Slocum and the Diamond City Affair (9781101612118) Read Online Free

idea.”
    O’Riley frowned at a burro honking behind them. Slocum turned in the saddle and saw the straw sombrero and the rider with a stick in her hand making the burro short lope. They had company. The hard-flailing rider was Rosa. A slow smile settled on Slocum’s mouth. This business with O’Riley might not be so bad with her along.
    Rosa reined her mount up and the mule, with the bit in his teeth, tried not to stop, but he was not dealing with a novice. The girl knew how to jerk him down.
    â€œYou going this way?” Slocum asked, amused and not at all unhappy to see her.
    She nodded and looked upset. “You rode off without me.”
    â€œDid I say anything about you joining me?”
    She shook her head. “No, but I’ll be helpful to you.”
    He took his hat off and wiped his sweaty forehead on his sleeve. “There’s a thought. Maybe you can be helpful. Whose burro?”
    â€œDon’t you know? Down here burros don’t belong to anyone. You use them and turn them loose when you are done with them. The saddle and bridle cost me two dollars.”
    He gave a head toss at his man. “O’Riley, this is Rosa.”
    â€œI met him yesterday at the cantina,” she said, not sounding too impressed.
    The man nodded and reined his horse around to face her. “Good day, miss.”
    â€œCome on, you two,” Slocum said. “We need to make it to Benson by dark today.”
    Benson was the last place he knew about the horses passing through. Their trail began there. Along with him, he had one lethargic guy he’d have to push to get to move and one honey-tasting titty girl. That should be a powerful enough posse to turn over an outhouse or two, and they were looking for some expensive racehorses stolen in Tucson. Plus, one of O’Riley’s grooms had run off with his wife. She must be a dandy. No telling what else lay ahead for them or what he’d run across with this circus act looking for horse rustlers.
    â€œCome on. We have to trot these animals,” Slocum said and jabbed the bay in the sides with his spurs.
    At Fort Bowie, no one had seen the racing horses. Not a mention either among the enlisted military men when he asked around if anyone had seen them. Horse soldiers would have been curious. Most knew good horses on sight. So they headed for the Dos Cabezas, the next stage stop up in the hills that gave it the name. There they found several dirty-faced miners sitting on the cantina porch drinking beer.
    Slocum asked them about seeing two fancy horses. The rattle of their heads told him the animals had not been brought through there. He made the other two in his party water their own mounts again as they had done at the fort, and then they headed for Benson.
    The next spot on the stage road was Dragoon Springs.
    The stage station man standing on the porch met them. “Can I help you?”
    â€œThis man lost two great horses. A mare and stallion. Racehorses. You seen them come through here?”
    The man shook his head.
    Slocum dropped from the saddle to water his horse at the public trough. That was not good news. The thieves must have gone south from Benson. Slocum’s belly was hollow from not eating since before dawn.
    â€œRosa, go find us some food.” He tossed her a silver dollar.
    â€œNo, no.” O’Riley made her give the money back to Slocum. Then he bought their supper—or gave her the money for it, anyway—and she went skipping off like a free spirit.
    While the horses and her burro slurped up the water from the wooden trough, O’Riley asked Slocum about her.
    â€œA nice young woman from back there,” Slocum said, with a head toss over his shoulder toward Diamond City, where they’d met the night before.
    â€œWhat does she charge?”
    â€œA dollar, I guess.”
    O’Riley shook his head at the price. “I can get all the pussy I want for fifty cents.”
    Slocum