Read Online Gunsmoke for McAllister by Matt Chisholm - Free Book Online Page B

this have to last?’
    â€˜Water’s precious here. Once a day. Twice if you’re lucky.’
    McAllister took one mouthful, put the stopper back and handed the canteen to his friend. He left the tepid water in his mouth for several minutes and slowly swallowed it. He could have drunk the Pecos dry.
    They talked. McAllister told Sam what had happened to him since he had received Sam’s letter in El Paso. Sam told his story. He had written to McAllister because he had located silver in the hills. No, not here; about five miles to the east. While prospecting through the hills he had stumbled on this place by accident. Rawley and his men had come on him and taken him. Rawley? McAllister asked. Who was he? That was the sheriff’s name. Sam didn’t have any idea how long this mine had been here, but he reckoned it had been opened up after the Gato scare was at its height. He’d heard that a prospector had found it and had gone to Rawley for a stake. Rawley had killed him and moved in with his associates.
    â€˜What I can’t make out,’ McAllister said, ‘is how he gets away with it. They must know down in Euly this is goin’ on.’
    â€˜Not a whisper so far. At least that’s the way it seems. They’ve made no more than one shipment of gold. They took a pack train right through the sierra into New Mexico and claimed they’d found the gold in New Mexico. They’re gettin’ ready for one more shipment, so I’ve heard.’
    â€˜Then what happens?’
    â€˜They kill us all.’
    The words hung between them in the silence. It didn’t seem possible, but McAllister didn’t doubt that it was true. He had experienced Rawley at work.
    â€˜The girl,’ he said. ‘When I saw her in the cage I thought she was one of us.’
    Sam smiled.
    â€˜That’s Carlita. She’s my girl.’
    McAllister didn’t know what to say. He had seen the girl with the sheriff. She had spit in his face.
    â€˜You know she’s here?’ he asked.
    Sam said: ‘Sure. She sent word by a cousin of hers, she’d come.’ McAllister looked away and Sam added: ‘I know what you’re thinkin’. You’re wrong. When we go out of here, she comes with us.’
    McAllister didn’t argue, but he had other ideas.
    He said instead: ‘I have a horse not far off. He’s tied. If we don’t get away soon, maybe he’ll get himself free and head for water. We need a horse.’
    Sam said: ‘Rem, you’re ail beat up. I ain’t no stronger’n a dogie. We couldn’t run a mile.’
    â€˜What the hell’s gotten into you, man?’ McAllister demanded. ‘I didn’t never hear you talk this way before.’
    Sam said: ‘Maybe I’ve been hit once too much.’
    â€˜Sam,’ McAllister said, ‘I come all this way for you an’ I ain’t goin’ without you. Git that into your fool head.’
    There was a hopeless look on Sam’s face.
    â€˜It sounds wonderful,’ he said. ‘I dream of havin’ a gun and shootin’ my way outa here. I see Rawley’s face in front of me and I empty a gun into it.’
    McAllister laughed.
    â€˜That bastard’s mine,’ he said and meant it.
    Sam wasn’t paying him any attention. He was looking north toward the larger of the two cabins. The girl stood at the door, her wide skirt moving in the light breeze. She looked toward them.
    â€˜Good girl,’ he said softly. ‘I even thought about marryin’ her.’
    â€˜A Mex?’
    â€˜Look who’s talkin’.’
    McAllister took a good look at Sam and couldn’t believe that this was the same man he had ridden with. He looked as if he hadn’t eaten a good meal in months. His ribs showed through and his skin was burned almost black. His fair beard hung ragged from his jaw and in his eyes was a faraway dazed look. When he remembered