Loius L'Amour The Lonely Men

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"get me the keys. I am taking this young man to dinner."
He looked around again. The man lying on the floor was being
examined. The doctor looked up. "This man has three broken ribs and a
punctured lung," he said quietly.
"That's his problem," I said harshly. "Anybody who fools around
with the bandwagon is likely to get hit with a horn."
"Those are my sentiments," Oury said crisply. The keys jangled,
the door swung wide. "Come, Mr. Sackett, you are my guest."
"I don't mind if I do," I said, "but I warn you, I'm an eating
man, just getting my appetite back."
The Shoo-Fly was almost empty when we went in, but a few minutes
afterward it was crowded to the doors.
When I'd eaten, I sat back in my chair. One of the Tucson citizens
came in with my Winchester and gun belt. "If you're staying in town," he said,
"you'd better go armed."
"I am staying," I replied, "until this matter is cleared up. I did
nothing wrong out there. I killed a good man, a tough man. He might have lived
for hours in that boiling hot sun with those slivers burning into him. He was
not a man to die easy."
"I might have asked for the same thing," somebody said.
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I was quiet after that. I'd eaten well, and I had my guns on
again, and all I wanted was to get this affair cleared up and pull out for
Tyrel's outfit in New Mexico. As for this town, it was no place for me until
my enemies had drifted, and being drifters, I knew they'd soon be gone.
The doctor came in and gave me a hard look. "I'll say this for
you," he said, "you're a bad man to corner. You've put four men in bed. One of
them has a smashed cheekbone, his face is ripped open, and he's lost nine
teeth. One has a torn shoulder muscle, another has a dent in his skull and his
scalp is ripped right across the top, laid open for five inches. The one with
the punctured lung will live if he's lucky. All said and done, you put four
men out of action, and injured six or seven more."
"They came after me," I said. The outer door opened then and two
men came in. One was Captain Lewiston, the other was Toclani, the Apache
scout. They looked around until their eyes spotted me, and they came over to
my table.
"Sackett," Lewiston said, "Toclani has talked to Kahtenny. They
verify your story. Kahtenny told us in detail, as did several other Apaches,
what was happening out there during the attack when you shot Higgins."
"You talked to Kahtenny?" I asked Toclani.
"He, too." He indicated Lewiston. "We ride together to Apache
camp."
I looked at Lewiston. "You taken a long chance, man."
"It was simple justice. I knew that the people who would surely
know what happened were the Apaches. I did not know they would talk, but
Toclani came with me, and Kahtenny had much to say of you, Sackett. He said
you were a brave man, a strong man, and a warrior."
"Did he get his squaw back?"
"Yes, and he thanks you." Lewiston looked at me. "He may come in.
All because of that, he may come in."
"I hope he does," I said. "He's a good Indian."
And so it was over. Nobody wanted me back in jail any longer, but
I figured to stay around until the sheriff came back so as there'd be no
argument. Around town folks stopped to speak to me on the street, and several
thanked me for bringing the youngsters back.
But I saw nothing of Laura ... had she left town? Or was she still
there, waiting, planning?
My mind kept turning to Dorset Although it was in my thoughts, I'd
no right to go a-courting, for I'd no money and no prospects worth counting
on. Mr. Rockfellow, who had a herd he wanted pushed over into the Sulphur
Springs Valley, hired me and some other hands, but it was a short job, and
left me with nothing more than eating money.
The sheriff came back to town, and after hearing what had happened
he gave me a clean bill on the charges against me, so I figured to saddle up
and show some dust, only I hadn't enough cash to lay in supplies to take me
anywhere.
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Then at the Shoo-Fly I heard that Pete Kitchen had located himself
a mining claim down in the Pajaritos, so I rode down. When he found out I was
a hand with a pick and shovel, as well as with a cutting horse and a rope, he
hired me for the job. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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