Read Online Galloway (1970) by Louis - Sackett's 16 L'amour - Free Book Online

don't you worry none. I'm not figurin' on it."
    "But with a little help?"
    He meant it, too. There was a cruel streak in the man, a mean, cruel streak. He taken another step toward me and then almost by accident his eyes fell on the empty holster hanging to the bedpost.
    It stopped him.
    That and my right hand under the covers. Did I have the gun? He didn't know, but I could see him begin to sweat. The beads just stepped out on his forehead like water had been thrown at him.
    He looked at me, and toward the blanket where my right hand was hidden, and I could just see him wondering if I'd draw that gun from under the covers in time, so I said, "Now no man in his right mind draws a gun from under blankets when he can shoot right through them."
    He looked at me, his eyes all hot and bright, the sweat still on him, his fear fighting with his greed to kill or maim. "You've got a gun?"
    "Have I?" I grinned at him. "It's a good question, isn't it? I didn't have one out on the trail, bein' stark naked as I was, but Mr. Rossiter might have given me one."
    "He wouldn't be such a fool. You might murder them all."
    "Maybe he thinks they're in less danger from me than from you."
    That hit him. He liked being what he was but he did not like having it known, or guessed.
    "What's the matter?" I asked. "Was it Rocker's name that got to you? You probably decided you could kill more men than he could ... only Rocker generally shoots them standing up. Or so I've heard."
    He kind of drew back. He had decided he did not like the odds. He might have tried it, at that, and then tried to convince the Rossiters it had been suicide.
    Such men often believe the impossible because it suits them to believe, or because they have big ideas of themselves.
    Just then we heard the click of heels and then Meg was in the room, her pa right behind her. "Oh! Here you are! I went to put fudge on the dish and start some coffee and when I got back you were gone."
    "He came back to pay his respects, ma'am," I said dryly. "It was the only polite thing to do."
    She shot him a quick glance, then looked hard at me. Curly Dunn looked as bland and innocent as a newborn baby, but I expect that was how he always looked. Only when he glanced at me his eyes took on that greasy look.
    When they had gone Rossiter remained behind. "What happened?" he demanded.
    I shrugged. "Nothing. Nothing at all."
    Rossiter's eyes went to the empty holster, then to my right hand under the covers. "You're a careful man," he said.
    "My grandpa," I said, "lived to be ninety-four. It was a caution to us all."
    We talked the evening away, mostly of cows and ranching, Indians and the like, and all the while I was learning about this country, the prettiest I'd ever seen.
    "In the country north of Shalako," he said, "there's high mountain parks the like of which you've never seen. Running streams everywhere, waterfalls, lost canyons, and good feed for stock. I've seen outcrops of coal, and there are stories that the old Spanish men mined for gold up there."
    "I'll be riding out," I said, "but I'll be coming back ... with Galloway."
    He glanced at me. "Curly says he's met your brother. That Galloway Sackett backed down from him."
    "Galloway," I told him, "hasn't any back-up in him. He probably didn't figure it was the custom of the country to kill somebody that isn't dry behind the ears yet."
    He left me finally, and I eased down into the bed and stretched out. It felt good, real good. I was warm, I had eaten, and I could rest. Yet I did not let myself fall asleep until I heard Curly Dunn ride off.
    Rossiter had a small operation going for him, a herd of no more than three hundred head, mostly breeding stock, but he was a prosperous man and had come into the country with money. He had no need to sell stock, and could hold off and let the natural increase build his herd. Although I expect he had the notion of picking up a few head when buying was possible. A man with ready cash can often make some good