The Gentleman Outlaw and Me-Eli Read Online Free

said my name was Bates. From the way Featherbone was carrying on, he might have killed me on the spot just because my name was Yates.
    "I swore on my mother's grave I'd avenge my father's death," Featherbone went on, glaring at me as if I doubted his word. "I'm on my way to Tinville, Colorado, to confront the scoundrel."
    "Why, that's just where I'm headed," I said, too surprised to keep my mouth shut as a more cautious person might have. Although I was sure Papa wasn't the kind to shoot a man in the back, it made me uneasy to know he and Featherbone's enemy not only were both named Yates but also lived in the same town. A coincidence no doubt, but worrisome all the same.
    Featherbone stared at me, just as amazed as I was. "What in heaven's name takes an innocent child like you to a town as wicked as Tinville?" he asked.
    "I hope to find my father there," I admitted.
    Featherbone studied my face. "Aren't you rather young to be traveling by yourself?"
    "I'm twelve years old," I said, drawing myself up to my full height. "Not that much younger than you, I reckon!"
    "I'm almost eighteen," Featherbone said quickly. "Which makes me nearly a man and you a mere boy. Why, you should be at home with your mother, not roaming the countryside like a vagabond."
    "My mama is dead," I whispered.
    "So we're both motherless," Featherbone said, softening his haughty tone. "Orphan boys adrift in this cruel world with no place to call home."
    When I turned my head to hide my tears, Featherbone touched my shoulder. "Allow me to introduce myself," he said. "I'm Calvin Thaddeus Featherbone, the Second." After pausing a moment, he added, "Perhaps you've heard of me."
    "No," I apologized, "I'm afraid I haven't."
    "In some parts," he said, watching me closely, "I'm known as the Gentleman Outlaw."
    I stared at my companion, too awed to speak. Just a few days ago, I'd been an ordinary girl, doing chores and ducking whippings, and now here I was alone in the woods with a real, live outlaw. If he knew, my cousin Little Homer would be consumed with jealousy. He had a real hankering to become an outlaw himself, and if you ask me, he was already well on his way to achieving his goal.
    "Are you telling me the honest-to-God truth?" I asked.
    "Would I prevaricate, Elijah?"
    Since I didn't know the meaning of the word, I ignored Calvin's question. "What did you do to become an outlaw?" I asked. "Rob a bank? Hold up a train?"
    When Calvin didn't answer, I added, "I hope you didn't kill anybody. I don't approve of murder."
    He stared into the fire, his face grim. Lord knows what he was thinking. "Never fear," he said at last. "I haven't taken anyone's life—yet."
    Something in his voice made me shiver. Or maybe it was just the damp night air creeping up behind me. Swallowing hard, I said, "Are you aiming to kill the man who killed your daddy?"
    Calvin clenched his jaw and nodded. "Yates showed no mercy to Father," he said. "I mean to show no mercy to him."
    I moved a little closer to Caesar, taking comfort in his warm body and familiar smell. It seemed to me Calvin was studying my face with growing suspicion.
    'Your father," he said slowly. "He wouldn't be the sheriff of Tinville, would he?"
    "Sheriff?" I burst out laughing at the very idea of Papa being a sheriff. "Why, Aunt Mabel says Papa's about the worst man who ever lived. What makes you think he's a lawman?"
    "The Yates I'm seeking is the sheriff of Tinville," Calvin said slowly, still staring into my eyes as if he hoped to read my mind like a carnival fortuneteller.
    "I told you, Papa's name is
Bates,
" I reminded him. "Even if his name was Yates—which it's not—he isn't the sort to wear a tin star."
    After engaging me in a brief eye-to-eye stare, Calvin seemed to believe what I had told him. Yawning a yawn as big as a house, he stretched out on the ground. "If you'll pardon me, Eli, I shall endeavor to sink into the arms of Morpheus till morning."
    I guess that meant Calvin aimed to go to sleep,