Henry S. Guyer II

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1. 

   A Gathering of Storm Clouds

   January 7

   As Speed left the office and headed for Leah Steelgraves residence on East Oregon Street the weight of the extra gun gave him pause to consider what may lie ahead. Tom Love was an unknown and that made him almost more dangerous than Case and his men. A dozen, if not more of the dregs of Montana. Warning her was the sensible thing to do, her and her men. It dawned on him, with Cook and McNue, that would be six against twelve or more.
                                                                                     ~0~
   At the office to two men sat a long moment, each with his ow thoughts about what might be coming when John Cook said, "Gettin' a mite long in the tooth for this sortta thing, but, I guess we got it to do, eh Bill.
    
   McNue nodded as he looked at his long time partner. Been in some scrape, you an me, guess one more ain't gonna make much difference. Guyer, he just strapped on another iron, like it was all in a days work. Damn!"
    
   "That cushy job in Helena sortta took us outta that day to day doins of bein' a lawman." Cook related.
    
   "Hell John, this'll be fun. They don't know it's you an' me they're up agin. By doggies!" McNue stated.
                                                                                      ~0~
   They sat across the street where he would expect them to be. Bannister, McKinney and Santee, each nodded to him as he walked up to the door of the clapboard house, thinking how it really was not where one would expect to find her. He rapped lightly.
    
   Leah, almost surprised at the knock rose from the settee and went to the door, opening it see Marshal Guyer, which gave her cause to smile. "Marshal, do come in." She offered. "A pleasant surprise, indeed. I have water on for tea if you'd like a cup."
    
   "I'm afraid this isn't a social call, but yes that sounds fine." He replied almost hesitantly. "I'm afraid I've word that your brother, Case, is headed back this way and he has a number of men with him."
   
   
2. 

   A Gathering of Storm Clouds

   January 6

   Mature Content: Probably not, maybe some lingo.
   With: Marshalls McNue & Cook, possible others
   Location: Add specific location information here.
   When: Mid July 1876
   Time of Day: Afternoon
    
   
    
   Town Marshal Speed Guyer sat at his desk in his office ruminating about the new he had received from Hector Wigfall and from Jacob Lutz. Tom Love was just one man, and he knew nothing of him, or his abilities as a gunman, but Case Steelgrave was another matter altogether. He knew plenty about him and the crowd he ran with. The gang he ran was more like it. The town of Whitefish had allowed him to run them almost in the open. But with no County Sheriff, nothing was ever brought to trail about him or his men. The Storm of '75 ended that, wiping out Whitefish, his stronghold. And they had been on the move for the most part ever since.
    
   True, they had had their chance to convict Case, but a big city lawyer had ended that hope winning an acquittal.  Would they come to Kalispell? The Evergreen? Their hideout? Anywhere else and any direction? The choices were all his, so combining to the two, Love and Steelgrave, well, that just made things all that much worse, and no Pronto Pike to stand with him.
    
   He did not hear or see them ride up to the hitch rail in the front of the Municiple Building, and until the opened the front down and stated for the office he hadn't heard them, however their jingling spurs announced their arrival long before they opened the door and stepped inside..
    
   "Whatcha cogitatin' on Guyer? Somepan got ya treed?" Cook asked.
    
   "You boys ever hear of a Tom Love? Supposed to be a gun hand of some repute."
    
   "Yep." McNue said flatly. "I ain't real sure how much of a gun hand he is, killed him a few, ain't too sure any was a stand up fight."
    
   "Bad as that Wallace Oldham! Back shootin' son of a buck!" Cook was shaking his head. "Find him around the minin' camps over't Butte, Wise River, that area. Why?"
    
   "Well, while you two were out sight seeing, got word both are headed this way. Tom Love, Case Steelgrave, with maybe a dozen hard cases, with him. They ain't together."
    
   "Oh, now we heard about Steelgrave and that crooked lawyer that got him off. Might make ya feel some better ta know  he was killed. Caught cheatin' at cards up in Helena. Sad thing that, he shoulda know'd better." McNue recited.
    
   "Too bad. He was slick alright. So, now you've heard the bad news. And that would be plenty of it. Depends on where the Steelgrave outfit is headed and what plans he might have for this place. Tom Love? Can't say."
    
   "You reckon Case'd throw in with his pa over this hospital fiasco?" Cook asked. It ell quiet for a moment.
    
   "That? I don't know." Speed replied. "Count on you boys to stick around?"
    
   McNue and Cook exchanged looks then both nodded that they would.
    
   "Guess I best tell Miss Steelgrave, and her men." Speed informed them as he got to his feet, then he did something new for him, he opened the bottom desk drawer and took out a gun belt and holster, a left hand holster and strapped in on over his right hand rig,  Lastly he took out another Colt, four and three quarter inch barrel, front sight removed, and dropped it into the holster. "Man outta be prepared."
   
              Cook                   McNue
    
   
3. 

   A Friend in the Dark

   December 15, 2021

   “To be fair I think it’s more important that you’re used to them rather than me.”  He stopped before adding any more inane comments.
    
   Frances smiled: not so much at the words themselves, she had always been what other people termed 'blind' whatever that meant, of course she was used to it. It was just her world. It was hard to imagine what 'sighted' even meant. She knew that most other people had some extra sense that meant they didn't have to feel for things the way she did, and that they could differentiate between two things that felt and smelled and tasted the same to her: it didn't seem any great gain, expect that the world was designed for people to use this extra sense to get around and do things. 
    
   No, what made her smile was the sentiment behind James' words. He was sensitive, nervous, empathetic, he was trying to say the right thing while not knowing the right thing to say. He heart reached out to him. 
    
   James nodded, then realized what he’d just done in front of the blind woman and spoke, “I’d be delighted to assist you in any way that I can Miss Grimes.”  He hurriedly assured her. 
    
   Again, the man's essential goodness warmed her. 
    
   "I only hope I can carry all this scrap metal, Marshall!" she joked. But the more elderly voiced man was right. Oh, Frances could feel the difference between notes which looked about the same to a sighted person, the problem was the plethora of different notes issues by different banks at different times: even the National Currency was far from uniform: printed by different printers in different places, but all backed up by the Federal Reserve. It was a problem that would puzzle blind people for a long, long time.
    
   Then she felt a pang of guilt. Her brother, only a few hours dead, and here she was... flirting! The nice Mr Vaughn probably didn't realise it, he sounded rather innocent of such things, but she suspected the more experienced Mr Guyer might be observing it somehow: a flush of her cheek, the way she leant into Mr Vaughn when he spoke, a stupid, sloppy look on her face! Oh Dear! Things she couldn't always monitor and correct!
    
   "Well James, you seem to have everything well in hand. I've thing that need doing, so I best get to the," Speed said. "Miss Grimes, a pleasure to meet you."
   @Nova
   
4. 

   Yours Sincerely

   December 6, 2021

   Speed sat back considering the possibilities. None of them good, unless they gave Kalispell a wide berth, which Case might well do. They had had a hideout somewhere  out there in the wild country, a place that no one seemed to know of.
    
   Tom Love? There was a question mark. He had already been through the circulars, what some folks called 'wanted posters,' but he had no paper on anyone name of Love. Maybe when the Marshals got back they would know of him.
    
   Was Kalispell sitting in the center of an outlaws bullseye, for one reason or another? Time would tell.
   
5. 

   Caleb Barnes

   December 5, 2021

   "I can  wait on the Doc and haul him over to the jail if you want to head on home. You can stay if you like." Speed said as he drew his pistol, opened the loading gate to extract the spent cartridge and replace it. A common practice with men who might need a full load at any given moment, even if it was quiet in town, and there were no appreciable threats.
    
   "Chased the hombre the better half of the day. Stole my horse after buffaloing me. Stole old Hank Norman's horse, then led me over half the county before he shot Joe Hooker and stole his horse, but why come here? I know he and-"
    
   "Marshal, Deputy. Not sure you know, but Caleb killed his Aunt and Uncle this morning, robbed them of whatever they had that he could sell. Anyway, I'm glad you got him." John Anderson volunteered. "It'll be a pleasure to see him hang!"
    
   Speed looked to Charley. "I'll be, that explains a lot, except him coming back to town. I now he and Grim were partners of a sort, but to risk being caught for the killings? I don't know, Charley, I just don't know."
   @JulieS@Javia
   
6. 

   Caleb Barnes

   December 4, 2021

   "And what was it I was supposed to do. Mister Jolly, give Barnes a free shot or two?" The he laughed at the thought. "He'll live. Probably need Doc Danforth to have a look-see. Patch him up enough for the noose."
    
   He watched as the undertaker took measurements of one Caleb Barnes. "Well Charley, we've lost two of the biggest troublemakers in the past couple days. Should be a bit more on the quiet side in town, at least for now."
   @JulieS@Javia
    
    
   
7. 

   Caleb Barnes

   December 1, 2021

   Caleb Barnes stood on the boardwalk looking at the Municiple Building a long moment then scanned the street , spotted a hosed at the next hitch rail and ran, spurs jingling, toward it with the intent of a fresh mount to make an escape. Frank dead? 'Stupid bastard!' He was never fast with a gun, and every time he got drunk he went out of his way to prove he was more than he could ever be.
    
   He reached the horse, pulled the reins loose from the hitch rail grabbed the horn and and swung up onto the seat starting to turn the animal into the street when he looked directly in the eyes of Marshal Speed Guyer.
    
   "Get yer hands up Barnes, or I'll empty that saddle!" Guyer barked.
    
   Caleb froze. He though himself fast, well, faster than Frank had ever been, but he was staring down the barrel of Guyer's Colt, no man was that fast, not with his hand so far from his own gun.
    
   Guyer was walking his horse closer to Caleb. "You keep them hands on the 'nubbin' and you just might live long enough to hang. Make a wrong move and I'll kill you." Of that, Speed was certain. The man had tried to kill at least one of the men he had stolen from, stolen three horses, all hanging offenses, so the choice was his, what he did next would be the proof in the pudding for Caleb Barnes.
    
   His hand flashed to his holster and the butt of his own Colt as the muzzle flash blossomed from Guyers pistol, the lead plumb ahead of the brilliant flash slamming into Caleb's shoulder, shattering the bone at the joint as Caleb toppled backwards out of the saddle, landing on the hard packed street.
    
   Guyer sprang from the saddle, prepared to fire again, but Caleb was done, sprawled in the dust and bleeding from his wound.
   
   @JulieS@Wayfarer@Javia or not??
   
8. 

   Yours Sincerely

   November 29, 2021

   Speed looked at the young man. "The old man mostly stays on his spread, send a man in for supplies, so he's pretty much in the clear. We've had no County Sheriff, so jurisdiction becomes the problem. Now when Whitefish was still standing, Case was the law there, and that protected his men and all the things they were doing. It's gone, and so is any protection Case and his gang had."
    
   "If they're coming here looking for trouble, then they'll surely find it. I expect Marshall's Cook and McNue today sometime, and there's other's that will stand. But it's possible for them to bypass town, if that's their plan, so we just get to wait some more. It'll sort itself out, usually does. Meanwhile young man, best you get up to the Lickskillet and  let your wife know your back, and then, get yourself some rest. Might have to call on you."
   @Javia
   
9. 

   Yours Sincerely

   November 28, 2021

   He was aching all over as he sat slumped in a chair in front of Guyer, telling what he'd seen. 
    
   "Been over to Belnap." His syntax was terse and his diction sparse. "Saw 'em about twenty miles west of Proctor heading this way. Must've been heading out of Boyer's Crossing." 
    
   "Them? Who's them?" Speed asked.
    
   "Heck Wigfall said you were looking for a bunch of bandits headed by Case Steelgrave. Couldn't miss him. So tall. Don't think they saw me. They were a ways off." he grunted. Feeling half-dead. He was worried he wouldn't be able to get up from the chair now he was in it.
    
   "Well now, Heck was right. Case Steelgrave and company. Out of Boyer's Crossing? Sounds about right coming from Big Flat and all."  The Marshal responded, not surprised, but concerned because now he knew that Steelgrave was headed their way, whether it was to Kalispell itself, or the Evergreen, or farther north, that remained to be seen.
    
   "How many are with him?" he asked followed by, and how fast were they coming, because they're only thirty five or forty miles off, maybe less, but that's some rough country down that way."  But no matter how long they would take to reach whichever destination, they would be in his backyard if not in his town. Ether may not be good news. He sorely wished Pike was back. He would need to alert Cook and McNue, provided they were back in town.
   @Javia
   
10. 

    Yours Sincerely

    November 26, 2021

    "So you best be getting back to that key in case anything more comes through, don't you think?" There may be another operator there, he didn't know. He'd put something together for Pike, but he was on his way to San Francisco, so that might be a wasted effort by all concerned.
     
    "Guess I'll wait and see if Pike sends word from San Francisco before I try and contact hi, might be a waste to send anything on to Portland."
    @Javia