Treasure Mountain (1972) Read Online Free Page B

considered quite tough. They came for me, one from each direction. I had my knife and I had my Colt, but the Colt seemed an unfair advantage, and no doubt there was folks asleep upstairs or around me. I stepped in to meet them as they came at me from two sides, but I hooked a toe behind a chair and kicked it in front of the one coming from the right, and, as he fell over it, I lowered the boom on the second one with a good right fist.
    He was ambitious, that gent was, and he was coming in fast, so when he met my right fist halfway he was driving right into it with all the thrust of his legs.
    There was a splat, then a crunch, as his nose folded like an accordion under my fist. As he hit the floor I kicked him in the side of the head.
    The first man was starting to get up, but I was through fooling around. I put the point of my knife against his throat right over the jugular vein, and I said, "I don't care if I do or I don't. What d' you think?"
    He was sure of one thing, and he didn't need to be sure of anything else. One twist of that blade and tomorrow morning they'd be throwing dirt over him.
    He held right still. "For God's sake, mister! Don't kill me! I didn't mean nothin'!"
    "Who set you up to this?"
    "I don't--"
    That knife point dug a mite deeper. A tiny push now and he'd be bleeding on the carpet. "You tell me. You tell me who sent you and what you were to do with me."
    "Swan sent me. The Hippo. We was to lay you out and pack you out the back way and down to the swamp."
    "Get up, then." I took a step back and let him up, and I didn't much care if he wanted to open the ball or not, but he'd had all he wanted. There was a trickle of blood down his neck and it scared him. He was only scratched, but he didn't know how much and he was so scared he was ready to cry.
    "Take that," I pointed my foot at the other man, "and clear out of here. Next time you tackle a Sackett, you be sure his hands are tied."
    He backed away from me. "I had nothin' to do with that. It was him," he gestured to the man on the floor, "an' Hippo. They done it."
    For a moment I looked at him, then, the edge of my blade up, I stepped toward him. "Where did they take him?"
    His voice was a whisper. "To the swamp. To a houseboat on the bayou. I don't know which one."
    "Get out!"
    He stooped, lifting the other man with an effort, and staggered out. Closing the door after him I lit the light, then I closed and locked the door to the adjoining room. There was a spot of blood on the point of my knife and I wiped it clean.
    There was a light tap on the door. It was the Negro again. "The key, suh? I supposed you might be through with it."
    "Thanks--I am. But I believe I've broken a chair."
    He glanced at it. "I hope that wasn't all," he said quietly. He gathered the pieces. "A chair can be replaced."
    "What's your name?" I asked him, suddenly aware that I wanted to know.
    He did not smile. "Judas, suh. Judas Priest."
    "Thank you, Judas."
    The Negro turned at the door. "Two of them, suh? That's doing very well, suh."
    "You saw them?"
    "Oh, yes, suh! Of course." He slipped his hand into his pocket, and it came out wearing a very formidable set of brass knuckles. "We couldn't allow anything to happen to a guest! Not at the Saint Charles, suh!"
    "Much obliged. That's what I'd call service. I'd better put in a good word for you to the management."
    "If you don't mind, suh, my participation would have been entirely my own responsibility."
    "Thank you, Judas."
    He drew the door shut after him, and I dropped down on the bed. Orrin was in a houseboat on a bayou. That was mighty little to know, for there were dozens of bayous and probably hundreds of houseboats.
    Orrin might be dead, or dying. Right now he might be needing all the help he could get. And I could not help him ...

    Chapter IV
    Settin' on the side of the bed I gave thought to my problem. I had to find Orrin and almighty quick. They had no reason I could think of for keepin' him alive, but Orrin was a