you, son.”

“I guess I might too,” Nathan stated. “I’d like to hear what she has to say about the ghost. Vin, you should be heading back to bed.” Jackson waited for a response. “I know you’re feeling better this morning, but that’s only because you’ve been resting. That's the nature of this thing. One minute you feel okay and then the next... you know what I mean. If you push yourself, you’ll end up really ill.” With that final piece of advice, Nathan followed Josiah and J.D. out of the room.

Vin and Chris watched the men leave.

“Well?” Larabee asked.

“I’m goin’ to the privy, Cowboy. After that, I thought I’d go and give Peso a brush.”

Chris frowned. He understood Vin’s need to get out of their small rented room, but the gunfighter also realized how important it was for his friend to take it easy. “After that, I think you better go back and lay down. You heard Nathan. You need to rest. You‘re looking pale this morning. If you don‘t rest, take it from me, your head will feel like it‘s exploding.”

Vin muttered something under his breath. “What about you?” he asked, changing the subject.

“I'll go and check to see if there's any word from Macquarie at the telegraph office. I'd better wire Mary and let her know where we are. She’ll probably be waiting on news from us.”

Vin snorted, rising to his feet. “Doubt that it’s the rest of us she waitin’ for news on, Cowboy.” Chris glared at his companion. Tanner tipped his hat, smirked and then ambled out of the building.