Read Online The Legend of El Duque by J. R. Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

another
cerveza
.”

TWENTY-TWO
    Clint and Mano rode into Queretaro the next morning. Clint decided he needed a bath before he presented himself to Don Pablo to buy his bull. The man was a Spanish aristocrat, so manners and hygiene were probably as important to him as the money.
    â€œA bath?” Mano asked.
    â€œWouldn’t hurt you either,” Clint said as they rode in.
    â€œBut it is not Saturday night.”
    â€œThat’s okay,” Clint said, “nobody is going to hold it against you.”
    â€œWell,” Mano said, “this is a fair-sized town. Must be plenty of pretty
señoritas
who would like a man who has just had a bath.”
    â€œThere you go,” Clint said. “We’ll spend one night in a hotel in a real bed, have a bath, and then tomorrow we’ll move on to the Rancho Sandoval.”
    â€œThat suits me,” Mano said.
    â€œYou might even send your pa a telegram and tell him where we are and how we’re doing,” Clint said. “I’m sure he’s worried about you.”
    â€œI will do so,
señor
,” Mano said. “He will be happy to hear from both of us.”
    They rode up to a hotel and reined in. Clint dismounted and handed Mano his reins.
    â€œI’ll get us a room, and you take the horses to the livery. You better warn them to take special care of Eclipse. And watch he doesn’t take off any fingers.”
    â€œI will.”
    â€œYou mind sharing a room?”
    â€œI do not mind,” Mano said, “as long as we don’t have to share a bed.”
    â€œNope,” Clint said, “sharing a bed is not something I’m hankering to do either.”
    They split up there, and Clint went into the hotel lobby carrying his saddlebags and rifle.
    * * *
    Carlos Montero was starting to think he’d been a fool to let Antonia talk him into this. How was he going to identify the gringo with the money without knowing his name or what he looked like? Don Pablo must know the man’s name—why had he never mentioned it to Antonia?
    Montero was drinking in a small cantina when the two men he’d brought with him came in.
    â€œCarlos,” Mendez said, “two men just rode in. One is a gringo.”
    â€œWhere’d they go?”
    â€œOne went into a hotel, the other to the livery stable.”
    â€œWe need to find out if this is the gringo with the money,” Montero said, getting up. “We will go to the livery and ask the other man.”
    â€œHe is pretty young,” the other man, Ibanez, said. “He should talk if we pressure him.”
    â€œWell, we will pressure him, all right,” Montero said. “We will pressure him.”
    The three of them left the cantina and walked toward the livery stable.
    * * *
    Clint checked them in and went upstairs to look at the room. It had two small beds, with mattresses that were barely better than sleeping on the ground.
    He went to the window and looked out, saw three men leaving a cantina down the street. One of them pointed to the hotel, then pointed somewhere farther along. The three men exchanged some words, and then continued up the street.
    Clint had a bad feeling, and left the room.
    * * *
    Montero, Mendez, and Ibanez came out of the cantina, and Ibanez pointed to the hotel.
    â€œThe gringo went in there,” he said, “and the other man went that way.” He pointed toward the livery.
    â€œAll right,” Montero said, “let’s go to the livery and see what we can find out.”
    * * *
    At the livery, Mano spoke with the farrier about Clint’s horse, Eclipse.
    â€œDo not worry,
señor
,” the older man said, “I would only take good care of such an animal.”
    â€œJust be careful of him,” Mano said. “He likes fingers.”
    The man held up his left hand, which was already missing part of a finger, and said, “Do not worry,
señor
. I have been