The big gundown Read Online Free Page B

evening to you, sir,” he said. His voice was deep and powerful. “I hope we didn’t interrupt your supper.”
    “We were just about to sit down and eat,” Sean said. “You’re welcome to join us.”
    It was the sort of invitation you issued out there on the frontier as a matter of habit, no matter who had come to call. If a band of Hottentots showed up on your doorstep at dinnertime, The Kid thought, you’d just naturally ask them to light and sit a spell and have something to eat.
    The man shook his head. He wore a fringed shirt of soft buckskin, blue cavalry trousers with a yellow stripe up the outside of the legs, high-topped black boots, and a cream-colored hat with a couple of tassels attached to the band. The hat also sported the crossed sabers insignia that meant the wearer had been part of a cavalry outfit at one time. He might still be in the army, although the men with him all wore civilian clothes.
    From what The Kid could see of them, he didn’t like them. They looked like the same sort of hard cases as the ones who had invaded the Williams ranch a few days earlier.
    “We’re much obliged for the offer,” the leader said. “We wouldn’t want to put you out any, though, and we have our own supplies.”
    Sean shrugged. “Suit yourself. You’re welcome to water your horses, though.”
    The stranger smiled. Dark hair curled out from under the cavalry hat, and he sported a pointed goatee of the same color. “Now, we’ll take you up on that kind offer,” he said as he gestured for his men to move their horses up to the water trough and let them drink.
    The man went on, “I’d like to ask you a question, too, if you don’t mind.”
    “I reckon that would be all right.”
    “We’re on our way up the San Pedro to the Santa Catalinas, and some friends of ours were supposed to meet us in Bisbee and come with us. They didn’t show up, and I was wondering if you might have seen them pass through here. Four men…Hudgins, Culp, Brentwood, and Dobbs.”
    Sean shook his head, and The Kid had to admit that the rancher’s voice and attitude were convincingly casual as he replied, “Those names don’t mean a thing to me, mister, but I can tell you there haven’t been any strangers pass through here for a month or more. Sorry.”
    “They didn’t stop just to water their horses or anything like that?”
    “Nope.”
    The stranger nodded. “Well, it was worth asking, I suppose. If they do happen to come by here, can you tell them that the colonel was asking about them?”
    “That would be you?”
    The man smiled and touched a finger to his hat brim again. “Colonel Gideon Black, at your service, sir.”
    From his place just beside and behind Sean’s leg, Cyrus asked, “Are you a real soldier, mister?”
    Colonel Black smiled down at the boy. “I was, son. I’m no longer in the army, though.”
    “But you were a real colonel?”
    “Yes, indeed.”
    Sean said, “That’s enough, Cyrus. Run on in the house.”
    The rest of the men had watered their horses and the light was fading from the sky. Frannie hadn’t lit the lamps inside the house yet, and The Kid thought that was a good thing because the men outside probably couldn’t see him watching them from the shadows. Nor would they be able to see Frannie standing beside a window where the shutter was open a couple of inches, clutching a rifle in her hands, ready to use it if she needed to.
    Colonel Black let his horse drink as well, then lifted a hand in farewell. He called, “Move out!” to his men as if they were an actual military detail, and the group trotted off to the east, toward the San Pedro River. Sean stayed outside for quite a while, watching them go. Finally, he came back inside.
    Then, and only then, did The Kid holster his gun.
    “Well, they’re gone,” Sean announced.
    “You’re sure of that?” The Kid asked. “They’re not doubling back?”
    “I don’t think so. I could see their dust for quite a ways. If they plan