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lawman?"
    Calvin's face flushed with anger. "You underestimate me, Nell! That cowardly Suggs lay in wait and took me by surprise. It will be a different matter when I step off the train in Tinville. I'll have the upper hand there, not Yates."
    "I swear you're just bound and determined to get yourself killed," Miss Nellie said. Without looking at Calvin again, she burst into tears and ran from the room.
    Calvin went after her, but I stayed at the table, too worried to move. Miss Nellie's words hung in the air like a bothersome echo. I hoped she was wrong about the Gentleman Outlaw. I didn't want to see him killed in Tinville any more than she did.
    After a long while, Calvin came back to the table, but Miss Nellie stayed in her room. Even with the door shut, I could hear her crying.
    "Are we leaving now?" I asked.
    Instead of answering, Calvin drummed his fingers on the table, glancing at me every now and then like he had something on his mind. The longer he sat there, the uneasier I got. If Miss Pearl hadn't been making such a ruckus washing dishes, I'd have gone to the kitchen just to get away from Calvin, but I reckoned she was in a bad mood and might put me to work scrubbing pots.
    At last Calvin spoke. "How much money did you say you have, Elijah?"
    "Twenty dollars."
    Calvin held out his hand. "Let me see it."
    When I hesitated, he reached across the table and pulled a gold coin out of my ear. "My, my," he said. "Look what I found."
    Before I could wiggle away from him, Calvin pretended to find a second coin in my other ear. It was an old trick I'd seen dozens of times at the fair, but Calvin was so good I almost believed the coins were really in my ears and not hidden in his fingers.
    I reached into my overalls pocket and felt for my precious gold eagles. They were gone. "Hey," I shouted, grabbing for the coins, but Calvin was too fast for me. Sliding my money into his pockets, he got to his feet.
    "Come along," he said. "It's time we departed."
    "Give me my money!" I hollered. "That's my twenty dollars, the one thing in this world Mama left me!"
    Calvin looked me in the eye. "If we are to travel together, we must share and share alike. No mine. No yours. Just
ours.
Our money."
    "How come the money has to be in
your
pocket?" I asked. "Why can't it be in
my
pocket?"
    "Because I'm older than you," Calvin said. "Bigger, too. And a great deal smarter." He jingled the coins and smiled. "Don't fret. I'll take good care of your inheritance. Before I'm done, we'll be as rich as kings."
    "Don't you believe him, Eli," Miss Pearl called from the kitchen.
    The Gentleman Outlaw spun around to face her.
"Why, Pearl, the next time you see me, I'll be riding a fine horse and wearing a proper gentleman's clothing."
    "I won't hold my breath," said Miss Pearl. "And, Eli, you better not hold yours either. Calvin's a fine one for promising the moon and coming up with a handful of dust."
    As Calvin headed for the door, I followed close at his heels. Like Miss Pearl, I knew better than to believe in promises. I wasn't planning to let Calvin Featherbone out of my sight. Not while he had my money.

7

    H OURS LATER, CALVIN AND I WERE BUMPING along a dusty road in Miss Pearl's buggy. Just before we left her place, she'd had a softening of the heart. We could borrow the buggy and Fancy as long as we promised to leave them at a certain livery stable in Dodge City. The owner would be happy to drive them back to her, Miss Pearl said, flashing those gold teeth one last time.
    When I'd asked Calvin why we couldn't get on the train in Elms Bluff, he'd said he had too many enemies in these parts, including the sheriff. They'd be sure to watch for him at the depot. That was why we were skedaddling under cover of darkness, like true wanted men.
    As we passed through woods and fields, I could scarcely believe I was traveling with a genuine outlaw. Train robberies, bank holdups, shoot-outs with sheriffs, wild Indians—why, there was just no telling what