Read Online Doctor Who: The Gunfighters by Donald Cotton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Donald Cotton
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frame-up!’ he remembered,
‘that’s what it is!’
‘Be that as it usually be,’ continued the imperturbable monument, ‘you’re under arrest!’
‘Arrest? How dare you? May I remind you that this is the second time today you have forced me to ask that? And you have absolutely no excuse for this constant custody!
You know perfectly well who I am!’
‘Surely do, old friend,’ agreed Wyatt, ‘which is why I aim to put you out of harm’s way for a spell.’
‘Then I demand to see a solicitor!’
‘You wouldn’t take to him,’ said Phineas, ‘not no-how!
Why, he’s bent as a crawdad’s claw in a swamp-hole!’
‘I’ve warned you, Phin,’ hissed Ike. ‘Let it lay, cain’t you?’
Phineas subsided, muttering resentfully, and the Doctor, also muttering, and with my Buntline Special hard against his ribs, was prodded towards the door; with Bat on shotgun at coverpoint.
‘Goodnight, sinners!’ said Wyatt to the congregation;
‘I’m sorry your stay in this festering haunt of the Malachite has been so rudely disturbed...’
And the three men backed warily into the West-infested darkness...
Left to themselves, the rest of the company was something at a loss for words, and groped for them accordingly.
Kate was the first to find some, and spoke as follows:
‘Well now, gentlemen, if that concludes the evening’s entertainment, and you don’t want no quick gallop through “The Star-Spangled Banner”, I guess I’ll be goin’
back to my room... An’ that’s where I’ll be if anyone wants me,’ she added, with a glance from beneath her half-mast lashes at Steven, who chose to ignore her, having quite enough to panic over at the moment, without any of that nonsense... And, disappointed, Kate oscillated up the stairs.
‘Well, if that don’t beat all,’ said Phineas, referring not to her retreating silhouette, which left nothing to the imagination, but to the recent events, which did.
‘It figures,’ said Ike, as near to thoughtfully as he would ever get. ‘Earp couldn’t take us in for nothin’, so he got the Doc out of trouble, like always.’
‘He weren’t in no trouble,’ objected Billy. ‘He made Seth look right foolish. You should’ve let me handle it, like I wanted!’
‘Don’t know so much about that,’ said Seth. ‘You boys didn’t look a lot like the James gang, not from where I was standing. More like the Mariposa Glee Club,’ he concluded.
‘Well,’ said Steven; ‘if there’s nothing else?’
‘Sit down!’ said Ike.
‘Right down!’ added Phineas.
‘Jest stay where you are!’ said Billy, pursuing a line of his own, ‘whiles I get us our hardware...’
Too late Steven remembered that their guns were now once more readily available...
Well you can’t think of everything, can you?
Arriving back in her sewing-room, our smouldering songstress was not best pleased to find it already occupied by the rival soubrette; and she was downright chagrined to hear the latter enquiring of Doc Holliday just how long he proposed to keep her there.
Kate was understandably more interested to learn just how long he had kept her there already, and enquired as much, with a wealth of illustrative detail intended to convey what would likely occur if his answer failed to satisfy her in any particular.
Dodo blushed, and Doc prevaricated.
‘Why, Kate,’ he admonished, ‘you know me! Would I ever be a party to that kind of actionable misdemeanour?’
‘You’re durn tootin’!’ commented his outraged inamorata, without a great deal of logic. She removed a boot, and prepared to press the heel into service as a stiletto. It was a large boot, as we have already noticed, and Doc looked apprehensive...
‘Now, put that thing away, Kate, before it goes off! I was jest explainin’ to the little lady here...’
‘Seems to me there’s been a sight too much goddam explainin’ took place around here for one night! Know what you are, you ornery, crawlin’
‘that’s what it is!’
‘Be that as it usually be,’ continued the imperturbable monument, ‘you’re under arrest!’
‘Arrest? How dare you? May I remind you that this is the second time today you have forced me to ask that? And you have absolutely no excuse for this constant custody!
You know perfectly well who I am!’
‘Surely do, old friend,’ agreed Wyatt, ‘which is why I aim to put you out of harm’s way for a spell.’
‘Then I demand to see a solicitor!’
‘You wouldn’t take to him,’ said Phineas, ‘not no-how!
Why, he’s bent as a crawdad’s claw in a swamp-hole!’
‘I’ve warned you, Phin,’ hissed Ike. ‘Let it lay, cain’t you?’
Phineas subsided, muttering resentfully, and the Doctor, also muttering, and with my Buntline Special hard against his ribs, was prodded towards the door; with Bat on shotgun at coverpoint.
‘Goodnight, sinners!’ said Wyatt to the congregation;
‘I’m sorry your stay in this festering haunt of the Malachite has been so rudely disturbed...’
And the three men backed warily into the West-infested darkness...
Left to themselves, the rest of the company was something at a loss for words, and groped for them accordingly.
Kate was the first to find some, and spoke as follows:
‘Well now, gentlemen, if that concludes the evening’s entertainment, and you don’t want no quick gallop through “The Star-Spangled Banner”, I guess I’ll be goin’
back to my room... An’ that’s where I’ll be if anyone wants me,’ she added, with a glance from beneath her half-mast lashes at Steven, who chose to ignore her, having quite enough to panic over at the moment, without any of that nonsense... And, disappointed, Kate oscillated up the stairs.
‘Well, if that don’t beat all,’ said Phineas, referring not to her retreating silhouette, which left nothing to the imagination, but to the recent events, which did.
‘It figures,’ said Ike, as near to thoughtfully as he would ever get. ‘Earp couldn’t take us in for nothin’, so he got the Doc out of trouble, like always.’
‘He weren’t in no trouble,’ objected Billy. ‘He made Seth look right foolish. You should’ve let me handle it, like I wanted!’
‘Don’t know so much about that,’ said Seth. ‘You boys didn’t look a lot like the James gang, not from where I was standing. More like the Mariposa Glee Club,’ he concluded.
‘Well,’ said Steven; ‘if there’s nothing else?’
‘Sit down!’ said Ike.
‘Right down!’ added Phineas.
‘Jest stay where you are!’ said Billy, pursuing a line of his own, ‘whiles I get us our hardware...’
Too late Steven remembered that their guns were now once more readily available...
Well you can’t think of everything, can you?
Arriving back in her sewing-room, our smouldering songstress was not best pleased to find it already occupied by the rival soubrette; and she was downright chagrined to hear the latter enquiring of Doc Holliday just how long he proposed to keep her there.
Kate was understandably more interested to learn just how long he had kept her there already, and enquired as much, with a wealth of illustrative detail intended to convey what would likely occur if his answer failed to satisfy her in any particular.
Dodo blushed, and Doc prevaricated.
‘Why, Kate,’ he admonished, ‘you know me! Would I ever be a party to that kind of actionable misdemeanour?’
‘You’re durn tootin’!’ commented his outraged inamorata, without a great deal of logic. She removed a boot, and prepared to press the heel into service as a stiletto. It was a large boot, as we have already noticed, and Doc looked apprehensive...
‘Now, put that thing away, Kate, before it goes off! I was jest explainin’ to the little lady here...’
‘Seems to me there’s been a sight too much goddam explainin’ took place around here for one night! Know what you are, you ornery, crawlin’
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