Range Jester by Max Brand

Author:Max Brand [Brand, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western
Publisher: Roy Glashan's Library
Published: 2016-02-23T23:00:00+00:00

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IX. — THIEVES’ CONFERENCE

“THOUGHT you’d changed your mind about coming out,” said Rance Tucker. “Wasn’t it here that you said meet you, in case there was a need of us talking?”

“I said the woodshed,” said Tom London, “but, when I didn’t find you there, I came on out here.”

“Well?” said Tucker.

“Nobody else around here?”

“Nobody,” said Tucker.

Tom London lifted his head and looked straight at the spot where Home was lying at the edge of the mow above him.

“A barn is a damned silly place to talk in,” he said. “A thousand men could be hidden away within earshot of us.”

“Yeah, and who would be hidden away on a night like this with the Loomis stoves going so fine and the Loomis whiskey so good?” asked Rance Tucker.

“One man would,” answered Tom London.

“You mean the kid?”

“He’s not a kid any longer,” said London.

“Aw, damn him!” said Tucker. He shut his knife with a click. “I’m tired of thinkin’ about him,” he concluded.

“So am I,” said London.

“Well?” asked Tucker.

The out-thrust jaw made his head tilt back a little, so that Barry could examine his face more clearly. It was not an ugly face, really, but a face that showed hard endeavor and a strong will, yet unbroken by life. He seemed to await suggestions.

“You saw me talking to him?” asked London.

“Yeah, I seen you, and you seemed to be having a good time out of it. I wonder what he did to Lew? How’d he manage to handle Lew, I wonder.”

“He’s strong,” said London. “I tell you, he was a soft kid when he went to prison, but he’s had three years of hell. You can see the whole of the three years in his eyes, if you look.”

“I looked into ‘em, right enough,” declared Tucker. “There wasn’t no other place that a man could look. It was like facin’ a double-barreled shotgun, I tell you.”

“Worse,” said London. “A lot worse. And he’d kill quicker and more surely than a double-barreled shotgun, too!”

“I’ll put my faith in a shotgun even ag’in’ Barry Home,” said Tucker. “I wonder what he could’ve done to Lew?”

“Why, hit him out of time, that’s all. Lew didn’t stop to argue. He just left.”

“He’ll be back. He’s got pride, that Lew of mine has,” declared the father gloomily. “And he’ll be back, mind you, London. You can bet on that.”

“I’m glad that he’s coming back,” said London. “But he’s young, Rance.”

“He’s young, but he’s a man.”

“Nobody’s a man till he’s thirty,” said London, with conviction, “or until he’s had a few years in prison, some place.”

“You got both of them advantages, maybe?” asked Tucker, with a twisted grin.

London looked down at the other without answering, and, although his face was utterly in shadow, Barry could guess that he was smiling.

“This is pretty far West to be asking so many questions,” said London.

“Maybe that’s true,” said the rancher. He added: “What was you talkin’ to Barry Home so hard and fast about?”

“I was trying to change his mind for him.

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