Luck and a Horse by Max Brand

Author:Max Brand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 2020-09-21T15:53:56+00:00

III

Tommy Grant went out to the woodpile to smoke his after-breakfast cigarette and sat on the chopping block. That was a favorite place, because the newly chopped wood had a pleasant fragrance, and he could smoke while he watched the sun rising beyond Comanche Pass. The towering thunderhead had melted into a disordered throng of clouds, all rolling smoke below and bright fire above. It looked as though the rain might hold off.

With half his mind, he watched the morning grow. The other half pondered on Margie and the strangeness of her words. Now that he was in the open and looked back toward the darkness of the dining room, it seemed to him that he could understand—she had meant that they were both lost in the grasp of Sylvester Train and that they would only be more completely involved by a marriage that would tie them together in the bondage of their present way of life. At least, perhaps that was what she meant. But girls are strange, and one never can tell.

He finished his cigarette, stood up, and ground the butt under his heel. Before he left the place that morning, he would ask Train to write him a check for his month of arears in pay. That was a good, solid sum. A chunk of money to start on.

He went to the barn, untied the horses, turned them out to water, drove them back again to their places. Then he harnessed Brownie. He had bought that harness himself, and it was the best and lightest on the place.

The collar was made-to-order. The pad was deep and soft, filled with culled horsehair. The projecting tops of the hames were tipped with brass, and more brass flamed about the bridle and the harness saddle. He combed out the forelock and stepped back to squint at the picture.

Well, Brownie looked worthy of bearing a king’s son. He was both beautiful and fierce in seeming. As he stood there with his head up, he appeared ready to bound into the air—yes, and stride upon it! He would put the colt on the near point, just ahead of old Gray Mike. In that way, nothing could go wrong.

He took out the team, hauled two wagons from the big shed, coupled them together, hitched the eight, and then drove around the corral to the granary on the farther side. Old Bird, the jerk-line leader, stepped out with full fire, glad of this day off from plowing. She kept the fifth chain taut, and the whole team trotted, with Brownie dancing on his toes until the heart of the driver danced also. Behind him, the two empty wagons rattled and roared. He made a good turn and pulled up flush with the granary door.

It was open. Sylvester Train was already there, stomping about with his heavy cudgel of a walking stick. He was chuckling with triumph. “No rats in here. Not a rat. Not a damned rat in here.” He struck the floor with the cane.

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