Read Online Doctor Who: The Gunfighters by Donald Cotton - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Donald Cotton
Ads: Link
at once disillusion them. He was nobody’s fool, after all...
‘Why,’ admired Phineas, ‘I never even saw his hand move!’
‘He never even aimed!’ complained Seth.
‘My God, that was fast!’ agreed the rest. ‘We never did see nothin’ faster! Wow!’ they added.
‘Well, let that be a lesson to you,’ said the Doctor.
‘Steven, my boy, – and you, Miss Elder, if you will be so kind – collect their fire-arms, and remove them to a place of safety. Out of their reach,’ he elaborated.
Impressed, they hastened to obey.
‘What do I do now?’ he enquired of Kate, not being familiar with the protocol.
‘You back ’em against the wall with their hands up,’ she advised.
And so that’s what he did.
But what he would have done next we shall never know; because, as Doc Holliday, with an air of business being temporarily adjourned, snaked his way back to Dodo’s quarters, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson stomped into the action-packed water-hole.
12
Arrest Is As Good As A Change
‘Howdy, Sinners! Holdin’ a prayer-meetin’?’ asked Wyatt.
He could perhaps be forgiven for thinking so, in the atmosphere of awe-struck reverence which prevailed.
Bat said nothing. He generally left that kind of crack to his friend.
And the Doctor breathed the sigh of relief he’d been hoping to be able to use whenever convenient. ‘Ah, my good Marshal!’ he exclaimed. ‘How very pleasant to see you! I was just trying to explain to these gentlemen...’
‘It surely looks like you was explainin’ – jest like Samson explainin’ to the Philistines,’ agreed Wyatt. ‘But that ain’t no jaw-bone of a mule you got there! So I suggest you hand it over – before the Temple of the Ungodly falls about your damn fool ears!’
‘You too, Kate,’ said Bat. ‘Wyatt an’ I handle that kind of explainin’ round here!’
They obliged with various degrees of reluctance: and, not wishing to be left out of things, Steven added his own guns for good measure. He’d had enough of them for the time being.
‘Now then,’ said Wyatt, ‘who started what?’
‘Holliday did,’ obliged Seth. ‘He started the whole blame thing!’
Since Holliday wasn’t noticeably present, this was something of a puzzlement.
‘Holliday?’ the lawmen enquired slowly, and in unison.
They weren’t here to be made fools of.
‘Sure,’ said Billy, ‘we was jest havin’ us a friendly sing-song...’
‘Yeah,’ said Ike, ‘like cattle-men do round a camp fire, come nightfall. An’ before we knew it, he got us lined up against the wall here... Look, ain’t we against the wall?’
This was undeniable, but still...
‘He was goin’ to shoot us down in cold blood... like varmints in a... in a...’
‘Shut up, Phin!’ said Ike. ‘Leave it at cold blood.’
‘Cold as it comes,’ agreed Billy. ‘I tell you, Marshal, I saw the whole thing! I mean, I was in it, wasn’t I?’
‘An’ so was I,’ contributed Kate. ‘An’ the Doc got the drop on ’em fair an’ square – accordin’ to the rules laid down by Queensberry, or some feller. Seems like they was a-gunnin’ for him.’
‘Who isn’t?’ said Bat, scratching his singed moustache.
‘But that still don’t explain...’
‘Quiet, Bat!’ warned Wyatt, looking like the prophet Jeremiah after a bad morning.
Behind the Marshal’s marble brow, there moved a mind of ice-like acumen; and in rather more time than it takes to tell, he had weighed the situation in the balance; and found it short on equilibrium. But that didn’t mean he was unable to work out that what he had here was a case of mistaken identity. And he thought that, all things considered, it would be best to leave it that way, for the time being.
‘Guess it all seems pretty clear,’ he agreed. ‘I’m sorry, Doc, but I’ve got to take you in.’
‘I am not taken in for a moment!’ contradicted the Doctor. ‘This whole situation is a...’ What was the expression he wanted? ‘A
‘Why,’ admired Phineas, ‘I never even saw his hand move!’
‘He never even aimed!’ complained Seth.
‘My God, that was fast!’ agreed the rest. ‘We never did see nothin’ faster! Wow!’ they added.
‘Well, let that be a lesson to you,’ said the Doctor.
‘Steven, my boy, – and you, Miss Elder, if you will be so kind – collect their fire-arms, and remove them to a place of safety. Out of their reach,’ he elaborated.
Impressed, they hastened to obey.
‘What do I do now?’ he enquired of Kate, not being familiar with the protocol.
‘You back ’em against the wall with their hands up,’ she advised.
And so that’s what he did.
But what he would have done next we shall never know; because, as Doc Holliday, with an air of business being temporarily adjourned, snaked his way back to Dodo’s quarters, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson stomped into the action-packed water-hole.
12
Arrest Is As Good As A Change
‘Howdy, Sinners! Holdin’ a prayer-meetin’?’ asked Wyatt.
He could perhaps be forgiven for thinking so, in the atmosphere of awe-struck reverence which prevailed.
Bat said nothing. He generally left that kind of crack to his friend.
And the Doctor breathed the sigh of relief he’d been hoping to be able to use whenever convenient. ‘Ah, my good Marshal!’ he exclaimed. ‘How very pleasant to see you! I was just trying to explain to these gentlemen...’
‘It surely looks like you was explainin’ – jest like Samson explainin’ to the Philistines,’ agreed Wyatt. ‘But that ain’t no jaw-bone of a mule you got there! So I suggest you hand it over – before the Temple of the Ungodly falls about your damn fool ears!’
‘You too, Kate,’ said Bat. ‘Wyatt an’ I handle that kind of explainin’ round here!’
They obliged with various degrees of reluctance: and, not wishing to be left out of things, Steven added his own guns for good measure. He’d had enough of them for the time being.
‘Now then,’ said Wyatt, ‘who started what?’
‘Holliday did,’ obliged Seth. ‘He started the whole blame thing!’
Since Holliday wasn’t noticeably present, this was something of a puzzlement.
‘Holliday?’ the lawmen enquired slowly, and in unison.
They weren’t here to be made fools of.
‘Sure,’ said Billy, ‘we was jest havin’ us a friendly sing-song...’
‘Yeah,’ said Ike, ‘like cattle-men do round a camp fire, come nightfall. An’ before we knew it, he got us lined up against the wall here... Look, ain’t we against the wall?’
This was undeniable, but still...
‘He was goin’ to shoot us down in cold blood... like varmints in a... in a...’
‘Shut up, Phin!’ said Ike. ‘Leave it at cold blood.’
‘Cold as it comes,’ agreed Billy. ‘I tell you, Marshal, I saw the whole thing! I mean, I was in it, wasn’t I?’
‘An’ so was I,’ contributed Kate. ‘An’ the Doc got the drop on ’em fair an’ square – accordin’ to the rules laid down by Queensberry, or some feller. Seems like they was a-gunnin’ for him.’
‘Who isn’t?’ said Bat, scratching his singed moustache.
‘But that still don’t explain...’
‘Quiet, Bat!’ warned Wyatt, looking like the prophet Jeremiah after a bad morning.
Behind the Marshal’s marble brow, there moved a mind of ice-like acumen; and in rather more time than it takes to tell, he had weighed the situation in the balance; and found it short on equilibrium. But that didn’t mean he was unable to work out that what he had here was a case of mistaken identity. And he thought that, all things considered, it would be best to leave it that way, for the time being.
‘Guess it all seems pretty clear,’ he agreed. ‘I’m sorry, Doc, but I’ve got to take you in.’
‘I am not taken in for a moment!’ contradicted the Doctor. ‘This whole situation is a...’ What was the expression he wanted? ‘A
Similar Books
