Treasure Mountain (1972) Read Online Free

took place in the dining room and that might be nothing at all. Of course, there was that time, years back, when we came downriver with a raft of logs and had that shindig on the river front, but more than likely nobody remembered that. Still, a look along the dance-saloon route might turn up something.
    Come to think of it, I had a friend down yonder. There was a woman down there, a mighty notorious woman now, from what I heard. She'd been a hard case even as a youngster when I helped her out a couple of times. Bricktop Jackson was now figured to be as tough as they come, a mighty handsome woman with a figure like nothing you ever saw, but a woman who could, and would, fight like the dirtiest waterfront brawler you ever did see. Bricktop was a thief, a murderer, and a lot of other things, but she would know what was happening along the mean streets, and maybe she would tell me.
    There was a tap on the door. I took up my Colt and shoved it down behind my waistband, then opened the door. It was that Negro bell man that I'd given the dollar to.
    "Mr. Sackett?" He stepped in and closed the door behind him. "I have some information, suh."
    Well, I went down into my pocket for a dollar, but he wasn't hungry. He said, "Your brother had an altercation, suh. He exchanged a few words with Mr. Baston, suh."
    "Baston?" Where had I heard that name?
    "Andre Baston, suh."
    He said it like it was a name I should know. When I looked puzzled he said, "Andre Baston is thought by some to be the most dangerous man in New Orleans, suh. He has killed twelve men ... in duels, suh; with pistol, knife, or rapier he is considered the best."
    In some places that might not have meant so much, but New Orleans was no ordinary town.
    "What happened?"
    Briefly, he explained what had happened in the dining room, but it did not come to much. There had been some words, but it was purely a small matter, and, had anybody but this here Baston been involved, nobody would have paid it much mind.
    "Those people he was talking to? Was their name LaCroix?"
    "Yes, suh. It was. They are fine people, very fine people, suh."
    "And the Bastons?"
    This Negro was a fine-looking man of fifty or so, with an inborn dignity and obviously some education. His distaste for gossip was evident, but there was something more here, too. Now I ain't given to second sight, but feelings show through, and it was right plain that this man liked the LaCroix people, but not the Bastons.
    "There are many Bastons, suh. Some of them fine people. Most of them, in fact.
    Old Mr. Philip, suh ... before the war, suh, I was one of his people. He was a fine man, a fine man."
    "What about Andre?"
    He hesitated. "Mr. Sackett, I would have no dealings with him, suh."
    "You did say he had killed twelve men."
    "I said he had killed twelve men in duels, suh. There have been others, suh, when the arrangements were less formal."
    Well, that didn't get me anywhere. Orrin had exchanged a few words with Baston and they had parted. If I could talk to the LaCroix people they could tell me what was said, but the lead did not look promising. It looked to me like Orrin had just dropped off the world.
    Two days more of hunting and inquiring left me exactly where I was when I arrived. Now Orrin had been missing four days. And then I located the LaCroix family.
    When I was shown into the library where they were sitting they seemed surprised.
    Mr. LaCroix got up quickly, but he was a mite stiff, I could see. He was a fine-looking man, well up in years. "Mr. Sackett? I am sorry. I was expecting--"
    "My brother, I guess. Orrin's a sight better looking than me."
    "You are--"
    "William Tell Sackett, ma'am. Fact is, I came to see if you had seen my brother?"
    "Seen him? Of course. He sat beside us at dinner one night, and I believe Mrs.
    LaCroix saw him at the coffee shop one day."
    "Yes, I did. It was. A chance meeting but a fortunate one as I wished to thank him again."
    "Sir? What happened that night? I mean, if you don't