The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard - Elmore Leonard [112]
And all around the clearing by the cottonwood were eight or ten others. Most of them I recognized as McKay riders. They stood solemnly, some with rifles and shotguns. There wasn’t any doubt in their minds what stealing a horse meant.
“Tudishishn says that Mickey didn’t steal your horse. These people told him that he was at home all night and most of the morning until Tudishishn dropped in, and then he came down here.” A line of Apaches stood a few yards off and as I pointed to them, some nodded their heads.
“Mister,” McKay said, “I found the horse at this man’s hut. Now, you argue that down, and I’ll kiss the behind of every Apache you got living around here.”
“Well, your horse could have been left there by someone else.”
“Either way, he had a hand in it,” he said curtly.
“What does he say?” I looked up at Mickey Solner and asked him quickly, “How did you get the horse, Mickey?”
“I just traded with a fella.” His voice shook, and he held on to the saddle horn as if afraid he’d fall off. “This fella come along and traded with me, that’s all.”
“Who was it?”
Mickey Solner didn’t answer. I asked him again, but still he refused to speak. McKay was about to say something, but Tudishishn came over quickly from the group of Apaches.
“They say it was Tony Choddi. He was seen to come into camp in early morning.”
I asked Mickey if it was Tony Choddi, and finally he admitted that it was. I felt better then. McKay couldn’t hang a man for trading a horse.
“Are you satisfied, Mr. McKay? He didn’t know it was yours. Just a matter of trading a horse.”
McKay looked at me, narrowing his eyes. He looked as if he were trying to figure out what kind of a man I was. Finally he said, “You think I’m going to believe them?”
It dawned on me suddenly that McKay had been using what patience he had for the past few minutes. Now he was ready to continue what they had come for. He had made up his mind long before.
“Wait a minute, Mr. McKay, you’re talking about the life of an innocent man. You can’t just toy with it like it was a head of cattle.”
He looked at me and his puffy face seemed to harden. He was a heavy man, beginning to sag about the stomach. “You think you’re going to tell me what I can do and what I can’t? I don’t need a government representative to tell me why my horse was stolen!”
“I’m not telling you anything. You know Mickey didn’t steal the horse. You can see for yourself you’re making a mistake.”
McKay shrugged and looked at his herd boss. “Well, if it is, it isn’t a very big one—leastwise we’ll be sure he won’t be trading in stolen horses again.” He nodded to Bowie Allison.
Bowie grinned, and brought his quirt up and then down across the rump of the chestnut.
“Yiiiiiiiiii…”
The chestnut broke fast. Allison stood yelling after it, then jumped aside quickly as Mickey Solner swung back toward him on the end of the rope.
IT WAS TWO weeks later, to the day, that Mickey Segundo came in with Tony Choddi’s ears. You can see why I asked him if he had a notion of going after McKay. And it was a strange thing. I was talking to a different boy than the one I had last seen under the cottonwood.
When the horse shot out from under his dad, he ran to him like something wild, screaming, and wrapped his arms around the kicking legs trying to hold the weight off the rope.
Bowie Allison cuffed him away, and they held him back with pistols while he watched his dad die. From then on he didn’t say a word, and when it was over, walked away with his head down. Then, when he came in with Tony Choddi’s ears, he was himself again. All smiles.
I might mention that I wrote to the Bureau of Indian Affairs about the incident, since Mickey Solner, legally, was one of my charges; but nothing came of it. In fact, I didn’t even get a reply.
Over the next few years Mickey Segundo changed a lot. He became Apache. That is, his appearance changed and almost everything else about him—except the smile. The smile was always there, as if he knew a monumental secret which was going to make everyone happy.
He let his hair grow to his shoulders and usually