Shortland by J.C. Hulsey

Author:J.C. Hulsey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J.C. Hulsey
Published: 2020-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

I pulled my rifle from the scabbard as we rode into the moonlit empty yard. Monty pulled his pistol and held it ready. The night sky was showing a full moon and we could see the whole yard as if it was daylight. There wasn’t any movement around the small farm house. No smoke from the stove pipe, no movement of any kind. Yet I had this niggling feeling in my gut.

Something wasn’t right. The hair on the back of my neck was standing at attention. I motioned to Monty to head for the corral next to the barn. We had just reined in next to the rail fence and stepped down, when I heard the metallic click of a rifle being cocked.

"Drop!"

Monty and I both dropped to the ground and crawled behind the water trough. A slug thudded into the side of the trough splashing water everywhere. We both scrunched up as best we could.

"Just like the old times. Don’t you think?"

"Just stay out a sight before you get yourself killed. I need you alive."

As the shooter leveraged another cartridge into his rifle, I shouldered my Winchester, stood and quickly fired in the direction I thought he might be located. I was very lucky. He screamed and fell out of the hay loaf, turned in a somersault on his way down. His body made a loud thud when it hit the ground.

"That was one lucky shot. Even the great Cliff Baron ain’t that good a shot."

"I agree. That was a lucky shot. You realize those shots will bring the rest of the gang. I’m a little surprised they aren’t here already."

"Maybe they left him behind and went on without him."

"Why would they do something like that?"

"Maybe they had a quarrel and kicked him out of the gang. I don’t know. I do know that if the shots didn’t bring them by now, then they ain’t coming."

"Let’s search the dead man and see what he’s got on him."

We walked over to where the man had hit the ground.

"If your slug hadn’t of killed him, that fall would have. Look at his neck. He musta fell on his head."

“Search his pockets? I’ll keep watch in case the others are running late.”

“Like you said, if they ain’t here by now, they’re not coming.”

“You like this Florence a lot?”

“I know what you’re thinking. How could I feel anything for a whore? Well, you and I both know I ain’t no Angel. Yeah. I reckon I like her a lot. I plan on marrying her.”

“It might be a while before you can think about marriage. You think the council is going to let you go unpunished?”

“I don’t know, why not. All I did was tell a little lie.”

“A little lie that cost me my job.”

“They’ll give your star back once they hear the truth.”

“There’s still the matter of old Mr. Watson getting killed.”

“You don’t know anything about that, do you?”

“Well, I might have overheard Honeywell and his nephew talking about it. If I heard correctly, Honeywell’s nephew did the killing and brought the money to Honeywell.

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