The Saga of Gentleman Bert

by Stan Dryer

About the Author: Prior to 1990, Stan Dryer published 17 short stories in magazines that included Playboy, Cosmopolitan and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He has now returned to fiction writing and has recently had thirteen short stories published in a number of magazines including Fabula Argentea, Mystery Magazine, Adelaide Magazine and Write Launch.

Excerpt

Most outlaws like to rob the stage from Dry Gulch at the top of Dead Mule Pass. After the long haul up to the pass, the driver usually rests the team for a few minutes before starting down to Dustville. Bandits don’t have to go to the trouble of chasing the stagecoach. They just wait for it to stop, step out from behind the rocks that fill the pass and demand whatever of value the stage is carrying.

As Dead Mule Pass is in Sand County, these robberies are not my concern. My fellow sheriff, Charlie Conroy over in Dry Gulch, gets to waste his time hunting for the bandits.

Unfortunately, Gentleman Bert Scramett and his gang decided to rob the stage after it had come down from the pass into Dustville County where I would have the thankless job of administering justice.

The survivors filled me in on the hold-up. The Whippet stagecoach had just come out of the Pass when Bert and two members of his gang rode out of the sagebrush with bandanas over their faces. They pointed their guns and shouted for the stage to stop. Spike Williams, who was driving, pulled up the team. Whippet Stage’s official policy is to let the robbers have their way as they don’t want a lot of gunfire and dead bodies. If one of their employees dies on the job, Whippet has to pay for the funeral.

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