Eyes of a Dead Man

Hap O'Donnell knelt behind the tree watching through the brush as the man set up camp.

His knee pressed on something hard and he had to clench his teeth to avoid making a noise that would alert the stranger. Looking down at the offending object he saw that it was an acorn. A smile crossed his face as he picked it up and put it in his pocket. Everyone knew that carrying an acorn would bring good luck and ensure a long life.

After lighting a camp fire, the stranger settled down with a cup of coffee and rolled a smoke. This was Haps chance.

Creeping quietly to approach the man from behind Hap stepped from the cover of the brush and clicked the hammer back on his empty Colt.

"Don't move, stranger," he ordered. "Let's see that gun."

The stranger didn't move, least of all to surrender his gun.

"I said let's see that piece," Hap told him again.

The stranger sat still and blew a long stream of smoke toward the full moon.

"If you're fixing to kill me, get it over with," the man said. "I ain't got all night."

"Ain't no need for killing," Hap said. "I just want that Peacemaker and whatever cash you got."

The stranger exhaled long and slow before reaching down and unbuckling his gun belt. He flipped it over his shoulder where it landed in front of Haps worn left boot. Hap quickly scooped up the loaded weapon and trained it on the man.

"Now the money, and I reckon I'll take them there boots while you're at it."

The man tossed a handful of gold coins over his shoulder, which Hap scooped up, then his boots.

"There, you see," Hap said. "No killing, that was real easy."

Hap sat down to exchange boots, tossing his worn out pair, holes and all, to the stranger.

"You can have 'em," he said.

Hap began pulling one of the boots on while he held the gun in his right hand. The stranger reached for Haps boots and the movement startled Hap enough to make him squeeze the trigger on the weapon in his hand.

The stranger fell over with a grunt. When Hap realized what had happened, he shrugged and finished putting his new boots on. He stood and walked carefully to the stranger, whose head lay face down just a few inches from the camp fire.

Hap's first instinct was to take everything the man had owned and continue on his way to Kansas City, but after considering the circumstances he decided that he may as well take advantage of the camp, the fire, the coffee and everything else he had just inherited. In the morning, he would use his new horse and make some real time.

After relieving the stranger of anything else that he wouldn't need anymore, Hap dragged the corpse into the brush and stuffed it beneath a large crop of thick growth. Eventually the coyotes and the buzzards would fight over it, but in the meantime Hap wouldn't have to deal with it. Giving one last push with his foot the dead man rolled under the bush, landing face up. Hap took a sharp breath when he saw the man's eyes, they were open.

Immediately his legs began to tremble. A dead man's eyes had to be closed or he'd look for someone to take with him, Hap knew this as sure as he was breathing. Reaching in cautiously Hap placed a hand on the open eyes of his victim. He clenched his own eyes shut as he pulled the eyelids of the corpse closed.

Then he sat still waiting for something to happen. After several agonizing seconds, he stood and went back to the camp site.

His legs were still trembling as he walked through the bushes and the stranger's boots were a little loose, which slowed his pace somewhat.

After inspecting the saddle bags and other belongings he had acquired Hap settled down to enjoy some hot coffee and a smoke.

Soon he was beginning to doze. Checking to make sure that his bedroll was lying east-west he lay down.

A scuffling in the brush woke him with a start. His first thought was coyotes, dining on the body of the stranger, but this was much too loud for that. In fact it sounded like a wagon.

Sure enough, Hap heard the sound of horses pulling a wagon and a man whistling. He jumped up and grabbed both pistols, waiting for the intruder to appear.

"Hold it up, right there," Hap ordered when the wagon appeared in the clearing.

The man on the wagon reined in the two horse team and brought the wagon to a stop.

Without hesitating, the man climbed down from the wagon and walked to Hap brandishing a wide smile and holding a tattered stove pipe hat in his hands.

"Howdy, stranger," the man said with a warm smile (short one tooth). "Ozzie Roberts at your service, purveyor of goods and services from coast to coast. I smelled your fire and thought I'd come detour over and see if you were willing to share some of its warmth."

Hap looked suspiciously at the little man. The man looked back with a smile.

"You can talk, can't you?" Ozzie asked.

Hap nodded.

"I can talk. You're welcome to set by the fire, come morning I'm heading to Kansas City, y'all go wherever you want."

Ozzie scanned the camp site while Hap took a long look at the side of his wagon, where several words were painted around a picture of three entwined snakes.

"What's them words say?" Hap asked, nodding toward the wagon.

Ozzie turned and followed Hap's stare.

"Oh, that says Ozzie Roberts, Snake Oil Liniment. Yes sir, I have several bottles of the finest imported Chinese Snake Oil available on the planet. Can I interest you in a bottle? Only fifteen cents."

"Ain't interested," Hap said. "I'm fixing to lay down, you do what you want."

Hap settled by the fire. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the foot of a rabbit. The rabbit had not only provided Hap with a good meal, it had also given him a lucky charm. Ozzie watched closely as Hap rubbed the fur of the amputated limb.

They sat by the fire and made small talk before Ozzie stood and walked into the bushes to relieve himself. It seemed to take longer than Hap thought was necessary.

"Why don't you try some of that there snake oil," Hap thought with a grin.

When Ozzie returned he sat by the fire to Hap's left. As Hap began to doze he was startled by a rattling in the bushes from the direction of the stranger's corpse. He dismissed it as creatures foraging for a meal and closed his eyes. The bush rattled some more, this time even louder, Hap rubbed his rabbit's foot furiously while he remembered the dead man's eyes.

"Something wrong, friend?" Ozzie asked.

Hap knew he wouldn't sleep until he knew the source of the noise.

"I gotta go," he said as he stood and walked into the bushes, "too much coffee."

With his new Peacemaker leading the way, Hap worked his way as quietly as he could toward the bush where he had concealed the stranger's body. Kneeling at the spot he pulled back the branches of the bush. There was nothing there. No body.

Hap's legs trembled wildly and he lost control of his bladder. When he stood to run he saw movement next to a tree to his right. He fired the Colt until the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. In sheer panic he threw the gun at the tree and ran, not caring where he was going. After no more than five steps he tripped over something and fell to the ground. Rolling over he turned to see the corpse of the stranger looming over him.

Hap screamed, partly from the terror but mostly from the piercing pain in his chest as his heart surrendered to the stress and ceased to function. Hap's body went still and a last breath escaped his body.

Ozzie gave the corpse of the stranger a shove. It landed on top of Hap. After cleaning out Hap's pockets, securing all of the belongings around the camp site in his wagon and tying the horse behind it, Ozzie gathered up the twine he had tied to the bush, chuckling to himself at how easy it was to frighten the superstitious buffoon to death.

The sound of hooves at a full gallop thundered toward him as he prepared to snap the reins at the team. In an instant there were eight men on horseback surrounding Ozzie's wagon, all pointing guns at him.

One of the men climbed off his horse and approached him. Ozzie noticed the shiny tin star hanging loosely on his vest.

"Climb on down," the lawman said.

Ozzie slowly climbed off his wagon and stood with his horses between himself and the lawman.

One of the other men in the posse investigated the two corpses.

"Marshall," the man said. "It's him, he's dead, don't know the other one."

The Marshall looked at Ozzie and spit a wad of tobacco juice.

"You want to explain this?" the Marshall said.

Ozzie was silent. He thought about the prostitute he had killed in Dodge a week earlier and the stagecoach he had ambushed and robbed two days ago. Leaving the stagecoach driver alive was foolish but Ozzie had planned on being halfway to Texas by the time he told his story to anyone. Now he was faced with two choices.

He could let this Marshall take him in for the deaths of the two men on the ground, which would surely give the law plenty of opportunity to find out his status as a wanted man and guarantee a hangman's noose in his near future.

Without weighing his odds of success Ozzie decided to go with his second option. He turned and bolted into the woods.

After three steps he heard a shot, followed by several others. A bullet struck a tree inches from his head as Ozzie ran. Before he could tell himself how close he had come to death, another one struck him in the back. The force sent him to the ground forcefully where he gasped for air, sucking in a mouthful of dirt.

He didn't feel the next five bullets.

The posse gathered up the corpses and laid them in the back of Ozzie's wagon for transport back to Dodge. The Marshall stood at the rear of the wagon with a deputy.

"All right, men," the Marshall said. "Let's get back to town. It looks like Nate O'Toole's days of killing are over. As for these other two, I reckon they just weren't very lucky."

The Marshall climbed onto his horse.

"Hey Marshall," the deputy at the rear of the wagon called. "Take a look here."

The Marshall turned to face the deputy, spitting a mouthful of brown sludge to the ground.

"What is it, Willy?"

"Looky here," Willy said with a child's amazement. "All three of these bodies is got their eyes open. Never seen that before, and they's looking right at you."