Read Online Across the Rio Colorado by Ralph Compton - Free Book Online Page A

Ike Peyton knelt beside him.
    â€œHe’s alive,” said Ike. “Maggie, stir up the fire and put on some water to boil.”
    â€œI’m goin’ to string the bastard up,” Andrew Burke shouted. “He shot Luke.”
    â€œYou’re not stringin’ anybody up,” said McQuade grimly. “Putnam, why did you shoot Burke?”
    â€œHe was with my woman,” Putnam bawled. “Look at her standin’ over yonder, naked.”
    â€œWith your woman, in your wagon,” said McQuade. “Where were you?”
    â€œGone to Hook’s saloon, after whiskey,” the naked
woman cried. “He was gone near an hour, and come back drunk.”
    Putnam stumbled and would have fallen, if he hadn’t steadied himself against a wagon wheel. It was a touchy situation, and McQuade sought a solution. His voice slurred, the drunken Putnam spoke.
    â€œSelma, I … I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    â€œOne of you bring Selma a blanket,” said McQuade. “We’ll have to separate her from this varmint, until we decide what to do with him.”
    â€œNo,” Selma cried. “I’ll go back to the wagon. He’ll be all right, when he’s sober.”
    â€œGo on back to the wagon, then, unless you’re hurt. Are you?”
    â€œNo,” she said. “He tried to … strangle me.”
    Two of the men carried the wounded Luke to the fire where Maggie Peyton had water boiling. While Ike raised him up, Maggie unbuttoned and removed his shirt. The wound was high up, sparing bones and vitals.
    â€œSome of you tie Putnam to a wagon wheel,” McQuade said. “We’ll decide what to do with him when he’s sober.”
    â€œBy God,” Andrew Burke snarled, “he ain’t gettin’ off, after shootin’ Luke.”
    â€œI’d say one’s as guilty as the other,” said McQuade, “so punishment ought to be the same. Maybe I’ll just boot the both of them out of this train.”
    â€œLuke’s my boy,” Burke shouted. “You can’t do that to him.”
    â€œThe hell I can’t,” said McQuade. “What do you say, people?”
    There was a roar of approval, and some of the men cursed Burke.
    â€œIn the morning, before breakfast, we’ll take a vote,” McQuade said. “Putnam should be sober by then, and Burke should be conscious. He wasn’t hit that hard. Some of us will keep an eye on Burke and Putnam the rest of the night. I’ll need four men, each standing a two-hour
watch. The rest of you Burkes go back to your wagon and stay there. Putnam will stay tied to that wagon wheel, and he’d better be safe and sound, come the morning.”
    When Luke Burke’s wound had been dressed, Maggie Peyton covered him with a wool blanket, and except for Eli Bibb on watch, the others returned to their wagons. The hour was late, but McQuade found Mary Flanagan waiting for him.
    â€œSorry,” he said, as he climbed up beside her. “I reckon you saw and heard it all.”
    â€œYes,” she replied. “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a naked woman standing before so many people. What’s going to become of her?”
    â€œI have no idea,” said McQuade. “Hopefully we can put the fear of God into Trent Putnam, as well as Luke Burke. As far as I’m concerned, they’re three of a kind. Selma whatever-her-name-is ought to be horsewhipped for whoring around with Burke behind Putnam’s back, while Burke’s a damn fool for fooling around with another man’s woman. It’s unlikely Putnam would have been trying to strangle the woman if he hadn’t been drunk, and he wouldn’t have been drunk if he hadn’t been to Rufus Hook’s saloon.”
    â€œSo it all comes back to Hook’s saloon,” said Mary.
    â€œIt does, as far as I’m concerned,” McQuade said. “I’m not one