West Of Dodge (Ss) (1996) Read Online Free Page A

on the ground.
    Blick was puzzled but alert. The man in the red shirt stood very still, pale to the lips.
    The gambler straightened up and turned slowly. "Bill, where's that other gun of yours?" "I ain't seen it."
    Rossiter smelled the acrid smell of wood smoke. There was the coolness of a low place and damp grass around him. Out on the meadow a quail called.
    "You shoved it down in your pack last night. It ain't there now." "Ain't it?"
    Bill knew he was in a corner, but he was not a frightened man. It was two to one, and he did not know whether the man in the shadows would stand by him--or even if he was still present.
    "I'm not fooling, Bill. I won't stand for a double-cross." "And I won't stand for killin' the kid." Sprague's mind was made up. Ed Blick knew it, and Ed moved left a little. Bill saw that move and knew what it meant. His tongue touched his lips, and his eyes flickered toward the pines.
    Rossiter took an easy step forward, bringing him into the half-light. "If you're looking for the gun, Sprague, here it is."
    The gun was easy in hand . . . Blick saw something then, and it bothered him. No lawyer ever held a gun like that. He tried to speak, to warn Sprague, but Rossiter was speaking.
    "Bill," he said, "untie that boy."
    Sprague's lips had thinned down against his teeth. The corners of his mouth pulled down, and the skin on his face looked tight and hard. "Leave him be. I'm not backing up for no cow town lawyer."
    "Watch it, George," Blick said. "I don't like this."
    "He doesn't dare shoot. One of us will get him."
    "Untie the kid, Bill." Rossiter's eyes were on Sprague, a corner of attention for Blick. He sensed that Blick was wiser at this sort of thing than Sprague. Blick was dangerous but he would start nothing. It would be Sprague who would move first.
    Bill walked across to Mike and, dropping on his knees, began to untie him.
    "Back off, Bill," Sprague warned, "or I'll kill you, too." He crouched a bit, bending his knees ever so slightly. "Get ready, Ed."
    "George!" There was sudden panic in Blick's voice. "Don't try--!"
    Sprague threw himself left and grabbed for his gun. It was swinging up when Rossiter shot him. Rossiter fired once, the bullet smashing Sprague in the half-parted teeth, and then he swung the gun. He felt Blick's shot burn him, then steadied and fired. Blick backed up two steps and sat down. Then he clasped his stomach as if with cramp and rolled over on his side and lay there, unmoving.
    Bill touched his lips with his tongue. "For a lawyer," he said sincerely, "you can shoot."
    Rossiter lowered the gun. Mike was sitting up, rubbing his arms. He walked over to where the other man's kit lay on the ground and dropped the pistol onto a blanket. "Much obliged, Bill. Now you'd better saddle up and ride."
    "Sure."
    Bill turned to go, then stopped. "That gun there. I got it secondhand." He rubbed his palms down his chaps. "I'll need a road stake. You figure it's worth twenty bucks to you?"
    Rossiter drew a coin from his pocket and tossed it to Bill. It gleamed gold in the firelight. "It's a bargain, Bill. A good buy."
    Bill hesitated, then said quietly, "I never killed no kids, mister."
    Nobody was in the street when they rode in at daybreak. There was a rooster crowing and somewhere a water bucket rattled, then a pump squeaked. Rossiter walked his horse up the street, leading two others, the bodies of Sprague and Blick across them.
    Mike started to turn his horse toward home, then said, "You never said you could shoot like that, Jim."
    "In a lifetime, Mike, a man does many things."
    Mulcahy came from the door of his house, hair freshly combed. "Ain't a nice sight before breakfast, Jim." Mulcahy glanced at the two dead men. "You want me to put out a warrant for this Bill character?"
    "No evidence," Rossiter replied. "Let him be. The last of them is Lonnie Parker. I want you to let me come along."
    "Tomorrow," the sheriff said.
    It was noon when he got out of bed. He bathed, shaved, and dressed