The Ghost of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western Book 8) Read Online Free

the
better of them.’
    Stokes handed the paper to
the marshal.
    ‘ I
hope you’re right, Lane.’
    Clark turned and started to
usher his deputies out of the mayor ’s office.
    ‘ If I
ain’t, you’ll probably never see any of us again,
Sherman.’
    The sound of the door being
closed echoed around the large room. None of the men inside the
mayor ’s
office said a word. They just listened to the sound of the five
men’s spurs as they headed along the marble-lined corridor towards
the sun-drenched street.

Chapter
Three
    Diamond City had been as quiet
as the grave since the sound of the single shot from Henry
Jardine ’s
gun had echoed around its wooden buildings earlier that day. Apart
from growing numbers of flies seeking out the body of Sheriff
Hardy, there had been no one courageous enough to venture out on to
the boardwalks.
    ‘ Reckon the telegraph man has woken up yet, Henry?’ Saul
Bass asked as he drained the last drop of froth from his
beer-glass. ‘You hit him kinda hard.’
    Jardine toyed with the ashtray before him.
He did not look at Bass. His attention was on the street as the
shadows lengthened.
    ‘ I
figure he might be awake around now.’
    ‘ Did
he get his message out?’
    ‘ Some
of it. When he wakes up, he ain’t gonna do no more talking on them
wires. Not after what me and Luther did to his equipment,’ Jardine
muttered.
    ‘ And
what I done to his hands,’ Luther Cole added.
    ‘ What
ya do to his hands?’ a curious Doc Weatherspoon asked from the
long, wet, bar-counter.
    ‘ I
chopped off his fingers, Doc!’ Cole boasted.
    ‘ All
of ’em?’ Rufus Clayton asked.
    ‘ I
sure did. Look!’ Luther Cole placed his whiskey-bottle on the bar,
searched his deep coat-pockets, hauled out the blood-covered
fingers and spread them out.
    ‘ I
count only nine,’ Weatherspoon said, sipping at his
drink.
    ‘ I
reckon he must have only had nine fingers to start with.’ Cole
shrugged.
    ‘ Unless you lost one.’ Toke Darrow nodded.
    If the trio of saloons had
bartenders, they had disappeared long before the thirteen outlaws
had stridden into them. Jardine had watched his fellow outlaws
drink all afternoon without once touching a drop of liquor
himself.
    His attention was solely for
the bank opposite. Yet, for the first time in his long career, he
did not have any desire simply to rob it. He had a much grander
plan hatching in his fertile imagination.
    ‘ Do
you reckon we’ll be robbing that bank any time soon, Henry?’ Luther
Cole asked, pulling up a chair. He placed his whiskey-bottle on top
of the green baize and sat down next to the thoughtful
Jardine.
    ‘ I had
me a better idea than just robbing another bank, Luther,’ Henry
Jardine replied.
    ‘ What
ya mean? We robbed the banks of every damn town along the ridge.
That’s what we do. We rob banks.’ Cole rubbed his eyes and watched
his long-time associate lift the bottle to his dry lips and take a
long swallow.
    ‘ Think
about it. This town is perfect for us to use as a base, Luther.’
Jardine wiped his chin.
    ‘ What
ya mean?’
    ‘ From
Diamond City we can strike at Waco!’ Jardine handed the bottle back
to Cole, then glanced at the rest of the outlaws propped up against
the long bar. ‘We already have control of this town. The people
here are hiding like scared jackrabbits. We own this entire town
already and it took just one bullet.’
    Cole nodded and swigged at
the neck of his bottle.
    ‘ I get
it. We use this place as a kinda hideout.’
    ‘ Yep,’
Jardine confirmed. ‘A real fancy hideout. It has everything. Grub
and booze and probably a lotta females. Our saddlebags are already
bursting with gold and paper money. Now we get a chance to sleep in
real beds like human beings.’
    Cole rested his elbows on
the tabletop. His eyes were glazed as they looked at his
friend’s determined features.
    ‘ What
about the men folk in this town?’
    ‘ Simple. We disarm the critters and if they try anything, we
just kill