“You’re not going to eat me Mr. Wolf,” shouted the wounded man into the darkness of the cold desert night while grimacing in pain and clutching his side. “Not as long as I’ve got this here gun pointed at you.” The man held his gun before him and waved it from side to side he was shaking so.
The man had previously passed out and had fallen off his horse from the loss of blood. His horse had run off. His partner in crime, unable to catch it after a feeble attempt to do so, had come over to him, stopped the bleeding, made him as comfortable as he possibly could, setting him upright against a boulder, and covered him with a blanket to ward off the night chill.
“I’m going off to find your horse or steal one somewhere for you,” he told his wounded partner. “You hold tight, I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay,” said the wounded man and his partner left.
That’s when the wolf picked up the blood scent and followed his nose to the wounded man.
The wounded man saw the wolf glaring at him from the darkness, his devilish eyes glowing like two red hot burning embers.
“Don’t even think about it Mr. Wolf. My partner will be back any minute now with a horse for me. He won’t desert me. I got the loot remember, my insurance policy.”
The wounded man had the loot alright. He had made sure of that. After his partner had patched him up he grabbed it and clutched it to his chest threatening to shoot his partner if he didn’t go get him his horse. Told him that when he got back with one he’d do the right thing, split the money with him, and then they’d go their separate ways. But now he was not sure that he could go his separate way at all. He was too weak, had lost too much blood, was in excruciating pain, had passed out momentarily a couple of times, and was becoming delusional.
“You’re wrong,” came a voice out of the darkness. “You don’t have the loot any more. I got it. I took it when you passed out a while ago. Your partner’s gonna kill you when he gets back and you can’t come up with the money. He’ll think you’ve hid it on him. That you’ve double crossed him. Then what you going to do? Answer me that will ya?”
The wounded man stretched out and reached over to where he had put the two money bags. They weren’t there. Then he heard the wolf growl again. Then he heard his partner.
“Who’s that you’re talking to Charlie?” asked his partner as he rode up with a horse in tow. A horse that wasn’t Charlie’s.
“I’m talking to that wolf out there Ed.”
“Well tell him goodbye then,” replied Ed, taken back some by that answer. “I got ya a horse. Some poor cowboy out there looking for strays is on foot now. So get the money. I’ll help you up and we’ll get out of here.”
“It’s gone Ed.”
“Gone? What do you mean it’s gone?”
“I mean like it’s not here. It’s disappeared. It’s gone.”
“Oh I suppose the wolf took it huh? Don’t you dare double cross me Charlie. Where’d you stash the loot?”
“Right here next to me,” said Charlie pointing to the spot.
Ed went over to Charlie to see for himself. The money bags weren’t there. Then he noticed that Charlie was wincing in pain and had begun bleeding again having opened his wounds when he reached over for the two money bags.
Suddenly one of the stolen money bags was thrown at them from somewhere out in the darkness and plopped at Ed’s feet.
“Shoot him Ed. Shoot Charlie and I’ll throw you the other one,” a voice growled, “and then you leave. That’s the deal.”
Ed grabbed the bag and dove for cover dragging Charlie with him. Charlie screaming the whole time in pain.
“That your talking wolf Charlie? I don’t think so.”
Charlie didn’t answer. He had passed out.
“Who are you? Ed hollered back.
“I’m the wolf your partner was talking about. You want the rest of the money or not?”
“I told you Ed. I told you there was a wolf out there,” said Charlie coming to.
“Jesus Christ Charlie you’re crazy. You ain’t thinking right. Ya lost too much blood. You’re light headed, delusional, imagining things. That ain’t no wolf out there I tell ya. It’s a man.”
“There is too a wolf out there. I saw him.”
“Well ya want to make a deal or not?” shouted the unknown voice.
“Let me get this straight,” said Ed, “You want me to shoot my partner here and then you’ll throw me the other money bag and I leave so that way you can eat my partner. That it Mr. Wolf? I don’t think so. You want me to shoot my partner. Then you shoot me and get all the money. That’s it, isn’t it?”
“No I’m a wolf and I haven’t eaten in days,” the voice growled. “You killing your partner means I don’t have to take the risk of getting shot when I attack him.
“Hear that Ed?” shrieked Charlie. “I tell ya there’s some kind of talking demonic wolf creature out there somewhere. Out there looking for a meal, me. You gotta get me out of here now.”
Jesus Christ thought Ed. Now I got me a demented as well as wounded partner to take care of. This ain’t working out. Maybe I should shoot him, take my chances, grab the loot, and run.
“Well deal or no deal,” growled the voice again only louder this time. “My patience and stomach is starting to wear thin.”
“No can do,” replied Ed. Charlie still had his gun in his hand and he deemed it in his best interests to say no deal or Charlie would shoot him before he could draw his gun and shoot Charlie.
“If you shoot him,” replied the wolf voice, “then you got two horses. You’ll have no trouble at all making it to the border then.”
“Charlie, who in the hell is that guy out there and why in the hell didn’t he just shoot you, take the money and run before I got here? Or for that matter why in the hell didn’t he shoot me when I got here. What’s going on here Charlie? You got you a new partner out there and the two of you are up to something aren’t you.” Ed’s suspicious mind raced trying to figure out just what in the hell was going on and then he suddenly realized he shouldn’t have said that because Charlie had his gun pointed at him now. Then his hand dropped to the ground. Charlie was too weak to keep it raised for even a few seconds.
“I told you it’s a wolf. A wolf wanting to eat me. A wolf Ed. A demented wolf I tell ya,” he mumbled.
“Cut the crap Charlie. You ain’t fooling me with that crazy man act. What plan have you and your partner out there cooked up?”
“I ain’t got no plan. I ain’t got no partner other than you Ed. Help me up on the horse please and let’s get out of here.”
Ed noticed that Charlie, try as he may, couldn’t stop the bleeding now, and probably would bleed out and die shortly. Just as well for then he could fire off a shot, tell whoever it was out there that he shot him, get the money, and run. Or he could leave Charlie now here alive next time he passed out and take off with one sack, his share, after all he was an honest thief. Or he could do the right thing and put Charlie on the horse, let him take his one sack, and each go their separate ways. But if he shot Charlie, per this wolfman’s request, he’d have all the money and two horses. If he could trust him that is. But then again why shouldn’t he trust him. After all, he had already thrown him the one sack when he could have run off with both. And furthermore he had passed up the chance to plug him when he arrived. None of this made sense except unless of course it was a wolf looking for a meal but a talking talking wolf didn’t make no sense at all.
Ed had never shot anyone before in his life. In fact in all his robberies of banks, trains, stagecoaches, etc. he had never even fired his pistol and he got to thinking. He hardly knew Charlie. He had only known him a couple of months before they pulled this heist and he’d never pulled a job with him anywhere before. Ed was sure now that the guy out there had to be Charlie’s partner and they planned to do him in and he had to come up with a plan of his own now.
“Well what’s it gonna be?” came the voice from the darkness again. “You want all the money or not?”
“You throw me the other sack and I leave unharmed. Is that the deal?” repeated Ed.
“You got it. That’s the deal.”
There is no honor among thieves. Charlie mustered up enough strength somehow and shot Ed in the back the second Ed turned his back on him. Unlike Ed, Charlie had shot men before and that’s how he got himself wounded here by the return fire of the bank teller he killed during the robbery. But before he died Ed too mustered up enough strength, spun around, and shot Charlie dead.
After a few minutes of eternal silence on the part of Ed and Charlie, a figure emerged out from under the darkness of an overhanging rock. No it wasn’t a wolf who had picked up the blood scent of Charlie. It was that cowboy out there somewhere without a horse who had seen Charlie’s campfire. He had stopped some distance from it at first to check it out. To find out if it was friend or foe and when he saw the wounded Charlie and the two money bags at his side, he had his answer, bank robber. But he didn’t see any horses anywhere. So he reasoned that the person who had held him up and stolen his horse and his gun too had to be this man’s partner. That’s why took his horse. Took it for his wounded partner here and when he came in with his horse, his theory was confirmed. That’s when he came up with a plan. And he did.
His plan was crass and simple. Get the one partner to think the other partner was crazy with his talking to a wolf bit so he’d kill him rather than deal with him. Then he’d take his chances, sneak up and clobber the remaining partner from behind with a rock, get his horse and gun back, and get the hell out of there. A simple but brilliant, in a tooth sucking sort of way plan, for he was but a simple tooth sucking sort of cowboy.
He didn’t light out for the border with the money. No, instead he loaded the two bodies on one horse, himself and the money bags on the other, rode to town, and collected the reward. It was a good deal for him, the wolfman.
And as to the wolf, that in fact was out there, it was a good deal for him too. He ate well that night.
Bryan Grafton is a retired attorney who started writing for something to do in his rusting years.